Fairways and Greens

Futures Tour: Song Hee Kim's pro debut in Lakeland
The 2006 season has started on the Futures Tour, and a new group of Korean hopefuls has set out on their quest to win one of five coveted exempt cards for the 2007 LPGA tour.

The first event of the year took place on March 10 - 12 in Lakeland, Florida. You may recall that the Lakeland Duramed Futures Classic was won last year by a young Korean player named Jin Young Pak, who would go on to have a pretty good rookie season on tour. This year, Jin Young is one of a large number of Korean hopefuls to watch for on tour. Other names include Sukjin Lee, who won the US Girls Junior championship a few years back; Eom Ji Park, one of Canada's top junior players who has now turned pro; Ha Na Chae, who finished third at Futures Tour qualifying last year, and also gained a conditional tour card for the LPGA at Q School; Jeanne Cho, who made a name for herself as a winning, bubbly presence on the Golf Channel's Big Break V; and Song Hee Kim, one of Korea's top amateurs, who won Futures Tour Q School in a rout last year and who promises to be a force on tour in 2006.

Song-Hee would go on to be the top Korean finisher at the Lakeland Classic, with three rounds near par. She would finish tied for 8th. But the big winner that week was American tour pro Meaghan Francella, who won the trophy with a total score of 7 under par. The year's second event, the Greater Tampa Duramed Futures Classic, went better for Song-Hee. This time she shot 69-70-69 for a three day total of 5 under par. But it was still not enough to beat Big Break V contestant Ashley Prange, who claimed her first professional title with a 10 under total on the par 71 course. Song-Hee finished third, though, and said afterwards, "One stroke means a lot out here. I need to concentrate on my short game." Still, her two top tens to start the year have left her in 5th on the money list, a great start to the season for the long hitting teenager, who is one of the first to take advantage of the Futures Tour's new rule that allows 17 year old players to play as full time professional tour members (In-Bee Park will also join the tour this year as a 17 year old pro a little later this season). Jeanne Cho may have fed off her fellow Big Breaker's success: she finished with her first top ten of the year, a tie for 5th at 3 under par.

Song Hee Kim makes history on the Futures Tour

Late last year, Song Hee Kim was one of three teenagers who requested special rights to play on the Futures Tour in 2006, even though she had not yet reached her 18th birthday. At the time, 18 was the minimum age a player had to be to compete professionally on tour, but the league decided to allow 17 year olds to compete as pros full time starting in 2006.

It took Song Hee exactly three tournaments to show she was worthy of that decision. On April 9, 2006, at the Louisiana Futures Classic in Lafayette, Louisiana, Kim became the youngest woman professional to ever win a pro golf tournament in the United States. She was 17 years, 10 months and 24 days old when she hoisted the trophy, beating the old record held by Marlene Hagge, who won the Sarasota Open on the LPGA tour at 18 years 14 days of age back in 1952.

Kim established herself as a player to watch even before joining the Futures Tour, when she won the Futures Tour Q-School tournament going away at the end of last year. In 2006, she has played in all three Futures Tour events, finishing eighth at the first one and third at the second one.

In Louisiana, the weather was tough, and the scores were high, but Kim maintained her cool throughout. In the second round, she carved a three shot lead on the back of some exemplary play on the front nine, but the conditions finally wore her down, and several bad holes towards the end of her round dropped her into a tie for second with fellow Korean Su A Kim. Playing in the final round on Sunday, however, Song Hee made the occasional mistake, but hung tough and kept in contact with the leader, American Allison Fouch. After trailing or being tied most of the day, Kim finally moved ahead of Fouch with a birdie on the 16th hole. Two holes later, she was champion.

Song Hee, already known on tour for her qualifying rout, composure and massive driving distance, now has another claim to fame with this win. She also took over the top spot on the money list as well. All in all a fantastic, history making week for the Korean teen!

In other news, In-Bee Park made her professional debut at this tournament, but the conditions proved too much for her and she missed the cut. Doubtless, we haven't heard the last from her either!

LAGT season is over
The inaugural season of the Ladies Asian Golf Tour has ended, and the Korean success on that tour has continued unabated with two more victories in the final two events.

This tour was founded in 2005 to bring high caliber professional ladies golf events to several Asian countries that had been ignored by the other big time ladies professional tours. With five events spread during the off seasons of the Ladies European Tour and LPGA, the LAGT attracted a host of top Asian and European talent to its tour, including a gaggle of Koreans. Not surprisingly, it was the Koreans who dominated, winning 4 of the five events contested, including the final four.

The last two events of the year were the Orient Zhuhai Open, which took place March 15 - 17th in Zhuhai, China, and the Macau LAGT Championship, played March 22 - 24 in Macau, China. At the Zhuhai, KLPGA star Hae Jung Kim, who won last year's ADT-CAPS event on the KLPGA, romped over the field with a dominating six stroke victory. The Macau event, meanwhile, was a repeat performance for Korean Eun-Hee Ji (pictured), who had won the Malaysian Open on tour just a few weeks earlier, and thus became the first woman to ever win multiple events on the LAGT.

In the end, Ji's two wins were good enough to secure her first place on the tour's season ending money list. Hae Jung Kim finished second, while 2005 KLPGA Rookie of the Year Hee Young Park finished fourth thanks to a win and a fifth in her two official events on tour (she also finished second at the Phuket Thailand Ladies Masters in December, but this did not count towards official money on the LAGT this year).

Grace Park Fashion Show
At 11 am on the morning of April 6th (Korea time), Nike Golf Korea held a fashion show in Seoul to show off their Summer 2006 golf line, including the Tiger Woods Platinum Collection. The special guest star at this show was none other than Grace Park herself (no, it wasn't Tiger!). Enjoy these photos of Grace strutting her stuff on the catwalk!

Grace's Braces
By the way, you may notice something different about Grace Park and Shi Hyun Ahn this year. They both have braces on their teeth! Grace got the kind that are visible on the front of her teeth, while Shi Hyun's are the hidden kind. When I get good photos of their new hardware, I'll be sure to post them here!

Jeong Jang and the SeoulSisters.com button
SeoulSisters superfan Bob (you've seen some of his candid photos of the Sisters in past issues of this magazine) attended the Kraft Nabisco this year and had a ball. During the second round, his son offered Major winner Jeong Jang a SeoulSisters.com button (he happened to have a SeoulSisters.com button on him, created by another SeoulSisters superfan). JJ pinned the button on the back of her hat and wore it there the rest of the round. But don't take our word for it; check out the photographic proof! Incidentally, JJ managed a top twenty finish at this Major. Coincidence? Or was the SeoulSisters button a powerful good luck charm? You never know! Thanks, Bob and son!

(by the way, the button says 'SeoulSisters.com' in both English and Hangul).

Birdie Kim article in the latest Golf Digest
One of the most heartwarming stories of last year in the golfing world was barely covered in the American press. That was the Cinderella tale of Birdie Kim, the young Korean golfer with the improbable nickname and fascinating relationship with her coach, a former PGA Player of the Year named Bob Toski. The story had it all: a golfer fighting against almost impossible odds, pulling off a miracle shot on the final hole to win the biggest event in her sport. The only problem was, the American press would much rather have seen the American girl win, and so this wonderful story went all but untold.

Until now! In the latest issue of Golf Digest, cover date May, 2006, is an in depth report about Birdie, her friendship with her coach, and their magical achievement. It's just the kind of article fans of Birdie's have been waiting for, so be sure to pick it up when you have a chance! Tiger Woods is on the cover (although he usually is, isn't he?). As an added bonus, there's an advertisement for putters featuring none other than Joo Mi Kim inside. Don't miss it, and if you like it, be sure to let Golf Digest know! If they feel there is interest in the stories of the Korean golfers, maybe they'll cover them more.

Money List
The Korean women have continued to shine over the past few weeks. Seon Hwa Lee notched a second second place finish to temporarily lead the LPGA money list, but two lesser finishes thereafter knocked her down to 6th. Hee Won Han got her first ever top ten at a Major to vault up the money list into the top 20. The biggest mover was Sarah Lee, who led the Safeway International most of the week, only to lose at the very last moment to Juli Inkster. JJ, Aree Song, Kimmie and Shi Hyun Ahn also made top tens.

Meanwhile, Soo Yun Kang and Gloria (Hee Jung) Park have continued to struggle all year. Kangsy finished in dead last at the Nabisco, and is now barely on the money list. Gloria has missed several cuts and has fallen out of the top 100.

Starting their season were Young Jo, Birdie Kim and Se Ri Pak. Se Ri's start has not been so special, with two 40 something finishes and a missed cut to her name. Young Jo has had the most promising start of those three; she sits currently at 45th place.

Grace Park is starting to show signs of life; after missing three straight cuts, she finished 35th at the Nabisco. But she still has a long way to go.

Nine Koreans in the top twenty on the money list; a pretty powerful start to the year for the Sisters!