Fairways and Greens

Rookie wins the Korean Women's Open
The biggest event every year on the KLPGA tour is undoubtedly the Korean Women's Open. The CJ 9 Bridges, an event co-sponsored by the KLPGA and the LPGA, is arguably more important, in that winning that event can be a career defining moment for a golfer. But it doesn't have the long tradition in South Korea that the Women's Open has.

This year, there weren't as many top players invited from outside the KLPGA to participate as in years past. The two LPGA players in the field were Jee Young Lee, the defending champion (this tournament was her first big professional win) and Cristie Kerr, fresh off a win on the LPGA tour two weeks earlier. Lee would never be much of a factor, but Kerr would put herself into the mix right away.

The event was contested over three days beginning on the 19th of May. After the first round's action, the surprise leader was 18 year old rookie star Ji Ae Shin. Perhaps it shouldn't have been such a surprise. Shin won a KLPGA event in 2005 as an amateur (the SK Enclean). She is probably the top prospect for Rookie of the Year on the KLPGA this year. Shin shot a 5 under par 67 in round one to take a one shot lead. In second place was Taiwanese amateur sensation Ya Ni Tseng, tied with Korean star Na Yeon Choi at -4. Bo Bae Song and Hee Young Park, the top two players on tour, both shot 70, while Kerr started with a 71.

In round 2, the order at the top of the leaderboard changed a bit. Rookie Ji Ae Shin hung in there, but shot over par to fall to 4 under total. This allowed Wie-killer Ya Ni Tseng (her first big win came at the 2004 Pub Links Championship, beating Michelle Wie) to move into a tie for the lead with one round to go. Meanwhile, lurking scarily just one shot back was Cristie Kerr at 3 under. Neither Bo Bae nor Hee Young had a good day Saturday. Bo Bae shot a two over par 74 to fall to even for the event, while Hee Young went 3 over par and sat at 1 over. It would prove pretty tough for either one of them to get back into the race with just one round to go.

After Sunday's action was over, one player stood tall, victory in hand. It wasn't Bo Bae Song who won it. She struggled on the third day to a 3 over par 75 and a 3 over par total. She wound up tied with Jee Young Lee in 13th place. Hee Young Park was also not able to rally. She shot an even par round and finished at one over total, tied for 8th. Ya Ni Tseng started the day at 4 under... and ended it there. Final position: solo 4th.

It ended up coming down to two players who slugged it out with great rounds: Cristie Kerr and rookie Ji Ae Shin. After distancing themselves from the rest of the crowd, they were tied at 7 under par with three holes to go. Shin took the lead at 8 under by dunking a 2 meter birdie putt on the par 4 14th. But on the 15th hole (a par 3), Kerr made a 1.5 meter putt to pull even with her. On 16, Shin put her approach just 50 cm from the cup and tapped in the birdie there to regain the lead. On 17, after a great drive, she hit her approach again within a few feet for another birdie and a two shot lead. She followed that with a one meter birdie putt on the par 5 18th to wrap up the two shot win (Kerr also birdied this hole from close range). Talk about playing well under pressure!

Shin set the course record of 65 en route to her victory. She broke the previous record of 66 set by Young Kim in the 2002 SBS Pro Golf event played there. Shin took over the Money List lead as well. She now has 126,000,000 won. Second place is Hee Young Park with 55,750,000 won. Of course, this is only two events into the season.

Congratulations again to Ji Ae Shin, who has certainly thrown herself into the Player of the Year race on the KLPGA with this stellar achievement!

Futures Tour: Song Hee Kim strikes again!

Song Hee Kim is fast turning into the most promising young Korean player out there. In her short professional career, she has already won the Futures Tour Qualifying School by five shots, successfully petitioned the tour to allow her to join, thus getting them to lower the age limit from 18 to 17 (which in turn allowed two other Korean prodigies to join the tour, Angela Park and In-Bee Park - read about them below!), and became the youngest professional to win a tournament on American soil when she captured the Louisiana Futures Classic in April of this year. That in turn allowed her to become the leading money winner on the Futures Tour.

Song Hee was far from done, however. After two less successful events, where she finished 13th and 32nd, she was back on form again at the IOS Futures Golf Classic in El Paso, Texas. The event was contested from May 5th through 7th. In the first round, it was the aforementioned 17 year old Angela Park who drew first blood, capturing a share of the lead at -3. But Song Hee was right on her tail at 2 under. Song Hee put it into gear in round two, shooting a 4 under par 68 to take over sole possession of the lead, with Park winding up second at 4 under. The stage was set for an epic showdown between the two young guns.

On Sunday, however, Song Hee's front nine was less than stellar, allowing Park, who was on fire, to catch and pass her. After 12 holes, Angela had a two shot lead over Song Hee, and looked well on her way to her first professional win.

On the par 5 14th, Park made eagle while Kim made birdie, allowing Park to increase her lead to three. But meanwhile, a few groups ahead, another player was making a charge. It was 2004 NCAA Champion Sarah Huarte, who made four birdies on the back nine to move into a tie for the lead with Park after 17 holes. But just when it looked like it would be a battle between just Park and Huarte, Kim's putting caught fire. She birdied 14, 15, and 16 to move to within a shot of the leaders.

Things took another turn on the 18th hole. Park had hit 16 greens on Sunday, but one of the two she missed came on this hole. She landed her approach in the bunker and could not get up and down. Her bogey knocked her out of the tournament. Moments later, Kim drained a 4 foot birdie to move into a tie with Huarte. In just a few minutes, the entire tournament had changed, from a possible Park-Huarte playoff to a Kim-Huarte playoff.

Little did the two players realize that the fun was only starting. The Kim-Huarte sudden death playoff turned into an epic, as they matched each other hole after hole. Amazingly, after eight playoff holes, there still was no winner. It was starting to get dark, and it looked increasingly like the two players would have to return to finish up on Monday morning. Song Hee, however, had tickets to return to Korea to visit her family. She had not been back there for months, and did not want to miss a chance to eat her mother's home cooking again. Perhaps this motivated her, for she finally put Huarte away on the ninth playoff hole as Huarte missed a ten foot par saving putt. They had played the 9th and 18th holes alternately for the last two and a half hours, but in the end it was Kim who walked away with her second trophy in just six starts on tour. Needless to say, this moved her to a big lead on the money list. What else can this young budding superstar do to impress us in 2006?

Two Parks do well on the Futures Tour
The next week, with Song Hee Kim back in Korea enjoying her mother's hospitality, the tour traveled to Tucson, Arizona, for the Tucson Duramed Futures Golf Classic. This event was contested on the Dell Urich course in Tucson. Longtime LPGA fans will recall when the LPGA used to play an event on this course. To put it mildly, it produced some stunningly low scores, including the lowest score ever shot by a Korean player, a 60 by Jung Yeon Lee. Needless to say, there were some low scores this wee, particularly in round two, when the conditions must have been perfect for the ladies. In-Bee Park, who has not had too many highlights since turning pro a few weeks ago, finally put together a fantastic round. She had been suffering from an 'overuse injury' (sounds like the kind of injury a Korean would get!) on her right wrist. Too much practice! But it didn't affect her on this day. She shot a 7 under par 63 on the par 70 course, which included a 5 under par 30 on the front nine, to move to 7 under for the event. That still was not enough to capture the lead, though, as two players moved to 9 under par. Angela Park also impressed with a 5 under par 65 to fall in at 6 under. The two Parks both had a shot at capturing their first title on tour.

It was not to be, though. In the end, the tournament wound up in a playoff between two American players. On Sunday, In-Bee shot a solid 68 while Angela carded a 67, and the two players wound up tied for third at 9 under par, two shots out of the lead. So a good result for the two Parks, but their first Futures Tour wins would have to wait for another day.
(Photo at left: Angela Park)

Jeanne Cho finishes runner up on Big Break V
The Big Break is a golf reality show produced by the Golf Channel. During each season, a group of professional golfers with dreams of making the big time compete in various contests to see who is the best. Week by week, the weakest player is eliminated until only one remains. That player wins the 'Big Break', which is usually an exemption into the field of a major tour event as well as a bunch of other prizes.

Big Break's season five focused on women golfers. The first place prize, among other things, included an exemption into the LPGA's Safeway Classic in Portland, Oregon, in August of 2006. Among the eleven women who vied for this prize was Jeanne Cho, a Korean Futures Tour veteran who was born in France, studied at the University of Florida, and was now trying to get to the next level in her professional golf career.

Week after week, Jeanne hung in there, sometimes making the big putt or crucial play just when she needed to, other times easily making it to the next show and earning a chance to sit back and watch the others struggle. But as the number of players dwindled to just a few, Jeannie had to come up big more often. She outlasted Kim to make it to the final three (making a clutch putt to take Kim out of the running), then made it to the final two, where she played fellow Futures Tour golfer Ashley Prange with the Big Break on the line.

Alas, Ashley was the one who came out with the victory and the 'Big Break'. But Jeanne did the Sisters proud with a runner up finish. Congratulations to her, and here's hoping that this result bodes well for her future in golf!

Jeong Jang officially signs with IBK
Great news for all you Jeong Jang fans out there (you don't think JJ is popular? You'd be amazed how many e-mails I get about her!). JJ officially signed with her sponsors IBK in early May. She returned back to South Korea for the official ceremony. The deal, as announced, is a one year deal which will net her somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 million won (about $400,000). Not bad at all!

By the way, at a recent tournament, a fan asked JJ what IBK stands for. She replied, 'I'm Birdie Kim' (of course, she was just funning! IBK stands for the Industrial Bank of Korea).

With the IBK deal, her recent deal with Cobra Golf to play their clubs, and other deals with with Titleist and Footjoy, JJ has gone in one year from being the only top Korean without a deal to one of the most sponsored gals out there. And I must say, it couldn't happen to a more deserving player.

Money List
No Korean stepped into the winner's circle in the last three weeks, but there were a lot of good finishes by the ladies nonetheless. The biggest mover has been Hee-Won Han, who collected second place finishes at both the lucrative Michelob Ultra and the Sybase Classic to more than double her season money total. She has vaulted ahead of Annika Sorenstam into 6th on the money list. Gloria Park had some much needed good play, with two top 20s this period. Se Ri is still not all the way back, but her play has been encouraging, and a 25th place at the Michelob, while not stellar, was still better than any finish she had in 2005.

Two rookies have finally stepped up to somewhat challenge the supremacy of Seon Hwa Lee. Kyeong Bae remembered to stay for all the rounds in New York (unlike in Georgia!), and she was rewarded with a second place tie with Hee-Won and the low round of the tournament (an honor she shared with the eventual winner, Lorena Ochoa). Jee Young Lee also managed her first top ten of 2006, albeit at the Michelob Ultra. Seon Hwa Lee, meanwhile, kept plugging away. No top tens, but several top twenties kept her on top. Meanwhile, Sun Young Yoo made a few cuts and has surfaced on the list. Now only Na Ri Kim remains out of the top 100 among the exempt Korean rookies.