LPGA Korea

After beating Tiger, life will change for Y.E. Yang

2009-08-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

Whenever Y.E. Yang was in a tournament with Tiger Woods, he would sit in the clubhouse and think about playing against the world's most famous athlete.

He'd visualize different scenarios, come up with strategies.

Deep down, he had a secret that he shared with no one: Yang would imagine beating Woods.

"The good players, the great names that you've mentioned, when they tee off with Tiger, their competitive juices sort of flow out and they go head to head and try to win," Yang said through an interpreter. "For me, I don't consider myself as a great golfer. I'm still more of the lower-than-average PGA Tour players."

Not anymore. In a matter of four hours Sunday, Yang's life — and that of every aspiring golfer around the world, but particularly in Asia — changed forever.

Not only did the 37-year-old South Korean become the first Asian player to win one of golf's majors — the PGA Championship — he took down none other than the sport's No. 1 guy to do it. Phil Mickelson, David Duval, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia — they all tried and failed.

Not Yang, who was poised, unflappable and determined throughout.

Not bad for someone who took up golf at 19 simply as a way to pay bills and ended up finding the job of his dreams.

"Honestly, I'm not prepared, I think," he said. "It's going to be a bit tough, sure, I know that. It's going to be fun, too. But honestly, I've never been in this spot, so I really can't assess it. This is my first time. I'm just going to try to go and improvise."

Pretty good plan, considering that's what got him here.

Yang — his full name is Yong Eun Yang — grew up on an island called Jeju, about an hour by plane from Seoul. His father is a farmer and his older brother is in the agricultural business, too. Yang wanted to be a bodybuilder, and dreamed of someday owning his own gym.

But when he was about 17 or 18, he blew out his knee. He was, he said, "like anybody else in the world, an average Joe."

Then a friend suggested he go work at the local driving range. It paid minimum wage, but Yang could eat and sleep there.

"The driving range was no longer than the tent we are in right now, probably about 60 yards, tops," he said, while speaking in the interview room. "The first grip I ever had was a baseball grip, and I was just whacking it into the net. It just felt fun."

The more he played, the more he fell in love with the game. He practiced for three months before he played his first round, and shot 101. It was three years before he broke par.

There have been a few successful Asian golfers over the years — Japan's Isao Aoki finished second to Jack Nicklaus at the 1980 U.S. Open — but Korea has been late to the game. Yang didn't even have a coach when he first started playing, teaching himself by watching tournaments on TV — his early idols were Nick Faldo and Nicklaus — and watching videotapes. He thought maybe he'd be a club pro or teach at a driving range.

But the more he learned about golf, the more his horizons expanded. He started playing tournaments in Korea, then moved to the Japan Golf Tour. He's played on the PGA Tour the last three years, going through qualifying school in 2007 and 2008 before winning at the Honda Classic earlier this year.

"My life has been sort of very slow, actually," said Yang, the only member of his family who lives outside of Jeju. "And I've always tried to take it a step at a time. I didn't really look and envision myself 10 years, two decades away."

Which is why, though he knows its significance, he can't yet fathom what his victory at Hazeltine National will mean to South Koreans and Asian players and fans, in general.

Golf is hugely popular in Asia, the game's fastest-growing market. But while it has produced some stars — 17-year-old Ryo Ishikawa of Japan carries a head cover that looks like a Cabbage Patch Kid doll of himself, complete with spiky hair, sunglasses and visor — the game is still a work in progress.

The men's game, at least.

Since Se Ri Pak won the LPGA Championship and U.S. Women's Open as a rookie in 1998, seven Korean players have combined to win 11 majors on the LPGA Tour. Yet Yang and K.J. Choi are the only PGA Tour players who learned the game in South Korea before coming to America.

China has no players on the PGA Tour. Jeev Milkha Singh, who finished tied for 67th on Sunday, is the first Indian golfer to play at the Masters and qualify for the U.S. Open.

"Golf in Asia has been growing steadily, so to have the guy who finally found a way to beat Tiger on Sunday is so big for the region," said Geoff Ogilvy, an Australian. "It's hard for us here in the U.S. to imagine the impact this will have."

Added PGA of America CEO Joe Steranka, "Earlier this week, I said the addition of golf to the Olympics is the single biggest thing to accelerate the growth of the game. I stand corrected. ... There are now going to be other Asian nations saying, `OK, how are we going to prepare our players to go play on the international stage?'"

Knowing one of their own has broken into golf's mainstream by winning a major is sure to inspire and motivate young players throughout Asia. Indeed, in South Korea, golf fans woke up at 4 a.m. for the final round, some rushing over to a sports club in the Seoul suburb of Bundang when it opened two hours later.

"Seeing Yang ranked 110th in the world win against Tiger Woods, the best player in the world, I felt so proud to be a Korean today," Kim Soo-mi said as dozens of golfers practiced at an indoor driving range.

That's a heavy burden to put on Yang. Based on his performance Sunday, he'll be able to handle it.

He admitted he was nervous before playing Woods, and didn't sleep very well Saturday night. Once he stepped on the first tee, though, the nerves disappeared.

After all, he said, it wasn't as if they were in a UFC fight and Woods was going to bite him.

He was aggressive all day, making the two biggest shots — his chip on 14 and his approach on 18 — when he needed to. He was calm, never once getting caught up in the circus that is Tiger Woods in the last group on the final day of a major. Dozens of cameras track Woods' every move, the galleries are massive and golf etiquette is the last thing fans are worried about as they rush to see the next shot. Yang even had some fun with it, smiling and waving at a TV camera as he crossed the bridge at the turn, and giving a Woods-like fist pump when he made that spectacular chip on 14.

And when it was all over, hoisted his golf bag over his head — shades of the bodybuilder he once wanted to be.

"I guess the fearlessness comes from the fact that I know I'm doing my dream job," Yang said. "Every day I'm living my dream."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090817/ap_on_sp_go_ne/glf_pga_championship_yang_s_dream_6

The Business of Golf: Golf as a Business Tool

2009-08-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

LPGA players hopeful about future under new leader

2009-07-18T03:39:00.000-07:00

By NOAH TRISTER, AP Sports Writer

As the LPGA Tour searches for a new commissioner, Brittany Lincicome summed up the challenge her sport faces in a dismal economy.

“We need tournaments,” said Lincicome, who won April’s Kraft Nabisco Championship. “Even if we’re playing for half the purses.”

Carolyn Bivens resigned under pressure as LPGA commissioner this week, and Marsha Evans took over as an interim replacement. The tour’s board of directors hopes to find a full-time commissioner by the end of the year.

Bivens was no stranger to controversy—she was criticized last year when she proposed an English-only policy for tour players. Now, the LPGA’s schedule is everyone’s big concern. The number of official money events dropped from 34 in 2008 to 28 this year.

“The economy was not helping Carolyn at all,” Lincicome said.

Bivens’ tenure ended after a group of players wrote a letter to the board calling for her to quit.

“I believe 100 percent she had our best interests in hand,” said Nicole Castrale, a 2007 Solheim Cup participant. “I believe that everyone involved just wants the best for our tour. … I just think that it became alarming to the players that we were losing events so quickly.”

When Lincicome won the Kraft Nabisco Championship this year, the winner’s share was $300,000—double what it was at that tournament 10 years ago. That’s a sign of progress, but Lincicome said she’s not the only player who would be open to playing for less money—in the short term, at least—if it would help save events.

The average purse per event this year is $1.78 million, up from $1.31 million in 2004.

The tour says it has 13 events committed for 2010, including two that weren’t on this year’s schedule. The LPGA also says discussions are ongoing with 15 events from the 2009 schedule.

Still, McDonald’s is no longer sponsoring the LPGA Championship, and Paula Creamer expressed concern last month about not knowing where the major would be next year.

Creamer, who is eighth on this year’s money list, said in an e-mail this week it’s important to strengthen relationships with sponsors.

“Over the past five years, I’ve learned that there are many different priorities, goals and expectations of our various sponsors. Charity giving at the end of the week is very important to many tournament owners and sponsors that have been with us for decades,” Creamer said. “Other events have unique mission statements and objectives which are equally as important to them as well. Community pride, exposure, economic stimulation are just a few others.”

Two-time U.S. Women’s Open champion Meg Mallon called the LPGA “the best bargain in sports,” but she’s still cognizant of the financial concerns facing sponsors.

“Professional sports, especially golf, is a luxury. You don’t underestimate that when businesses are looking at us,” Mallon said last week. “I think the players are very concerned about their future, and I’m proud of them stepping up and taking an active role because this tour has always been motivated by the players, run by the players. When players take an interest, good things happen.”

Lincicome said she hopes the full-time commissioner will come from a golf background. Evans, a retired rear admiral in the Navy, began serving on the LPGA board just this year. She was on an LPGA commissioner’s advisory council in 2007 and 2008.

For now, she’ll try to reach out to players and secure tournaments despite the economic climate.

“She definitely will command respect,” Castrale said. “I know the economy is in a tough position right now. … When it’s all said and done, the sponsors see what we bring to events as players.”

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-lpgafuture&prov=ap&type=lgns

Korean golfers are a growing LPGA presence (understatement of the week)

2009-07-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

By Joe Juliano
Inquirer Staff Writer
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/20090712_Korean_players_are_a_growing_presence_in_LPGA.html

When Jeong Jang began play on the LPGA Tour in 2000, she had just two people from her homeland of South Korea whom she could call for advice and guidance on coping in an unfamiliar country.

"When I was younger, I was just following Se Ri and Kimmy around," Jang said, referring to Se Ri Pak and Mi Hyun Kim, who came on the tour before her. "They were three years older than me. But it was still hard."

From the modest beginnings of Koreans coming over to play at the highest level of women's professional golf, the numbers now have exploded. More and more players qualify for the LPGA Tour every year, and the number is now at 47.

The pipeline of Korean players continues to flow. About 35 players from South Korea are competing on the Duramed Futures Tour, the LPGA's developmental circuit. The 36 Koreans at the U.S. Women's Open include the top five money leaders on the KLPGA tour.

The numbers figure to keep growing, and the rest of the women's golf world needs to keep up.

"It's not about adjusting, it's about how you perform out here," said Jimin Kang, who was born in South Korea but attended high school in Seattle and college at Arizona State. "The LPGA is worldwide. It's for whoever can play the best out of the whole world. It's great to see all the Korean girls who are good enough to be on the tour."

For those coming over to play, the comfort level is much better than when Jang began competing in the United States.

"Right now, you can ask 49 or 50 players out here for help instead of one or two," said Jang, winner of the 2005 Women's British Open. "It's easier to learn from them. It's a lot easier than 10 years ago. It's more like family, more like a hometown golf tournament, more comfortable."

The latest wave from South Korea is one of blue-chip players. Jiyai Shin, 21, not only is running away with rookie of the year over competition such as Michelle Wie, but also is the points leader in the player-of-the-year chase over established stars such as Lorena Ochoa and Cristie Kerr.

There is 21-year-old Inbee Park, the defending champion at this week's U.S. Women's Open, and 21-year-old In-Kyung Kim who, like Park, played in the United States in American Junior Golf Association tournaments and captured the U.S. Girls Junior championship.

With Pak, who touched off the Korean golf boom in 1998 with a spectacular LPGA rookie year, and the early players setting the tone and educating the next group of players on what to expect, the transition to a new culture had been made easier.

"It's like the first generation, second generation, and third generation," said Minsuhk Choi, writer for the JNA Golf News Agency of Seoul. "The first generation, like Se Ri and Mi Hyun, didn't have enough information about the LPGA. But now the third generation, they have that information."

Choi said at least one parent travels with most of the Korean players. They dine together, hang out together, and listen to music together. The support and work ethic are important reasons the players are so successful.

"It's the support that parents give to the players," Park said. "They're putting the most hours in on the driving range or the putting green compared to everybody else. They work very hard."

The tour was entangled in controversy last year when LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens demanded that Korean players become more proficient in English - to deal better with sponsors, pro-am partners, and the media - or be threatened with suspension. The resulting uproar prompted the pronouncement to be rescinded.

Choi, however, said that the Korean players "totally understood and agreed with" Bivens on the need to speak English, and that they have studied hard to learn the language.

"It's a different culture," he said. "Some Korean players are very shy and not comfortable speaking [English] in public. In Korean culture, we don't like to speak in public or in front of the media. We want to be perfect. If not, we're just afraid to say anything."

Regarding players seeking a grasp of the English language, Jang said, "They'd better be.

"We get a lot of help if someone doesn't speak English," she said. "We have tutors. It's a lot easier to learn than a couple of years ago."

Jang was referring to the LPGA's Cross-Cultural Professional Development Program, which helps players understand different languages and cultures. The program also tailors individual tutors to the needs of a player to help her for situations like pro-am events and media interviews.

The LPGA's Korean community also is helping out in the communities of the nation where they work.

Nearly two weeks ago, a group of 30 Korean players donated their time to the Ronald McDonald House of Northwest Ohio, cooking, cleaning, and doing yard work. They also took up a collection and made a contribution of more than $13,700.

"We talked and we wanted to do this," Jang said. "Everybody had a really great time."

After she won the Women's Open, Park donated $50,000 to LPGA/USGA Girls Golf to help it purchase golf clubs.

"We want to do more," Jang said. "We've always made money here. We have charities in Korea and we donate to them. But I think we should do more here to help them and share with them."

Eun-Hee Ji wins 2009 U.S. Women's Open

2009-07-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

It took an even-par round of golf for Eun-Hee Ji to snatch the U.S. Women's Open crown from Candie Kung. What's more, she did it in dramatic fashion on the 72nd hole. Ji, 23, converted a 20-foot, lagging putt for birdie that left Kung, in the clubhouse, disappointed.

Ji won her first major shooting level-par 284, nipping Kung by one stroke. Cristie Kerr, who started the day in the lead, struggled to a 75. In-Kyung Kim, co-share of the lead until bogeying the 18th hole, tied Kerr at 2-over 286.

"I was extremely nervous before the last putt," said Ji through a translator. "I am still extremely nervous.

"I told myself the worst-case scenario is to go into a playoff. I was at ease and it went in."

Ji became the fourth Korean-born player to win in the last 11 years. She was the first woman to win in her second attempt since 1998, which incidentally was won by Korean Se Ri Pak.

When Ji birdied, she became the first player since Lauri Merten (1993) to win by one stroke with a birdie on the 72nd hole. When the ball dropped, she bear-hugged caddie Zac Austin.

Kung, the 2001 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links champion, had been sequestered inside the clubhouse watching on TV. She held the lead for four holes down the stretch (Nos. 13-16). Kung capped off the 2-under 69 round with a par on No. 18. Never did she look at the scoreboard during the day.

"I did not know at all," said Kung when asked if she knew she had held the lead.

As much as the championship will be remembered for an exciting finish, ala Birdie Kim holing out from a bunker in 2005 on the 72nd hole, Kerr might one day recall this day when her putter betrayed her. She took 35 putts that left her bewildered. Kerr said she couldn't get comfortable with the green speeds.

Kerr had entered the round with a two-stroke margin on Ji. After her round Saturday, Kerr said she felt confident. And why not? Kerr has a mental toughness unlike many other players, and besides, she had the experience of having won a Women's Open crown on her side. However, she cited too many "mental errors" that led to her demise.

On the 16th hole, Kerr had positioned herself for a par. The 12-foot putt navigated the bumpy green, picking up speed. She eventually three-putted for bogey and could never catch Ji or Kung.

"It was a little disappointing," said Kerr. "I tried my heart out. I left it all out there today."

Ji receives the winner's prize of $585,000.
http://tinyurl.com/nkgm3t

http://www.uswomensopen.com/news/sundayrunningupdates.html

Se Ri Pak Inspires A Generation Of Golfers

2009-07-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

By Rhonda Glenn, USGA
http://www.uswomensopen.com/news/pakinspires.html

The 1998 battle seems a long time ago, but it remains fresh in the minds of those who saw it and its repercussions are still being felt in a big way.

Eleven years ago this month, Korea’s Se Ri Pak, a poised professional, battled the pride of Timonium, Md., Jenny Chuasiriporn, a young amateur, for the U.S. Women's Open championship at Blackwolf Run, in Kohler, Wis.

The two met in a playoff. Head to head. Eighteen holes that became 20. Winner take all.

Chuasiriporn clinched her spot with a twisting 40-foot birdie putt that magically found the hole on the 72nd green. When the ball dropped, her eyes widened and she slapped her hand over her mouth.

Spectators, among them former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, went wild.

Moments later, Pak nearly pulled her tee shot into a water hazard on the same finishing hole. But Pak hit an expert iron shot and salvaged a matching 72-hole score of 290.

The next day, the two dueled in an 18-hole playoff that was extended to 20 holes before Pak gained the edge with a 15-footer for a birdie and the win.

It’s hard to overestimate just how important Pak’s victory was to the Korean fans.

Only the two competitors – Pak and Chuasiriporn – can know what their playoff was really like, but the 8,000 fans who came to watch that day raised the week’s total attendance to a record 123,000.

More important, however, all of Korea was watching, glued to their television screens in the early morning hours. And with them thousands of little girls, who began to idolize Pak.

Today, many of those little girls have grown up, and there are 36 Korean women playing in the 2009 U.S. Women’s Open at Saucon Valley Country Club. A handful are older than the age of 26, but most are in their late teens and early 20s, inspired by Pak's dramatic playoff victory.

Jiyai Shin, 21, is a winner on the LPGA tour and she was one of those little girls who watched Pak win the 1998 Women’s Open.

“It's amazing for me, because before Se Ri Pak won, I never know the sport of golf, and then Se Ri Pak won,” said Shin. “I watch it on TV. Oh, it looks like very interesting game. So after Se Ri Pak won, my friends, Inbee Park, many players started golf. She's our idol, actually.”

Park, 20, is the defending Women’s Open champion and when she won last year she became the youngest winner in history, just as Pak was in 1998. Park was mesmerized by Pak’s 1998 victory.

“I was very much inspired by Se Ri Pak,” said Park. “At that time, not just me, but a lot of young girls like me picked up golf and wanted to be like her. It was very early in the morning. I was half asleep.

“There were replays, a thousand times after that,” Park said. “I was able to watch it quite a few times. I liked what she did for the people in Korea. They were all happy with her and I think that’s what really inspired me. My dad…had been begging me to play golf two years before she won…After I watched that, it looked like very, very much fun and I really wanted to do it.”

Sometimes Pak is paired with her fellow countrywomen, occasions that mean so much to the young players.

“I’ve played a couple of times with her,” said Park of her rounds with her heroine. “It felt a little bit weird, because I never thought that I would actually be able to play with her in such a short period of time and be at the same level of competition. So, I felt very honored and I was very proud of myself that I actually made it all the way here.”

“The first couple of years it was a little bit of pressure,” Pak said, referring to the Korean youth movement on the LPGA. “If I was the one leading I needed to show them the right way to go. For some reason that’s kind of hard for me, but now it’s fun to watch them. They give me the energy because I’m still here practicing, playing, and when they see me they remember the long ago time that I was their age. Now it’s a fun time to hang out with them and I’m kind of friends with them.”

Now 31, Pak remains a contender on the LPGA tour. She finished second in the State Farm Classic a few weeks ago. She still bombs it out there and was 15th in driving distance this week, averaging slightly more than 260 yards off the tee. She was 5 over par after a first-round 76 at Saucon Valley, but struggled in the second round and seemed destined to miss the cut at 76-77-153.

But Pak is also thinking about her future, and beginning to make plans for life after competitive golf. In a year or so she plans to start her own golf academy in Korea. She wants to help young players such as Park and Shin, the players she inspired not so very long ago.

It’s a dream Pak has, but many of her dreams have already come true, as have the dreams of the hundreds of little girls who watched her win.

Rhonda Glenn is a manager of communications for the USGA. E-mail her with questions or comments at rglenn@usga.org

Jiyai Shin’s miracle in the making

2009-07-09T04:24:00.000-07:00

Family Ties
By RANDALL MELL
Senior Writer, GolfChannel.com
http://www.thegolfchannel.com/tour-insider/family-ties-30588/

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Jiyai Shin’s week is a miracle in the making.

No matter how the U.S. Women’s Open ends, the South Korean rookie is preparing to wrap her arms around a trophy as big as a dream.

Shin is scheduled to close on the purchase of her first home in Duluth, Ga., upon her return there after the championship.

The five-bedroom house is going to be more than her home alone. It’s going to allow her to bring her family together in the United States , a dream she’s had since she won her LPGA playing privileges late last year.

It’s a desire Shin believes is heavenly inspired.

Almost seven years ago, Shin’s mother, Song Suk Na, was killed when a garbage truck broadsided the car she was driving as she headed to a birthday party. Shin’s brother, Ji Hoon, 7 at the time, fractured his neck in the crash. Shin’s sister, Ji Won, 13 then, suffered fractures of her left shoulder and right leg.

Jiyai wasn’t in the car. She got the bad news while working on her game on a driving range with her father, Jae Suhp.

Shin’s brother and sister were so seriously injured, they spent nearly a year in a hospital recuperating. Shin spent the year with them, sleeping in the hospital on a cot, leaving for school and to practice her golf but always returning.

“My brother and sister were hurt badly, but losing our mother hurt even more,” Shin said.

Shin believes the way her career has flourished and allowed her to buy her American home is orchestrated by her mother.

“I think all the time she care for me upstairs, from upstairs all the time,” Shin said. “I fight for my mom, too.”

The competitive fight is impressive with Shin, at 21, already having claimed 28 victories around the world, five of them LPGA events, including last year’s Ricoh Women’s British Open. With her second LPGA title this season, the Wegmans LPGA two weeks ago, Shin overtook Lorena Ochoa in first place in the Rolex Player of the Year standings. She has a chance to join Nancy Lopez (1978) as the only players to be Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year in the same season.

Shin’s last title also moved her to No. 1 on the money list and No. 3 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. She’s considered a rookie with her three LPGA titles last year coming as a non-member.

At 5-feet-1, with a compact build and swing, Shin has medium-range power but is noted for her remarkable accuracy.

Shin’s fairways-and-greens game suits a U.S. Women’s Open test, even though Saucon Valley Country Club is playing long at 6,740 yards. She and Ochoa are among the favorites this week.

“Jiyai’s always on the short grass,” said Dean Herden, Shin’s caddie.

Shin keeps a photo of her mother in her yardage book. Her brother and sister recovered from their injuries and are thriving in school in South Korea , where her father and his new wife take care of them. Her brother and sister flew to the SBS Open at Turtle Bay to watch Shin make her debut as an LPGA rookie.

“Jiyai speaks to them both almost every day,” Herden said. “They are very close.”

In Hawaii , Shin shared her dream of buying an American home, a place they could all be together when she’s playing in the United States .

“My brother was very excited,” Shin said. “He said he was going to learn English to be ready.”

Shin hopes to bring her brother over in November. Her sister may stay in South Korea to attend college.

Herden sees how the death of Shin’s mother affects the way Shin lives her life.

“I’m sure she hit rock bottom when all that happened,” Herden said. “Today, she’s so grateful for everything life brings her. I think it’s because of that experience. Even on the golf course, she never gets flustered.”

The U.S. Women’s Open promises to test that, but the outcome won’t affect the trophy she’s poised to claim, the home that will bring her family together.

Eunjung Yi wins LPGA Farr Classic

2009-07-05T22:36:00.000-07:00

Eunjung Yi watched from the 17th tee and knew that Morgan Pressel, playing just ahead of her, had holed a lob wedge from 70 yards for eagle that had erased what had only a few holes earlier had been a six-shot lead.

Rather than let her mind wander or allow herself to be distracted by all of the people cheering for Pressel, Yi shut everything out.

"I didn't think about her," she said. "I thought about my golf."

Yi recovered to roll in a 10-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to beat Pressel and capture her first LPGA Tour title Sunday in what might be the final Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.

Pressel, a runner-up for the second time in three years at the Farr, tipped her hat to the winner.

"She won the tournament," Pressel said. "She made a birdie on the playoff hole. I had my opportunities."

The 21-year-old Yi, the 2005 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links winner, began the day with a four-shot lead. She birdied two of the first three holes to go up six shots. Yet she remained oblivious; she never looked at a leaderboard and didn't ask her caddie about her status.

Eunjung Yi kisses the trophy after winning the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic golf tournament Sunday, July 5, 2009, in Sylvania, Ohio. Yi and Morgan Pressel tied at 18-under par and had to play one playoff hole for the win.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/golf/lpga/2009-07-05-farr-classic_N.htm

In-Kyung Kim wins State Farm Classic

2009-06-08T03:08:00.000-07:00

Once In-Kyung Kim made par on her 72nd hole at Panther Creek Country Club, it wasn’t certain if the victory was hers quite yet. Playing in two groups ahead of the third-round leaders on Sunday, Kim had to wait a little longer than usual to see if the $255,000 winner’s check officially belonged to her. After a twenty minute delay due to inclement weather, play was resumed, and once the final putt dropped, Kim raised her arms in the air knowing she was the champion of the 2009 LPGA State Farm Classic.

“I just feel great. I am very excited to win this week,” said the 20-year-old Kim. “There were a lot of low scores this morning. I knew I had to make some birdies today out there. When I was on hole 17, that was the moment that I felt like, you know, I have a one-stroke lead.”

On Sunday, Kim fired a 7-under-par 65, and that turned out to be good enough for the one-stroke win, finishing at 17-under-par 271 overall (69-68-69-65). Starting strong with an opening-hole birdie, Kim followed that one with others on numbers five, six, eight, 11, 13, 16 and 17, and just one bogey on hole seven. Coming down the stretch, the two-time winner knew the importance of closing with birdies.

“I needed to make a birdie at 16 to get into a tie. Number 17 I had a good chance to make a birdie,” Kim added.

Now in her third year as a member of the LPGA Tour, Kim is a two-time winner. She captured her first title a year ago in 2008 at the Longs Drugs Challenge.

Coming up just short of her 25th-career LPGA Tour win was LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame member Se Ri Pak. Pak (66-68-72-66=272, -16) (pictured below) held a share of the lead after rounds one and two, but in round three, four bogeys and a very blustery conditions moved her down to a tie for fourth-place, but only two strokes back from the lead. Entering the final round two strokes back from co-leaders Cristie Kerr and Kristy McPherson, Pak recorded seven birdies and only one bogey, bringing her back up near the top of the leaderboard.

Overall, Pak was pleased with her four days in Springfield, Ill., but of course she wanted to end up in the winner’s circle on the 18th-green. Pak also was proud of fellow South Korean Kim for the job she did this week as well.”

“I had a really solid four rounds,” said the 31-year-old Pak. “My whole week was really good. I felt really good to be here. I was very excited this week, and I feel really good. Of course, I like to win. Of course, I’m trying really hard, to do my best all 18. But I said, I’m really happy for her, but at the same time I’m happy about this week.”

Pair of South Korean players finished together in third place. Hee-Won Han (69-69-70-65=273) and Jee Young Lee (66-69-72-66=273) each finished the 2009 LPGA State Farm Classic with final scores of 15-under-par, good enough for the tie for third-place finish, two strokes back from the winner In-Kyung Kim.

Han, a nine-year LPGA Tour player, recorded eight birdies and just a single bogey in her final round at Panther Creek Country Club. Han’s share of third place this week is her best of the 2009 season, and first top-10 mark since the 2008 Hana Bank Kolon Championship, where she also tied for third.

Lee, rounding out the top-4 players on the leaderboard who all hail from South Korea, joins Han in the third-place spot. Lee was the round one co-leader, but three rounds later finished two strokes back from this week’s winner. Lee has one unofficial LPGA Tour victory to her credit, which came back in 2005 at the Sports Today CJ Nine Bridges Classic, before she became an official member of the LPGA Tour.

Kim earns stay at Canyon Ranch Resort. With her victory at the 2009 LPGA State Farm Classic, In-Kyung Kim earned an all-inclusive stay for two at a Canyon Ranch resort. In a combined effort to promote health and overall well-being among Tour players, Canyon Ranch will provide every winner on an LPGA event with one all-inclusive stay at one of Canyon Ranch’s two destination resorts.

Ji Young Oh wins Sybase Classic

2009-05-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

Ji Young Oh shot 2-under 70 and benefited from a couple of mistakes by Suzann Pettersen on the back nine to capture the $2 million Sybase Classic on Sunday by four shots.

The 20-year-old South Korean finished with a 14-under total on the Upper Montclair Country Club in winning her second LPGA title and earning $300,000.

Pettersen was tied for the lead after 11 holes but bogeyed the 12th hole after a bad drive and then handed Oh the title with bogeys on the final two holes.

Oh put an exclamation point on the win with a 7-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole.

Michelle Wie and Paula Creamer finished tied for third at 8-under after failing to mount a charge on a cold, raw day.

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news;_ylt=AtaSiITKLUVvMY8wzrftBCEogsUF?slug=ap-lpgatour&prov=ap&type=lgns

A Culture Clash for South Korean Players on the LPGA Tour

2009-05-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

While waiting for her parents outside the pro shop, Song-Hee Kim took her sand wedge and bounced a ball off the toe, then the heel. After a dozen bounces, Kim froze the ball on the face of the club and spun it as if she were a chef sautéing it. By the time the ball stopped spinning, she held a small crowd in her sway.

This was how Kim began one of her best weeks as a professional, by entertaining LPGA fans last month at the Samsung World Championship in Half Moon Bay, Calif. The week ended with Kim, a 20-year-old South Korean, in second place, one stroke behind Paula Creamer, and panic-stricken about speaking to American reporters.

Kim felt enormous pressure to conduct her news conference in English because of LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens's short-lived proposal that foreign-born players with two years' experience on the Tour be proficient in English or face suspension beginning in 2009.

Entertaining answers are not a trick Kim can pull out of her bag. Growing up in South Korea, she spent countless hours addressing a golf ball but rarely an audience, public speaking being a skill that is not encouraged. Although Kim speaks English well enough to have been her mother's interpreter during the tournament, she opted to play it safe. She spoke in Korean while an LPGA official translated.

And another chance to shine a light on a tour personality was lost in the translation.

Although language has become a primary talking point on the tour, the cultural gap may be wider than any English-speaking policy can bridge. Bivens has since strained relations more by indicating that her plan was also meant to help the South Korean players shake their omnipresent fathers. By singling out the South Koreans, Bivens has reduced them to one-dimensional stock characters, which is like reading no break in a putt on a contoured green.

Walking the fairways of the LPGA. Tour for two weeks, one finds that the South Korean players are an eclectic and varied lot who love their parents, Facebook and pumpkin pie. They are crazy about purses, texting and practicing, and manage to balance a lot of complex relationships, including their often confused feelings about golf.

An Evolving Image

The LPGA. Tour is the longest-running and most successful professional women's sports organization. Its image has undergone more makeovers in its 58 years of existence than Betty Crocker: from dilettante to tomboy to pin-up to postfeminist and, much more recently, to multinational.

This year, 120 players -- half the tour's membership -- are from outside the United States. Of those, 45 are from South Korea. They have won seven tournaments this year and have eight players among the top 20 money earners. The pipeline shows no signs of drying up as more than three dozen South Koreans competed this year on the Futures Tour, the LPGA's development circuit.

The influx of international talent comes as the tour has recently lost four title sponsors and has yet to complete a television deal beyond the one with ESPN and the Golf Channel that expires next year.

When she met with South Korean players in August, Bivens said she had received complaints from corporate sponsors in the lucrative pro-ams because some LPGA players could not schmooze in English. After the details of her language-proficiency policy were leaked, the public outcry was louder than any gallery roar.

Within two weeks, the LPGA announced it was rescinding the threat of suspension but maintaining its expectation -- fostered through its program of language tutors and software programs -- that playing members would become proficient in English.

Bivens's motivation extends beyond the fiscal health of the tour. In a recent interview, she said her goal was to help assimilate the South Korean players into a culture starkly different from their own and to emancipate them from what she characterized as overbearing fathers. Forcing the players to learn English and threatening their livelihoods was the best way she saw to accomplish that.

''The language is part of the control the parents have over their young daughters,'' Bivens said. ''If they don't even know survival English, they're totally dependent on the dad.''

Seon Hwa Lee, the LPGA. rookie of the year in 2006 and a two-time winner this year, is considered one of the quieter South Koreans, but she was outspoken about Bivens's emancipation proclamation.

''I don't think that's her job,'' Lee said.

Father, Father

Christina Kim, a 24-year-old who dresses to blind and has a neon nature, has a split personality, cavorting like the American girl immortalized in song by Cyndi Lauper while maintaining a Korean daughter's comportment.

Born and raised in California to parents who emigrated from South Korea, she once described herself as being not just the life of the party, but the party itself. During the pro-am at a tournament in Danville, Calif., she was the perfect hostess, drawing out her golf partners by asking them personal questions. By the end of the round, they were exchanging fist pumps and contact information.

Later, Christina motioned for a reporter to take the golf cart seat her father, Man Kim, had just vacated.

At the mention of Bivens's name, Man Kim, who was standing in his daughter's shadow, leaned into the cart and spoke to her in Korean. He interrupted her repeatedly as they discussed whether she ought to continue.

''Dad,'' she said finally, ''either you listen or whatever, but don't do my interview for me.''

When asked later about her father, she wrote in an e-mail message: ''Regardless of what people think, my father and I have always had a great relationship. We would come to raised voices, but which family has never done that before? I always have and always will defend my father's role in my career, both as a caddie, coach and father. He sacrificed so much to get me to this point in my life.''

In Korean culture, parents will do whatever is necessary to help their children's prospects. They have a name for it, child farming, and cultivating successful sons and daughters confers great prestige on the parents. For golfers, that means fathers leave their jobs to travel the circuit and serve their daughters in many unofficial roles: coach, caddie, chauffeur, counselor, critic and cook.

At night during the Danville tournament, the halls of an Extended Stay America Hotel smelled of garlic and kimchi as parents of the South Korean players made dinner. Filial obedience and financial independence are not mutually exclusive to the South Koreans, who see nothing contradictory about taking home the bulgogi (barbecue beef) and letting their mothers or fathers fry it up in a pan.

Some of the fathers turn up the heat, pushing their daughters to practice and berating them when they do not play well. Three caddies who work for them said there were a handful of South Korean players on the Tour who have been ostracized by their compatriots because of their overzealous fathers.

Christina Kim said: ''I can understand and appreciate what Carolyn is trying to do in regards to emancipating Korean players from their fathers. However, it is my firm belief that just like in any other culture, one has to go and reclaim their independence, learn who they are as humans in this world, of their own volition. If someone is not ready to leave the comforts of the nest, or they haven't got the strength to do it, I feel that it is their own choice.''

'Why Me?'

When does a daughter stop being daddy's little girl? The question is a vexing one for Jeong Jang. The 2005 Women's British Open champion, Jang is easy to find on the course; just follow her laugh.

Jang is accompanied on the tour by her father, Seung Jang. He retired as a police officer and left his wife behind to run the family restaurant when his daughter joined the LPGA Tour in 2000. Now 28, Jang has two older sisters back in South Korea.

Jang gave her father a night off from cooking last month. Accompanied by three other South Korean golfers, she held bilingual court over dinner at a Korean barbecue restaurant in Oakland, Calif. In English, she recalled how she once talked her way out of a speeding ticket in Florida by telling the officer who stopped her, ''I have to pee real bad.'' Wading into politics, Jang said she liked Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican candidate for vice president.

''Does she have pregnant teenage daughter?'' she said to a reporter. Yes, she was told. Jang grinned and said, ''Just like Jamie Spears!''

The next night, Jang, who has earned more than $900,000 in 24 starts this year, was in the hotel doing her father's laundry.

''He has more clothes than I do,'' she said.

Jang was counting down the days until she returned home to play in this week's tournament in South Korea. She had been away since March. Sometimes, she said, when her scores are high and her spirits are low, she will call her mother.

''I ask my mom, 'Why me?' '' Jang said. '' 'Why you guys pick me to play golf?' ''

She spoke of the pressures that come with being her family's Chosen One.

''I really appreciate what my dad is doing,'' she said. ''But think about it. How you'd feel if your dad retires because of you, and your mom is lonely because of you. I don't want everything to be about me.''

Her father, who explained through an interpreter that he travels with Jang because his presence ''keeps her from being lazy,'' spoke of the long absences from his wife and two daughters and said he experienced ''separation anxiety.''

''The person I feel most sorry for is my wife,'' he said. ''I'd like to apologize to her for being away.'' He rose abruptly and went outside to smoke.

Separation Anxiety

Hee-Won Han, a 30-year-old player from Seoul, has her own separation anxieties. She longs to see her 1-year-old son, Dale, who is being cared for by her in-laws in South Korea and her husband, Hyuk Son, a retired baseball pitcher, as she completes her eighth year on the tour. Han glues photographs of Dale onto the covers of her yardage books.

''I miss him,'' she said, adding, ''In Korea, every time it's a big deal when I want to take him on a plane. They say he is too young to be traveling.''

She is the first South Korean to have a child and return to the LPGA Tour.

''Everyone's not getting married,'' Han said. ''All the players are the same. They practice, practice, practice. They just want to play golf harder.''

As children, South Koreans are funneled into sports or schoolwork. The two do not mix in a culture that places a premium on excellence, not well-roundedness.

Seon Hwa Lee turned pro at 14 and won her first event on the South Korean LPGA tour the next year. Song-Hee Kim was 17 when she won on the Futures Tour in 2006. When Lee and Song-Hee Kim gained their full LPGA privileges, they were cocooned teenagers not quite ready to be social butterflies.

At last year's pro-am in Danville, Chuck Rydell, an employee of the tournament sponsor Longs Drugs, was paired with a young South Korean who spoke little English. He said he spent an enjoyable round teaching her American curse words.

This year, his pro partner was Sun Young Yoo, a 21-year-old who is known among the South Koreans as the course clown. She made Rydell laugh when the windshield in her cart flew off. Without missing a beat, Yoo said, ''Maybe we are going to lose tires next.''

The pro-ams are like a roving cocktail party, with plus-fours instead of petit fours, and entry fees of $3,500 to $12,000 a person. Coolers around the course are stocked with soda and beer; golf is the ice-breaker for conversation. This kind of socializing is new to the South Koreans, who may even consider it improper. In their culture, it is unusual for young people to mingle with older strangers.

Juli Inkster, who has had a front-row seat for golf's globalization during her 26-year LPGA career, said: ''You put an 18- or 19-year-old girl that's maybe not comfortable with her English with four C.E.O.'s, men or women, she is not going to feel comfortable going up there and making small talk. That's not the way they are brought up.''

With a little ingenuity, this gap can be bridged. For the last two years, the tour stop in Portland, Ore., has held a separate pro-am for Korean-speaking players. They are paired with Korean-speaking amateurs for 18 holes, and a meal catered by a local Korean establishment is served afterward. Everybody wins. The players gain practice interacting with strangers, and the tournament is tapping into a new fan base. This year, the Portland tournament sent out nine foursomes with South Korean pros, up from five in 2007.

Among the players who took part in this year's South Korean pro-am was Song-Hee Kim. One of 10 players on the tour this year with the surname Kim, Song-Hee is easy to pick out. She walks the course with a thoroughbred's gait and favors short, cropped hair and long pants. Until she signed a clothing contract with Fila, her father was her stylist. He bought her shirts in pro shops, choosing what he might wear himself.

Song-Hee's Kim's personality is blossoming with her golf game. One day she left the practice green with a messenger bag slung over her right shoulder. The Swedish veteran Helen Alfredsson touched the flap and purred, ''Nice bag, Song-Hee.''

Beaming, Kim said her coach had helped her choose the Louis Vuitton, the first purse she had ever owned. Her English was perfect.

Se Ri Pak, front, poses with fellow South Korean golfers, from left, Jeong Jang, Birdie Kim, Jee Young Lee, Meena Lee, Sae-Hee Son and Jin Joo Hong.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9802E1D61F31F931A35752C1A96E9C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=4

Why Korean golfers dominate the LPGA Tour

2009-05-15T17:17:00.000-07:00

Cristie Kerr, an American, won the 2007 U.S. Women's Open. This was a major storyline for this year's Open, remarkable because only two Americans appeared in the top-ten spots of the leaderboard going into the last round.

The last names on the leaderboard read like a Pusan phonebook: Bae, Jang, Kim, Lee, Pak, Park, Park, Shin.

This year's Open included 34 Koreans (and that doesn't count Korean-Americans, like Christina Kim or Michelle Wie). To put that in perspective, the next-highest international group represented in this tournament is Sweden—with eight players. With a population of only 45 million, Koreans were somewhat overrepresented at this tournament, and on the LPGA Tour in general.

"Why are Korean women so good?" asked Rhonda Glenn of the USGA to In-Bee Park after her second round. Grimacing, In-Bee, who was born in Seoul but is now a U.S. citizen, responded, "I'm really getting tired of that question. Everyone always asks me that."

Ok, In-Bee, fair enough. But the question is a legitimate one, and it deserves an answer. Having been born and raised in Korea myself, I can probably help you answer it.

It begins and ends with parenting: Korean parents raise their kids a little differently than American parents do. Okay, a lot differently. What Americans consider "pushing" their kids, Koreans consider right and proper. The more freestyle approach used by American parents—let kids have time to be kids— Koreans consider borderline irresponsible.

Leaving children to make their own decisions would be disastrous. Every moment of time is accounted for: children are in school, in an after-school tutoring program, or in a sports activity until it's time to go to bed and start all over again the next day. Yes, it's hard, but it's a competitive world out there and the role of the parent is to teach the child to be successful in it.

Westerners in general would view the pressures placed on Korean children to be inappropriate. We like our children to be "well-rounded." Korean parents, meanwhile, don't fret over lost childhoods. Children are expected to do their share to help their family—and their country—succeed.

Golf: the new path to success
Once Se Ri Pak helped put Korea on the map by winning the 1998 U.S. Women's Open, golf became a national pastime there. The floodgates opened. Korean women had a new path to success, so the obsession became not just golf, but training daughters to become professional golfers.

And when Koreans set a goal, they put everything they have into reaching it. Nothing is done halfway.

If a child shows a talent for golf in Korea, golf becomes pursued with a single-minded purpose unseen in American families, to the exclusion of all other activities, sometimes even to the exclusion of education.

"I think there's less emphasis on academics (in golfers) over there," says Tom Creavy, Se Ri Pak's swing instructor, as he discusses the issue with Gary Gilchrist. As the former Director of Golf at the International Junior Golf Academy in South Carolina, Gilchrist has coached his fair share of Korean students.

"Yeah, absolutely," agrees Gilchrist. "A lot of the kids over there don't even go to school. You'll probably find a lot of the girls on the LPGA that are doing well never finished high school. Those who go to school do well at school, and those who choose golf do well at golf."

"There's such an interest in golf now in Korea that they decide at a really young age that that's what they want to do," says Creavy. "And they get the instruction and the mental health and the funding—the parents find money whether it's their own or a sponsorship and they just go for it. They're driven and so motivated to practice. They're intense."

Sponsorships
Sponsorships are easier to come by in Korea, this is true. In the U.S., only big names win contracts. Meg Mallon, the sponsor-free winner of the 2004 US Women's Open, famously had to purchase her hat in the merchandise pavilion. In Korea, girls that show talent early on have no problem finding someone to help them foot their bills.

Won-Seok Choi is a manager for Hi-Mart, Korea's version of Best Buy, a sponsor for several Korean women on the LPGA Tour and dozens more in Korea. "We started sponsoring four years ago," he says. "We like to support many Korean women golfers because they have a chance to become a big player, like Se Ri Pak."

His explanation for the Koreans' success on tour? "Their families are very supportive," he explains. "They support everything for the players. Asian people have very strong families, and support is the most important thing." Americans see pushiness, Koreans see support.

The only downside for Choi is the tendency to leave school early. "Some of the players don't finish high school. Personally, that's the one thing I don't like about it, because there's a time to study and a time to play."

"Their motto is, the younger the better," says Gilchrist. "It's not like they're patient and waiting—as soon as their kid shows an interest, they're 100 percent committed to it. And I think in the States it's considered a negative thing to push your kids—they use that word, ‘push.' But the Korean attitude is, if you do anything, you have to be successful in it."

Pushy parents—it's one of the reasons why teen phenom Michelle Wie is such a lightning rod of controversy. To the American media, it's apparent that her parents have pushed her too hard and fast.

When she was playing well, with close to a million dollars in earnings her rookie year and three top-five finishes in the majors, the question wasn't, how is she doing this? It was: are her parents pushing her too hard? Now that she's playing poorly, the jury is in: her parents have finally succeeded in killing the golden goose. But remember that BJ and Bo, her parents, are Korean. Their parenting style is the only one they know.

Ji-Yai Shin is as Korean a player you could find. Number-one on the KLPGA Tour, the tiny, endearing 19-year-old has been invited to all of this year's majors plus several other tournaments. In Korea, she's touted as "the next Se Ri Pak."

She begs to differ about pushy parenting. "Korean parents might push when the children are little, but not when they're older," she says through an interpreter. "My father used to push me to play, but not anymore, now I want to play."
What does she think of the story about her counterpart Mi-Hyun Kim, whose father told her she couldn't get married until she wins a major?

"I think they're just kidding, that's just a joke," she laughs.

Through our American eyes it appears overbearing. To Koreans it's simply good parenting. But it's no joke how hard the Korean players push themselves.

At the U.S. Women's Open this weekend, darkness had fallen and most everyone had cleared out for the day. But five stalwarts remained on the putting green, practicing long after everyone else left. All five bags bear Korean flags.

http://www.worldgolf.com/column/why-korean-golfers-are-dominating-lpga-tour-5643.htm