The ‘It’s About Time’ Award:

And the Winner Is: Hee Young Park wins her first tournament on the LPGA tour.

Even before she turned pro and joined the KLPGA back in 2005, Hee Young Park was a golfer who had a superstar trajectory.  She first burst onto the scene by winning the Hite Cup while still in high school; fellow superstars Jiyai Shin and Na Yeon Choi also won their first KLPGA event before joining the tour.  She continued on script by winning in her rookie year and securing the tour’s Rookie of the Year award, beating Na Yeon Choi for the honor (Choi is currently the highest ranked Korean golfer in the world).  In 2006, she finished second on the money list to Shin, and continued to be a top player on that tour over the next two seasons.  Even her fellow golfers on the KLPGA recognized her potential: they voted her as having the best swing among all Korean female golfers, even Se Ri Pak.

Hee Young Park and Na Yeon Choi in 2007

Park finished in third place at the 2007 LPGA Qualifying School, and joined the LPGA full time in 2008, the same year as Ya Ni Tseng and Choi.  It seemed like it would just be a short while before she would join the elite Koreans on tour as another force from that golfing powerhouse.

Well, she didn’t exactly play poorly, easily maintaining her tour card each year and contending from time to time.  But she didn’t win tournaments, either.  For whatever reason, the Sure Thing had some growing pains when she arrived on the big tour.  Meanwhile, her rival and friend Na Yeon Choi, who had not even gained full tour status at 2007 Q-School, played brilliantly right out of the gate.  She battled Tseng for the Rookie of the Year award right until the year’s final event, and won twice in her second season and twice again in 2010.

Park became known as Rocket for her ability to make bunches of birdies at a time and shoot up the leaderboard.  But like a rocket, when she fizzled she often crashed, producing terrible rounds.  And whenever she got in contention, she was never able to keep her nerve and close the deal.

Hee Young in 2009

She came agonizingly close to winning her first event at the 2011 Safeway Classic.  She needed a par on the final hole to get into a playoff with Choi and Suzann Pettersen.  But she made bogey and finished third.  That finish qualified her for the season ending CME Titleholders Championship, and it was there that Rocket finally got her first win, four years after joining the tour.

In the end, it was her ability to stay focused, once one of her liabilities,that won her the trophy.  She was chased all day by many of the big names in the game, including Choi, Tseng, Sandra Gal and Paula Creamer.  But she kept making big putts to maintain a slim lead over Gal.  On the final hole, she was left with a tricky up and down from off the green.  Missing that might have opened the door for Gal.  But Park hit a great chip and drained the short par save to put the win away.  For the super talented Rocket, this win might be the spark that lights the fuse for greatness at last!

Hee Young Park in December

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Most Improved Player

And the Winner Is: Ha Neul Kim

Ha Neul Kim had a great career trajectory going her first two years as a professional.  She won the KLPGA’s Rookie of the Year award in 2007.  In 2008, she managed three victories en route to a third place finish on the money list.

Ha Neul was the 2007 KLPGA Rookie of the Year

But just when it looked like Kim was going to become a superstar, she began to have trouble with her swing.  2009 was not a terrible year, but she did not manage a victory.  2010, however, was a bit of a scare for those who admired the talented golfer.  That year, she did not even finish in the top 20 on the money list, and had few top finishes to give her hope.

But 2011 proved to be a major comeback season for her, and so she wins this award for Most Improved Player.  It started in the very first event of the season in China, when she came just a shot away from getting into a playoff with winner Hye Youn Kim.  A few months later, she claimed her first win in two years at the Hyundai Construction Seoul Economy Women’s Open.

That would have been a pretty satisfying comeback in and of itself, but Kim had much more in store for her fans.  Towards the end of the season, she went on a tear, winning her first Major at the Hite Cup, notching a second place finish behind Amy Yang at the year’s fourth Major, corralling a third win at the EDaily KYJ Golf Ladies Open, and losing a seven hole playoff for her fourth win at the ADT-CAPS, the year’s final event.  By the time she won the EDaily, she had secured her first ever Money List title.  She added Player of the Year with her second place finish at the ADT.  As a punctuation, she added a fourth (unofficial) title when she claimed the Queen of Queens trophy in a year ending special event that pitted her against several other top players on tour.  In her final five events played in Korea in 2011, she had three seconds and two wins. 

Ha Neul with her third KLPGA trophy of 2011

With her heroics, Kim established herself as the top player on tour without any question.  Quite an improvement from her struggles of 2010, and good reason to hope that her 2012 season will be even more amazing.

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Rookie to watch in 2012: So Yeon Ryu

In 2011, I had the following to say about a Rookie to watch for 2011:

(Hee Kyung) Seo is the player I think is most likely to be the Rookie of the Year by the end of the season…  For me, the one variable is, how long will it take Seo to get used to living and traveling in the States?  If it doesn’t hit her too hard, I don’t doubt she will be making noise on tour by the end of the season.  And though there are many solid rookie prospects, all Seo’s pro experience will hold her in good stead in her battle for Rookie of the Year. 

A good call by me, I’d say.  Hee Kyung Seo did not have a fabulous year by her high standards, but she was consistent, and ended up winning the LPGA’s Rookie of the Year award pretty easily.

So, who are the Korean rookies to watch for the coming year?  One name leaps out at me, and I have to say I probably don’t deserve too much credit if I predict great things for her.  Her name is So Yeon Ryu, and she is a 21 year old college student who earned her status on the LPGA tour by winning a tournament.  That in itself would be pretty impressive (it’s how Jjiyai Shin and Hee Kyung Seo got on tour), but it gets better: that tournament happened to be the US Women’s Open, inarguably the most important event in all of women’s golf. 

So Yeon at the US Women's Open

With a pedigree like that, the expectations on Ryu will be high.  But she should be able to meet them if she can acclimate to the rigors of living and traveling on the LPGA tour.  In her previous few years on the KLPGA tour, she has managed seven career wins and finished in the top five on tour multiple times.  Unlike Seo and Shin, she never won a KLPGA Major or finished first on the money list.  But her consistency should make her tough to beat for the LPGA’s top award nonetheless.

So Yeon Ryu

Another factor in her favor is that the field of her fellow rookies is not as deep as it generally is.  The most well known of Ryu’s rivals is Alexis Thompson, who has also already won an LPGA tournament.  Thompson does have a ton of talent, and is very long off the tee, which always helps.  But she will only be 17 years old when she joins the tour, and amateurs or pros with limited professional experience, even great ones, tend to take a little longer to get up to speed on tour than pros from other tours do.  Another notable rookie is two-time US Women’s Amateur champ Danielle Kang – who struggled to get her card at Q-School, but who certainly has the talent to be a star at some point – and several other strong amateurs such as Stephanie Kono and Cydney Clanton also merit mention. 

Several interesting names, to be sure, but if Ryu plays up to the level she has already demonstrated, or even comes remotely close, she should still be the rookie to beat on the LPGA in 2012.

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Rookie of the Year

And the Winner Is: Hee Kyung Seo

To my mind, there were two Korean golfers this year who could legitimately be considered the best rookies on their respective tours, and both of those golfers won Rookie of the Year awards.  They were Hee Kyung Seo, the 2011 LPGA Rookie of the Year, and Yeon Ju Jung, the KLPGA’s top rookie star.  The competition for the Seoulie between these two was definitely fierce.  Both had solid years, with the edge going to Jung.  But Seo succeeded on the tougher tour, against harder competition, so I give her the edge for the honor.

Hee Kyung Seo with her 2011 LPGA Rookie of the Year trophy

Seo had a decent if mostly unspectacular rookie year on tour.  After winning the 2010 Kia Classic to gain tour membership, in 2011 she duked it out with a group of strong former amateur stars for top rookie.  She wound up beating them by a sizable margin for that award, despite not winning in 2011.

She came close to a win, though, and never closer than at the US Women’s Open, where she held the lead as play stopped on Sunday.  Were it not for a phenomenal birdie on the final hole by her old Korean rival So Yeon Ryu, or perhaps an ill timed bogey at the 17^th hole by Seo as light faded on Sunday, Seo would have had the trophy.  That was really her best shot at a win, but she did notch two other top tens: a fourth place at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational that clinched the Rookie of the Year award for her, and a tie for 6^th at the Avnet Classic. 

Seo at the US Women's Open

Seo’s secret weapon was her consistency.  Though she had few other great finishes, she had an awful lot of solid ones.  In fact, she had 8 other top 25 finishes, each one moving her a little closer to her goal.  She did miss three cuts, including at the Kia Classic in defense of her title.  Her money total of $619,429, more than half of which came at the Open, earned her 21^st place on the money list.

Jung, meanwhile, had her own Major moment in 2011.  It came when she won the Korean Women’s Open, arguably the most important event on that tour.  It was her only win last season, but Jung had a bunch of other great finishes throughout the year.  She racked up 7 top tens, 4 of which were top fives, and did not miss a single cut all year.  Quite an achievement for a gal not yet out of her teens.  She wound up 5th on the year ending money list.

Jung accepts her 2011 KLPGA Rookie of the Year award

In a lot of ways, Jung had a better season than Seo.  She finished higher on the money list, had more top tens and top fives, and won the biggest event on her tour, where Seo only finished as the runner up in her tour’s biggest event.  Both ladies dominated their respective Rookie of the Year races.  But I’m still picking Seo narrowly over Jung as our Rookie of the Year.  There’s no doubt that Seo had the tougher competition, but she also had the bigger learning curve.  She had to travel all over the world to play in events, while Jung played almost exclusively in Korea.  True, Jung is a young kid in her first season on a major tour, so she had her own learning curve, but you can’t underestimate how tough it can be to live in a new country where you don’t speak the language fluently, and where you have to get used to far longer traveling distances, different culture, customs, and food.  I might still have given Jung the nod if she had been a little stronger on the KLPGA or Seo had been a little weaker.  But given the facts as they were, Hee Kyung Seo is our 2011 Rookie of the Year.

Other Nominees: Yeon Ju Jung

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Player of the Year

And the Winner Is: Sun Ju Ahn

If the Rookie of the Year was a tough choice, this one was really tricky.  There were no obvious candidates for this award like in years past.  Na Yeon Choi, Danielle Kang, Ha Neul Kim, So Yeon Ryu – you could make a case for any of those ladies as the Player of the Year.  Almost every one of them did something historic in 2011.  But my choice is Sun Ju Ahn, who also made history in 2011 by becoming the first foreign born player to ever lead the Japanese tour money list for two years.

It’s a bit challenging for me to talk about Ahn, because I don’t really follow the JLPGA all that closely.  But the numbers speak for themselves.  Though she gets almost no coverage in the States, she is as of this writing the second highest ranked Korean golfer in the world rankings, behind only Na Yeon Choi and ahead of former world #1 Jiyai Shin (for the record, Ahn is currently ranked #6).  She is also the only golfer in the top ten not playing full time on the LPGA tour.  She reached these lofty heights by being a superstar in Japan from virtually the moment she landed there as a rookie in 2010.  Last season, she became the first Korean and only the second non-Japanese player to ever lead their money list, winning four times in the process.  This year, she won four more times, including her first Major, the Salonpas Cup, to again lead the money list and break the 100 million yen barrier.  (Even more amazingly, Ji Hee Lee was second on the money list, the first ever foreign 1-2 finish on that tour).  Her four wins make her the Korean golfer with the most wins on any tour in 2011.

Sun Ju Ahn

Ahn joined the KLPGA tour in 2006.  She had a great rookie season, winning once and finishing in the top ten 8 other times, including two second place finishes.  But she was thoroughly outclassed in the rookie race that year by Jiyai Shin, who had three wins.  Shin would continue to overshadow her friend over the next few seasons, winning the Player of the Year award from 2006 – 2008.  But Ahn quietly amassed an impressive record of her own.  If there is a Korean superstar in all the world with a lower profile than Ahn, I’m not sure who it would be.  But a superstar she certainly has been and continues to be.

For instance, in 2007, she notched top tens in both Australian events she played, then won the Korean Women’s Open, beating Cristie Kerr among others in the field.  That win put Ahn (temporarily) in first place on the KLPGA money list.  It wouldn’t last: Shin reasserted her dominance with three straight wins and nine total, but Ahn still managed two more wins in 2007 and 12 total top tens.  She finished third on the money list. 

Ahn in the winner's circle in 2007

By that point, Ahn was considered one of the Big Three on the KLPGA tour, along with Shin and Eun Hee Ji.  Ji left the KLPGA in 2008 to join the LPGA, and within a couple of years had won two events, including the 2009 US Women’s Open.  Shin, meanwhile, not only won the KLPGA money list title for a third straight year in 2008, she also won three LPGA events to boot, including the British Women’s Open.  By comparison, Ahn’s season was a bit slow to get off the ground.  She did eventually win an event late in the year, and contended a few other times.  But the birth of a new superstar, Hee Kyung Seo, impacted Ahn at the St. Four, an event jointly co-sanctioned by the KLPGA and the European Tour.  Seo made birdies on her final four holes to catch Ahn and beat her after Ahn had led most of the week.

With the new generation of KLPGA stars rising, Ahn decided it was time to join Ji and Shin on the LPGA.  She went to 2008 LPGA Qualifying School, winning her sectional.  But at the Finals, she suffered an injury and had to bow out.  Deflated, she returned to the KLPGA in 2009.  That season, most of the focus was on Seo and another new superstar, So Yeon Ryu.  Those two finished 1-2 on the money list, but Ahn hardly had a poor year: she won twice, amassed 14 top tens, and finished third on the money list.  But all the press coverage went to the big Seo-Ryu rivalry and tended to ignore the jovial big woman.

Ahn found herself in the shadow of Hee Kyung Seo in 2009, when Seo won 5 times

Ahn then made an interesting decision.  Instead of trying to qualify again for the LPGA, like she had in 2008, she chose to join the Japanese tour instead.  She made it through Q-School with little problem, and sent a message that a new force had arrived by winning her very first tournament by five strokes.  Included in that field were two other golfers who now had membership on that tour: Jiyai Shin and Inbee Park, the winner of the 2008 US Women’s Open. 

Ahn went on to win the money list on the 2010 Japanese tour by an impressive margin.  Ahn dyed her hair red and began referring to herself by the unusual nickname of ‘Ahn of Green Gables’ (being a fan of that story), although I suspect ‘Raggedy Ahn’ might have been more appropriate. 

Sun Ju Ahn is known for her red hair -- though this is obviously a wig!!!

In any event, she definitely came into the 2011 season with a target on her back, but she went on to do in 2011 what she had done in 2010.  She won four times, including a Major, broke the 100 million yen barrier for the second straight year, and beat the second place Lee by ~25 million yen.  In addition, her win at the Sankyo Ladies Open In October was the 100^th win by a Korean on that tour, a victory that mirrored the 100^th Korean win on the LPGA achieved by Na Yeon Choi at about the same time (interestingly, the first win on both tours by a Korean was achieved by the same golfer, Ok Hee Ku).  She made more history as the only foreign born player to ever repeat as money list leader.

Sun Ju Ahn is the 2011 JLPGA Player of the Year

Keep an eye cocked towards Japan in 2012, to see if Sun Ju Ahn can continue her dominating ways in the Land of the Rising Sun!

Other nominees (and why I didn’t choose them):

Ha Neul Kim

Ha Neul Kim

Ha Neul Kim had a fantastic year on the KLPGA, winning the Player of the Year and money list titles, claiming her first Major, and generally establishing herself as top cat over there.  Her achievement was all the more impressive considering she was competing with So Yeon Ryu, who had become a Major winner in 2011 by capturing the US Women’s Open.  Ryu had a great season in Korea, and even led many of the categories listed above for a time, but in the end she just couldn’t stop Kim.

I was tempted to give Kim the award, since I consider the Japanese and Korean tours to be similar in terms of competitiveness.  Kim had one fewer win than Ahn, but she did win an unofficial All-Star event at the end of the season, barely lost the ADT-CAPS in an interminable playoff, and finished second to Amy Yang at the year’s final Major (Yang being a bit of a ringer, in that she does not usually play on the KLPGA tour).  But Kim gets to play most of her tournaments in her home country, while Ahn has to deal with living in a foreign country while she does her thing.  And her historic achievement as the first two time foreign money list leader is another important consideration.  So Ha Neul gets credit, but Ahn gets the award.

Na Yeon Choi

Na Yeon in Taiwan in December

Na Yeon Choi is the highest ranked Korean in the world (#3 as of this writing).  She had a few struggles early in the year, including just her second missed cut at the US Women’s Open.  But she righted the ship after that and had some great tournaments.  She beat world #1 Ya Ni Tseng head to head in Malaysia, barely lost to her in Korea, and had a great chance to claim a win in Portland as well before her game fizzled in the final few holes and the playoff.  She had 12 top tens in all and finished third on the LPGA money list.

That may not be as impressive as her 2010 performance, when she led the money list and won the Vare Trophy, but it was certainly a great job nonetheless.  As if that were not enough, she also achieved the 100^th win on the LPGA by a Korean or Korean American when she won in Malaysia.   This historic moment was a BIG DEAL in Korea.

Na Yeon at a celebration of 100 Korean wins on the LPGA tour in December

So why is she not the Player of the Year?

The main factor, as I see it, was number of wins.  Choi had only one win on the LPGA tour and a second win on the Korean tour.  It’s arguable how to compare those two wins against the four Japanese tour wins (one Major) Ahn had.  My feeling is that Ahn’s record was a little more impressive.  So, I give it to Ahn in a close contest.  But no question, it was another Player of the Year caliber season for Na Yeon Choi.

So Yeon Ryu

So Yeon Ryu

So Yeon Ryu was not as consistent as Na Yeon Choi or even Ha Neul Kim in 2011, but she did have the single biggest win of any Korean all year when she took the US Women’s Open crown.  This not only made her the first Korean in two years to win a Major, and the third youngest to win that particular event, it also made her the first Korean to ever earn her tour card by winning the most prestigious title in women’s golf.  She was also the winner of the first ever playoff between two Koreans for a Major title.    Her performance the entire week, and particularly in the playoff, was the best any Korean produced in 2011.

Ryu also won an event on the KLPGA, but found herself finishing well behind Ha Neul Kim in the season ending award race in Korea.  It’s arguable whether Ryu would even be considered to have had a better season than Kim, let alone Ahn.  Sure, the Open title goes a long way towards forgiving any other shortcomings she had in her battle with Kim for supremacy.  But in my opinion, she needed just a bit more consistency, or one or two more wins, to have deserved the title over Sun Ju Ahn.

Danielle Kang

Danielle Kang at the British Women's Open

Danielle Kang’s golden moment came in winning the US Women’s Amateur for the second straight year.  She is the only woman of Korean ethnicity to ever manage that feat.  Grace Park never did it; nor did Jennifer Song.  And her performance all week, and particularly in the final round, where she utterly destroyed her worthy opponent, Moriya Jutanugarn, was one for the ages.  Nor was it her only moment of brilliance in 2011; she was also the low amateur at 2011’s Ricoh British Women’s Open. 

But Kang struggled a good deal more towards the end of the year, barely earning a tour card for the 2012 LPGA tour.  And as impressive as her Amateur win was, winning that tournament was not as impressive as Ryu winning the Open.  If Ryu doesn’t rate the Player of the Year, it seems like Kang shouldn’t either.

So without further ado, let’s get to the awards!

Biggest Disappearing Act

The Winner Is: The Koreans on the LPGA tour

It’s hard to explain why the Korean golfers had such a crummy year on the LPGA tour in 2011, but that’s exactly what happened.  In 2010, the Koreans managed 10 wins on tour, and in 2009 they had 12 (if you include the Korean Americans), their best totals in LPGA history.  2010 saw a nice mix of veterans recapturing their form (Jimin Kang, Se Ri Pak) and the younger generation coming into their own.  For the first time in history, Koreans occupied the first and second spot on the LPGA tour money list (Na Yeon Choi and Jiyai Shin, each of whom won twice in 2010).  The Koreans also captured the Vare Trophy (Choi again), and a Korean finished the year for the first time as the #1 golfer in the world (Shin).  Even the stars who had yet to capture wins, like Amy Yang and Song Hee Kim, seemed poised to do that in 2011.  Everything pointed to a phenomenal season in the making.

Na Yeon Choi was #1 on the 2010 LPGA money list

But in fact, the exact opposite wound up happening.  Koreans only managed three wins in 2011, their lowest total since 2000 and second lowest in the Se Ri Pak era.  The last time the Koreans had a similarly weak season was 2007, when they managed only four wins.  However, that was in many ways a transitional season, where the veterans were struggling and the young guns were new to the league and had not yet acclimated to the tour (Shin and Choi were not yet members; In Kyung Kim, Inbee Park, Eun Hee Ji and Ji Young Oh, all of whom have won on tour since, were all rookies).

There were a few factors that affected the Sisters in 2011.  Ya Ni Tseng, who had never won more than a few times in a season, suddenly was winning practically everything in sight.  She had by far her best season, taking a quantum leap up in her results.  Jiyai Shin, the Korean’s top player, struggled with injuries, as did many of the veterans, including Se Ri Pak and Grace Park.  But there were other golfers who should have been ready to take the next step who simply didn’t, and they didn’t have the excuse that they were newcomers to the league like in 2007.  As Tony Jesselli noted in a recent post on his blog, three of the four biggest losers in the world rankings this season were Korean, and they were also three of the biggest stars the Koreans have.  Among the 10 players with the biggest ranking drops, five were Korean or Korean American.  That is not a positive trend.

The biggest loser of them all was Jiyai Shin, the Korean who started the year as the #1 golfer in the world, but finished the year ranked 7^th.  She did not win an event on any tour in 2011, the first time in her professional career that this had happened.  If you eliminate the final event of last year from the calculation, Shin managed an under-70 scoring average for 2010.  Her average in 2011 was nearly a FULL STROKE worse than that.  No wonder her results were so much poorer.

Shin and Choi share laughs in 2010

Song Hee Kim had the second largest drop, falling from 9^th to 30^th.  Kim has never won an LPGA tournament, but her record the past three years was very impressive, with umpteen top tens and runner up finishes to her name.  She still had a couple of great tournaments in 2011, but her consistency was missing.  The 4^th biggest drop belonged to Inbee Park, who had been strong on both the LPGA and JLPGA in 2010, but struggled a bit more in 2011 (though she did win in Japan).

Even the Koreans who had relatively good years, however, had their struggles.  In Kyung Kim was the strongest Korean the first half of the year, but had a major slump in the second part of the season.  Na Yeon Choi was very erratic from the start of the year through the middle of the summer, where she missed her second career LPGA cut at the US Women’s Open.  She improved markedly after that, and played brilliantly much of the rest of the year, finishing third on the money list.  But even so, she had only one win all year (plus another win on the Korean tour).

In Kyung Kim in March of 2011

In the first half of the season, not only were Koreans not winning, they weren’t even contending all that often.  It was once upon a time common to see Koreans all over leaderboards, but in the first half of 2011 there were several events where only one or two Koreans finished in the top ten, and none were in the mix trying to win the title come Sunday.  It took until March and the Kia Classic before the Koreans had their first real chance to win. Jiyai Shin cruised into the lead in the second round and stayed at or near the lead the rest of the week.  But German Sandra Gal, who had never won an event, refused to lose, hanging in close for three rounds.  In the final round, Shin made many uncharacteristic mistakes, but still held onto the lead.  It all came down to the final hole, when the Final Round Queen hit a fabulous approach shot, then botched a short birdie putt to hand the trophy to Gal.  The entire performance had been most un-Shinlike.

Jiyai Shin misses the crucial putt at the Kia Classic

There were a bunch of other disappointments along the way.  When Tseng wasn’t blowing away the field, the Koreans still would come up short.  Na Yeon Choi blew a lead at the Safeway Classic, then dunked her approach shot in the water in the playoff.  Hee Young Park needed a par on the final hole to get into that playoff, but made bogey.  Song Hee Kim being edged out by Maria Hjorth at the Avnet Classic.  Only one Korean in the final four at the match play (last year, three of the final four were Korean).  Ran Hong and Shin Ae Ahn were not able to get the win at the Evian.  Despite a fantastic day two by three great Korean golfers, the British Women’s Open turned into another Tseng blowout.  The Koreans didn’t even win the tour event in Korea, though most of the top five were Korean.  Amy Yang lost by a shot in Arkansas. Catriona Matthew suddenly found her form in Mexico and denied In Kyung Kim a great chance to repeat her title.   Etc., etc.

KLPGA star Soo Jin Yang had a good week at the Hana Bank, but still came up short

How bad was this year?  The Koreans did not have their first win on tour until early July at the US Women’s Open.  In almost every other season in the Se Ri Pak era, the Koreans won for the first time much earlier than that. And that win was by a non-tour member; an actual Korean member of the LPGA did not win an event until OCTOBER. 

Hopefully this was just a weird aberration.  You may recall that in 2007-2008, there was a streak of nearly a year without a Korean win on tour.  But the latter half of 2008 was one of the most successful seasons in history for the Sisters, totaling nine wins.  So perhaps they are loading up for a fantastic burst in 2012.  Here’s hoping!

Other nominees: Jee Young Lee

What has happened to Jee Young Lee?  Once upon a time she was among the top Koreans on tour.  These days she’s struggling to maintain a tour card.  It’s a mystery.

Best Korean confrontation:

And the Winner is: So Yeon Ryu vs. Hee Kyung Seo, US Women’s Open

It has all the makings of a Hollywood movie.  Two longtime rivals from the local Korean golf tour playing in the US Women’s Open, the biggest women’s golf tournament in the world, where they wind up in a playoff for the trophy.  It may have been the most improbable result of the year, but sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. 

So Yeon Ryu and Hee Kyung Seo during the US Women's Open playoff

Hee Kyung Seo won the Kia Classic in 2010 to gain full membership on the LPGA tour.  She had been having a lackluster 2011, but still managed to win her sectional qualifier to gain entry into the field at the US Women’s Open.  Meanwhile, her longtime KLPGA rival So Yeon Ryu earned her way in by virtue of her finish on the 2010 KLPGA money list.  The event was plagued by terrible weather, and it turned into a test of survival.  On Sunday, Seo played 2 full rounds, 13 hours of golf.  She started the day in 21^st place, but after two brilliant rounds of 68, she carded a 3 under total just before darkness fell and play ceased.  She would have to watch on Monday morning to see if anyone could catch her.  Only three golfers still had a mathematical chance to do so.  Her biggest threat was none other than her old friend Ryu.  The 21 year old was only one shot back with three holes to go.

Ryu did not get out to a good start: her tee shot on the 16^th hole found the greenside bunker.  But she got up and down from a tricky lie to keep her hopes alive.  She had a great chance for birdie on the par 5 17^th, but her putt burned the edge.  But on the 18^th hole, she hit a phenomenal approach to five feet, then drained the tricky putt to catch Seo.  Making a birdie on the 72^nd hole of the biggest event of the year to tie the leader is the stuff dreams are made of, and Ryu did it with the confidence of a veteran.

So Yeon Ryu made some clutch putts during Monday play at the Open

The playoff was a three hole aggregate affair.  Both players made par on the 16^th hole.  On the 17^th hole, however, Seo hit a poor drive into a fairway bunker and could only advance her next shot 100 yards.  There would be a two stroke swing when Ryu birdied and Seo bogied.  Ryu put the exclamation point on the win with an even more brilliant iron on 18 than the one she had hit an hour earlier.  In the six holes she played on Monday, Ryu had three birdies and three pars.  On a tough Major level course with everything on the line, that is astounding.

So Yeon Ryu, the third youngest to ever win the US Women's Open

But though Seo ended up losing, she could still hold her head high.  She had played fantastically on Sunday to even give herself the chance for the win, and it took a truly special effort from Ryu to beat her.  And they both contributed to a bit of history: the first ever playoff between two Koreans for a Major title.

Other Nominees:  Ha Neul Kim vs. Young Ran Jo, ADT-CAPS Championship

This playoff at the KLPGA’s final event of the season seemed like it would go to Ha Neul Kim, who had two wins and a second in her previous three events.  But Jo would not go away, and won the battle of attrition after seven holes.

Ha Neul Kim after losing the 7 hole playoff at the ADT CAPS

Lydia Ko vs. Cecilia Cho, many times

These two Korean teenage amateurs, both living and playing in New Zealand, have been writing and rewriting the record books for the past few seasons.  They are good friends, but also fierce rivals, and by the end of the year, they were the ranked #1 (Ko) and #2 (Cho) in the world in women’s amateur golf.  Whether they really are the two best amateurs in the world or not is debatable, but the battle these two waged for titles in 2011 provided some of the best drama of the year.

Cho, 16, started the year as the higher ranked player, but Ko got the best of her most of the times they met this season.  And boy, did they run into each other a lot!  In March, they battled for the Australian Stroke Play championship.  Of course, it wound up as a playoff, with Ko beating Cho on the second playoff hole to become the youngest ever winner of that title.  The two were 7 shots ahead of the third place golfer.

Cecilia Cho poses in 2010

In April, they were the top two players on the leaderboard at the North Island Stroke Play, but Ko wound up edging out Cho by a shot to grab the title (Cho was 9 shots ahead of the third place golfer). 

Then came the New Zealand Stroke Play Championship.  Ko and Cho soon distanced themselves from the field.  Ko took a five shot lead, lost it, then cruised to a nine shot victory over her rival in the final round.  She became the first golfer to ever hold both the Australian and New Zealand Stroke Play titles in the same year.  The next day, she turned 14.

Lydia Ko with another of her many 2011 trophies

Next came the New Zealand Match Play Championship, which was seeded based on the results of the Stroke play championship.  Cho was the two time defending champion (she had beaten Ko in the finals in 2009, when Ko was 12 years old (!!) ).  To no one’s surprise, both players made it to the finals for yet another epic clash.  And once again, it was Ko who came out on top, decisively defeating her rival 4 & 3.

We eagerly look forward to the next chapter in this amazing rivalry!

Round of the Year: HJ Choi, MetLife KLPGA Championship, final round

The year’s second Major on the KLPGA tour, the MetLife KLPGA Championship, was contested under difficult conditions, and low scores were few and far between.  After three rounds, no one was able to score better than 69, and very high score were far more common.

Then came the final round, and one golfer was so on fire that she shot not only the best round of her career, but one of the very best rounds in KLPGA history.  Hye Jung ‘HJ’ Choi had been playing on the LPGA tour the past few seasons, but decided to focus on the KLPGA tour this year.  In her first three rounds, she played decently, and was five shots back entering the final day.  But right from the get go, she was unstoppable on Sunday.  She had five birdies on the front nine and five more on the back to shoot an unbelievable 10 under 62.  To put this in perspective, no other golfer was able to beat 67 all week.  She herself had not been able to beat 70.

HJ Choi with her KLPGA Championship trophy

Two of the golfers who started the day ahead of her, Soo Jin Yang and So Yeon Ryu, were a bit shellshocked by Choi’s run up the leaderboard.  But both stars had great days themselves on Sunday.  Yang shot the second best round of the week, a 67, and still missed a playoff with Choi by a shot.  Ryu, the recent US Women’s Open champion, was looking for the first KLPGA Major win of her career.  Despite a final round 69, she ended up three shots short of Choi in third place.  She in fact would not be able to win a KLPGA Major in 2011.

Ryu didn't win a KLPGA Major in 2011, but came close at the KLPGA Championship

Other Nominees:

Ha Neul Kim, Round 1, EDaily KYJ Golf Ladies Open

Kim opened this tournament with a blistering 64.  She wound up winning the title, which secured the Money List title for her for the first time in her career.

Ha Neul had a great opening round at the EDaily, which she wound up winning

Se Ri Pak, round 2, Ricoh British Women’s Open

Pak shot a 64 in round 2 of the British Women’s Open to vault into a share of the lead.  Alas, it didn’t last, and Ya Ni Tseng ended up running away with the title.

Hee Kyung Seo’s Sunday at the US Women’s Open

Hee Kyung Seo started Sunday with two rounds of golf to play.  13 hours later, she had shot two 68s to move to 3 under and the outright lead.  Given the conditions, the start-and-stop nature of the play, and the enormity of the situation, it was a superlative day of golf turned in by the Supermodel of the Fairways.  In the end, she still lost to rival So Yeon Ryu, who shot 69 in each of her final three rounds.

Shot of the Year

And the Winner Is: So Yeon Ryu, approach shot, 72^nd hole, US Women’s Open

No shot had more impact for the Koreans in 2011 than the second shot So Yeon Ryu made on her final hole in regulation at the 2011 US Women’s Open.  Simply put, it was all or nothing.  She needed to make birdie to force a playoff, or else Hee Kyung Seo would be the champion.  And she delivered, hitting an immaculate iron shot to six feet.  She drained the tricky putt minutes later, and after a three hole playoff, hoisted the champion’s trophy.  Interestingly, her approach on the final playoff hole, which also took place on hole 18, was even more impressive, but the stakes were not as high, as she had already clinched the title by then.  In fact, she birdied the 18^th hole the final three times she played it.

Ryu at the Open on Monday

Other Nominees:

Na Yeon Choi,  tee shot, 17th hole, Sime Darby Malaysia

The Koreans had been trying to reach an important milestone ever since Ryu won the Open in July: their 100^th win on the LPGA tour.  Time and again, however, they came up short.  Perhaps the biggest disappointment came the week before the LPGA’s Malaysia tour stop.  Na Yeon Choi had a chance to get the 100^th win in front of the home crowd in Korea; what a story that would have been.  Alas, World #1 Ya Ni Tseng managed to steal her thunder with a one shot win. 

Choi was leading the Malaysia tour stop coming into the final round, but Tseng once again was charging, and on the back nine, the two traded blows in an effort to capture the crown.  After Tseng had caught Choi once again, Choi came to the 17th hole, a par 3 over water.  She hit a nearly perfect iron to about three feet, made the birdie, and went on to capture the win by a stroke.

Most Fashionable

And the Winner Is: Ha Neul Kim

Ha Neul Kim is not only a big talent on the KLPGA tour, she is also very popular, winning the fan-selected Most Popular Award on the tour this year.  She is also known as quite a fashionable player.  Here are a few of the looks she sported on the fairway this season.

Ha Neul rocking the black knee socks at the EDaily, round 2:

Ha Neul at the EDaily

In round 3, Ha Neul went with white knee socks instead:

Ha Neul Kim

Ha Neul loves wearing light blue on Sunday — Ha Neul means ‘sky’ in Korean, and also the color of the sky:

Ha Neul Kim

Here Ha Neul goes a different direction with black:

Ha Neul Kim

Ha Neul in a photo taken for an interview:

Ha Neul Kim

Ha Neul dresses up at the KLPGA Awards Show:

Ha Neul Kim

Other Nominees: Shin Ae Ahn

Shin Ae Ahn won the fan voted Most Fashionable Award at the 2011 KLPGA Awards show.  It’s pretty easy to see why.  By the way, both she and Ha Neul Kim have a clothing sponsorship by the same company, Le Coq Sportif.

Shin Ae Ahn during round 2 of the EDaily

Shin Ae’s outfit in round 3 of the EDaily:

Shin Ae Ahn

Shin Ae had a great week in France at the Evian Masters:

Shin Ae Ahn

Shin Ae at the 2011 Korean Women’s Open:

Shin Ae Ahn

 Up next: Rookie of the Year, Most Improved and Player of the Year.  Stay tuned!!

Ha Neul Kim at the Awards Show

But though the team event has gone missing, the Awards show went on as normal.  The LPGA and other tours could take a page from the Koreans here.  The event is televised and has become quite popular.  It’s a chance for the fans to see their heroines in a very different light than the golf course provides.  The players not only receive awards they have earned during the year; they also get two awards chosen by the fans.  KLPGA Golfers even co-host the event and participate in the entertainment!  This results in a fun time for players, sponsors, and fans, and a fantastic marketing platform for the tour as well.

Jung Eun Lee and HJ Choi have fun with their awards

The tradition the past few years has been to have one of the more attractive lady golfers act as co-host for the festivities.  In the past we’ve seen Young Kim, Kyeong Bae, Jin Joo Hong and Hee Kyung Seo take this role.  This year, the honor fell to Ran Hong.  Hong is a top ten KLPGA player who may be best known to non-Korean fans for her heroics at this year’s Evian Masters, where she played herself into the final group on Sunday and ended up tied for 6^th. 

Ran Hong: The Hostess in Red

Ran, who is known for her stylishness, was right at home as hostess.

Ran Hong also wore a black dress during the show

The big star of the night was Ha Neul Kim.  2011 has been a comeback year for her.  She was Rookie of the Year in 2007, and won three times in 2008 to establish herself as a top star.  She did not win in 2009 or 2010, but started a massive comeback with a win early this year.  However, it was really starting at the Hite Cup, the year’s third Major, where she emerged as this season’s top player.  At that point she was well behind So Yeon Ryu, the 2011 US Women’s Open champ, in most of the big season races.  But from that point on, she seized the initiative, winning that Major, finishing second in the final one, winning a third time, and barely losing the season ending ADT-CAPS in a seven hole playoff. 

Ha Neul receiving the plaudits of her peers (plus a bunch of flowers!)

Ha Neul took home four awards at this year’s show: Money List winner, Player of the Year, Most Wins and Most Popular (one of the two awards chosen by fans).

Ha Neul contemplates her collection of trophies

Ha Neul intends to remain on the KLPGA tour in 2012.  She has admitted to the press that she hates the idea of going to LPGA Qualifying School.  She intends to use her KLPGA standing to qualify for six LPGA events next year, including the US Women’s Open, Kraft Nabisco Championship and the Evian Masters.  She hopes to get a win at one of these events to earn her tour card, much as her rivals Ryu, Hee Kyung Seo and Jiyai Shin did before her.  But if she cannot manage that, she might hold her nose and try for Q-School a year from now.

It was a very happy night for Ha Neul Kim

Ha Neul has quickly become very popular in Korea, and has been appearing with increasing regularity in the popular press.  She recently posed for a series of photos with top pool player Yoo Ram Cha.

Ha Neul Kim poses with pool star Yu Ram Cha

She has an interesting dilemma in Korea: her name is the same as a well known TV and film actress, which makes finding information about Kim the golfer more challenging.  But the ways things are going, her popularity is actually starting to reach the level of the actress.  With her style, looks, great talent and personality, the KLPGA is probably counting its blessings that Ha Neul Kim will be around for at least one more season.

One of the many recent interviews with Ha Neul featured this candid shot

Super Woman brought her own cape to the awards show.  It caused her a bit of trouble walking, though!

Ha Neul Kim and her cape

The last few years, KLPGA golfers have not just sat in the audience watching the awards get doled out.  They have been part of the show as well, doing dance numbers or singing.  And it’s not just the lesser known players participating: some of the biggest stars on tour have put their time in on stage.  In 2008, for instance, five top stars performed a dance number to the popular hit ‘Nobody’.  Among those who danced were 2011 LPGA Rookie of the Year Hee Kyung Seo, this year’s US Women’s Open winner Ryu, this year’s Award Show co-host Ran Hong and this year’s Player of the Year Kim. 

It's true! Five big KLPGA stars danced at the 2008 KLPGA Awards Show

This year, six winners on tour in 2011 danced to two numbers by popular Korean pop acts.  The songs they performed to  were T-Ara’s ‘Roly Poly’ and Sistar’s ‘So Cool’.  The golfers were: Hye Youn Kim, Hyun Hwa Shim, Sul Ah Yoon, Mi Rim Lee, Hyun Min Pyun and Rookie of the Year Yeon Ju Jung.

KLPGAers shake their groove thing (or whatever the kids call it these days!)

Another angle

Another look

Hyun Hwa Shim, second on this year’s money list

Another closer look

Hye Youn Kim became a minor internet sensation following this number, with several photos of her dancing and at the awards show featuring prominently in most-searched lists following the show.

Hye Youn Kim dances

Want to see them in action?  The dance number is on Youtube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSTHca42v9o

Another of this year’s dancers, 19 year old Yeon Ju Jung, was this year’s Rookie of the Year.  Her biggest accomplishment in 2011 was winning the year’s first Major, the Korean Women’s Open.  That was a fantastic achievement for the teenager, but she was far from a one hit wonder.  She wound up finishing fifth on the year’s money list, notching seven top tens in total. 

Yeon Ju Jung, 2011 KLPGA Rookie of the Year

She also cut a mean rug!

Yeon Ju Jung also danced!

Here the two big winners of the night pose together:

Yeon Ju Jung and Ha Neul Kim

There were two other KLPGA players who won awards on the night, but neither was at the show.  Bo Mee Lee achieved the lowest scoring average on tour in 2011.  She got a bit lucky: she did not play the final event, where scoring was very tough.  All the players ahead of her in scoring average going into that week were at the tournament and saw their averages balloon due to the tough conditions, handing Lee the trophy.  So Yeon Ryu, who wound up not winning any awards in 2011, was hardest hit.  She finished second in scoring, just .04 strokes behind Lee (Ha Neul Kim, by the way, was third, .07 behind Lee).  Had Lee played the tournament, Ryu probably would have held her off and collected that crown.

Bo Mee Lee in a glamor shot from this April

The other award winner not present was Shin Ae Ahn, who collected the other trophy given by the fans, the Best Dresser.  Ahn is famous for her fashion sense, so it’s not surprise she collected this honor.  Too bad she couldn’t make it; it would have been great to see what she came up with to wear to the Awards!

Shin Ae Ahn during a recent tournament

So Yeon Ryu, Na Yeon Choi and Hee Young Park were honored for their LPGA wins, with Na Yeon named as the best Korean golfer on the LPGA.  Na Yeon didn’t attend, but the other two did:

Hee Young

Hee Young won her first LPGA event after four years on tour

So Yeon

So Yeon was the first Korean to win a Major in two years

Both of them

So Yeon Ryu and Hee Young Park

Sun Ju Ahn received the award as the best Korean golfer on the JLPGA tour; she led that tour’s money list for the second straight year, with four wins in 2011. 

Sun Ju Ahn is the second highest ranked Korean player in the world right now!

Some of the other guests:

Hyun Hee Moon

Soo Jin Yang

Soo Jin Yang had a fantastic year, finishing 4th on the money list

Yang, Ha Neul and Ryu

Ha Neul, So Yeon and Soo Jin

Congratulations to Ha Neul Kim and all the ladies of the KLPGA for another fantastic, exciting season.  Get your rest, because the 2012 season starts next week in China!

Hee Young putts in round 4 of the Titleholders

Park had managed to stay ahead of some of the top players in the game all day.  World #1 Ya Ni Tseng, #2 Suzann Pettersen and #4 Na Yeon Choi were all breathing down her neck on Sunday, but she had managed to stay cool and make clutch par saves when she needed to.  But Park had had chances to win tournaments in the past, and each time she had come up short.  Her most recent slip up was at the Safeway Classic in August.  All she had needed to do was make par on the final hole to get into a playoff for the title; a birdie would win it outright.  But she made bogey when she failed to get it up and down from off the green.  Was that moment going through her mind as she faced another testing moment?

One good thing came from that Safeway Classic near miss: it qualified her to play in the Titleholders event that she was now on the cusp of winning.  And as she stood over the shot on Sunday, she certainly didn’t show that she was thinking about past collapses.  She executed a beautiful chip to three feet, then buried the putt for the par and a two stroke win.  She collapsed in joy into the arms of her playing partner Sandra Gal, and was given an ecstatic champagne dousing by her father and several Korean golfing friends.  After four long years, Hee Young Park had at last tasted victory on the LPGA tour.

Hee Young celebrates her win

Hee Young Park’s career started out very much like that of other great golfers of her generation.  Like Na Yeon Choi and Jiyai Shin, her contemporaries, she won a KLPGA event, the Hite Cup, before even joining the tour.  She turned pro at the end of 2004 and was a rookie, along with Choi, in 2005.  Most of the observers at the time believed Choi was the talent to watch, but Park surprised everyone with her own great performance in 2005.  She notched a bunch of top tens before her achieving her first victory as a tour member at the PAVV Invitational.  This was especially impressive considering the field including a bunch of invitees from the LPGA tour, including Carin Koch, Laura Diaz, Meena Lee, Soo-Yun Kang and Jeong Jang. 

A few months later, she finished fourth at the CJ 9 Bridges, the event co-sanctioned by the LPGA tour.  Among the top LPGA pros she beat that week were world #1 Annika Sorenstam and that year’s LPGA Rookie of the Year Paula Creamer.  She was paired with Creamer in the final round and outplayed her by six shots in tough conditions (interestingly, she played with Creamer again during the third round of the Titleholders).  Hee Young would go on to become the KLPGA’s Rookie of the Year, topping her rival Na Yeon Choi.

Hee Young dives into the water to celebrate her win at the PAVV Invitational

Hee Young Park was so respected by her peers that she received a very unusual honor from them.  Fifty KLPGA players were asked to name the golfer they thought had the best swing among all the Korean female golfers.  They chose Hee Young as having the best swing, beating Korean superstar Se Ri Pak and Korean American star Michelle Wie among others.  Park was on the fast track to stardom.

She quickly won two events in 2006 to lead the KLPGA money list.  But at that point she went into a mini-slump, and a new rookie star rose up to challenge her: Jiyai Shin.  Shin seemed to play well every week, and by the end of the year she had claimed three wins and had overtaken Park for the money list lead.  Hee Young still finished second, though, and considering what a superstar Shin was soon to become, that was not such a bad result in retrospect.

Hee Young Park with one of her two KLPGA wins in 2006

Park became a bit more inconsistent in her final year on tour and was not able to claim a win, although she did earn three runner-up finishes.  At least one of these probably should have been a win, the second KB Star Tour event.  She was paired with Eun Hee Ji, and after playing a hole noticed that Ji had left one of her clubs by the green.  Her caddie picked it up and put it into Hee Young’s bag.  Later, however, Ji noticed the extra club in Park’s bag and called a violation on Park for exceeding the maximum 14 club limit.  Park ended up in a playoff with Ji and lost.  But if her caddie had not tried to do the good deed for Ji, Park would not have gotten a two stroke penalty, and would have won by two strokes.  Talk about a bad result from a good deed!

At the end of 2007, both Park and Na Yeon Choi entered LPGA Qualifying School.  Both had managed 4 KLPGA wins during their three years on tour.  But while Choi was only able to get conditional status on tour for 2008, Park finished third and earned a full tour card.

Hee Young and Na Yeon Choi in 2007, their final year on the KLPGA tour

So coming into their rookie seasons, these two talented young golfers were pretty much neck and neck in terms of professional accomplishments, almost mirror images of each other.  If anything, Park was perhaps a little ahead of Choi.  Yet in the next few seasons, Choi went from strength to strength, eventually winning five events in her first four seasons, winning the Vare Trophy for low scoring average in 2010, and leading the LPGA money list that season, only the second Korean to ever accomplish that feat.  Park, meanwhile, was unable to win even once, and though she easily maintained her tour card and played decently, it was pretty clear that both Choi and Jiyai Shin, who joined the LPGA the year after Park and has already earned eight tour wins, had left her in the dust.

She may not have been living up to her expectations, but those first few years were hardly a waste of time, either.  By the end of 2008 she had signed a lucrative sponsorship deal with Hana Bank that she still has.  She did manage four top tens, including one at the Evian Masters, and finished 35^th on the money list with nearly $500,000 in earnings. 

Hee Young Park became a spokesperson for Hana Bank in 2008

In 2009, she did a little better, making 6 top tens and finishing 20^th on the money list, her first time within the top 20.  She even came close to winning for the first time.  The second event of the year, the Honda LPGA Thailand, saw Hee Young struggle mightily in the first round with a bout of illness.  She staggered home with a 79, one of the worst scores in the field, and spent the night in the hospital.  But the next day she woke up healthy, went to the course and shot a sizzling 64, 15 shots better than her first round result.  In the end, she finished 2^nd, beaten only by the top player on tour, Lorena Ochoa.  It says something about her talent that she could recover from such a disastrous start to play so well.

Hee Young sizzled in the second round of the 2009 Honda Thailand

Read more about Hee Young’s Thailand tournament in this blog entry:

http://seoulsisters.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/hee-young-parks-thailand-odyssey/

Hee Young continued to search for her first win in her third LPGA season in 2010.  The Koreans won an amazing number of tournaments that year, with old rival Na Yeon Choi winning twice and finishing atop the year’s money list.  By this point, Hee Young had earned the nickname ‘Rocket’ for her ability to score birdies in bunches and ‘rocket’ up the leaderboard.  But like a rocket, she was just as capable of shooting down a leaderboard.  It seemed like when she was on, she was as good as anyone in the game, but when she was off, she could be really terrible.  If she could just find a way to grind out the weak moments in her tournaments, the good results would come.  Rocket displayed her rocketlike tendencies at the Jamie Farr Classic in 2010.  She shot a final round 64 to zoom up the leaderboard, narrowly missing a date with Choi in the playoff (which Choi went on to win).  She pulled a similar stunt at the State Farm Classic, shooting her career best 63 in the final round but still coming up two shots short to Cristie Kerr.  She ended 2010 with six top tens, and finished 34^th on the money list. 

Hee Young beats the heat at the HSBC in 2010

She did have a big thrill in 2010: her younger sister, Ju Young, qualified for the KLPGA tour.  Hee Young even got a chance to follow her around at one tournament, cheering her on from the sidelines.  If Ju Young ever manages to make it to the LPGA, they would be the first sisters to play on tour since Aree and Naree Song and the Sorenstam sisters.

Hee Young and her younger sister Ju Young during a KLPGA tournament in 2010

What it basically came down to for Park was confidence and concentration.  With six international wins in her career heading into 2011, she definitely had the game to contend and win on the LPGA tour.  But whenever she smelled a chance to get the win, the nerves kicked in and she didn’t play well.  She is hardly the only star golfer to have to deal with this.  For many seasons, Lorena Ochoa and Ai Miyazato struggled with closing tournaments; yet they both ended up being ranked #1 in the world during their careers.  Na Yeon Choi, too, has let more than a few tournaments slip through her fingers, and Song Hee Kim has become notorious for her inability to win despite being in contention many times (see sidebar below for more!).  Hee Young just needed to find a way to get over the nerves and get the job done when it counted.

She didn’t have many chances to do that in 2011.  Before the Safeway, it had been one of her weakest seasons, with not even a single top ten coming into that week.  But though she was not able to get over the hump in Portland, the near miss did seem to light a spark in Hee Young.  She scored another top ten in Taiwan a few months later, then had her big chance at the Titleholders at Grand Cypress in Orlando, Florida.

 The event started out with her old friend Na Yeon Choi taking the first round lead.  Choi continued to lead through the second round and much of the third, but she had a really ragged end to the third round and fell several strokes off the pace by the end.  While that was going on, Hee Young entered her rocket mode.  She made a birdie on the par 5 15^th, and then dunked another birdie on the 16^th that barely dribbled into the hole.  She had trouble on the 17^th, though, landing in the greenside bunker, and was not able to hold the green with her shot out.  But putting from the fringe, she dunked the clutch par save to maintain her momentum.  On the 18^th, one of the toughest holes all week, she hit the green, then drilled a thirty foot birdie putt, one of the few made there all day, to secure a share of the third round lead.

Hee Young in round 3 of the Titleholders

She told the press that she was ‘thirsty’ for the win, and went into the day determined to finally end her winless drought.  It would not be easy: she would have three of the top four players in the world, including Choi, in her rearview mirror all day.  She had an early bogey to fall briefly out of the lead, but then pulled another rocket stretch, making birdies on three of four holes to regain the lead.

On the back nine, she steadily maintained a two shot lead for the most part, making par after par.  Gal made a bogey on the 12^th, and the lead became three, but then the German star made two straight birdies, including a chip-in, to move to within a shot.  On the 14^th, Gal hit her approach very close, while Park was left with a long par save.  But Hee Young made the putt to maintain the one shot cushion. 

The par 5 15^th was crucial.  Both ladies ended up with par saving putts of about five feet in length.  But Gal lipped hers out while Hee Young made hers, and the margin returned to two strokes.  On both 16 and 17, Hee Young had great birdie opportunities, but missed them both.  She walked to the 18^th tee, still leading by two, and did not even glance at the trophy, which sat on the tee box.  She managed to hit a great drive, but her approach was short.  Gal hit hers well, but it could not stop near the hole, and rolled to about twenty feet past.  Hee Young now was faced with the up and down from the front of the green.  She came through, and finally, after four long years, earned her first LPGA victory.

Hee Young at last gets to hoist an LPGA trophy!

The win was huge: the $500,000 winner’s check was not only nearly $400K more than second place (it’s a very rare thing on the LPGA to have such a huge difference between first and second place prize money), it was also the second largest winner’s check on tour (only the US Women’s Open, coincidentally this year also won by a Korean first time winner, is larger).  It moved Hee Young to 12^th on the money list, her highest ever finish. 

Hee Young won a cool half mil last week!

Is this the breakthrough she has been waiting for, or will she return to her usual ways next year?  Time will tell, but keep in mind that Park’s biggest problem has always been confidence;  her game has always been solid.  If this win gives her the confidence to play her best from here on out, the rocket might be ready for a few more orbits next year before returning to Earth.

Sidebar: Best Korean golfers without a win on tour.

Now that Hee Young Park has claimed her maiden victory, who are the other best Koreans on tour who have yet to claim a win?

Song Hee Kim. 

Song Hee Kim

No Korean golfer currently on tour (perhaps no other golfer, period) has more top tens and great finishes without claiming a win than Song Hee Kim.  She did not have a particularly good 2011, but the previous three years saw her accumulate oodles of top ten finishes.  She started 2010 with 8 straight top tens en route to 15 on the year, and had had 12 top tens the previous year.  In 2010 alone, she finished 2^nd at the LPGA Championship, but lost by 12 shots to an unstoppable Cristie Kerr; lost the Jamie Farr in a playoff; and lost the Hana Bank to Na Yeon Choi despite being in the lead most of the week.  It’s all the more weird because she won 5 times on the Futures Tour before joining the tour; she has not won anywhere in the world since.

Amy Yang. 

Amy Yang

People have been calling Amy Yang the future of Korean women’s golf since she won the 2006 ANZ Ladies Masters on the European tour as a 16 year old high school student.  She did win three times in total on the LET, and also notched a Major victory on the KLPGA in 2011, but a win on the LPGA has eluded her.  In 2011, she made nearly a million bucks and was the second highest ranked Korean on the money list.  Among her close calls: she finished second to Maria Hjorth at the season ending event in 2010; lost by five to Ya Ni Tseng in Taiwan this year; and finished second in Arkansas as well.  She has had top five finishes in three Majors over the past two years.

Vicky Hurst. 

Vicky Hurst and Hee Young Park at the 2010 Hana Bank Championship

Vicky has not been nearly as prolific as Yang and Kim over the past two years.  But she looked like a world beater on the Futures Tour, where she won five times and set the all time record for most money earned on that tour.  She also was an imposing amateur, and last year was one of the very longest drivers on the LPGA tour.  Despite these qualifications, the half-Korean American has greatly underperformed since joining the tour in 2009.  She did finish second to Na Yeon Choi last year in Korea for her best result.  But so far, she has not found the form to be a consistent star.

Hee Kyung Seo and Ha Neul Kim at the 2009 Kraft Nabisco Championship

The two golfers accomplished many things in the next few years, but there were also many ups and downs in their careers.  Cut to 2011, and both golfers came into this year not having won in Korea in a while, and not playing at the top of their games.  By the end of the season, however, both had accomplished impressive feats in their respective arenas.  Hee Kyung Seo became the eighth woman of Korean ancestry to capture the LPGA’s Rookie of the Year award, while Ha Neul Kim won her first KLPGA Major en route to finishing first on the tour’s money list for the first time in her career.

Ha Neul Kim seemed like a star in the making right from the moment she joined the KLPGA tour in 2007.  Ha Neul – whose name means both ‘sky’ and the color off the sky (light blue) – achieved six top tens that season en route to winning the Rookie of the Year award on tour.  It was in 2008, as mentioned above, when she went from a promising newcomer to one of the top stars on tour.  She notched top tens in her first two events of the year, but in the third tournament she faced down the unstoppable Shin and beat her, claiming her first career victory in the process.  Just a few weeks later she earned win #2, and the Supermodel of the Fairways, as she became known, was on her way to stardom.

Ha Neul Kim during her breakout season of 2008

Meanwhile, Hee Kyung Seo, several years older than Kim, was in a rut.  Seo had joined the tour in 2006, and in her first two years on tour, she had had a few decent finishes here and there, but no wins.  In 2007, she finished 9^th on the KLPGA money list, certainly not a bad performance.  But Seo had high standards, and was frustrated that she was not doing better.  During the summer break of 2008, she spent some time training with her good friend Shin, hoping to pick up some tips that would help her game.

Her time with Shin opened her eyes to just how hard she would have to train to achieve her goals.  She was particularly impressed with how much Jiyai worked on her short game.  Newly energized, Seo began to apply what she learned to her own game.  The results were immediate and impressive.  In her first event back after the break, she defeated a star stocked field at the SBS Open, beating Shin and that year’s US Women’s Open champ Inbee Park among others for her first career title.  She led that event wire to wire, and did the same thing at the next event to capture her second win.  Blazing hot, she won the next event after that as well, becoming one of the few in history to claim three consecutive events on the KLPGA tour.  Suddenly, Ha Neul Kim had a gorgeous new rival for the title Supermodel of the Fairways.

Hee Kyung Seo in her breakout season of 2008 with yet another trophy

If Kim was worried about the new star, she didn’t show it: shortly after Seo’s run ended, Kim claimed her own third win of the season, and the rivalry reached a new level of heat.  The KLPGA powers-that-be were probably giddy with joy at the prospect of a battle for supremacy between two golfers frequently compared to supermodels by the press, and they gladly publicized the two and their friendly competition with each other.  They even arranged to get the two golfers into a Skins Game with PGA star Anthony Kim and a top KPGA player.  Kim paired with Anthony, and Seo with the KPGA star, and in the end the two Kims prevailed.  But Seo got revenge by claiming the KLPGA event held that weekend for her fourth triumph of 2008.

Anthony Kim and Ha Neul Kim at the 2008 Anthony Kim Skins Game

Seo continued to excel through the rest of 2008, winning two more events to eventually compile six victories, second only to Shin.  She wound up second on the money list, while Ha Neul was third.  But both had had breakout seasons that announced their arrival on the golf stage.  And on an actual stage as well: at the year ending KLPGA Awards Show, Seo and Kim participated in a dance number with several other top KLPGA stars.  Seo also walked away with the Most Popular award for the season. 

Hee Kyung Seo dances at the 2008 KLPGA Awards Show

Ha Neul dances at the 2008 KLPGA Awards Show!

For Seo, the good times continued in 2009.  With Shin moving on to the LPGA tour full time, Seo took over the KLPGA, winning five tournaments, and three of the four Majors.  She thus became the top player in the league in every major category.  Meanwhile, Ha Neul Kim was not able to win in 2009.  She was having trouble with her swing plane, and as a result was far more inconsistent off the tee.  She still notched seven top tens and finished 7^th on the money list, but this was a decided step back from where she had been.

Seo danced away with all the big awards in 2009

Yet, even 2009 was great compared to Kim’s 2010 campaign.  The swing troubles continued, and suddenly her good finishes were becoming fewer and farther between.  Towards the end of the season, she had a couple of good results, but only wound up 21^st on the money list for the year.  She was still a very popular player, hip deep in endorsements and beloved by the fans, but was starting to risk becoming an afterthought as her play declined.

Kim still had a smile on her face in 2009 and 2010, but her results were suffering

Seo had struggles of her own in 2010.  Amazingly, she was not able to win so much as a single event all season on tour, and saw fellow player Bo Mee Lee rise to the top of the tour instead.  Seo still managed a 6^th place finish on the money list and had 12 top tens.  And she did have a few chances to win, notably at the season opener in China, where she lost in a playoff to young phenom So Yeon Ryu.  So the year was a disappointment, but only in comparison to the brilliance of the two previous ones.

While Seo had her issues in Korea, however, she was sterling on the LPGA tour.  In March, she was invited to play the inaugural Kia Classic as a sponsor’s exemption and made the most of it.  She wound up easily winning by 6 shots against a field stocked with most of the best women’s golfers in the world.  This earned her membership on the LPGA for 2011.  Interestingly, she wasn’t sure she was going to take it, having wanted to play in Japan that year.  But in the end, it was too good an opportunity to pass up, and so she left Korea to become a rookie in America in 2011.  On top of her win, she also achieved a tie for fifth at the year’s final Major, the Women’s British Open.  All in all, 2010 was a year of transition for her, but one with some definite highlights to celebrate.

Hee Kyung won the 2010 Kia Classic to earn LPGA membership

Ha Neul Kim started 2011 wondering if she were ever going to get to celebrate a win again.  But right off the bat, she showed she was ready to make this a comeback season.  She just missed grabbing the trophy at the year’s first event, finishing second.  When the season started in earnest several months later, she notched an 8^th place at the Lotte Mart Women’s Open.  But it was at the next event that Ha Neul finally made her triumphant return to the winner’s circle, some two and a half years after her last win.  The event was the Hyundai Construction Seoul Economy Women’s Open in late April.  Kim seemingly had the tournament cup in her hands when Hyun Joo Lee made an unlikely run and caught her, forcing a playoff.  Two holes later, the nervous but resolute Kim made par while her opponent bogied, and the win was hers.  She broke down and cried on the green, so happy was she that she had at last captured her fourth career win.

Ha Neul cries after winning her first tournament in two and a half years

For much of the next few months, Kim was inconsistent, with occasional top tens mixing uneasily with missed cuts and mediocre finishes.  She really didn’t come too close to winning again, and it looked as though her April win would be her only one of the season.  But in October, she caught fire and made a huge charge at exactly the right time.  Until then, So Yeon Ryu had looked likely to win all the Major season ending prizes.  But Ryu went into a bit of a slump right when Kim started to shine.  At the year’s third Major, the Hite Cup, Ryu had a share of the second round lead, but a rules infraction knocked her down the leaderboard in round 3, allowing Ha Neul to sneak into contention.   In the final round, amateur In Ji Jeon climbed to a three shot lead, but the pressure got to her and she dropped again on the back nine.  Ha Neul, meanwhile, played cool, dependable golf, and when Jeon made a triple bogey late in her round, Kim was suddenly tied for the lead.  She then nailed a clutch birdie on the final hole to claim her first ever KLPGA Major.  The win also moved her into the top spot on the year’s money list and into third in the Player of the Year race.  Suddenly, Kim had a chance to win all sorts of post-season hardware.

Ha Neul enjoys the sponsor's product after winning the Hite Cup on the KLPGA tour

Kim rode with the momentum at the next KLPGA event, the KB Financial Group Star Championship, which was also the year’s final Major.  In the third round, she shot a blistering 6 under par 66 to zoom to 10 under total, which in most cases would have been enough for the lead.  But at this tournament, LPGA player Amy Yang was playing even better, shooting a 64 in round 3 to move to 14 under.  The two battled it out on the final day, but Yang maintained her four stroke advantage to capture the title.  Ha Neul finished second, and thus increased her lead on the KLPGA money list even more.

At the next event, the EDaily KYJ Golf Ladies Open, Ha Neul continued her torrid play by opening with an incendiary 8 under par 64.  Only one other player, Rookie star Yeon Ju Jeong, was within five shots of that score.  Those two duked it out in round 2, with Kim maintaining her 2 shot margin over her in the end. 

Ha Neul Kim during round 2 of the EDaily Open

In the final round, Jeong collapsed, and Kim coolly cruised to her third win of the year by four shots.  The win secured for her the Money List title and moved her into the lead in the Player of the Year race with one event to go.  This honor now qualifies her for several LPGA events and Majors next year, and she tells the press she plans on playing six of them in 2012.  She does not intend to enter Qualifying school, however, so look for her to continue to play on the Korean tour in 2012.  But next year, she will be coming into the season as the big gun, not the star trying to get her mojo back.  It ought to be very interesting indeed!

Ha Neul Kim during round 3 of the EDaily OpenOpen

Ha Neul’s success has led to even more appearances in the media than before.  Here she appears in Men’s Health Magazine, Korean edition.

Ha Neul in Men's Health Magazine

Meanwhile, Hee Kyung Seo joined the American tour, and found herself struggling to live up to her big expectations for the season.  Despite a fairly deep class of rookies, she was arguably the most accomplished player in the group, and thus had some pressure on her to win the Rookie of the Year prize.  But strong results eluded her.  Perhaps the early lowlight was missing the cut at the Kia Classic, the tournament she had won the previous year to get into the LPGA tour in the first place.  But after that, she notched three top 20s, including a 6^th place, in her next six tournaments.  It was hardly sterling stuff, but it was at least keeping her in the lead in the Rookie of the Year standings.

Around that time, Hee Kyung went to a US Women’s Open qualifier in New Jersey and won it.  It was the first time she had ever played 36 holes in a single day, but her win there was a foreshadowing of what would happen a couple of months later.  The US Women’s Open this year was held at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, and the conditions were tough, with frequent weather delays testing the field like they had rarely been tested before.  Seo ended up playing 36 holes in one day again, but this time it was the final two rounds of the Open on Sunday.  And she played brilliantly, shooting back to back 68s to vault into the lead by the end of the day. 

Hee Kyung Seo in round 4 of the US Women's Open

Her only major miscue came on the par 5 17^th in her final round.  The wind had started whipping hard, and Seo and her group were hurrying to beat the darkness.  She nonetheless hit the green and narrowly missed a birdie that would have given her a prohibitive lead.  She then missed the three foot comeback par save, lowering her visor over her head in disbelief afterwards.  She still finished her round just before darkness fell, and would have to wait and see if the few players who had not finished would be able to catch her on Monday morning.

Hee Kyung Seo in round 4 of the US Women's Open

As it turned out, one player had the best chance to do that: her old rival So Yeon Ryu, playing the event as a result of her great finish on the KLPGA tour the previous season.  On Monday morning, Ryu had three holes to play and was one shot back.  She scrambled to save par on 16 and just missed a birdie on 17.  But on the final hole she hit a perfect drive, an unbelievably great approach, and drained the tricky putt for birdie to force a playoff.  Seo, who had not struck a shot all day, had to play the same three holes in the playoff that Ryu had just played so well.  It was too much to ask, and Ryu easily won the three hole playoff to claim the Major title.  But Seo’s second place finish was by far her best in a Major, and it helped her to a huge lead in the Rookie standings that she would never relinquish.

So Yeon Ryu and Hee Kyung Seo during this year's US Women's Open playoff

For much of the rest of the season, Seo kept putting up top 30 finish after top 30 finish, not allowing any other rookie a chance to make much ground up on her.  Finally, at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, Hee Kyung roared to her second best finish of the year, a tie for 4^th, which was enough to put the Rookie of the Year title away.  She became the 8th Korean or woman of Korean heritage to win that award in the tour’s history.  Judging by past results, she’s in great company.  Of the seven previous winners, one, Angela Park, is no longer playing golf, and another, Shi Hyun Ahn, never really improved on her rookie year.  But the other five rookie standouts are among the best golfers in the history of the Korean contingent: Seon Hwa Lee has four career wins, Hee Won Han six, Mi Hyun Kim and Jiyai Shin 8 apiece.  And Se Ri Pak, of course, is a 25 time winner and Hall of Famer.  Hee Kyung has said she, too, wants to be in the Hall of Fame someday.  She has taken an important first step towards that goal this year.

Hee Kyung Seo with the 2011 LPGA Rookie of the Year award

The days of their rivalry on the Korean tour is behind them, but perhaps it will not be too long from now when Ha Neul Kim and Hee Kyung Seo are duking it out for the big prizes on the LPGA tour.  Time will tell, of course, but regardless, it should be fun to watch them try to get there!

So Yeon Ryu and Hee Kyung Seo have a longstanding rivalry

Hee Kyung Seo, who turned 25 during the Open, had joined the LPGA tour in 2011 as a rookie.  She had earned her tour card the previous year by winning an LPGA event, the Kia Classic, which she was invited to play by the sponsors.  Ryu, a 21 year old college student and professional golfer simultaneously, also can avoid going to LPGA qualifying school thanks to her win in Colorado.  Whether she will take advantage of the card to join the tour as a rookie next year remains to be seen, but if she does, fans of this dynamic duo can doubtless look forward to many more exciting battles between the two friendly foes for years to come.

Ryu vs. Seo

Each golfer arrived in the professional ranks in different ways.  Seo’s career gestated much more slowly than Ryu’s.  She joined the KLPGA in 2006, but during her first two and a half seasons, she could manage no better finish than third.  Frustrated, she spent some time during the summer break working with her good friend, KLPGA superstar Jiyai Shin.  What she saw changed her life.  Seo realized that Shin spent much more time working on her game than she did, particularly her short game.  Seo watched, learned, absorbed.  When the season started up again in late summer, she was ready.  She won the very first event after the break, the SBS Open, beating a field that included Shin and US Women’s Open champ Inbee Park.  She would go on to win two more consecutive events and 6 total in 2008.  But though Seo had been brilliant, she still toiled in the shadow of the unstoppable Shin, who won that year’s Player of the Year award.

Seo enjoys the first of her six 2008 KLPGA wins

Meanwhile, a 17 year old named So Yeon Ryu turned pro and joined the KLPGA that season.  Ryu had been one of the strongest amateur golfers in Korea before that.  Her most notable accomplishment came when she won the gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games (as a 16 year old).  She beat second place player Mika Miyazato by nine strokes (interestingly, Miyazato is now an LPGA player who also finished in the top ten at this year’s Open).  It took Ryu almost no time to make a splash as a professional, winning her first KLPGA title at the first event of the year.  Although she was impressive the rest of the season, she would not win again, and in fact lost the Rookie of the Year award that season to her fellow Asian Games teammate and bronze medalist He Yong Choi.

A candid picture of Ryu from her rookie season

Shin won three LPGA events in 2008 on top of all her wins on the KLPGA tour, and so in 2009 she joined the LPGA tour as a rookie.  That left a gap at the top of the league, one Seo was eager to fill.  But when Ryu gutted out a phenomenal win at the Doosan Match Play tournament early in the season, she started a rapid climb from promising young player to superstar.  She won three of the next four events to vault to the top of all the league standings, ahead of Seo.  And thus was born a rivalry for the ages.

The rest of the season, the two battled for supremacy on tour.  Seo was not about to roll over and play dead.  She would go on to win the final two Majors of the season and three Majors out of four, while finishing second in the other one! Meanwhile Ryu, for all her accomplishments, was not able to win even a single Major, and in fact still to this date has not won a Major on the KLPGA tour (though she has come close, losing a playoff to Jiyai Shin at the 2008 Korean Women’s Open).  In the end, Seo, with five wins, trumped Ryu with four, and won the Player of the Year award.  The first round of their rivalry went to the Supermodel of the Fairways, Hee Kyung Seo.

For all Ryu's accomplishments in 2009, she was still playing second fiddle to Seo

The 2010 season promised to be more of the same, and in fact, at the first event of the year, Seo and Ryu ended up in a playoff for the title.  Seo had the lead and seemed ready to win but, much like at last week’s Open, Ryu came from behind, caught her, and forced a playoff.  Three holes later, Ryu won to draw first blood in the second act of their rivalry.

So Yeon Ryu with her trophy from the 2010 China Ladies Open

But amazingly, neither player would win an event for the rest of the season.  Bo Mee Lee wound up as the Player of the year, though both Seo and Ryu had decent years.  Ryu managed 14 top tens, including three seconds, and finished fourth on the money list.  Seo earned 12 top tens and finished 6^th on the money list.  The second round of the rivalry thus went to Ryu.  Well, sort of…

In this case, what was happening in Korea only told part of the story.  Sure, Seo was having an off year in Korea, but she was playing quite well internationally.  Ryu was still more interested in playing in Korea, although she occasionally ventured abroad in 2010 (one notable finish was a tie for 25^th at that year’s US Women’s Open, her first time playing that event).  But Seo, after a top five finish at the ANZ Ladies Masters, was invited to play the LPGA’s Kia Classic in March.  Amazingly, she not only won the event, she trounced a field containing almost all the top women golfers in the world.  Just like that, Hee Kyung Seo had earned the right to play on the LPGA, and after some soul searching, she decided to join the tour as a rookie in 2011.  So once again, Seo had managed to get the better of Ryu by becoming the first of the two to win on the LPGA tour.

Hee Kyung Seo with her trophy from the Kia Classic

In 2011, Seo was having a mediocre rookie season leading up to the US Women’s Open.  She had managed one top ten, and was leading in the Rookie of the Year standings, but in general was not playing at the level she had hoped for.  She had even been forced to qualify for the US Women’s Open at a sectional, which she tellingly won.  But despite that, her mood had gotten so sour by mid-June that her parents took her on a vacation to Niagara Falls as a sort of crisis intervention.  There, while riding the boat the Maid of the Mists, in the shadow of Horseshoe Falls , they had a heart to heart with their daughter, telling her that she was number one to them no matter what, and that she should simply trust herself.  The advice worked far better than anyone could have anticipated.

Meanwhile, Ryu was struggling in Korea.  She had not won anywhere in the world since that playoff victory over Seo, and though she nearly won the first KLPGA event of the season, she soon found herself struggling to even make top tens.  But just when it looked like she was in real trouble, she pulled herself up in a spectacular way.  At the Lotte Cantata Open, she was four shots back after two rounds.  But in round three she absolutely blitzed the field, shooting a 64 to cruise to her first win in a year and a half.  Her confidence was back, and just in time for the US Women’s Open, which she would play by virtue of her top five finish on the KLPGA money list the previous season.

So Yeon broke her winless streak at the Lotte Cantata Open this year

This year’s US Women’s Open turned into a nightmare of weather delays right from the first day.  At times, players would go a day and a half without hitting a shot; at other times, they would play two rounds in a single day.  A player never knew how long she would be out there before the next warning siren would halt play.  Add onto that the fact that the Broadmoor is at high altitude, meaning thin air that would tax fitness under normal conditions, let alone when one was playing 36 holes without a significant break.

After two rounds, Seo was eight shots out of the lead at 3 over par, while Ryu was 6 back at 1 over.  They were both in great position to get top tens, but it didn’t look likely that they would be contending for the trophy.  But as the third round started Saturday afternoon, the leaders faded quickly, and both Ryu and Seo played very well, vaulting up the leaderboard in the process. 

Seo wound up shooting her final two rounds on Sunday, and was absolutely brilliant in both.  She produced a 68 in round three, took a short break, then shot a 31 on the front nine of her fourth round.  That amazing stretch included four straight birdies to end her first nine holes.  Just like that, the Supermodel of the Fairways had taken the lead at 5 under par, an 8 shot improvement over her round 2 score.

Hee Kyung Seo during round 4 of the US Women's Open

Ryu was keeping pace.  After a so so round of 74 to open her week, she shot a 69 in round two, then followed that with another 69 in round 3.  This positioned her at one under par, which tied her for the lead after three rounds.  Seo’s run on her first nine holes of round 4, however, allowed her to take over the lead and blow past her rival (and everybody else).

Seo’s back nine was considerably dodgier than her front nine, but she hung in there despite troubles.  After a bogey on the 10^th hole, a weather delay allowed her to regroup.  When she returned, she managed pars to keep her score at 4 under.    Her main opponents like Cristie Kerr and Angela Stanford struggled, falling down the leaderboard.  But Ryu continued to remain close.

So Yeon Ryu on Sunday at the Open

On the par 5 17^th hole, Seo’s group was told that they needed to catch up with the group ahead of them, and they began to sprint down the fairway to avoid a slow play penalty.  It was getting dark, and the wind was kicking up.  Once on the green, Seo barely missed a birdie putt and had two feet left for par.  But whether it was the darkness, the wind, or the running, or perhaps just the pressure, Seo lipped out what should have been a routine par, her first three putt of the entire week.  Her score fell to 3 under, just a shot ahead of Ryu.  It would prove to be a very costly error.

Hee Kyung on Sunday at the Open

Seo parred the final hole and got into the clubhouse just before play was halted due to darkness.  The remaining players would have to finish their rounds on Monday.  The situation was great for Seo: only three players could possibly catch her.  Kerr would need to birdie her two remaining holes, while Stanford would need three birdies in her final four.  But Ryu just needed one birdie to tie in her final three holes, which included a par 5.  She was the most dangerous threat to her old rival’s chances to win the biggest prize in women’s golf.

So Yeon meets the press on Sunday

As it turned out, neither Kerr nor Stanford was able to catch Seo.  Ryu, meanwhile, hit a disastrous tee shot on her very first hole of the day, the par 3 16^th.  Her ball went into a bunker.  Not only was she right up against the lip of the sand trap, she was also short sided.  It looked like her chances to win were done before they began, but Ryu, standing with one foot outside the trap, hit a miraculous sand shot to a foot for an easy par.

On the next hole, Ryu reached the green in three shots, leaving herself a fifteen footer for birdie.  This would seem to be her best chance to make the birdie she needed, but her putt burned the edge, and though she made par, she was still a shot behind Seo.  She would now have to birdie 18, one of the harder holes of the week.  She hit a perfect drive, but it was her second shot that was, without question, the shot of the tournament.  She produced a gorgeous iron that curved sweetly onto the green, where it trickled to within five feet of the flag.  Even though she was close, however, she still was left with a nasty breaking putt for birdie.  She had to wait eight minutes while her playing partners finished, but finally, the chance had come.  She gathered herself and hit a perfect putt into the center of the cup.  On the final hole of regulation, So Yeon Ryu had caught Hee Kyung Seo; there would be a second career playoff between the two.  Only this time, the stakes were much higher.

Ryu after a successful putt

In a lot of ways, Seo got the short end of the stick in the playoff.  Having finished her round on Sunday, she would be entering the playoff without having hit a shot in competition all day.  Her opponent, meanwhile, had played the exact same holes less than an hour before.  But sometimes life isn’t fair, and Seo had had a bit of advantage finishing on Sunday, too, in that she was able to complete her round while still playing her best.

Ryu conducted a thoroughly charming interview with NBC following her round, then proceeded to sign autographs and take photos with fans.  Johnny Miller, commentating for NBC, was very impressed with the attitudes of both players, and opined that he had never seen so many smiles before a playoff for a Major championship.  He said that these two ladies were an example to professionals everywhere in the way they enjoyed the game while still being fierce rivals. 

The two rivals joke around on the tee during the playoff

Ryu bowed to Seo as she reached the practice range, and their shared a laugh.  Rivals they may be, but they are also good friends.  About 30 minutes later, the playoff started on hole 16, the same hole Ryu had started her day on.  Seo teed off first, and both players hit nice iron shots to about 15 feet.  Neither made her birdie, however, and so the playoff continued on the par 5 17^th hole with the two players still tied.

This hole was playing 600 yards long, but thanks to the high altitude, which allows the ball to travel farther than usual, the hole was still one where birdie was doable.  But essential to success on this hole was a good drive, and it was here that the wheels came off for Seo.  She hit her drive right into a fairway bunker, and was left with her ball virtually against the lip, forcing her to hit a high lofted club to get out.  Ryu, meanwhile, hit a perfect drive, and followed with a perfect second to 129 yards.

Seo got her ball out of the trap, but could not reach the green in three shots.  She hit her third shot to the right into some more rough.  Ryu then hit her third to about six feet.  Seo’s fourth shot got onto the green, but still farther from the hole than Ryu’s ball.  It was crucial Seo make the 20 foot par save; if Ryu made birdie and Seo bogey, it was probably all over.  In fact, that is exactly what happened: Seo’s par save just missed going in and she made bogey, while Ryu dunked her putt for a birdie 4.  With one hole to play, Ryu now had a prohibitive two shot advantage.

Hee Kyung in trouble on Monday

Now hitting off the tee first, Ryu’s drive found the center of the fairway on 18, as did Seo’s.  Seo was farther away and hit first; her approach, however, was low, and ran through the green, nestling up against the fringe in the back.  Ryu then proceeded to hit an even better approach here than she had when she played the hole an hour earlier, getting her ball to about four feet from the flag.  Seo realized at that point that all hope was lost, but gamely stroked her long putt to tap in range for an easy par.  Ryu made the birdie, and the Open crown was hers. 

So Yeon Ryu

Growing up, one of Ryu’s biggest idols was Korean golf legend Se Ri Pak.  Pak now led a group of golfers that included 2009 US Women’s Open champ Eun Hee Ji onto the green, where they proceeded to drench Ryu in champagne.  Ryu later called it ‘incredible’ that her hero was there to celebrate her win and give her ‘power’ during the playoff.

Ryu doused in champagne after her win

Seo was sad but overall satisfied with her week.  She had gone from near despair to near victory in the space of one tournament, and eagerly looked forward to the rest of the year.  She told the press that the par miss on 17 on Sunday, which had allowed Ryu into the playoff in the first place, was the critical mistake for her.  But considering it was her only three putt of the week, she shouldn’t be so hard on herself.  Her game, from top to bottom, had been virtually immaculate, and no one can be expected to get through an Open without the occasional hiccup.

As for So Yeon Ryu, Seo’s great rival, her life has changed forever.  She has some choices to make.  Will she do what Seo and Shin did before her and opt to join the LPGA next year?  Or will she stay in Korea to complete her education (she is a junior in college there)?  Making the jump to the US is a big choice, especially for a woman who is still just 21 years old (making her the third youngest winner of the event ever, behind only fellow Koreans Pak and Inbee Park).  And if she comes, she will be joining the league with more notoriety than any Korean since Shin, so the pressure will be on.  In the past few years, the US Women’s Open winners from Korea have at times struggled in the months following their wins.  Inbee Park took more than a year to get back to her top level, and Eun Hee Ji is still trying to get another top ten on tour since her Open victory.  But Ryu seems singularly equipped to handle those kinds of expectations.  As Johnny Miller said, she has a wonderful attitude, and will most likely face whatever challenges arise with a big smile and a lot of positive energy.  No doubt when she does arrive, her biggest rival Seo will be there to make sure she stays on her toes!!

Ryu with her trophy

The Koreans and stars of Korean descent have certainly not been immune to the ups and downs of the sport.  Even the biggest star of them all, Se Ri Pak, has spent plenty of time in the wilderness, trying to find her game.  Pak managed to qualify for the LPGA and World Golf Hall of Fame with her 22^nd win in 2004.  She was only 26 at time, and would have to wait three more years before she had logged enough time on tour to actually enter the Hall.  But mysteriously, at almost that exact moment, her game took a major turn south, and suddenly she had trouble even making top tens anymore.  She would continue to struggle the rest of 2004 and all of 2005.  Finally in 2006, her game started to return, and her comeback was completed in majestic style with a playoff win at the 2006 LPGA Championship, the year’s second Major.  But though she has won twice more since, she has never again reached the level of consistency or sustained greatness she had in her early days.

Se Ri got to hug the clown when she won the 2006 McDonald's LPGA Championship

Then there’s Angela Park.  Park was part of one of the most impressive Rookie classes in LPGA history, especially as far as the Koreans were concerned.  Look at the names in that class: Song Hee Kim, a frequent world top ten golfer these days; In Kyung Kim, a three time winner on tour and currently 7^th in the world; Inbee Park, who won the 2008 US Women’s Open; Eun Hee Ji, who followed Park as the Open champ in 2009; Jane Park, a US Amateur winner; former college player of the year Irene Cho; Jin Joo Hong, who qualified for the tour by winning an event;  and two time winner Ji Young Oh.   But Angela beat them all to become Rookie of the Year that year.  Her swing was so beautiful that Johnny Miller famously labeled it the best on tour.  When I interviewed her a few months after he made that comment, Park modestly denied that her swing was that good.   But regardless, it seemed only a matter of time before she became a genuine superstar.

Then, it just fell apart.  Suddenly, Park not only was not contending at tournaments, she wasn’t making cuts.  Then, she lost her card.  And now, she is nowhere to be seen.  Has she retired?  Is she planning on returning to golf?  Or has the mysterious loss of her legendarily great swing destroyed her will to compete?  Golf is a crazy game sometimes.

Angela Park during her good days: at the 2007 US Women's Open

Two big stars on the Korean LPGA tour spent the past few years in the wilderness themselves.  Both were searching for the success that once seemed to come so easily to them.  And both recently returned to the winner’s circle after a too long absence.  Their names are Ha Neul Kim and So Yeon Ryu.

Ha Neul Kim

Ha Neul Kim

Ha Neul Kim was the 2007 KLPGA Rookie of the Year.  Young, glamorous, with a sparkling personality, she was saddled with the nickname ‘The Fashion Model of the Fairways’, thanks to her looks and style.  But Kim was more than just a pretty face; she got results.  She achieved 6 top tens in her rookie year while just 19 years old.  But 2008, her sophomore season, was the year when she broke through and became a big star.  She finished third at the first event of the year, and just two tournaments later claimed her first career win.  She was not done: she would win twice more during the season, and had seemingly established herself as the second best golfer on tour, behind only the unstoppable Jiyai Shin. 

Ha Neul Kim won the 2007 KLPGA Rookie of the Year award

But Kim soon found herself with a tenacious rival to deal with, one who was also beautiful, fashionable and friendly, and who was also regarded as a Fashion model of the Links: Hee Kyung Seo.  Seo had been on tour a few years and was several years older than Kim.  She had been a solid but unspectacular golfer until she spent a few weeks training with Shin.  Suddenly, she started winning and didn’t stop.  The press and the KLPGA couldn’t get enough of the two gorgeous rivals who seemed to trade wins whenever Shin was having a bad week.  In the end, Seo got the better of Kim, capturing six wins in 2008 to Ha Neul’s three.  But there was every reason to believe Kim was just getting started, and would have more to say when 2009 arrived.

Ha Neul (R) and Hee Kyung Seo in 2008

But golf is a crazy sport, remember?  Seo continued her brilliance in 2009, winning five more events, including three of that year’s four Majors (and she finished second in the other one).  Kim, meanwhile, struggled.  She had problems with her swing plane, and suddenly her accuracy took a nosedive.  She was not able to win in 2009, but all in all it was not a terrible year: she still nabbed 7 top tens and finished 7^th on the money list.

Ha Neul in 2009

Unfortunately, 2010 was a significantly worse year for her.  Not only did she again not win a tournament, now she was having trouble even finishing in the top ten.  She wound up 21^st on the money list, despite three top four results.  In terms of marketability, everything was still hunky dory.  She had several top sponsors, including Le Coq Sportif, a golf attire company that featured Ha Neul in TV commercials and advertisements, and credit card company BC Card, her main sponsor.  But what she wanted more than anything was to return to the top of the league.

Ha Neul and her other fellow Le Coq Sportif sponsorees

The start of the 2011 season offered hope.  She contended at the year’s first event in China, finishing second.  She followed that with an 8^th in her second event of the year.  But it was third time lucky for Kim.  The event was the Hyundai Construction Seoul Economy Women’s Open, which took place in late April.  Kim played well enough to place herself second, just a shot out of the lead, after two rounds.  The leader was Ji Na Lim, a tour winner herself.  The third round turned into a pitched battle between the two.  But when Lim had two late bogies, she knocked herself out of it, and it looked like Kim at last was going to earn another trophy.

Not so fast!  Hyun Joo Lee shot a 68 to catch Kim and finish the day tied with her.  So, there would be a playoff.  If Kim was nervous, she controlled herself well.  They both parred the first playoff hole, and on the second, Kim again made par while Lee bogied.  Another win at last for the Fashion Model of the Fairways!  The win also catapulted Kim to the top of the money list and Player of the Year standings for the time being.

Ha Neul cries after winning her first event in more than two years

Ha Neul with her long awaited trophy, April, 2011

Kim proved this was no fluke by continuing to play well in the weeks since.  She struggled at the Korean Women’s Open , but had two more top tens and another top 20 after that.  She is no longer at the top of the money list, but is currently 4^th, her best position this late in the season since her glory days.  Welcome back, Ha Neul Kim!

So Yeon Ryu

So Yeon Ryu

So Yeon Ryu never got quite as far down as Ha Neul Kim did, but she still had a year and a half long winless drought going before her win last week at the Lotte Cantata Open; this was her longest such streak since turning pro as a 17 year old. 

Ryu first made a name for herself as a 16 year old back in 2006.  She was one of three girls who represented Korea in golf at the Asian Games.  She ended up winning the gold medal, crushing her nearest competition by nine strokes with a 29 under par total score.  The previous winner of the gold medal, at the 2002 games, had been none other than Japanese superstar Ai Miyazato, so there was plenty of reason to keep an eye on Ryu’s career as well.

Ryu did not take long to make her mark as a pro.  In fact, she won her very first KLPGA event in 2008 as a 17 year old rookie.  A few months later, she was in the hunt at the Korean Women’s Open, the biggest event on tour.  In fact, she had a four stroke lead at one point on the back nine before Jiyai Shin relentlessly hunted her down, finally defeating her in a three hole playoff.  Ryu did not get the win, but it was another feather in her cap to finish second at a Major while not yet even 18 years old.

So Yeon holds her first career KLPGA trophy

As it turned out, Ryu was narrowly defeated by her Asian Games teammate He Yong Choi for the KLPGA’s Rookie of the Year award.  But the next season, Ryu decisively established herself as not only the best golfer of her class but as one of the two best on tour, period.  She showed signs of coming greatness at the ANZ Ladies Masters in Australia when she finished tied for second.  No less an authority than Ian Triggs, mentor to Hall of Fame golfer Karrie Webb, opined that Ryu had the makings of a great player.  Her KLPGA run started with an epic win over Choi at the Doosan Match Play Championship.  Their match in the finals went a grueling 27 holes (more than seven hours) before Ryu finally put her rival away.  That win opened the floodgates, and two events later, she won again.  She followed that victory with two more consecutive wins.  Suddenly, Ryu was the top player on tour, with even Hee Kyung Seo chasing her.  Seo eventually rebounded, winning several more times to capture the Player of the Year award, but Ryu was decisively the second best player on tour right behind her. 

After more than seven hours, Ryu finally captured the Match Play trophy

Seo & Ryu were one of the best shows in Korean golf in 2009

The rivalry continued at the first event of the 2010 season, the China Ladies Open, which took place in December of 2009.  Ryu and Seo wound up in a playoff, with Ryu finally coming out on top after three holes.  Little did Ryu realize at the time that it would be her last win for a year and a half.  It’s not like she didn’t have her chances in 2010: she accumulated 14 top tens, which included three second places.  She wound up fourth on the money list that season.  But for a player used to winning, this was a major step back.

She started the 2011 season in China with a great title defense.  Indeed, with a few holes to go, she was battling Ha Neul Kim and Hye Youn Kim for the title.  Alas, she couldn’t hold on, and wound up tied for second with Ha Neul while Hye Youn took the trophy.  After that, she struggled again.  She would occasionally put together a promising round, but then shoot a terrible round and knock herself out of the tournament.  She did have one other top ten, a seventh place finish, but also had a missed cut, and an underwhelming second round loss at the Match Play tournament, a 39^th, and three other top twenties.

So Yeon freshens up during round 2 of the 2011 Lotte Cantata Open

Even at the event she won, it did not seem like it was going to be her week.  She was solid through the first two rounds, shooting back to back 69s to put herself four out of the lead with one round to go.  But right from the get go on Sunday,  Ryu was on a mission.  She started her day with birdies on five of her first six holes to seize the lead, and she never let go after that.  She finished her day with her ninth birdie of the round on the 18^th hole to establish an uncatchable 14 under par total.  This time, Hye Youn Kim, who had dealt her the defeat in China, had to settle for second place.  Thanks to her 64, So Yeon Ryu had at last captured her seventh career win after the longest drought of her career to that time.

So Yeon was absolutely on fire during round 3 of the Lotte Cantata

Ryu holds her seventh career KLPGA trophy

Like Ha Neul Kim, Ryu is a very popular player who has done quite well for herself in the sponsorship sweepstakes.  Her win moved her to 5th on the season money list, just behind Ha Neul, and more importantly reestablished her as a dangerous player capable of winning even when coming from well back on Sunday.  Now that Kim and Ryu have tasted victory again, it will be interesting to see if one of them can become the Player of the Year this season.  For fans of the KLPGA, it should be very exciting to see them try!

Several of the tour’s biggest stars are no longer full time players in Korea.  Bo Mee Lee swept the major awards last year, including the Player of the Year.  This season, she is a rookie on the Japanese LPGA tour.  But owing to the tsunami, that tour has not played an event in weeks; so expect that Lee and some other Korean names over there might play in Korea instead (Lee, in fact, is scheduled to take part in this week’s event, the LotteMart Women’s Open). 

Bo Mee Lee

Also leaving the KLPGA in 2011 is Hee Kyung Seo, who was the 2009 KLPGA Player of the Year.  Seo had an off year in 2010, not managing so much as a single win on tour.  This year she is a rookie on the LPGA tour, but like Lee, she’ll play the occasional KLPGA tournament when time permits (she, too, is in this week’s field).

Hee Kyung Seo in 2009

It might seem at first glance that losing two big names like Lee and Seo would put a damper on the KLPGA for 2011, but nothing could be further from the truth.  While those players will be missed, 2010 saw the rise of two more charismatic young stars who should be major factors on tour in 2011.  In addition, a whole raft of promising new rookies are joining the tour this year, several old time stars have returned to play full time, and the other big names are still there to keep their fans happy.  Let’s take a look at what’s in store!

The New Young Stars (Shin Ae Ahn, Soo Jin Yang)

2010 was a breakout season for two young second year professionals.  Shin Ae Ahn was the Rookie of the Year in 2009, while Soo Jin Yang was right behind her in those standings.  In 2010, both players won multiple times and finished near the top of the tour money list, just behind Bo Mee Lee.

Soo Jin Yang was second on the KLPGA money list thanks to two wins during the season and 13 total top tens.  Her breakthrough moment came when she won last year’s Korean Women’s Open for her first and so far only Major victory.  In addition to her two wins, she accumulated three seconds and three third place finishes.  She was also third in the league in scoring with an average of 71.07 strokes.  At just 19 years of age, Yang has quickly become one of the darlings of the tour.  Though she is just a wisp of a girl, she is one of the longer hitters out there.  She is very popular with the fans and has several lucrative endorsement deals, her most important being with Nefs, her primary sponsor, who also pay for one of the tournaments each year on tour.  Yang had a great 2010, no doubt, but toiled somewhat in the shadow of Bo Mee Lee.  With Lee out of the picture, this might be Yang’s chance to take over as the dominant force on tour.

Soo Jin Yang

But if Soo Jin wants to do that, she’ll have to go through another third year player who made a big splash last year.  Shin Ae Ahn’s record was almost as impressive in 2010 as Yang’s.  She also earned 2 wins (though no Majors) and three second place finishes, with a total of 8 top tens.  She finished third on the money list.  More recently, Ahn missed the cut at this year’s Kraft Nabisco Championship a few weeks ago.  Though not as consistent as Yang, she has a tendency to rise up leaderboards at important events.  If she can harness her talents even at the events where she is not at her best, she could certainly challenge for Player of the Year in 2011.

Shin Ae Ahn

Interestingly, the KLPGA has not seemed to glom onto this fascinating rivalry in their marketing efforts.  In the past they have been quick to discover rivalries that could be exploited for marketing purposes:  Hee  Kyung Seo vs. Ha Neul Kim (the battle of the models); So Yeon Ryu vs. He Yong Choi (the teen prodigies); Seo vs. Ryu last season.  But Yang and Ahn are two similar golfers, both charismatic and popular, both at the same point in their professional development, and two of the three top players on the KLPGA in 2010.  It would seem natural to pit them against each other as the rivalry to watch, but that hasn’t happened yet.  Stay tuned, though; the KLPGA doesn’t tend to miss these opportunities for very long!

So Yeon Ryu

At the start of 2010, everybody was expecting that the rivalry to watch that season would be between the two top golfers of the 2009 season, So Yeon Ryu and Hee Kyung Seo.  The two of them lent credence to that by ending up in a playoff at last season’s first tournament (Ryu won).  But amazingly, neither player would win again the rest of the year.  This is especially incredible when you consider that the two of them amassed 9 wins in 2009.

Ryu did not have a poor season.  She finished fourth on the money list, and besides the win had multiple top ten finishes.  But that second 2010 win was elusive.  Even at the first event this year, Ryu entered the final round in a great position to win only to be surpassed in the end by Hye Youn Kim.

So Yeon Ryu

This year, Seo has moved on, but Ryu remains.  Can she live up to her potential and become the dominant player on the KLPGA in 2011?  She has the most career wins of any of the top full-time players on tour and is still only 21.  Most likely she will look to move on to the LPGA or JLPGA at the end of the year, so this is her best chance to shine.  If she can get some early momentum, and perhaps even capture one of the Majors (she has yet to win one), this could be her season to dominate at last.

Some Other Names

Here are a few of the other returning players who might make a big splash in 2011.

Hye Youn Kim

Hye Youn Kim

Hye Youn Kim has flown a bit under the radar ever since her rookie year in 2008.  That season, she was overshadowed by Ryu and Rookie of the Year He Yong Choi despite the fact that she, too, won a tournament.  Since then she has collected several more victories.  In 2010 she finished fifth on the money list, with a win, a second and 8 total top tens.  She announced that she may be here to stay by beating Ryu and Ha Neul Kim at this year’s first event back in December.  For the moment, anyway, she is the top player on the season money list; will she be there at the end of the season as well?

Ha Neul Kim

Ha Neul Kim has never been able to recapture the form she briefly had in the 2008 season, when she won three times and seemed to be on her way to the top of the league.  In 2010 she only finished 21^st on the money list.  But she rallied at the end of the year, and in this year’s first event narrowly lost to Hye Youn Kim.  Could a renaissance be in the offing for the fashionable star?

Ha Neul Kim

Ran Hong

Ran Hong is a consistent top ten golfer who has never quite taken her game to that next level.  She won a tournament in 2010, had another second place and five total top tens.  She finished 9^th on the money list.  With Hong, the talent is there, but is she capable of becoming more consistently a factor on leaderboards?

Ran Hong

Returning names

Starting in 2010 and continuing this year, a number of familiar names have been returning to play on the Korean tour full time.  Il Mi Chung was once upon a time the top player on the KLPGA tour.  After spending several years on the LPGA, she returns to the KLPGA in 2011.  Joining her is Gloria Park, who has never played on the KLPGA before (she went straight from being an amateur to the LPGA tour way back when).  Sarah Lee is also making the KLPGA her full time home this year.

Last year saw the return of Jin Joo Hong and Sung Ah Yim, both LPGA tour winners.  And there is a rumor that Joo Mi Kim, another tour winner, will also be joining them.

Jin Joo Hong

Among all of these name players, are there any who could potentially dominate the domestic tour?  Gloria Park, Sarah Lee and Il Mi Chung all seem to be several years past their primes, and being well into their thirties, they may not be willing to put the hours in to become top players anymore.  Jin Joo Hong and Sung Ah Yim are younger and more promising.  Yim in particular made some noise in 2010 and might be a leaderboard perennial in 2011.  Hong seems much more inconsistent, but has her moments.  Still, it would be a bit surprising if any of these players become one of the very best on the KLPGA this year.

Rookies

Like most years, there are a number of high profile rookies entering the league in 2011.

Ha Na Jang is probably the most notable of these players.  Jang had a great amateur career.  Among her many notable achievements was a semifinal loss at the US Women’s Amateur one year, and a six stroke win at the Women’s World Golf Championship in 2009.  That Fall she seriously contended in the final two KLPGA Majors, losing both to Hee Kyung Seo.  She finished third at the Hite Cup, but at the final Major, the KB Star Tour Grand Finale, it took a birdie by Seo on the 17^th hole on Sunday to finally put the pesky teenager away; Jang finished second.

Ha Na Jang

She turned pro in 2010 and concentrated on mini-tours.  In the Fall she easily earned her KLPGA tour card at Qualifying School, and in her first event as a pro in December, she contended much of the week before ending up 6^th.

Jang has a complete game and is very long off the tee.  If she can play up to her potential on a regular basis, she will be tough to beat for Rookie of the Year.  She is already known in some circles as the second coming of Jiyai Shin, and while that might be a bit excessive, she is definitely one to watch in 2011.

Rye Jung Lee dominated the Jump Tour, one of the KLPGA’s developmental tours, in 2010.  From July to the end of the season, she played in 10 tournaments; during that stretch, she had 6 wins, a second, a third, a 6^th and a 9^th.  Those are Jiyai Shin-like numbers.  Will Lee be able to take that level of consistency to the big tour?  If so, she could be a legitimate threat to Jang.

Hee Kyung Bae became the first amateur in several years to win on the KLPGA tour last season when she claimed the title at the rain shortened LIG Classic in August.  She is a rookie now, and thus instantly becomes one of the top threats to win the Rookie title in 2011, although her other 2010 results were not nearly so impressive as that victory (her next best finish in her KLPGA guest appearances was a 16^th).

Hee Kyung Bae

Last year, Jung Eun Han was one of the top amateurs in the world, perhaps the very best.  Among her accomplishments was leading the Korean national team in an absolute rout over the rest of the world at the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship.  The team won by a mind blowing 17 strokes over an American squad that included Danielle Kang, the US Women’s Amateur Champ, and Jessica Korda, who is now on the LPGA tour.  They also demolished the all time scoring record at the event.  Han won the individual honors as well, besting the all time stroke record set by Jenny Chuasiriporn in 1998.  Han has also proved herself in KLPGA competition, having come close to winning an event last year before settling for second (at the same LIG Classic that fellow amateur Bae won).  She also contended at one of the same Majors Jang excelled at in 2009.

Han is now a rookie on the KLPGA tour.  If anyone has a chance to take down Jang for the Rookie of the Year title, my money is on Han. 

Jung Eun Han in 2010

The 2011 season starts in earnest with the Lotte Mart Women’s Open this week.  Let the fun begin!

This coming week marks the annual playing of the first Major on the women’s schedule.  Once upon a time it was called the Dinah Shore, named in honor of the lady who acted as the celebrity host for the event.  It is one of the events on the LPGA tour most steeped in tradition and lore.  There is a walk showing the photos of the players who have won over the years, and every year the winner celebrates her victory by jumping into Poppy’s Pond near the 18^th hole.  But because only one Korean has won over the years, these traditions have largely bypassed the rabid fans of these ladies.  For them, this is a week to watch other stars shine while their favorites toil in the background.

Coming into the event this year, the usual Korean suspects seem poised to make a run.  Jiyai Shin narrowly missed claiming her first win of the year last weekend at the Kia Classic.  She led much of the week, but missed several crucial short putts, including one on the 18^th hole, and lost by one stroke to Sandra Gal of Germany.  Shin actually had a good Nabisco last year, finishing fifth, but even so was not really in the hunt on Sunday.  The Nabisco’s defending champion is Shin’s arch rival Yani Tseng, currently the only woman golfer in the world ranked above her. 

Jiyai Shin congratulates Sandra Gal, the winner of last week's Kia Classic

Besides Shin, Na Yeon Choi and In Kyung Kim are also coming off strong showings at the Kia.  Kim has had a very good start to her year, notching top tens in all three of the events she has played this year.  She shot a season low 63 at the year’s first event in Thailand but was not able to hold on to the lead through the weekend.  She finished tied for third at the Kia.  Kim is typical of the Korean stars when it comes to the Nabisco.  Last year, she notched top five finishes in the other three Majors but was not a factor at Mission Hills.  Choi is well overdue a Major win, and had a tie for fifth finish at the Kia.  Last year, she was the leading money winner on the LPGA tour and has been ranked as high as third in the world.  Choi had a second and a third in the final two Majors of 2010, but only finished 27^th at the Nabisco.

2004 was the one time a Korean came out on top at this event.  In fact, it was a great year for the Sisters all around.  In fact, the final group on Sunday consisted of Sarah Lee, Aree Song and Grace Park.  Park and Lee are Korean, and Song is half Korean, half Thai.  It was an epic battle, with Song and Park slugging it out until the end.  Finally, Song drained an eagle on the 72^nd hole, forcing Park to make a birdie on that hole to win the title.  Grace did so, claiming her first and thus far only Major triumph.  She took the dive in the pond, creating one of the iconic photos of her career.  Who would have guessed at the time that, for all the Korean success that was to come, seven years later the Sisters would still be looking for their second chance to take that dive.

The iconic shot of Grace Park’s career: emerging from the pond after winning the 2004 Kraft Nabisco Championship

Perhaps the most compelling Korean Nabisco story is that of Se Ri Pak.  By her fourth season on tour, Se Ri had claimed three of the four Majors needed to complete the career Grand Slam.  The only one she was missing was the Nabisco.  And to this date, she has still not claimed it.  In fact, most years she isn’t even close.  For a while her best finish was a tie for 9^th.  But one year, it looked like the stars were finally going to align and give Pak the trophy she wanted more than any other.  In 2007, Se Ri took a tie for the lead into the final round.  In years past, Pak was practically unbeatable when she had a lead in that situation.  No one anywhere near her on the leaderboard had ever won a Major before, while she had five Majors in her career.  Everything seemed primed for her to get this elusive title at last.

Se Ri in round 3 of the 2007 Kraft Nabisco

Things went well for Se Ri on Sunday, at least at first.  She made an early birdie and claimed a two shot lead by the fourth hole.  But final round co-leader Suzann Pettersen rebounded, and by the 8^th hole had caught Pak for the lead.  Pettersen took a one shot lead into the back nine, but Se Ri made a needless bogey on the 10^th and missed a makeable birdie on the par 5 11^th, and suddenly the deficit was three strokes.

Se Ri made a birdie on 12 to move back to within two, but after that, she pressed too hard to try to make up the deficit, and the result was a horrific bogey train that plunged her right out of the tournament.  The irony is, if she had just focused on par golf, she might have won, for Pettersen had her own implosion a few holes later.  In the end, Morgan Pressel, who had finished golfing more than an hour earlier, ended up winning the title.  Se Ri wound up tied for 10^th, not even her best finish at the event.  She has not come close to winning the Nabisco since.

Things started to fall apart on Sunday for Se Ri

So, the question remains: why do the Koreans struggle to win this one event?  Well, the older Koreans are on the downside of their careers, while the younger ones are just starting to make noise at the big events.  But the younger ones have had far more success at the other Majors than this one.  As for the Nabisco, the golf gods seem to set up tough situations for them year after year.  In 2008, Lorena Ochoa dominated the final day of the tournament, not giving anyone else a real chance.  Six Koreans finished in the top ten, but none higher than Seon Hwa Lee, who was 5^th.  In 2009, the highest Korean finisher was Jimin Kang, who finished tied for 8^th.  Jiyai Shin finished tied for 21^st that same year.  In 2010, Song Hee Kim finished third, but well behind the two players who duked it out on Sunday for the trophy.  Shin was fifth, Inbee Park tied for 10^th. 

There seem to be a few interesting trends in these results.  First of all, the Koreans tend not to do so well at the start of the LPGA season in general, and the Kraft is these days one of the first events of the year.  Looking at the past five years, the Koreans usually have at most one win in the first few events, but more often don’t seriously contend for trophies.  It’s not until May or so that they usually catch fire and start collecting wins and tons of top tens.  Why would this be?  Unclear, but my theory is that they work so hard in the off season that they are actually a little tired when the season starts, whereas their opponents are fresher, not having worked so hard.  But once the season starts in earnest and the rest of the field gets more tired, the superior preparation of the Koreans makes more of an impact.

The Nabisco’s course setup itself also seems to favor long hitters.  Grace Park, the only Korean to win the event, is also one of the longest Koreans off the tee.  Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sorenstam, Brittany Lincicome and Yani Tseng are also champions known for their length.  Morgan Pressel, one of the shortest players to win the event, basically backed into her win when the two long bombers Pak and Pettersen screwed up on Sunday.  These days, there are only a few younger Korean players who one could consider long drivers:  Amy Yang definitely, and Song Hee Kim has a decent driving average.  For the rest, this is a handicap that they have to face.

In Kyung Kim at the 2009 Nabisco

Can a Korean win the Kraft Nabisco this year?  Jiyai Shin is one of the toughest, winningest golfers on the LPGA, and she has improved her distance this year.  In Kyung Kim seems to do well at Majors, and Na Yeon Choi is a golfing machine who is always near the top of leaderboards.  Inbee Park has had a career resurgence of late, and already has a Major trophy to her credit.  The course sets up well for Amy Yang as well.  Song Hee Kim has struggled a bit this season so far, quite uncharacteristically, so it might not be her year to shine.  Perhaps the course does not set up as well for these players as others do, but expect that at least a couple of these stars will make a run at the title this year.  With so much success on their resume, it just can’t be the case that the Curse of the Nabisco will afflict the Koreans for too many more years.

And the Winner Is: Na Yeon Choi

Na Yeon Choi

Jiyai Shin has dominated this category the last several years, pretty much ever since she first turned pro.  In 2007, 2008 and 2009, there was simply no other Korean who could touch her, although an argument could have been made for Hee Kyung Seo in 2009 (but a losing argument in my opinion).  Simply put, even with all the great and near great Korean golfers in the world, there was no one in Jiyai Shin’s league.

But this year, one golfer rose to the challenge, played superlatively, and managed to even trump the Final Round Queen in a closely fought contest.  The player I give the Player of the Year award to is Na Yeon Choi.  Let’s take a little look at her path to this point, and what made her 2010 season so special.

Choi, like Shin, first burst onto the scene as an amateur high school golfer, when she won the ADT-CAPS Championship in 2004.  The player who finished second that week was none other than Se Ri Pak herself.  Quite an accomplishment for a teenager to beat a living legend like Pak in front of her home country fans!  The next season, Choi joined the KLPGA, where she played for three seasons, finishing in the top ten on the money list all three years.  At the end of 2007, she played LPGA Qualifying School, where she gained conditional status for the 2008 season.

Na Yeon and her trophy from the 2004 ADT-CAPS, her first pro win

It did not take Choi long in 2008 to step up her game.  In her first Major on tour, the Kraft Nabisco, she notched a tie for 6^th.  She soon found herself in a pitched battle for the Rookie of the Year award with Ya Ni Tseng from Taiwan.  When Tseng won the year’s second Major, the LPGA Championship, in June, it looked like that race had been won.  But Choi continued to play brilliantly week after her week.  Her consistency was almost ridiculous.  Not only did she not miss a cut in her rookie year, she did not even finish outside the top 40 in any event until October, and collected top 20s in all four Majors.  She had several great chances to win as well, but somehow could not close the deal.

Finally, everything seemed to come together for Choi at the Evian Masters in July.  She seized the final round lead by four strokes with just a few holes to go, and looked for all the world like she would grab the trophy.  But at that exact point, Helen Alfredsson started making every shot, whittled away Choi’s lead, and caught her on the final hole.  Choi eventually lost a playoff to the Swedish veteran, a crushing blow when victory had been so close.

Na Yeon at the 2008 Evian -- so close to a win!

Choi was back in the lead as Rookie of the Year, but Tseng nearly won the British Women’s Open the next week, and retook the lead.  Choi kept pounding, though, and Tseng did not finally put the Korean away until the final event of the year.  Choi did not claim a win, but made over a million bucks and finished 11^th on the money list.

Her 2009 season was much the same.  Incredible consistency: she did not miss a cut again all year; she had multiple top tens and twenties and few worse results; and she had several good chances to win.  Finally, Choi again found herself in a position to get her first win, this time at the Samsung World Championship.  Her final round lead got as high as seven shots, but Japanese star Ai Miyazato at that point began to whittle it down, catching Choi with one hole to go.  But at that point Choi finally got a break: Miyazato made a careless mistake, made bogey on the final hole, and when Choi made a birdie a bit later, she claimed her first win on tour at last.  To prove it was no fluke, Choi got her second win just weeks later at the Hana Bank Championship, again with a birdie on the final hole.  Her final results for 2009: 11 top tens, two wins, top tens in three of four Majors, and a 6^th place finish on the money list.

But even with all that brilliance, Choi was still in the shadow of Jiyai Shin coming into 2010.  She certainly had her moments of excellence early last year: a tie for 2^nd at the State Farm Classic (she barely lost that one to Cristie Kerr); 3 other top tens as well.  But interestingly, it was her first missed cut on the LPGA tour that seemed to set a fire in the placid athlete, spurring her to a new level where she could compete with and beat anyone in the world.  That missed cut came at the second Major of the year, the LPGA Championship.  She just missed it by a stroke, but it was still hard for her to take.  She did not take long to recover.  The next week, at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic, she seized control of the event, struggled a bit in the final round, made a clutch putt to get into a playoff, then beat almost all her fiercest rivals for the win.  That’s no exaggeration: her good friends and fellow top Koreans In-Kyung Kim and Song Hee Kim fell to her in the playoff; Jiyai Shin was just one shot away from that playoff; and Inbee Park, another superstar, was just two shots out of it.  The top five ranked Koreans in the world, and it was Choi who got the win.  That HAD to be a big spur to her confidence.

Na Yeon with her Farr trophy in 2010

After that, it seemed like nothing could stop Choi.  Week after week, there she was, either in contention or high up on the leaderboard.  She finished 2^nd at the US Women’s Open and 3^rd at the Ricoh British Women’s Open, the year’s final two Majors.  She had a great chance to win the Evian Masters after making four straight late birdies to cruise up the leaderboard.  Her second shot on the par 5 18^th sailed over the green, though, and she could not get up and down; she finished tied for 2^nd.  With a tie for 2^nd at the Safeway Classic, that made five straight top three finishes.

After an 11^th and a 9^th, she returned to the top three with a tie for 3^rd at the Navistar LPGA Classic.  A few weeks after that, she was in Korea defending her title at the Hana Bank Championship.  Despite playing with her good friend and fellow superstar Song Hee Kim in the final round, and entering that round trailing Kim, Choi got the better of her in the end, successfully defending her title for her second win of 2010.  Choi became the first Korean to defend a title on the LPGA since Se Ri Pak in 2002.

Na Yeon's second win of 2010, the Hana Bank Championship

By this point, Choi was the top player on the money list, nearly top in scoring average, and in good position to even win the Player of the Year award.  Jiyai Shin struck back, though, by winning the next tournament on the schedule, the Mizuno Classic, to seize the money list lead from Choi.  Choi finished tied for 5^th, not too bad, and the two stars were practically neck and neck in that race.  Shin, however, decided to skip the next event on tour, and when Choi finished tied for 7^th there, she once again regained the money list lead, and strengthened her lead in the scoring average as well, with just one event to go.

Choi had a chance to become the first Korean to ever win the Player of the Year award, and was the only player in the Tour Championship field who could win ALL the post-season awards.  But Shin, too, could still become Player of the Year.  They both needed to win the tournament to get that award.  It was another big test for Choi: could she face down her great rival and claim post season hardware?  The answer was a resounding yes.  Shin did not play well at all, Choi finished tied for 5^th, and thus Na Yeon Choi became only the second Korean in history to lead the LPGA season ending money list (Shin did it last year).  Her final money total of $1,871,165 is also the highest money total ever achieved by a Korean golfer on that tour.  In addition, her scoring average of 69.87 was good enough to claim the Vare Trophy, the third Korean to win it after Se Ri Pak and Grace Park; it was the second best scoring average by a Korean in history (behind only Se Ri Pak). She also finished third in the Player of the Year standings.

Yani Tseng, Player of the Year, and Na Yeon Choi, Vare Trophy winner

Choi’s record was impressive top to bottom.  During 2010, she had 15 top tens, tied for the most top tens a Korean has achieved since the heyday of Se Ri and Grace Park (the only Koreans to ever beat that total).  More impressively, 12 of those were top fives, including two wins, four seconds, and two thirds.  She had top threes in two Majors.  After her missed cut, her WORST finish in her final 13 events of the year was a 16^th place.  She led the league in five statistical categories: total birdies (338), rounds under par (.722), rounds in the 60s (.468), scoring average and sand saves (!), and was top three in four others. 

Na Yeon Choi has been great since she started playing pro golf, but she truly exceeded anything she had done before in 2010 and especially in the final five months of the season.  She clearly earned the SeoulSisters.com Player of the Year award over some very stiff competition.

Na Yeon Choi -- soon to be #1? Or is she already there?

Honorable Mentions:

Jiyai Shin                                                             

Jiyai Shin in March

 Although Jiyai Shin did not win the Player of the Year award this year, she still had a fantastic year by almost any standard (except possibly her own).  It was quite a tough battle between her and Choi for this Player of the Year award; indeed, had she played better in the final event of the year, she might very well have won it yet again.

In several ways, Shin had the advantage over Choi.  For instance, Shin won four events in total in 2010 – two on the LPGA, one on the JLPGA, and a KLPGA Major, the KLPGA Championship, where she beat Choi among others – while Choi only won two events all year.  While Choi basically concentrated on the LPGA, Shin played a lot of events in Japan, 7 in total, and finished in the top five in six of them.  Her scoring average on that tour was a scintillating 69.67.  It is quite a tough thing to play multiple tours all over the world and do well in all of them.

Jiyai wins in Japan

Meanwhile, she had a fantastic year in America as well.  She finished the year #1 on the Rolex rankings (Choi was #4), and was #1 for more weeks than the other two players, Ai Miyazato and Cristie Kerr, who also spent time at #1 in the wake of Ochoa’s retirement.  She played only 18 events, compared to 23 for Choi, yet managed 14 top tens, just one fewer than Choi, and barely finished behind her in the Player of the Year standings.  They had the same number of LPGA wins, although Shin had the most impressive win of the season when she captured the Evian Masters, arguably the most important non-Major event on tour (Choi finished tied for second at that event).  Shin had 12 top fives just like Choi, but Choi’s top fives were a little more impressive: Shin had only one runner up finish, at the CN Canadian Women’s Open, and four thirds, while Choi had more seconds.  Perhaps most impressively, Shin accomplished all this despite undergoing an emergency appendectomy right in the heart of the season that not only forced her to miss several key events but also inhibited her swing for some weeks after she returned to action (although her first event back after the surgery, she finished tied for third, showing just how tough she really is).

As far as post-season awards go, they were both pretty close again.  Until the final event of the year, Shin was only hundredths of a stroke behind Choi in scoring average (but she could not win the Vare trophy because she did not play enough rounds to qualify, thanks again to the appendix).  She was slightly behind Choi in Player of the Year, but could still win it with a victory in the year’s final event.  She was the only player who could catch Choi on the money list as well.  If Shin had played better than Choi at the LPGA Tour Championship, she conceivably could have beaten her in all those categories (although, again, even a lower scoring average would not have given her the official Vare trophy).  But Shin did not play well that week, and that one hiccup might have been the razor thin edge Choi needed to claim our award.

Shin became the first Korean to win the Evian Masters

Choi also had a better statistical season than Shin.  Shin wound up leading two categories: top ten % (14 of 18 events) and Fairways hit (they don’t call her Chalk Line for nothing – she is incredibly accurate off the tee!).  Choi, as mentioned previously, led in five categories.  Shin was second on the money list with nearly $1.8 million earned, fifth in Player of the Year points, and fifth in scoring average even with her fall in the final event.  It was a great year for Jiyai Shin again, but this year only good for an honorable mention in these awards.

Sun Ju Ahn

See Rookie of the Year for more details about her fantastic season in Japan.  She also added a near top ten at the Evian Masters.  Her historic year on the JLPGA was certainly amazing, but Shin and Choi’s exploits were so incredible in 2010 that Ahn would have had to have been off the charts in Japan to compete with them for this award.  She does deserve an honorable mention, though!