Season Preview 2003

2002 was a watershed year for the Korean players on the LPGA. I believe they won something like 10% of the prize money available on the tour last year, a truly impressive result. They won nine times (even more amazing when you consider that the Americans only won six times last year, and there are many more Americans than Koreans on tour). Half of the top two, half of the top four, and half of the top six players in the league were Korean. Twice the Koreans won three consecutive events. In one memorable stretch in the summer, Korean players won and finished second or third three times in a row: the Giant Eagle Classic (Mi Hyun won, Grace third); the Sybase Big Apple Classic (Gloria Park won; Hee-Won Han second); and the Wendy's Championship for Children (Mi Hyun won, Hee-Won second). Mi Hyun Kim and Grace Park both had the best seasons of their careers, and in some ways so did Se Ri Pak.

But with all those accomplishments, signs are looking good that they could play even better in 2003. What are their goals for this year, and what could we be seeing from them?

The Koreans won 9 trophies in 2002

One key element that recurs over and over in their planning is conditioning. This year more than ever, the Seoul Sisters are looking to get stronger and more fit. They saw how much this benefited Annika Sorenstam last year, and have no intention of ceding her the advantage in that department again. Se Ri Pak, for instance, has always been very fit; but this off-season she has emphasized strengthening work, focusing on her lower body in particular. Don't be surprised to see a leaner, meaner Se Ri out there. Indeed, she did not return to America until early February, and before that, her conditioning was her primary focus in Korea (had to be, since her coach was back in Orlando). But Se Ri is hardly alone. Grace Park, Mi Hyun Kim, Gloria Park and Hee-Won Han have also mentioned this as the primary focus in their new regimens. Several of the players have started working with coaches specifically focused on that area. If they don't overdo it (and there is always that risk), this cannot help but benefit their games.

But what else can we expect from the ladies? What in particular are their goals, and how do they look to successfully accomplish them?

Se Ri Pak
Let's start, as we usually do, with Se Ri Pak. The world's #2 player had a great 2002, notching an impressive career best 17 top 10s (and 20 top 11s). For the first time in her career, she did not miss a cut all season, her worst finish being in the 40s. And she broke 70 in her scoring average for the second year in a row. All great achievements, but for Se Ri, there really is only one person to measure herself against, and in that department, she fell even farther behind than in 2001. Annika had an unbelievable season in 2002; indeed, I find it hard to believe she can improve on it. It says something that Se Ri had the fifth best scoring average in history and was still nearly a full stroke behind Annika's average. Can Se Ri rise to that level of performance?

I believe she can, but it may not be necessary. Annika's season, I think, happened because she managed to play at or near the top of her game most of the year. If you look at her 2001 season, she played comparably or better in that year when at the top of her game; the reason her results were not as impressive is that she had a few slumps as well. In 2002, the only time she played not so well (relatively speaking) was when she pushed at the end to set the wins record and played a couple of events she was not ready to play. If you look at Se Ri's 2002, there were several factors that cost her a chance to compete with Annika. But when she finally got her game in gear, she too strung together a lot of impressive wins and scored mighty well. Specifically, Se Ri needs to do three things to reach the level of consistency she will need to shoot for number one. She needs to be prepared to compete at the start of the year, and she will need to schedule her events better. And she needs to get lucky and not be sick or injured so often.