Fairways and Greens

LPGA Q-School is Over!!!
With the completion of LPGA Q-School on October 24th, the roster of Korean players who will be on tour next year is complete (or so we thought until Shi Hyun Ahn's win this week!). There are some newcomers, some old veterans returning, and a few who didn't make it. Here's the breakdown.

First, two Korean players made it through the Futures Tour to the LPGA. They are:

Soo Young Moon: Moon finished 2nd on the Futures Tour money list in 2003. She was non-exempt on the LPGA last year, but now has full exempt status for 2004. At only 20 years of age, she'll still be one of the youngest players on tour. Check out her profile here.

Ju Kim: Ju Kim finished 4th on the money list on the Futures Tour. She had also finished fourth in 2001, but in those days only the top three made it to the LPGA, and thus she missed out. That year, she had lost by a couple hundred dollars to Jung Yeon Lee.

Getting through Q-School with exempt cards were the following players (listed with their overall finishes at Q-School):

5. Aree Song: To no one's surprise, 17 year old Aree Song, arguably the best amateur player in the world, made it through Q-School. Song, who is half Korean and half Thai, received a special exemption from the Commissioner of the LPGA to become a rookie even though she is below the minimum age of 18; she turns 18 in May of 2004. Aree finished two shots out of the medalist spot, at 6 under par.

12. Seol-An Jeon: A Futures tour stalwart, Jeon shot rounds of 72-72-71-68 to finish at 5 under. Jeon will be a rookie next year.

17. Il Mi Chung: One of the top players on the KLPGA tour for the last few years, Chung had said she had no interest in trying out for the LPGA, but apparently changed her mind. She'll be a rookie next year, and in my mind becomes one to watch for Rookie of the Year. She might just surprise a few people! Her profile is here.

These players retained non-exempt status on tour (the number next to their name represents their standing on the non-exempt list):

7. Hyun Soon Park: Here's her profile.

9. Jinnie Lee: Her profile

10. Sunny Lee: Sunny played pretty well this Q-School, and after three rounds was just inside the exempt card line. Unfortunately, she shot a 73 in the final round to fall just out of exempt status, but still maintained non-exempt status for the second straight year. Her profile.

13. Jimin Kang: Once again, Jimin failed to make exempt status. Last year, she shot a terrible final round to fall out of exempt status by one shot. This year she was 4 shots out of exempt status. She has to keep working on her game. Her page.

And of course, CJ 9 Bridges Classic winner Shi Hyun Ahn has gotten herself non-exempt status for 2004 thanks to her win, and exempt status for 2005. She will also get to play in the Mobile Tournament of Champions in just two weeks, if she so chooses.

Among the players who failed to retain any card on the LPGA next year were Ara Koh, who withdrew from Q-School after two weak rounds (the cut at Q-School is after the third round), and last issue's interview subject, Minny Yeo. Though Minny has had her best season in 2003, she had a really rough Q-School and missed the third round cut. Hopefully she'll spend her time working on her game and will back good as ever next year.

Congratulations to all the new Korean stars-to-be, and best of luck in 2004!

Soo Young Moon

Aree Song

Seol-An Jeon

Il Mi Chung AKA 'The Smile Queen' after
winning the Korean Open

Sunny Lee

Jimin Kang

Professor Grace speaks!
On October 22, Grace Park gave a lecture to a hall full of future CEOs at the Catholic University in Seoul's Business Management School. The topic of her speech was her life as an LPGA pro. She explained how important good management was for her career, and talked about the various challenges she has had in rising to the top ranks of her profession. The 200 people in attendance enjoyed the talk and getting to meet Grace. Perhaps she'll be coming soon to a lecture hall near you?

Grace's lecture

Money List
Se Ri and Grace once again tied, allowing Se Ri to maintain her roughly $200,000 lead over Grace on the money list. However, they gained ground on Hee-Won, who had a lackluster performance at 9 Bridges. The big gainer was Gloria Park, who vaulted from 46th to 35th place, leapfrogging the idle Young Kim, thanks largely to a phenomenal tournament record 62 in the final round. If Shi Hyun Ahn's check counted officially, she would be ranked 52nd on this list, just behind Christina Kim, at $187,500.