Fairways and Greens

Jeong Jang grabs second
Congratulations to Jeong Jang, who tied her career best finish with a second place at the Kellogg's Keebler Classic, the LPGA event before last week's LPGA Championship. Jang had been playing some of her best golf of the year, but in the two previous events had just missed out on a top ten, finishing 11th both times. In Chicago, she really found her form, and shot a 69-67 in the first two rounds. This was good, but unfortunately, she was a victim of Karrie Webb, who was having one of those weeks she has every now and then where she just doesn't make a mistake. As a result, even though JJ shot a respectable third round 69, she still finished five shots out of the win. Still, her continued great play has enabled her to leap into the top 25 on the money list.

Check out some more great photos of JJ at the Corning Classic recently published in Korea!

Jeong Jang

The Korean contingent on the Futures Tour
Jimin Kang is wearing the orange pants and the big smile

Jimin second again, still leads money list
At the Bank of Ann Arbor FUTURES Golf Classic, Jimin Kang, the rising young Korean star who currently leads the Futures Tour money list, had a chance to add a second win to her 2004 season. She was trailing Lindsey Wright of Australia by four shots coming into the third and final round. Wright is another top player on the money list who had also, like Kang, won once in the 2004 season. But as is fast becoming her reputation, it was Kang who played phenomenally on Sunday. She blistered the front nine, put herself within striking distance, then had two consecutive three putt greens on 13 and 14 to fall back. Still, she had a chance to win as she approached the final hole, a 557 yard par 5. But she was not able to reach the green in two and could not make a birdie. Wright, who was tied at the time with Kang, now had a long birdie chance to put the tournament away. She succeeded. "I watched Lindsey make that long putt on 18", Kang later remarked, "and said, 'oh well, next week.'"

Still, she can't be entirely disappointed. Her second place finish was good enough to allow her to retain the top spot on the money list, and two other Koreans, Seon Hwa Lee and Naree Song, also remain in the top 5 for now.

Click here to read the entire story!

Sunny Proh
You may remember meeting Sunny Oh, a promising young Korean college player, when she played in the LPGA's Takefuji Classic a few weeks ago. Well, Sunny has decided to leave the University of Nevada at Las Vegas after her sophomore year and test the waters as a pro. She announced her intentions on May 24, while preparing to qualify for the US Women's Open. This was just a few days after her team finished in 21st place in the NCAA national tournament. Sunny will be missed. She was the most successful player in the history of the program, a two time All American who helped lead the Rebels to their best ever results in their short three year history.

So far, she has played two events on the Futures Tour. She has missed one cut and finished far back in the other one, making a career sum total of $69 to date (ouch, those Futures Tour purses can be small!). Still, she's got a lot of talent, and it will doubtless only be a matter of time before we start seeing her name on leaderboards.

Grace vs. Annika in Boise
Grace Park will be joining the Kraft Nabisco Shoot-Out, a special one day event held in Boise, Idaho, to benefit various charities. This event is traditionally held as a preliminary to the Nationwide Tour's Boise Open, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. She will be joining none other than Annika Sorenstam in this 18 hole exhibition. The event will be televised live on the Golf Channel. Last year, this event featured Michelle Wie (who later went on to play in the Nationwide tour event), John Daly, Hank Kuehne and Nancy Lopez in a battle of long hitting pros. With Grace and Annika going toe to toe, you can bet that there will be some long tee shots hit here as well. Any guesses on who will have the longest driving average? Tune in to find out!

More details? Click here!

Se Ri to play Tiger in skins game!
Tiger Woods will play for the first time in Korea in November. It was announced earlier this week that he will participate in a Skins Game on Cheju Island. Three other players will compete with Tiger for a share of the $175,000 pot (Tiger is, however, also being paid a $1.5 million appearance fee, so he doubtless won't be sweating too much).

Two of the players that are being discussed as competitors are Korean PGA star KJ Choi - and Se Ri! Imagine getting the chance to see Tiger and Se Ri Pak go toe to toe in Korea in a Skins Game! One can only hope that, like everything else Tiger does, this somehow finds its way onto the Golf Channel.

They have not yet named a fourth player, but if I might be so bold as to suggest Grace Park?

Here are the latest details!

Money List
Grace had another great Major at the LPGA Championship, finishing third; but Annika's win puts her more than $270,000 behind the #1 player for now. Se Ri missed a second cut and only managed a top 20 at the Major, so she did not make much money this week. The big movers were Shi Hyun Ahn, whose second place at the LPGA Championship moved her back into the top ten on the money list, and Jeong Jang, who managed a second place tie at the Keebler to move to 25th. Christina Kim and Gloria Park also had good finishes at the Major; Gloria now moves into the top 20 with her highest placing of the year on the money list. Meanwhile, Jung Yeon Lee withdrew from the Major, and thus made no money, falling out of the top ten on the money list for the first time this year.