Ahn Fire

Shi Hyun Ahn is somewhat of an enigma, even to people who cover women's golf regularly.

Before the CJ 9 Bridges Classic in Korea last year, she was just another promising young Korea player on the KLPGA. Her position on the money list at the time was 4th, not bad certainly; especially for a young lady who had just turned 19. But if you were going to nominate a Korean LPGA player who would possibly make her presence felt in an LPGA tournament, you'd probably have picked several women before her: Ju Mi Kim, a 19 year old who won all the top awards in the KLPGA in 2003, perhaps. Or Mi Na Lee, who managed that trick in 2002, when she was all of 20. Or possibly a veteran like Il Mi Chung (who is profiled elsewhere in this issue).

It's true that Shi Hyun Ahn, the previous season, had won the Korean 'Dream Tour' award for top player (the Dream Tour is the Korean equivalent of the Futures Tour in the States; a minor league developmental tour). But she had precious little notoriety beyond that accomplishment.

Well, Shi Hyun Ahn has let it be known that she is a player to watch. As all Seoul Sisters fans know, she went on to win the CJ 9 Bridges Classic, becoming only the 13th player in LPGA history to win an event without being a member of the tour, and the first in 8 years. And she did it while playing in front of her home fans, in a group with bazillion time winner Laura Davies and the incomparable Se Ri Pak. As if that weren't enough, it was close the whole way, with Ahn clinging to a one shot lead until the par 5 18th, when she dropped a magnificent second shot within a few feet of the hole for an eventual eagle. That is what you call delivering in the clutch!

Shi Hyun Ahn: the next LPGA
Rookie of the Year?

Shi Hyun had a fifth place finish at the
Welch's, her first event as an
LPGA player
Reuters/Jeff Topping

As impressive as what she did last year was, in a way, it could be looked at as a fluke, kind of like a lot of experts view Hilary Lunke's US Women's Open win last year. In all likelihood, Shi Hyun Ahn would follow the career path of a lot of promising Koreans: she would come to the States and take a while to get acclimated. The travel, the culture, the food, the grasses they play on, all have stymied many a Korean talent, at least for a while. Even the vaunted Se Ri Pak did not get her first top ten until she had played a dozen events on tour. Fortunately for Ahn, she had some breathing room, with a two year card thanks to her win.

How amazing, then, that Ahn has done what she has done in 2004! Working almost fatally hard in the off season, she came into 2004 pumped, ready to contend. She wants to win Rookie of the Year and perhaps a tournament or two, and most of all, she wants to prove that she belongs out here.

And boy, has she! Last week, in her first LPGA event as a full time player, she stunned most observers by putting together a fantastic front nine 28 in her third round, one of only a dozen players to ever shoot a 28. She struggled coming in, but still moved onto the leaderboard. Rather than wilt, on Sunday she played even better, getting herself to 7 under par, and this time she did not falter. She ended up with a tie for fifth, knotted up with none other than far more heralded rookie prospect Aree Song. In three events on tour to that point, she had two top fives (one a win).

Again at the Safeway International, Shi Hyun impressed. She was one of more than a dozen Koreans who set out at the start of the week to make some noise. Could they duplicate their astounding feat of the previous week, where seven Koreans finished in the top ten? Not quite, but there were some success stories to be found in the results to be sure.

Of course, at this event in 2003, another bigtime Korean sweep occurred. That week, Se Ri Pak edged out a hard charging Grace Park and Hee-Won Han to take her first win of the year. But in those days, the event was played at Moon Valley across town. This year they played it at Superstition Mountain, a Jack Nicklaus designed course that used to host a Major on the Champions (aka Senior PGA) tour. It was a pretty different course from the one they had played in years past. For one thing, it is situated in the desert, with few trees but a lot of sand. For another, they set the course up long. At 6,620 yards, it was one of the longest tracks the LPGA had ever played, longer in fact than any course they played in 2003, including the US Women's Open. This figured to play into the hands of long drivers like Annika Sorenstam, Se Ri Pak and Grace Park, and in fact it did.

Last year, Se Ri won this event