Fairways and Greens

She's Still the One
Se Ri Pak has always been immensely popular in South Korea, ever since her brilliant rookie season of 1998 sparked the current Korean golf revolution. But what about these days? Se Ri is coming off arguably her worst season, while other players, notably Grace Park and Shi Hyun Ahn, have excelled and captured many headlines. So how does Se Ri rank in the hearts of her country people in 2004?

Recently, the Gallup organization in Korea conducted a poll of 1507 Koreans age 20 or older, asking them to name their favorite Korean golfer. The results were surprising and heartwarming. Se Ri Pak is, despite her slump, still the one that Koreans love. She won a whopping 42.4% of the vote. In second place was Mi Hyun Kim, surprisingly, at 18%, with Grace Park third at 11.8% and KJ Choi fourth at 9.7%. It's particularly surprising that, despite the greatness of her play the past two years, Grace still hasn't risen above Mi Hyun Kim or come close to Se Ri's level of popularity. I think there may be a couple of factors at play here. One, Grace is from a wealthy family, whereas both Se Ri and Mi Hyun are not, so perhaps the average Korean relates more to those two ladies than to Grace. Second, Grace grew up in America, and perhaps Koreans relate more to the two ladies who grew up and became famous in Korea. I wonder also if Grace just 'seems' more American to Koreans than Se Ri or Mi Hyun? Whatever the reason, I've always suspected that Koreans had not yet embraced Grace to the degree they have Se Ri and Mi Hyun, and it's fascinating to see proof of that theory.

Also noteworthy is that 'Cinderella' Shi Hyun Ahn apparently did not make the list, or if she did, was not noteworthy. The margin of error on the poll is +/- 2.5%.

Who's Number One? Well, Se Ri Pak is
still #1 in the hearts and minds of her
countrymen and women

Peek-a-boo! Bo Pae Song got a chance to
play with Se Ri Pak during round one of
the ADT-CAPS Invitational on the KLPGA
tour

KLPGA Season over for 2004
The ADT-CAPS Invitational marked the end of another season on the KLPGA tour, and just like in 2003, a single player dominated the tour this season. But for the third straight year, it was a different player who managed the feat. In 2002, it was 20 year old Mi Na Lee who won Player of the Year and led the Money List. Last year, it was Ju Mi Kim who won both categories AND won Rookie of the Year. She was only 19 when she did that.

This year, the trend of the dominant player getting younger continued again. This year, the premiere player was 18 year old sensation Bo Pae Song. Song led the league in money earned with 176,220,000 won (roughly $163,000), won the Rookie of the Year award, and claimed Player of the Year as well. However, her scoring average was only second best on tour, at 71.17. The winner of that category was last year's Player of The Year, Ju Mi Kim, whose average this year was 70.69, an average that would put her in the top 20 on the LPGA tour if she were able to duplicate it over here. Kim also finished second to Song on the money list and the Player of the Year standings, showing that she didn't exactly just let Song take those titles without a fight (indeed, Kim only finished five points behind Song in Player of the Year standings, meaning it was close right until the very end).

Song, Kim, the young amateur Na Yeon Choi, and other players like Na Ri Kim and Mi Na Lee show that the KLPGA is still going strong and turning out potential superstars even with the massive defection of Korean talent to the West. Don't be surprised to see some of those names dotting LPGA leaderboards in the next few years.

Christina Kim - Supermodel??
We all know that Christina Kim is exuberant, lots of fun, and a darn great golfer besides. But Christina seems to be branching out into modeling, if these pics are to be believed.

Actually, she was photographed during the Samsung tournament for an upcoming article in Golf For Women Magazine (available on newsstands in December). Christina revealed in her LPGA message board that it was the first time she had a professional make-up artist doll her up for a shoot, and that she really enjoyed the experience. She also mentioned that the shoes were "Manolo Blahniks, not Jimmy Choos (as the LPGA's website implied). Paid a pretty penny for them, but they are so hot. I love em. "

Watch out! The woman has a taste for high fashion! Let's hope we can coax her back to the golf course in regular golf shoes, not high heels, which tend to do a number on most putting greens.

Money List
With one event left in the year, Grace Park has assured herself of at least third place on the money list. She is roughly $70,000 ahead of Lorena Ochoa, so if she can do well at the ADT Tour Championship, she can nab second place on the money list for the first time in her career. Once you reach #2, the only place to go is the top, so Annika had better watch out in 2005! Se Ri will play no more in 2004, so she is now tenuously holding on to 9th on the money list and will probably be knocked out of the top ten after the last event. Mi Hyun Kim also ended up just short of a million on the year, but Hee-Won Han still has a chance to eclipse that mark if she wins the last event. She has made top tens in her last few events, so she has a chance.