Fairways and Greens

LPGA signs biggest rights deal in its history with Korean network
Korean golfers continue to have a huge positive impact on the bottom line of the LPGA. The latest great news is that SBS, one of the television networks in South Korea, has agreed to a deal to broadcast LPGA tournaments exclusively in Korea. The deal is the largest in the history of the tour, including any in America. In fact, they are usually not even able to get American networks to pay money to broadcast their events, but rather have to get the sponsors to pony up funds for the broadcasts. Thanks to the popularity of Korean golfers like Se Ri Pak and Grace Park, however, broadcast rights were a goldmine in Korea.

As if that weren't enough, SBS has also agreed to sponsor a new LPGA tournament in Hawaii. The LPGA has played events in Hawaii for most of its history, but a Hawaiian event has been absent the last few years. But starting next year, SBS will sponsor the SBS Open at Turtle Bay, to be played at the gorgeous Palmer course at Turtle Bay on the north side of Oahu. The event will take place next February 24 - 26, the first full field event of the year, and will have a purse of one million dollars.

So the next time someone questions whether or not the Asian players are helping the tour's bottom line, you'll know what to say!

Se Ri is like a Santa Claus for the LPGA:
she and her fellow Koreans have provided
them with a windfall! Ho Ho Ho!

Shi Hyun meets LPGA co-founder Louise Suggs

Shi Hyun gets her Rookie of the Year award
Shi Hyun Ahn wrapped up the Rookie of the Year award for 2004 a while ago, but on the Saturday evening before the end of the ADT Tour Championship, she finally was awarded her trophy for accomplishing this feat. She was also given a fancy schmancy new Rolex watch: a specially engraved 18 karat gold Rolex Cellini. None other than Louise Suggs herself, after whom the award is named, was on hand to congratulate Shi Hyun.

"From the start of the season, I set out to achieve this," said Ahn. "It's rewarding to see my hard work be recognized like this and reach one of my goals. This motivates me to work even harder so I can improve each year." Shi Hyun ended the year with 787 points in the Rookie race, 164 points ahead of her nearest competitor, Aree Song.

Congratulations to Shi Hyun and best of luck to her in 2005!

Final Money List
The season is over, and it was a triumphant one for Grace Park. Although she ran out of gas in her last two events, she was able to hold off a struggling Lorena Ochoa, capturing her first ever second place finish on the money list. She still has a long way to go to catch Annika, but if she can build on this season, look for her to win multiple times again in 2005. Also scoring well were Jeong Jang, with a career best 12th place finish on the money list; Christina Kim, who finished 15th and has made a real name for herself, and Shi Hyun Ahn, who backed up her win in last year's CJ 9 Bridges Classic with a solid 16th place finish on the money list.
Not doing so well was Se Ri Pak. Having been in the top ten since May, she fell out of it finally in the last event of the season. Her 11th place finish was her worst since her 12th place finish in 2000. And despite 15 top ten finishes, Mi Hyun Kim was unable to win an event in 2004 (still, it was a return to her previous form after a lackluster 2003).

As a whole, the Korean ladies had a great year, with 8 Korean players (and one Korean-American) finishing in the top 30 on the money list, by far the most they had ever managed. Furthermore, seven of those nine players were in the top 20. If the Korean depth increased in 2004, however, the top players did not fare nearly as well as in 2003. Last year, three of the top four players were Korean. This year, only Grace Park made it into the top five on the money list. Three players finished in the top ten, just like in 2003, but Se Ri and JJ both had good chances to do it and failed. In Se Ri's case, one more good performance would have done it; she just did not play enough events in 2004 to make it (unlike in 2000, the other year she missed the top ten, in which she played a lot of events but didn't have many top finishes).

Especially promising for the future: three players aged 20 or younger in the top 30. And with Jimin Kang arriving on tour next year, the continued maturation of Young Kim and Jung Yeon Lee, Soo Yun Kang starting to get used to playing in the West, and Aree Song getting used to the long LPGA season, 2005 could be yet another banner year for Korean golf.