Fairways and Greens

Jimin Kang finishes second in Futures event, and now is tops on money list
Jimin Kang, the promising young Korean player who has not had the start in professional golf she had envisioned, took another step towards pro success with a second place finish at a Futures Tour event. This time it was the Frye Chevrolet Classic, which took place from April 23 - 25 in Wichita, Kansas. The weather was rough all weekend, with big winds and rain dominating the proceedings. In fact, Jimin had been forced to play nearly two complete rounds (34 holes) on the final day because most of her second round was washed out by rain. Jimin's second round was thus less than stellar, a three over par 75; but she got her act together in time for her second 18 holes of the day. And how! She ended up shooting a blistering 65 to vault into contention. When she saw that she had a chance, she said to herself, 'Oh wow! Time to wake up!', and promptly carded an eagle on the 550 yard par 5 16th. She did this by blistering her drive, striping a 5 wood to 20 feet and draining her eagle putt. In the end it wasn't enough, as Smriti Mehra of India held her off and won by three shots. But Jimin finished second and thus moved to the top of the Futures Tour money list. The top two spots are now held by Koreans (Seon Hwa Lee, the 18 year old wunderkind, is second). Oh wow!

Check here for all the details!

Jimin Kang at last year's Safeway Classic
SeoulSisters Photo

Se Ri featured on LPGA site
In case you missed it, Se Ri was recently featured in a photo spread on the LPGA's web site. The photo feature is called Hot Shots, and shows the golfers in glamorous or casual clothes to give fans a look at them in a different light. As you might expect, Se Ri was looking quite good. But don't take my word for it, check out the photo to the right!

(And while you're at it, check out her Casual Photos Gallery, which features the rest of the pix from this session and some newly acquired photos of Se Ri snowboarding back in January. Thanks to Bob M for pointing them out to me! If you're too lazy to go to the gallery, click here!)

Se Ri's new tunes
For those who have checked out Se Ri's biography page this year, you may have noticed a new thing: she has her own theme song! Well, not quite... Actually, this song is from an old cartoon series called 'Se Ri the Magic Princess'; it was the song Se Ri and her fellow contestants had to sing on 'Happy Together', a Korean TV program she appeared on on New Year's Day of this year.

In order to aid in your education about obscure Korean culture, I have located two more versions of this magnificent classic, and present them here for you. The first is the theme from the 1966 (!) version of this show. The lyrics and tone of the tune are slightly different, you will notice. The second version is a video clip of the beginning of the show. I'm guessing from its sound that it is a new version of the show from the last ten - fifteen years. They seem to be calling her 'Magic Princess Sally' in this version, alas. Dig them below!

Original Recipe: 1966 version of Se Ri the Magic Princess

Extra Crispy: 90's extended House Mix.

Se Ri tries to remember the words to her
theme song...

New profiles: Sunny Oh and Sun Hwa Lee
Here Comes the Sun! I have added two new profiles to my growing list of notable Korean players. The first is for Sunny Oh, who was profiled last issue after her tie for 49th at the Takefuji Classic. The second is for 18 year old Sun Hwa Lee, who is currently second on the Futures Tour Money List and is looking good to get her LPGA card by the end of the year. Check them out here, or on the Other Players link from the main site!

Sunny Oh profile

Sun Hwa Lee profile

New Golf Cards Released!
Upper Deck, who last year became the first major card company to release official LPGA trading cards (included in their PGA releases), has just released their new 2004 series of cards, and among them are many more LPGA cards than last year. Whereas the initial offering concentrated on a few well known players, this time they have broadened their scope and produced cards for a lot of new players. Se Ri Pak is of course well represented with several new cards, but Grace Park now joins her with several cards of her own. The two other Korean players represented are Aree Song and Jeong Jang, with one card each. Embarrassingly, however, it turns out that the photo they used for Jeong Jang's card was that of Gloria Park! Ouch! Weirdly, though, that might turn this card into a collector's item, just like coins with errors on them become more valuable than coins that are pristine.

Here's a link to the complete set:

Is it Jeong Jang? No! Gloria Park!
Oops!!