Volume 3, Number 13, December 28, 2005
 

December in Korea

 Pages 1, 2, 3

Se Ri Pak
Se Ri was busily expanding her training repertoire to include all sorts of different methods. During her time off, she had indulged in various hobbies, including fishing, and started a new one: mountain climbing. No doubt this would help make her legs even stronger than they had been before. Even more surprisingly, she started another new hobby: she learned how to kickbox!

Se Ri climbs a mountain in November. Good to see
she was out enjoying herself a little in her time off!

Se Ri the Kickboxer? Apparently she
has added this sport to her training
regimen. Be very afraid!!

 Apparently, in her months off, she wasn't really just resting. She was mountain climbing, but also weight training regularly. On Sundays, she would spend a couple of hours doing kickboxing at a local gym in Taejeon, her hometown. She mainly focused on it for its aerobic benefits, of course, doing weaving and ducking exercises and a general kick boxing workout, but I wouldn't recommend you get her angry at you nonetheless; she could probably take your head off with a well placed kick! The exercise also helped develop her mental focus.
At the end of November, Se Ri headed back to the US to begin her intense Winter training for the next season. She sounded rested and ready to make a serious attempt to climb back to her former glory.

 
Once back, it didn't take her long to get back in the swing of things. Here, we see those unmistakable Se Ri legs as she practices her putting. Se Ri Pak for Player of the Year in 2006!

Soo-Yun Kang
Soo-Yun was busy during the month of December. Not only was she the Captain for the Korean Pinx Cup team, but she also made an appearance for her sponsors Woori Financial Services, who feature her currently in a commercial running in Korea.

On the 15th of December at 4:30 PM, Soo-Yun had an autograph session for her fans in Kangwon-do, P-yongch'ang, at the Phoenix Park Ski house. Kangsy had also come here last year following her win at the PAVV Invitational. This is the same ski area where the photos of Se Ri Pak and Mi Hyun Kim snowboarding were taken. It looks like Kangsy got a little time on the slopes after the sessions herself!

Soo-Yun at Phoenix Park
Romance is in the air
On December 7th, a radio host dropped a casual comment about Mi Hyun Kim that stirred a little controversy in Korea. Apparently, Mi Hyun has known a fella named Jae-Geun since she was in elementary school; he, like she, was a golfer. They were friends and may have even had a bit of a crush on each other, but they fell out of touch after that. Recently, however, they have become reacquainted, and rumors are that sparks are flying between the two.

On December 7th, on the radio show 'HaHa's TenTen Club', the host, HaHa (presumably a nickname!), mused that Mi Hyun and Jae-Geun were right for each other, and seemed to be heading towards a relationship and maybe even the altar. There is no comment from Kimmie's camp concerning this, so it's probably the case that HaHa was just trying to bolster ratings. But you never know, and it did get tongues wagging in Korea.

An article about this radio program mentioned that Kimmie did in fact have a brief relationship with a man who is now a student in Canada a few years ago. But in the end, it proved too difficult to make time for him, with all her golfing commitments, and they parted. Presumably, any relationship with Jae-Geun would run into the same trouble, unless he became a partner who followed Kimmie around like Hee-Won's husband does.

Wow! Could Gloria's bachelorette days be ending?

 But if Mi Hyun's engagement was a false alarm, another Korean golf superstar announced that she was, in fact, going to become engaged (big news!!). That player was Gloria Park, who finished ninth on the LPGA money list in 2005. She told Sports Today on December 22, 2005, that she intended to formally announce her engagement in January, 2006. She met the man back in her days as a junior amateur golfer in Australia. They had been seeing each other off and on this year, and in October he accompanied her to an LPGA event. It was at that time that they decided to get engaged, but did not know quite when to announce it, finally settling on January.

Gloria admitted that she wasn't sure that tour golf life and marriage really went together. She remarked that she would decide after she was married whether she wanted to retire or would continue playing. Woh! Here's hoping we haven't seen the last of Koala!
Money News!