Volume 3, Number 13, December 28, 2005
 

December in Korea

 Pages 1, 2, 3

Sponsor Money is flowing
Several golfers signed new deals or upgrades to existing deals in December. Jee Young Lee, fresh off her win at the CJ 9 Bridges Classic, was amply rewarded by Hi-Mart, who signed her to a 2 year deal worth 200 million won (about 200,000 dollars).

She in turn passed the love along by donating some money to The Hallelujah Golf Charity in Korea. Here's the pic to prove it!

 

Ga Na Lee finally received a very nifty reward. When she won the Maekyong Open this year, she did it by making a hole in one on one hole. The reward for that feat was a Mercedes C180, and she finally got her hands on it in December. Not a bad ride for a young gal, huh?

Na Yeon Choi lends a
'loving hand'

 Na Ri Kim qualified for the LPGA at Qualifying School at the beginning of December. Her sponsors, Hite Beer, gave her a reward for it. No, they didn't give her a year's supply of beer, although that would certainly be a nice gift. Rather, they gave her a 100 million won bonus, which roughly equates to $100,000. Now that's a nice piece of pocket change to help her on her way in her rookie campaign!

She wasn't the only KLPGA player with news to report at this time. Na Yeon Choi, who had recently been voted the 'most popular' player on the KLPGA, delivered a scholarship of 6,000,000 won on the 16th for a Korean foundation dedicated to helping boys and girls. This will be added to the 'Loving Hands Scholarship fund' to help promising students go to college.

One of the big stories in the past few weeks has been the possible fate of Mi Hyun Kim and her sponsorship deal with KTF. KTF has been Kimmie's primary sponsor for several years, but her three year deal was coming up for renewal at the end of 2005, and many felt that she would not get picked up again because she had not won on the LPGA tour since 2002. Further speculation centered on the possibility that Jeong Jang would get picked up for a sponsorship deal instead. There were rumors that KTF was talking with JJ's father about doing that, and many speculated that KTF would not sponsor two golfers of the same relative stature with even similar nicknames (Mi Hyun is known as Super Peanut in Korea, while JJ is known as Ultra Super Peanut).

But as it turned out, Kimmie was safe. In December, it was announced that KTF was resigning her for another three year deal. Joining her on team KTF would be, not JJ, but another Korean star without a current sponsorship deal, Meena Lee. Meena had made a name for herself by winning the Canadian Women's Open on the LPGA tour, and finishing 7th on the year end money list. JJ still remains the best Korean golfer without a sponsorship deal, but it was nice to see the deserving Lee get picked up for sponsorship.

Peanut and Meena sign on the line
that is dotted. Sponsorship for
Meena at last!!
Training Hard
Meena Lee, like many of the other Korean golfers, was already busily at work honing her game for the 2006 season before December had even ended. In these photos, recently printed in Korean newspapers, you can see her working on her putting and swing with her coach. They spend a lot of time breaking everything down in minute detail, so as to find and correct even the tiniest flaw. That's how you get to be one of the best players in the world!

 

Young Kim
Young Kim had a pretty fun time these last few months. She nearly won her first LPGA event, finished in the top 30 for the first time in her career on the LPGA money list, and got a chance to co-host the KLPGA Awards Show. As if that weren't enough, she also got a chance to be a model. The following little gallery shows Young posing with some models for what looks like a line of casual wear. Enjoy! It sure looks like she did!
Click thumbnails to enlarge!
Merry Christmas!
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