Volume 3, Number 13, December 28, 2005
 

2005 Pinx Cup: Think Pinx!

 Pages 1, 2, Gallery1, Gallery2, Results
Korea had won the last three Pinx Cups. Would they be able to make it four in a row?

The Pinx Cup is an annual team golf competition that pits the best Korean women golfers against the best from Japan. It is staged every year at the beginning of December, when the weather is generally not conducive to golf in either Japan or South Korea. Despite the less than ideal conditions that usually result, however, this tournament always gets a big turnout from the stars of both countries, who are eager to defend national pride.

The event started in 1999, and for the first couple of years, went mostly Japan's way. Despite the presence of superstars Se Ri Pak and Mi Hyun Kim (and a little later, Grace Park), the Koreans were not a very deep team back in the day, and the Japanese, who had been world powers in golf for many decades, were. The event was canceled in 2001, and in the intervening years, a veritable Korean explosion happened in golf. Suddenly there were not just two world class golfers in the Land of the Morning Calm, but nearly a dozen, and many more who were just a notch below that. When the event was held in Japan in 2002, the Koreans sent every big gun they could muster, intent on taking the Cup for the first time. And they did so easily. The tide had turned. They repeated in 2003, this time on home soil, again with little difficulty. But in 2004, things proved a little more challenging. For one, their top superstar, Se Ri Pak, was in the midst of a crippling slump that had seen her notch only one top ten the entire second half of the season. For another, the Japanese now had two young superstars to add to their already formidable lineup, the more notorious of which was the teen sensation Ai Miyazato. Miyazato had hit Japanese golf like a lightning bolt. So popular was she that she was trailed everywhere by media eager to chronicle her every move. In many ways, she resembled Se Ri Pak back when she was that age.

Grace Park during the second round of the
2004 Pinx Cup

 

Se Ri Pak during round 1 of the
2004 Pinx Cup

For the first time in years, the Japanese managed to win the first day of competition in 2004, and the Korean ladies had to figure out a way to rally. Se Ri had lost only her second match ever in Pinx Cup history on day one (and the other one she had lost was due largely to an extremely stupid error made by her caddie, who left an extra club in her bag and cost Se Ri four holes as a result), and Grace Park, the current top gun, was not even able to attend until Sunday. Could they rally?

You bet they could. On day two, they played fantastically, making up the ground on their rivals and taking the lead. But with just a few groups to go, the end result was not yet decided. Se Ri, despite her slump, had volunteered to play in the final group against the Japanese sensation Miyazato. It was the match up that had to happen: the wily but slumping superstar veteran against the brash young newcomer. Well over a thousand fans braved the cold to cheer their Japanese heroine on. Could Pak possibly rise to the occasion and take her out?

Yes she could, and she did. It was a brilliant performance by Se Ri, perhaps the last great one she has had to date. Possibly no other Korean golfer could have put all the pressure and hoopla to one side to get the job done like Se Ri did on that day. Although in the end her winning points were not necessary (the cup was secured two groups earlier), for a long time, it looked like it might all come down to the end. A great chapter in Pinx Cup history was written, and both teams looked forward to the 2005 edition, to be played again in Korea.

But in 2005, Se Ri would, for the first time, not be invited to play on the Pinx Cup team. She had injured her hand several months earlier, and had been forced to sit out the end of the 2005 season on the LPGA tour. Although she was well again by the time of the event, she was very out of practice and would not have been able to answer the bell in all likelihood. A Pinx Cup without Se Ri would prove to be a very strange prospect.

In addition, Grace Park, who had rallied in the troops in 2004 with her last minute arrival Saturday night, would also miss the tournament. She had only finished in the mid-30s on the money list, and thus did not merit a selection. The team, as always, was selected by taking the top six Koreans on the LPGA tour, the top three on the KLPGA tour, and the top three on the JLPGA tour, with one more wild card selected from the best remaining golfers. The wild card, as it turned out, went to Mi Hyun Kim, who also, amazingly, would not have otherwise qualified, and who was higher ranked than Grace in 2005. Grace would not have long to wait to play a team event, however, for she was captain of the Lexus Cup team for Asia, and would participate in that event the week following the Pinx Cup.

In 2005, 8 Korean or Korean Americans had won on the LPGA tour; and six of them had never won a tournament there before this year. Four of those first time winner qualified for the Pinx Cup team, although three of them had already played for the team in year's past even before they had won in America. But now they would be relied on much more heavily to carry the team, whereas in the past, they had been allowed to relax while Pak, Park and Kimmie did the heavy lifting.

The six LPGA golfers representing Korea this year were Jeong Jang, who had won the British Open in 2005 and who came in as the top ranked golfer on the team; rookie Meena Lee, who had played for the team as a KLPGA representative in the past; Hee-Won Han, the MVP of the 2004 Pinx Cup; Gloria Park; Birdie Kim, who was a first timer; and Soo-Yun Kang. Kang, by virtue of the fact that, at 29, she was the oldest (!) golfer on the Korean team, was made the Captain for the Koreans. Mi Hyun Kim was named as the wild card.

 

Soo-Yun Kang hits a practice drive. She was
this year's team captain.

Jeong Jang practices

Kyeong Bae was one of three Koreans representing
the KLPGA Tour

Hee-Young Park and Hyun Ju Shin practice

The three KLPGA representatives were Kyeong Bae, Bo Bae Song and Hee Young Park; both Bae and Park were first timers at the Pinx Cup, while Song had played in 2004. Park, at 18 the recently crowned Rookie of the Year on the KLPGA tour, was the youngest player on either team. The three JLPGA reps were Jee Hee Lee, Mi Jung Chun and Hyun Ju Shin.

The Japanese team had many of the top stars from the JLPGA tour, as always, including the player who had dominated that tour for the past five years, Yuri Fudoh (Fudoh was also the Captain of their team this year). But one notable absence was Ai Miyazato. Miyazato was busy elsewhere this week: she was taking part in the LPGA Qualifying School in Florida. As you can tell when you read the story about Q-School elsewhere in this issue, it was well worth the trip for her, as she qualified for the tour with ease, winning by a record (and senses) shattering 12 shots in the process.

But even without Miyazato, the Japanese had a fully stacked team, and without Se Ri or Grace or Shi Hyun Ahn and with a weakened Mi Hyun Kim, the Koreans would have their hands full trying to repeat. As the ladies arrived on Cheju Island, site of the tournament, early in the week, and began their practice rounds, fans debated whether or not the optimal team had been sent. Besides Ahn and Park, both of whom had past Pinx Cup experience, the powers-that-be skipped Christina Kim to name Mi Hyun Kim to the team. Christina had played marvelously in 2004; indeed, her spirited efforts may well have been crucial to Korea's win. On Sunday last year, she had shot the lowest score of either team by an impressive four shots. But she had also caused her share of controversy, because many felt that the event should not allow Korean-Americans into the mix. It's unclear whether this factored into the decision not to include her, or if she were asked but declined owing to the hostile reception she had gotten from some members of the press in 2004. Regardless, the teams were what they were, and the event was scheduled for two days: Saturday, December 3rd through Sunday, December 4th, 2005.
Before the event, as often happens, the Koreans hosted a lavish party for the two teams. The Korean team members all chose to make the event special by dressing in traditional Korean dresses called hanbok. This produced a riot of color in the dinner hall, and the ladies took the opportunity to get a lot of cool photos of each other in their gorgeous splendor.

The Korean team poses in their Korean hanboks. (L to R) Mi Jung Chun, Bo Bae Song,
Gloria Park, Hyun Ju Shin, Soo-Yun Kang, Jeong Jang, Birdie Kim, Mi Hyun Kim,
Hee-Won Han, Meena Lee, Jee Hee Lee, Kyeong Bae, Hee-Young Park

Hee-Won and Soo-Yun pose for photos

These are the five golfers on the Pinx Cup team who won on the LPGA tour in 2005.
Aren't their dresses awesome?

The Korean Pinx Cup team get ready to kick butt!
The Action Starts!