Fairways and Greens

Futures Tour seasons ends: Koreans win Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year

Futures tour players who won LPGA cards for 2006

Seon-Hwa Lee
Seon-Hwa Lee topped the Futures Tour money list in 2005 with $59,567, thus earning Player of the Year honors on the tour. She is a 19 year old in her second season on the Futures Tour; last year she finished 10th on the money list.

Seon-Hwa got out to an early start as a professional. She turned pro in 2000, when she was just 14 years old. She won several important events in Korea, and in 2003 was ranked third on the KLPGA money list. Thus, she came to America to try her luck.

In 2005, her second year on the Futures tour, she won her first event, the Albany FUTURES Pro Golf Classic in Albany, N.Y. She also notched an impressive 13 top tens out of 18 events played, seven of which were top threes. She made all 18 cuts, and played in every Futures tour event this year.

"This year was a lot easier than last year," she said. "My mind is comfortable right now. I had a lot of confidence this year and felt no pressure."

Kyeong Bae
Another young golfer who did well in her second year on the Futures Tour, Kyeong Eun Bae finished third on the money list with $49,810. The 20 year old turned pro in 2000, like Lee a teenage prodigy, and like Lee she managed a number of impressive victories early in her career. Her most impressive achievement in Korea was to win (twice) the Korean Women's Open championship. This earned her a sponsorship with mega-corporation CJ, who also sponsors Se Ri Pak, Gloria Park, Jimin Kang (last year's Futures Tour top gun), and, yes, Seon-Hwa Lee.

Bae finished 8th on the Futures Tour money list in 2004, but was much stronger in her second year. She played all 18 events this year, making the cut in all of them. She managed two wins, at the IOS FUTURES Golf Classic in El Paso, Texas, and at the Laconia Savings Bank FUTURES Golf Classic in Concord, N. H. She also notched a total of 12 top ten finishes and 7 top fives. She finished behind 2nd place Virada Nirapathpongporn on the money list by roughly $5,000.

"I'm so happy and excited about playing on the LPGA Tour next year. It has been a dream for a long time" she said.

Sun Young Yoo
The youngster among the five who earned their cards, 18 year old Sun Young Yoo was also the only rookie on the Futures Tour to get a card. She thus earned the Rookie of the Year award in addition to her exemption. Sun Young was a top amateur golfer in Korea, and was a member of the national team in 2002 and 2004. She turned pro only this year, came over to America, and managed to earn her tour card. Not bad!

Sun Young collected ten top tens during the season. Like the other two Koreans, she made all 18 cuts. Her sole win came at the tail end of the season, at the Betty Puskar FUTURES Golf Classic in Morgantown, W. Va. She also had 7 top fives in total, and earned $42,007 for the year.

"I'm very excited about winning my LPGA card," she said. "I wasn't sure if I could do it this year. I'm looking forward [to 2006] and having a chance to play with the best on the LPGA."

The KLPGA players arrive in Pyongyang for the first ever
(that I'm aware of) KLPGA event held in North Korea

Players meet their North Korean caddies. Bo Bae Song is
second from left

KLPGA plays event in North Korea
In the 70's, the United States launched a program of 'Ping Pong Diplomacy' with Communist China. That country had been isolated from much of the world during its Cultural Revolution. One of the first cracks in that wall came when the US and China allowed table tennis players to engage in matches against one another.

North Korea is now arguably the most isolated country in the world. Even its neighbors don't have a lot of contact with it. But perhaps the first step to thawing relations may come in a new form of Ping Pong diplomacy for the 21st Century: Golf Diplomacy.

For the first time that I'm aware, the KLPGA played an official event in North Korea last month. This event, the Pyongyang Golf Open, took place at a golf course outside the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. The locale may have been unusual, but the winner was a familiar face: Bo Bae Song, last year's KLPGA Player of the Year, who won the two round event with a score of 7 under par. Bo Bae gratefully thanked her caddie, a local girl familiar with the tricks of the course, for helping her to the win.

Congratulations to the KLPGA for taking this bold step, and to Bo Bae Song for bringing a little bit of Seoul Sisters magic north of the border.

The 2005 US Solheim Cup team. Christina Kim is on the
far left

Money List
Soo Yun Kang had the biggest leap this period. Her win and 6th place finishes propelled her into the top twenty on the money list for the first time in her career this late in the season. She became the fifth Korean to become a first time winner in 2005. Young Kim continues to play solid golf as she tries to finish in the top 30 for the first time in her career. Jeong Jang was also very good the past few weeks, but even despite two top two finishes, she was still only able to move up one spot in the rankings. Also showing good results were the Korean rookies Sung Ah Yim and Joo Mi Kim, both of whom notched top 5 finishes in Portland and good finishes at the State Farm as well.

On the other end of the spectrum, Se Ri Pak once again was not able to complete a tournament, and Grace Park was forced to drop out of one.