Wonder Down Under

For the past several years, as the Korean wave of golfers has gained steam, it seems as though they are succeeding at younger and younger ages. This is in a way a bit of an illusion. Se Ri Pak, for instance, did not start playing golf full time until she was 13, yet she still won her first important events in Korea as a high schooler. Still, it was more common a few years ago to see the Korean stars make their mark on various pro tours once they reached their late teens or early twenties. It was at the age of 20 when Se Ri Pak became an international star by winning two Majors on the LPGA tour; she is as of this writing still the youngest person to win one. Back in the late nineties, it was practically unheard of for a player to be so great so young.

How things have changed in just a few short years! Girls are now taking up golf at a younger age than ever, and thus they start to excel at a much younger age. This trend has struck the Korean golfers, too. Seon Hwa Lee, who last week finished second at the Fields Open in Hawaii, turned pro when she was just 14 years old, and became the youngest player to ever win a KLPGA tournament when she won the McSquare Championship in 2001 at 15. Michelle Wie and Aree Song both managed top tens in a Major when they were just 13 years old. Meena Lee was 20 when she won the KLPGA Player of the Year award in 2002; in 2003, Joo Mi Kim was 19 when she won. The next year's winner, Bo Bae Song, was 18. Amateurs have become frequent winners of professional events in Korea: Na Yeon Choi beat a field of top pros, including Se Ri Pak, when she captured the ADT-CAPS tournament as a 17 year old amateur, and Ji Ae Shin won the SK Enclean Invitational on the KLPGA as a teenage amateur herself.

Meanwhile, the amateur ranks are becoming increasingly crowded with young Korean girls eager to emulate their elder heroines. Many of these girls move to America or other Western countries, where it is far easier to get tee times to play on real golf courses than in their homeland. Oftentimes, these girls quickly rise to become among the best juniors in their adopted homelands.

Australia has become one popular destination for these girls. They are following in the footsteps of Gloria Park, who moved as a teenager from Seoul to Australia and quickly became the top amateur in the country. She has since gone on to become one of the top professional golfers in the world. In the past few years, several young Korean girls have also gone down under, hoping to follow Gloria's path to the big leagues. Like Gloria, they have become stars on the amateur circuit there, sweeping up bushels of awards and trophies. The biggest star among these girls the past few years has been Mi Sun Cho, who is called Sunny. Among her many triumphs are the 2003, 2004 & 2005 Australian Junior Championships, and the 2004 Australian 72 Hole Stroke Play Championship. But as Cho prepares to attend college at Pepperdine in the Fall, a new group of Korean youngsters has risen to challenge her. Players such as Sarah Oh, Clare Choi, Jessica Noh, and Inhong Lim have all made their marks in Australia, particularly Sarah Oh, who was already having articles written about her as a precocious 12 year old in 2001, and who won the 2006 Australian Junior Championship to unseat Sunny Cho after three straight wins.

The player who finished second to Oh at that championship was not Cho, it was yet another young Korean star playing in Australia. Her name is Amy Yang, and like so many other Koreans, Yang had come over to Australia in her mid teens in order to improve her game. She and her family moved to Queensland when she was 15, and she soon started working with a local golf pro named Lawrie Montague. Although she was clearly talented, she had not had much of a chance to play golf on actual courses in Korea. Like many a young Korean, she had been restricted to driving ranges much of the time. She had taken up the sport a few years previously, and had shown enough promise that her family was willing to relocate just to encourage her talent.

Montague had experience with Korean golfers before; he had worked with Gloria Park back when she was the top amateur in Australia. When he first met Amy, he could tell she had talent, but was very rough around the edges and needed a lot of work on her game. But gifted with great enthusiasm for the game and an astounding work ethic, Amy soon made massive strides under Montague's tutelage. Roughly a year after Amy had moved to Australia, in December, 2005, she reached the final of the New Zealand Amateur Championship, where she faced none other than Sunny Cho. After a titanic battle, Amy came out on top at the 36th and final hole. Shortly thereafter, Yang shot a 62 on her home course, then followed that up with her runner up finish to Sarah Oh at the Australian Junior. These achievements inspired the sponsors at the ANZ Masters to invite her to participate there, figuring she would be good for a little extra press.

As solid as she was, though, few were expecting amazing things when Yang played the ANZ Ladies Masters in February of this year. This event is one of the most prestigious in Australian women's golf, and no amateur in the long history of Australian women's golf had ever won a professional event. The defending champion was former world #1 Karrie Webb, who had made a habit out of winning the event. Also in the field were former world #1 Laura Davies and Japanese teen sensation Ai Miyazato, not to mention KLPGA stars Bo Bae Song and Hee Young Park and amateurs Sarah Oh and Mi Sun Cho.

Amy started the tournament well with a 3 under par 69, only two shots out of the lead co-held by Mhairi McKay and Diana Luna and ahead of both Webb and Miyazato, who both carded 71s. It was a wonderful start, but there was a lot of golf left to play, and one couldn't help feel that Amy was soon going to fade.

Meanwhile, Ai Miyazato, who had nearly won the event in 2005, sunk to a 75 in round two, effectively eliminating herself from the competition. Webb, the defending champion, was four shots back at five under, where she was tied with Hee Young Park and still had a shot at the crown. Bo Bae Song, however, had started her week with a 76, and even a second round 68 was not enough to get her into contention.

On Saturday, Amy could no longer hide from the crowds. Now she was the leader, and everyone in the field was gunning to bring her down. But she still played splendidly, carding a 2 under par 70 to maintain her lead by the end of the day. At one point she had extended her lead to 4 strokes, and looked ready to run away from the field, but a few costly mistakes at the end of her round brought her back to Earth somewhat. Her biggest challenge came towards the end of the day, when French professional Ludivine Kreutz made a birdie barrage and a hole in one to shoot 29 on her back nine and charge to 10 under par, just a shot behind Yang. She had moved from nine shots behind Yang with just six holes left in her round, but mistakes by Amy combined with her own brilliant play had allowed Kreutz to make up almost the entire difference in no time. It was a valuable wake up call for the teenager that this event was far from over.