2006 Honda Thailand

Gloria Park also had a fantastic two round total. She shot a 68 in round two and moved to 7 under, good for a tie for fourth. So behind the American Castrale sat three experienced Korean and Korean American tournament winners. Indeed, Han, Kim and Park not only had won on tour, all three had won multiple times. Han had five wins to her credit, including a win earlier in the season. Christina and Gloria had each won twice in their careers. For Gloria, were she to put the trophy away, it would be her first win since the Sybase Classic back in 2002. She was the active Korean player on tour with the longest period between wins, and would have loved to change that if possible.

Not every Korean was having a good tournament. Mi Hyun Kim did her Winter training regularly in Thailand, and should have been used to the hot weather and the course conditions. But she was never able to get anything going all week. She shot a 74 in round one, and even though she rebounded somewhat with a 70 in round two, sat in 39th place, well out of contention. Shi Hyun Ahn had an up and down first two days. She sat at one under par for the tournament, tied for 30th. Not too bad considering how long it had been since she had played tournament golf. Meena Lee followed her great opening round with a lackluster one over par 73 and was at five under par, tied for 7th.

Meanwhile, the Thai contingent was not able to keep pace. The top Thai player after two rounds was not one of the Thai LPGA stars, but rather an invitee: Onnarin Sattayabanphot. She was at even par after two rounds. Thai American Stacy Prammanasudh was at one under, well out of contention. The most popular Thai player was definitely Virada Nirapathpongporn, but she was struggling with the pressure of being in the spotlight. She was well back at 6 over par for the week, close to last place. Aree Song was behind her at 8 over.

In round three, all eyes were on Nicole Castrale: could she stand up to the heat of the top players breathing down her neck and capture her first career win? Unfortunately for her, the answer was 'no'. She made bogies on holes three and four and quickly fell out of the lead. She added more bogies on holes 8, 11 and 12. By the time she made her first birdie of the day, on hole 15, it was too little, too late. She would still finish tied for third at 8 under par, a great finish for her, but it would not be the victory she was urgently hoping to find.

Alas, Christina Kim was not able to take advantage. She shot a one over par round on Sunday, and faded to 6th place. It was still one of her better results of the year, but considering the golden opportunity Castrale was offering her, a bit of a letdown.

Then again, Castrale may have been fading but Hee-Won Han was not. Even if Christina had put together a great day, she might still have come up short against the quiet superstar. Of all the top Korean golfers, there's no doubt that Hee-Won gets the least attention, at least in the West. Back in Korea, she is actually quite popular, thanks to her being one half of the most famous athletic marriage in that country. Some have likened her marriage to a Korean version of the Mia Hamm-Nomar Garciaparra couple. Hamm, the retired women's soccer superstar, is married to baseball player Nomar Garciaparra. Hee-Won is married to a retired baseball pitcher named Son Hyuk (although, if you check out this week's Fairways and Greens article, you will discover that his retirement might soon end!). But look at her stats, and you will see the Korean that has arguably been the most consistent in the past few years. She is the only Korean player to have finished in the top ten on the money list each of the last three seasons, and she looks likely to do it again in 2006. During that span of time, she has had five wins. She is most definitely a force to be reckoned with, especially when she gets on a roll.

On Sunday, she put the pressure on Castrale early and didn't let up. In fact, she was so sizzling hot on the first eight holes that she essentially wrapped up the tournament before she hit the turn. She made birdie on the par 5 2nd to cut Castrale's lead to one. By the fourth hole, Han moved into the lead and never looked back. She made four straight birdies from holes 4 to 7 to vault up to 14 under par. Although her putting occasionally failed her (she had two three putts on the day), her iron play, the best thing about her game, was right on. When Han is firing on all cylinders, she is one of the best iron players in the world, and that was certainly what was happening on Sunday. She hit a nine wood to 4 feet on the second hole, and an 8 iron to 4 feet on the fourth. On hole six, she hit another nine wood to five feet, then just missed an eagle putt from eight feet on the par 5 7th. For good measure, she chipped a birdie in on the par three fifth. The rest of the field couldn't do much more than sit back and watch.

But while Han was cruising, a few other Koreans were also having strong tournaments. Shi Hyun Ahn moved up the leaderboard with a 3 under par 69, and finished in 12th place, just a shot out of a top ten. It was an excellent comeback tournament for her. Young Kim finished one shot ahead of her after also shooting a 69, and grabbed her first top ten in a while with a tenth place finish. Jee Young Lee probably should have had a top ten herself. After a slow start, she caught fire near the turn, making four birdies in five holes from holes 7 through 12. When she reached the 16th hole, she was 5 under for the day and looking at a top ten, possibly even a top five. But she made bogey on the island green hole, then a double bogey on the final hole, and fell to a tie for 12th, one shot out of the top ten. A terrible finish to an otherwise wonderful week for the rookie.

Jane Park did not live up to the promise of her great start to the week. After a great Friday and a decent Saturday, she went completely belly up on Sunday, shooting a four over par 76. She fell all the way out of the top ten to a tie for 31st. Not a completely terrible result for her first pro event on the LPGA tour, but it could have been so much better.

Gloria Park was not able to challenge for the lead against the blistering Han, who was the only thing on the course hotter than the weather. But Park nonetheless wrapped up the event in decent fashion. Her front nine was pretty interesting. She bogied the par 5 2nd, birdied the par 3 5th, then bogied 6. Just when it looked like a poor day was brewing, she produced an eagle on the par 5 7th (her second eagle of the week; the other came in round 2 on the par 5 11th). She followed that with another bogey on 8. In the end she shot a one under par 71, which gave her a tie for third at 8 under par. It was her best finish in an LPGA event in 2006.

But nothing was going to stop Hee-Won Han's march to victory, and nothing did. In the past, Hee-Won has had to work pretty hard to get her wins. Three of her six victories came in playoffs, and the other two were pretty close affairs. But this week, she just kept piling it on, eventually winning by five shots, the biggest victory margin she had ever managed on the LPGA tour. She shot the round of the day, a five under par 67. Even though she finished weakly, with a three putt on the 18th hole and a bogey on 16, she also made a birdie on the island green on 17, which balanced things out somewhat. On the 18th green, she was showered by beer by several of her friends on tour, including Meena Lee; this time, she was not able to get away, like she often does when her friends look to douse her.

With this win, Hee-Won now has six LPGA wins in her stellar career. The next closest Korean behind her has two wins, so she has cemented her reputation as one of the Big Four winners on tour. She now has as many wins as Grace Park (although Grace has a Major and Han does not), and just one fewer than Mi Hyun Kim; and keep in mind that she has been on tour one year less than Grace and two years less than Kimmie. This was her second win of the year, the second time in her career she has won multiple times in one year. She also surpassed the million dollar mark in season earnings with the win, becoming the second Korean millionaire on tour in 2006 after Mi Hyun Kim, and passing Jeong Jang for second best Korean on the money list (Jang would join the other two in the millionaire's club at the Korean event the following week).

When asked what she wanted to do following her win, she admitted that she had not been feeling all that well this week, and so had basically rested in her hotel when she was not playing. But now that the tournament was over, she wanted to check things out and get a massage. She wouldn't have much time to relax: she was due in Seoul on Monday for a personal appearance in service of her sponsor, Fila. Such is the life of a famous athlete!

Hee-Won's win also ended a long drought by the Korean golfers that stretched back to July. Not only had they not won an event since then, they had had some of their least impressive events as a group in that stretch. But this win marked their tenth of the year, the first time they had every collectively won a double digit number of events in a single year. Congratulations to them all, and special cheers to Hee-Won Han for her great results at the LPGA's newest event!