KB Star Tour #4
The KB Star Tour was a new feature on the KLPGA tour in 2006. It was a special four event series, kind of a tour within the tour. It culminated at this event, which had one of the biggest purses on the KLPGA tour all year, 500 million won. The winner's cut was 125 million won. Coming into the event, the dominant player on tour all year had been 18 year old rookie sensation Ji Yai Shin (pictured), who had by this time already shattered Se Ri Pak's nine year old record for most money won in a single season. The record had been in the neighborhood of 240 million won, and Shin had already won more than 300 million by this time. However, Hee Young Park, who had herself won twice on tour in 2006 and who had more than 200 million in earnings, could completely close the gap on Shin with a win here. With just three events left in the year, this was her last best chance to catch up to the teen wonder.

The event took place at the Seven Hills Country Club in Kyonggi-do from November 9th through 12th, one of the few four day events on the KLPGA schedule. Soo Young Moon (who had won the second Star Tour event earlier in the year), Ji Yeon Lee and Young-A Yang were the LPGA stars invited to take part.

In round one, not a lot of the top Korean stars made much noise. The leader was middle of the pack KLPGA player Eun Ah Lim (pictured), who shot a five under par 67 and ended up two shots ahead of her nearest competitor. A whole bunch of golfers ended up in the 2 under or one under range.

Ji Yai Shin did OK, but hit the ball out of bounds on the 17th hole. She wound up with a +2 total for the day: three birdies, three bogies and that double on the 17th. Fortunately for her, there were still three more days to go. Meanwhile, Bo Bae Song shot a two over par round as well: she had four bogies and two birdies. Hee Young Park finished at one over with two birdies, a bogey and a double bogey. Hyun Hee "Honey" Moon had no honeymoon on this day, shooting an 80. Perhaps she was distracted by her upcoming effort to qualify for the LPGA tour at Q-School?

Among the LPGA players, the best on this day was Young-A Yang, who shot a one under par round and was tied for 14th. Both Jinnie Lee and Soo Young Moon shot even par 72s.

Eun Ah Lim continued to hold onto the lead at this event in round two, even increasing it somewhat. She shot her second straight under par round, a 1 under 71, to move to 6 under total and a three shot lead. Moving up fast into second was Ran Hong, recovering from a terrible performance at the LPGA's Kolon-Hana Bank Championship the week before. Playing early, Hong shot a 2 under par 70 to move to 3 under total and a tie for second.

Hee Young Park and Ji Yai Shin both shot 1 under par rounds on a day when many in the field were shooting over par (Ran Hong's 70 was the best round of the day). As a result, Park moved from 37th to 12th, and now stood at even par, while Shin jumped from 53rd to 15th, and was at one over. They were both still very much in this, especially if the conditions stayed tough. Park pretty much had to win to have any chance to stop the Shin express and win Player of the Year.

Jinnie Lee and Soo Young Moon both shot one under par 71s on this day to move into the top ten on the leaderboard. Both players had won on this tour in 2006, so they certainly were players to watch.

One mysterious note: Hyun Hee Moon disappeared off the leaderboard at this point. Presumably she dropped out following her atrocious start to the week. Perhaps she figured it was better before Q-School to focus on practicing rather than playing badly in a tournament and getting bad memories built up in your brain.

In round three, Eun Ah Lim (pictured) continued to maintain her lead over the field, but it looked like she might have a huge advantage until back to back bogies on the final two holes brought her down to Earth a little. Still, she sat at 5 under par total and had a three shot lead.

However, look who surged into a tie for second! To no one's surprise who follows the KLPGA tour, Ji Yai Shin, looking to become the first woman to ever break 400 million won in a single season by winning this trophy, shot a 69 in round three, the round of the day. Her total was now 2 under par.

Hee Young Park still had an outside shot. She was one over par on Saturday for a one over total. That put her in 8th place. She had one last chance to catch up with Shin, but she would have to play brilliantly on Sunday to do it.

LPGA players Soo Young Moon and Young-A Yang both remained in contention, Moon at -1 total and Yang at one over. Jinnie Lee belly flopped with a 4 over par 76 and now was in 18th place with a three over par total.

After round four was complete on Sunday, the woman holding the trophy was the same one who had led the tournament since the opening round: Eun Ah Lim. It wasn't easy, though. The scoring was quite a bit better on the final day than it had been, and several players went low. But she was able to shoot a 70 herself to finish at 7 under and give herself a two shot win.

Hee Young Park also shot a 70, her best round of the week, but she actually lost ground, finishing 9th. Ji Yai Shin shot a 71, but she needed some magic or some help from Lim, and got neither. Shin finished tied for 4th, yet another top five in a season where she finished among the tournament leaders more often than not.

Congrats also to Soo Young Moon, who finished third and who was the top LPGA golfer in the field. Both Young-A Yang and Jinnie Lee ended up finishing well back, Lee in 14th at 3 over, and Yang in 21st at 5 over.