SeoulSisters Awards

Best Breakthrough performance:
Su A Kim at 2007 Q-School
This was a tough choice, as you will see when you look at the honorable mentions below. But in terms of the most unexpected Cinderella performance that might very well lead to great things, it's hard to top what Su A Kim did at Qualifying School this year.

The first question one might rightly ask is, just who the heck is Su A Kim? She is one of the many young Korean golfers who came to this country hoping to break into the big time on the LPGA tour. But she is not one of the ones with Korean National Team experience, or Asian Games medals, or a gaudy KLPGA record. Rather, she is one of the Koreans that usually gets overlooked, who comes with a dream, and a lot of drive, but not the strong record that indicates she has a great chance of succeeding.

Kim started playing golf at the age of 15, and turned pro in 2001. For the next couple of years she played on the KLPGA tour, but was hardly one of the top players there. In 2004, she came to play on the Futures Tour, the developmental tour for the LPGA. She played there the next couple of years, but did not exactly light the tour on fire. While she did manage a few top tens here and there, she never really contended for a title, and was nowhere near capturing an LPGA tour card by finishing in the top five on the Futures Tour money list.

Still, she soldiered on. In 2006, she played at LPGA Q-School, where she managed to be one of the last players to earn a conditional card for the 2007 season. Thus, she was part of that huge rookie class, but because of her status, she played in very few events. She also played in a few Futures Tour events here and there, but regardless of which tour she was on, she was not producing good results. In four LPGA events played, she finished no higher than 50th (although that finish came at the most prestigious event she played, the US Women's Open).

To put it mildly, not many people were expecting anything to come from Su A the week of 2007 LPGA Q-School. Even after she started the week with a solid 2 under par 70 to move into a tie for 10th (and into exempt status range), there were still plenty of rounds to play, and plenty of time for her to falter.

But in fact, she did not falter. She followed up her 70 with another good round, a 72, leaving her tied for 14th. She still had a good chance to get an exempt card if she could keep up that pace. Her third round score of 70 allowed her to do just that; she now sat at 4 under total, tied for 8th. If the pressure was getting to her, she wasn't showing it.

So right about this point, one might expect the inexperienced pro to really feel the heat. Instead, it was Kim who applied the heat to the field. In the fourth round, she shot her best round yet, a four under par 68, and leapt into a tie for second place, behind only Jane Park, who had led the tournament from the first day. Suddenly, the player who struggled to play the KLPGA was tied with one of the KLPGA's best players, Hee Young Park, and well ahead of another one, Na Yeon Choi (Choi had earlier won the second Q-School sectional tournament, but was 10 shots behind Kim now). The player who had never finished above the top 50 on the LPGA tour was beating top rated rookie prospects like Ashleigh Simon of South Africa and Ya Ni Tseng of Taiwan, not to mention Amy Yang, the Korean teen dynamo.

Even more impressively, Kim carried her form through right to the end. She shot her best round of the week on Sunday, a 6 under par 66, getting better and better as the pressure got tougher and tougher. Her score was the best of the entire field on that day. It wasn't enough for her to catch Jane Park, who still beat her by three shots, but it was enough to pull away from Hee Young Park, whom she beat by four shots. So not only did Su A Kim win an exempt card on the LPGA for the first time, she produced her best finish EVER in a professional event, at exactly the time she could have used it the most. Time will tell whether this performance was a fluke or a true breakthrough, but with luck, Su A Kim struck a blow for the little guy with her second place finish, and will become one of the breakout stars of the 2008 season.

Honorable Mentions:
Jane Park at Q-School
Jane Park was even more impressive at Q-School than Su A Kim, leading the tournament from start to finish and ending up with a remarkable 17 under par total. Besides earning her first exempt card on the LPGA (she was non-exempt in her rookie year of 2007), she also managed to break through in her professional career with the "victory". Jane had a fantastic amateur record, including a win and a runner up finish at the US Women's Amateur. But since turning pro, she had not been nearly so remarkable. Her time on the Futures Tour was nothing special, and her LPGA record wasn't all that great, either, the highlight being a 10th place finish at the US Women's Open before she even joined the tour, and a tie for 17th at the Sybase Classic. While these are decent finishes, they certainly don't represent the kind of player Jane seemed to be, at least based on her amateur record.

So, her wire to wire win at Q-School was certainly a breakthrough win of sorts for her, and I almost gave her the nod over Kim, but the fact that she had several great achievements in her career, whereas Kim really did come out of nowhere, caused me to give the recognition to Su A instead.

Seo-Jae Lee, two wins on the Futures Tour
Seo-Jae Lee was yet another Korean rookie who joined the tour in 2007 as a non-exempt player. But given that fact, she spent her time focusing on the Futures Tour instead of the LPGA. It was a good choice. She finished fifth on the money list there in 2007, earning an exempt card for 2008. Her breakthrough moment came midway through the season. No Koreans had won on the Futures Tour all year, mirroring the weird malaise Korean golfers had been suffering on the LPGA. But in June, that all changed at one of the biggest events of the season, the Duramed Championship. The eighteen year old didn't play sensationally in the final round, but she played well enough to claim the crown. It was her first professional win. The very next week, she did it again, capturing the Team WLF.org Golf Classic. She claimed her win thanks to a 20 foot birdie putt on the final hole. Like Su A Kim and Jane Park, Seo-Jae will have her first chance to play as an exempt golfer on the LPGA in 2008.

Kristen Park at the US Girls Junior
See the 'Cinderella' award above.

Julie Yang
The youth movement in golf saw some pretty amazing results in 2007. Not only did 14 year old Kristen Park win the US Girls Junior, but the LPGA was inundated with talented 18 year old rookies, including the one who won the Rookie of the Year, Angela Park. But another player of Korean origin had her own breakthrough in 2007: Julie Yang. Yang won her first AJGA event this year, the AJGA Randy Smith Classic. Which was impressive, to be sure. Even more impressive was that it was only the third AJGA event she had ever played. But what makes it really noteworthy is that she was barely 12 years old at the time. With her win, she became the second youngest girl in history to ever win an AJGA event; and the only reason she didn't become the youngest is that the AJGA now has a minimum age limit of 12, and she was not allowed to play any AJGA events until her 12th birthday (the all time youngest winner was under 12; she played in the days before that limitation was in place). Julie later got an invite to play in a KLPGA event as well. She didn't make the cut, but you can bet we will be hearing a lot more about this super young wonder before too long.

Sun Ju Ahn, KLPGA star
Like Ji Yai Shin, Sun Ju Ahn turned pro and joined the KLPGA in 2006. But in her rookie year, she was thoroughly overshadowed by Shin. But from the first tournament of 2007, Ahn showed that she would be a force to be reckoned with, not only in Korea but elsewhere. Ahn carded top ten finished in two different tournaments in Australia; indeed, she was the leader at the ANZ Ladies Masters for several rounds before slipping and finishing fourth. When the KLPGA season started, again Ahn was a big factor. In fact, she won the first full fledged event of the season, the first KB Star Tour event, for her first win on tour. She followed that up a few weeks later with what is arguably her breakthrough victory, when she beat a field of top Korean stars and LPGA star Cristie Kerr at the Korean Women's Open. It was Ahn who also ended Shin's three tournament win streak at the Korean Golf Art Village Open, collecting her third season win in the process. Ahn also got a chance to play some international events later in the year, and again did well: she carded a tie for 6th at the Evian Masters, and another 6th place at the Kolon-Hana Bank Championship. Every indication is that Ahn will continue to be one of the top stars on the KLPGA for some time to come.

Weirdest Trophy: ADT-CAPS Championship
It may be time to retire this award: the ADT-CAPS Championship seems to come up with a weird trophy year after year. At least they don't seem to force the winner to wear that peculiar fedora like they used to, although the tan blazer is still part of the victory celebration.

Of course, one thing that wasn't so weird was the person who got to take that trophy home: none other than Ji Yai Shin, who wound up with quite a collection of KLPGA hardware, most of which was far more traditional looking, by the end of the year.

Over on the KLPGA, Ji Yae Yeo won the KLPGA's Best Dresser award, and Da Ye Na occasionally introduced a cool fashion accessory or two, like the snappy cap she wore at one tournament. But the player who seemed to catch the most eyes through the year was 20 year old Rookie of the Year Ha Neul Kim. At least part of the reason is that she is a darn nice looking lady, of course. But she also knows how to throw together an ensemble that accentuates her looks. And, she seems to favor white, which is a daring fashion choice considering the muddiness of many golf courses the ladies face! So, with due respect to the fashion stalwarts who usually win this award, I'm going to encourage the young golfers and send this year's Best Dresser award to Ha Neul Kim.