Volume 5, Number 10, January 30, 2008
 

Christmas Break

 Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
Galleries: KLPGA, Dec Misc,
Soo-Yun, Lexus Charity, Jan Misc.

There was some more big news for Se Ri Pak as the New Year started. For one, she has parted ways with her longtime sponsor CJ. Her five year contract has expired, and they were unable to come to terms on a new one. So for the time being, she is a "free agent".

Meanwhile, on January 16th, Se Ri appeared on Korean television, on the MBC show "Wang Gum Oh Jang -- Mo hrup pak to Sa". The title of the show roughly translates as 'Golden Fishery', and if you search, you can find clips of Se Ri's appearance on YouTube. Look for 'Golden Fishery 77'.

Turns out it's a very popular talk show famous for having well known celebrities as guests. In the last year, the highest rated guest was my favorite Korean actress, Moon So Ri! Her show got a rating of 19.9%. Se Ri's show was the third highest rated ever, with a rating of 19.1% (some sources say 19.6%).

Se Ri talked about a lot of stuff. The big headline: she was asked point blank if she has a boyfriend, and she said she does! She did say that she is not thinking about marriage at the moment. There was some other gossipy stuff asking about first kisses and what not, but she seemed to answer those questions a bit more coyly.

She also credited Hee-Won Han and Kimmie as being the people who drove her to excel when she was young. She knew she had to get good to be better than they were. Other topics included discussing the 1998 US Women's Open, how hard she works, and how much she disliked the slump she went through in 2004-5, stuff we've heard her talk about before.

The show is hosted by Kang Ho Dong, a former Korean-style wrestler, and his two wacky sidekicks. The show is basically a comic talk show, so Se Ri got in the spirit and said some funny lines. Among the other topics of conversation: she denied that the story about her staying overnight in a cemetery was true; but she did become moved when admitting another famous story was true, that of her father leaving her at the driving range until late at night because he had gone out with his friends and forgotten about her. He apparently only remembered to get her when her mother asked where she was.

The show also got a lot of mileage out of a funny story Se Ri told about the 2004 Michelob Ultra, the tournament she won to qualify for the Hall of Fame. Apparently she overheard a fan warning about not hitting the ball left on the course, and it became all she could think about for the next several holes: "don't go left... don't go left... don't go left..." Thanks to all this worrying, when she got to the hole in question, she pulled her drive way right, and almost was not able to make the par she needed for the win!

 

Se Ri Pak is a Hall of Famer with years of experience. But Korean girls who were influenced by her success are joining the pro ranks all the time. Recently, three young Korean stars who all grew up playing in Australia turned pro within a few months of each other. Two of them tried to make it through LPGA Q-School, although only one succeeded, and even she only gained non-exempt status. But all three have been playing on the Australian Ladies Golf Tour, a minor league tour down under, to gain experience. And amazingly, all three have already won an event on that tour.

The first one to break through in mid December was Helen Oh. The 2006 Australian Women's Amateur Champion, she shot a course record 7 under par 67 to claim the 2007 St Michaels Golf Club ALPG Classic. She won the event by four shots, carding a fairly incredible 22 putts in that final round.

A month later, the next event on tour was played. And once again, a Korean pro won. This time it was Sunny Park, who, like Helen Oh, had grown up playing golf in Australia. Park, the 2007 Australian Women's Amateur Champion, defeated Bree Turnbull on the first playoff hole, after both golfers had finished regulation tied at 2 under total, to claim the Peugeot Kangaroo Valley ALPG Classic. The event was originally scheduled to take place in early December, but torrential rains had so damaged the course that it needed to be rescheduled to mid January. Her win qualified her to play in the two Aussie Major events, the Australian Women's Open and the ANZ Ladies Masters, both played in early February.
The week after that, the final event of the season was played, and once again, a young Korean Australian won the title for her premiere pro win. This time the event was the Xstrata Branxton Pro-Am, and the winner was another of the former top amateurs in the country, Sarah Oh (no relation to Helen Oh). Sarah was the only one of the three to gain LPGA status when she earned a non-exempt card at 2007 Q-School (Helen didn't make it through sectionals, and Sunny Park did not attend). Sarah won the title in Australia in a fantastic way. She charged up the leaderboard on the last few holes, finishing birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie, to tie Lynette Brooky for the lead after regulation. They played three playoff holes, with Oh finally putting Brooky away thanks to a 6 foot birdie on that third playoff hole. A great month for three promising young talents!

 

Also in mid-January came the Women's World Cup in South Africa. Representing South Korea this year were KLPGA stars Ji Yai Shin and Eun Hee Ji. They did quite well, as you can read elsewhere in this issue!

After that, Eun Hee Ji came back home while Shin went on to play several events in Australia. Ji was barely off the plane when it was announced that she would be acquiring a new sponsor. Fila Korea signed her to a one year deal for an undisclosed amount. She will be joining other top Korean golfers, notably Hee-Won Han and Hyun Hee Moon. This will be her second year on the LPGA tour, but first as a fully exempt player. Considering how well she played over here in limited action, it will be interesting to see how she does when she plays a full schedule. Surely Fila thinks she will be a hit!

So, that's a little peek at how the Korean golfers have spent their Winter vacation. The season is just around the corner, so expect them to be back at the top of leaderboards at a tournament near you before too much longer!

P.S. Check out the galleries for some more photos of the Sisters, including a nice collection of magazine covers featuring several of them!
Galleries