Message From the Editor

This issue marks the conclusion of another year of excitement for the Korean golfers on the LPGA and throughout the world of Women's Golf. Even though it was an off year in terms of wins, there were still plenty of great performances at all levels of the game by golfers of Korean heritage. Check out the awards section of this issue if you doubt me!

The issue you are currently reading is special in another way, however, for it will be the last issue of Seoul Sisters Magazine for the foreseeable future. Simply put, the task of publishing the magazine on a regular basis has become too huge for me to handle; I am spending an increasing amount of time every year, it seems, on collecting info, watching tournaments, finding photos, fact checking, writing the articles and collating them into a pleasing whole. It seems these days that as soon as one issue is in the bag, the process for the next one starts almost immediately. As enjoyable as it has been to create these issues, I have other things I want to do as well, and something has to give so I can make time for those things.

When I started the magazine at the start of 2003, Mi Hyun Kim, Grace Park and Se Ri Pak were by far the most dominant Korean golfers in women's golf. Hee-Won Han had yet to win her first tournament, and would not get married until the end of the year. Christina Kim and Young Kim were rookies, Christina not even 20. Michelle Wie was a promising preteen who was starting to get some buzz, and Jane Park was starting to make some waves in girls golf. In-Kyung Kim, Angela Park, Inbee Park and several others were just starting to make names for themselves in the amateur world. Few had heard of Jee Young Lee or Shi Hyun Ahn, especially in the West.

Fast forward to today: the LPGA of 2008 has more than 50 golfers of Korean extraction competing on tour, including more than a dozen who have won tournaments. This site has expanded to cover the Futures Tour, KLPGA and amateur tours as well, because the Koreans who do well on those levels are the LPGA stars of tomorrow. A site that started with less than a dozen profiles will soon have over 100. Keeping up with all of that in any kind of comprehensive way (and I admit, I haven't always been able to do that) is a major chore. To follow all the action and on top of that keep the site profiles updated AND publish a fairly regular magazine has become too much.

The website, SeoulSisters.com, will continue in pretty much the way it always has. I will soon be updating the site to include 2008 profiles and data. I'm not sure at this time what will be happening in terms of the kind of regular updates the magazine provided. The magazine will cease to exist (although the archived versions will always be available on line), but I suspect I will still be publishing the occasional story on the website, accessible from the front page, to keep fans of the Sisters updated on their doings, or just to spout off about whatever's on my mind. I will also try to publish photos on a regular basis, so if fans are interested in contributing, there will still be a place for that. It's all still undecided in my mind, but stay tuned, something will be happening in the coming months.

In the meantime, enjoy this last issue, which is chock full of goodies for you to peruse. And come by the site every now and then to see what I have in store. There will doubtless be something interesting to see or read every now and then.

In the meantime, I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the site and the magazine over the years, particularly those like Bob McIntosh who have provided umpteen photos from tournaments, and the players such as Grace Park and Christina Kim who have sat for interviews with me. I can guarantee you there will be more interviews in the coming months, as I have at least two of them I haven't yet published. Lastly, thanks to all you folks who have come to the site, provided input, and just checked out what I had to say. I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.

Keep rooting for the Korean golfers! Korea Fighting in 2008!

Sincerely,

Eric aka 'HappyFan'