KLPGA Update

The 2007 KLPGA season has started at last, and the first five tournaments have already been contested, including the biggest, the Korean Women's Open. In 2006, the league was dominated by a teenage rookie named Ji Yai Shin, who ended up winning virtually every award there was to win on tour that year, from Rookie of the Year to low scoring average to most wins to Player of the Year. She set an all time record for most money earned in a season, and became the first golfer in history to record a sub-70 scoring average on tour. Early in 2007, Shin had continued her torrid pace with top fives in two events in Australia (including a second place finish at the ANZ Ladies Masters), and a solid finish at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. She also teamed with Young Kim to finish third at the Women's World Cup of Golf. Would the feisty, ever smiling Shin continue her rampage on the KLPGA tour in 2007?

Several other players hoped to prevent that occurrence. Sun Ju Ahn is another young golfer who was a rookie on tour in 2006. She was completely overshadowed on tour that year, despite winning an event and finishing in the top ten on the money list. Early in 2007, she had also been showing promise, with strong finishes in the Australian events. Hee Young Park has been a perpetual runner up on tour since joining in 2005. She finished second on the money list in 2005 to Bo Bae Song, then second last year to Shin. Would this be her breakout season? Then there were the players who had obtained nonexempt status on the LPGA tour but chose to focus on the KLPGA: Eun Hee Ji, Hae Jung Kim and Hyun Hee 'Honey' Moon. They have all been solid top ten golfers on the KLPGA in the past; would one of them have a breakout season in '07?

The first event of the season was the first KB Star Tour event, contested from April 19 - 21st. There are four KB Star Tour events on the KLPGA tour every year, with the fourth and final one being the most lucrative. In the first round this year, the leader was young Sun Ju Ahn. She shot a 68 for a 4 under par total and a three shot lead. Making things even more promising for Ahn was the fact that most of the stars on tour had a slow start at the event. Hee Young Park shot a weak 75, while Ji Yai Shin shot a positively miserable 78, and was in danger of missing her first cut ever on tour. In the second round, Hee Young continued to struggle and did in fact miss the cut after shooting a horrendous 85, possibly the worst score of her pro career. Shin rebounded (somewhat) with a 2 over par 74, which, thanks to the tough conditions, moved her into a tie for 11th. She had a great streak of consecutive top tens going back to the previous season, and was now in position to continue that. But winning looked like a tough proposition: Despite a 76 shot by Ahn in the second round, she was still three shots ahead of anyone else in the field with her even par total, and eight shots ahead of Shin.

The KB Star event finished much as the previous two rounds suggested it would, with Ahn claiming the first title of the season. It wasn't easy, though. She shot another 76 and struggled to hang on, winning the event by a single stroke over three players, including Hyun Hee Moon. Shin made a titanic run at the trophy, leaping from 11th to a tie for second with Moon and fellow KLPGA star Ran Hong. The top ten streak was alive for the moment, and she had narrowly missed claiming the trophy and sending a message that Ji Yai Shin was still the top dog on tour. But for the moment, Sun Ju Ahn had emerged from the shadow of her fellow second year star to stand atop the tour.

Scores:
1 Sun Ju Ahn 68(1) 76(12) 76(32) +4
2 Hyun Hee Moon 78(65) 75(4) 68(1) +5
2 Ji Yai Shin 78(65) 74(3) 69(2) +5
2 Ran Hong 71(2) 76(12) 74(14) +5
5 Mi Sun Kim 74(19) 75(4) 74(14) +7
6 Sung Hyo Sun 72(10) 83(71) 69(2) +8

Notables
7 Hae Jung Kim 77(46) 75(4) 73(7) +9
13 Ha Neul Kim 71(2) 82(58) 74(14) +11
23 Ji Yeon Lee 77(46) 75(4) 77(38) +13
25 Eun Hee Ji 72(10) 84(78) 74(14) +14
31 Na Yeon Choi 72(10) 86(95) 73(7) +15