2007 Corning Classic: Breakthrough

Over the last ten years, the LPGA tour has been joined by a plethora of talented young Korean golfers. Many of these ladies have had success right from the get go, quickly rising to be among the top players in the world. A bunch of other ones have come along more slowly, rising up the ranks over time and eventually winning an event or two. Then there is a third group: top players who seem able to play well time and again and earn a lot of money, but who somehow never seem to take that next step into the winner's circle.

One of the most promising of the players in that last group was Young Kim. Young turned professional as an 18 year old in 1998, and she soon became one of the best players on the KLPGA tour. She ended up playing there for a total of five years, also playing briefly on the Futures Tour in 2001. By 2002 she had won twice on the KLPGA, once on the Futures Tour, and finished in the top five on the money list in Korea. She was ready for the LPGA tour, and won her exempt card at 2002 Q-School, finishing as the top Korean in the competition. Shortly thereafter, she signed a lucrative sponsorship deal with Korean company Shinsegae, who saw in the lanky, athletic golfer a can't miss prospect.

Young joined the LPGA the following year and right away became a solid professional on that tour. In her very first event, the Welch's/Fry's Championship, she finished 9th, an auspicious beginning. She only played two Majors that year, but got top tens in both. Later in the season, she returned to Korea and won two KLPGA events. She would end up finishing 44th on the LPGA money list in 2003 and second in the Rookie of the Year standings, behind Lorena Ochoa but ahead of other promising rookies, including Christina Kim, Paula Marti and Suzann Pettersen. Every indication was that Young was on the same path of success as other top Korean golfers who had preceded her.

She continued her solid play in 2004, notching three more top tens and finishing in the top 30 in three of the four Majors she played. She wound up at 44th on the money list just as she had in her rookie year. She still hadn't broken through to the next level, but seemed to be on track to do just that. In 2005, however, there was a sea change in the success level of Korean golfers on the LPGA tour. Before that year, only a few Korean golfers were winning tournaments. But in 2005, several younger golfers broke through with their first wins, including contemporaries of Young Kim's such as Jimin Kang, Soo-Yun Kang and Jeong Jang. Even more impressive, several younger golfers like Meena Lee and Jee Young Lee also entered the winner's circle. Young, too, had her career best year. She had six top tens, including her career best finish, a tie for third at the Women's British Open, which also was her best Major finish to date. She also seriously challenged for an LPGA title for the first time in her career, entering the final day of the Mizuno Classic with the lead, but wound up losing to Annika Sorenstam, who seems to win that title every year. For the first time she finished within the top thirty on the money list. She was making progress, but still no win.

But in 2006, she stalled at roughly that same level, accumulating five more top tens, making a lot of money, doing well at the Majors and missing few cuts. It was what fans had come to expect of Young Kim, but doubtless she was wondering when she would at last take the next step and go from promising young player to genuine star. Despite all her success, she was definitely flying under the radar among the Korean golfers.

The end of the 2006 season was the first indication that Young was ready to take that next step. It started at the Lexus Cup. This is an annual event which pits a team of top Asian women golfers against a team from the rest of the world. In 2005, the first year of the event, the International team, led by Annika Sorenstam, had walloped the Asians, led by Grace Park. Grace did not want to be humiliated again, and so collected a team of top Asian talent that included nine Koreans among its twelve members. Among the Korean stars who played for Team Asia were Hall of Famer to be Se Ri Pak, reigning rookie of the year Seon Hwa Lee, and up and coming rookie Jee Young Lee. Young Kim was also on the team, although at the start of the week, it appeared that she would be one of the less important golfers on the star studded roster. But she proved her value all through the week. On day one she teamed with Seon Hwa to absolutely destroy the team of Laura Davies and Brittany Lincicome 6 & 5. Kim teamed with the Japanese star Sakura Yokomine to again beat Davies on day two (she was probably sick of seeing Young Kim by that point!) when Davies teamed with her fellow Solheim Cup star Carin Koch. This was quite a surprising victory given the match play experience the European stars had on their side. Young then completed her perfect week by beating Koch in singles 3 & 2, another impressive win. Young and Seon Hwa Lee were the only undefeated players on the Asian side, although Lee got most of the attention since she won the crucial point in her singles match that put the Asian team over the top and won them the cup. Still, Young had to be pretty pleased with her performance.

In early 2007, Young again got a chance to play in an important international team event, and once again, she sparkled. The Korean team for the Women's World Cup of Golf is chosen to be the best player who plays primarily in Korea teamed with the best player who primarily plays on the LPGA tour. Ji Yai Shin, the top KLPGA golfer, agreed to go to South Africa, but none of the top LPGA players wanted to make the trip. Young Kim was eventually chosen, but that must have been after all the players above her had passed. Golfers like Se Ri Pak, Mi Hyun Kim, Jeong Jang and Meena Lee (the latter two had represented Korea at the event in the past), Seon Hwa Lee and Jee Young Lee all were unable to participate. But Young was eager to go, and played marvelously for her country. In the end, she and Shin finished third, just a shot behind an American team consisting of Hall of Famer Juli Inkster and Major winner Pat Hurst. Was Young Kim finally ready to bring that new level of golf to her play on the LPGA tour? Would 2007 be the year she took that step up and became one of the top Korean stars on the LPGA?

Alas, just when it looked like Young would take flight, she had a setback: her longtime sponsor, Shinsegae, decided not to renew her contract. She started the year on a down note with a rare missed cut, and in her first few events was not really on her game. But after an unfortunate DQ at the Ginn Open, she rallied and began to play with the skill that the team events had hinted at. She finished tied for fifth at the SemGroup Championship, and even had a chance to tie for the clubhouse lead, but missed a short birdie putt on the final hole. She racked up two more top 20s after that, including a tie for 11th at the event immediately preceding the Corning. But the Corning was not the tournament she was expecting to break through at. She had in fact skipped this event the previous two years, because she felt that the narrow fairways and tricky greens did not suit her game very well. Feeling a bit more adventurous in 2007, however, she decided to give the Corning a try. By the end of the week, she would be certain she had made the right decision.