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Aree and Naree Song (born Wongluekiet) are
identical twins born in Thailand; Naree is nine minutes older
than Aree. Their father is Korean and their mother is Thai.
They expressed an interest in playing for Korea when they
turned pro; hence, they are included on the Seoul Sisters
site.
As it turns out, they are both also incredible
golfers (as is their older brother Chan), and dominated the
junior ranks and the amateur ranks the last few years. The
family moved to the US when the twins were still young, in
order for them to hone their games at the Leadbetter Academy.
Well, it didn't take too long before they started making some
serious noise. Naree played the Nabisco Championship in 2000,
at the age of 13, but she missed the cut. At the US Women's
Open later that year, however, she was low amateur (and except
for her sister, the youngest amateur as well). Naree continued
to play well for years thereafter, but was usually a little
behind her sister in terms of performance.
Since then, the girls have focused on women's
events over AJGA events. They have won a plethora of titles;
at the start of 2003, in fact, they pulled off an amazing
feat: Aree won and Naree finished second at back to back events.
They pledged to attend Florida State in the Fall, which automatically
made that school one to watch in the coming season.
However, Aree played so well at that summer's
US Women's Open that she decided to skip college entirely
and turn pro. Naree went to college, and for the first time
the Wonder Twins were pursuing separate paths. But though
Naree quickly became one of the top players in the college
game, she felt like her game was suffering, and so dropped
out of school after the first semester and turned pro.
Naree had no status on the LPGA tour in 2004,
but did have status on the Futures Tour. Thus, she pursued
her tour card through that route. But she only finished 14th
on their money list, despite a win early in the year. So she
had to go to 2004 Q-School. There, she was not able to snag
an exempt card, but did gain non-exempt status for 2005 via
a 42nd place finish.
However, Naree did not make enough money in
2005 to earn an exempt card for 2006, so she returned to Q-School,
where once again she only managed to earn non-exempt status
for 2006.
During the 2006 season, Naree struggled with
a mysterious illness that sapped her energy. She had a hard
time making cuts, and didn't even play too well on the Futures
Tour. Doctors have yet to diagnose exactly what is wrong with
her. She was unable to get any card at all at the 2006 Q-School,
so she went to the Futures Tour in 2007. Hopefully her doctors
will figure out the problem and get her on the road to a cure.
In 2007 and 2008, Naree played only a couple
of events on the Futures Tour, and none on the LPGA. In early
2010, it was announced that she had taken a job as a golf
coach at Rollins College. Presumably this means she has retired
from playing golf on a full time basis.
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