Volume 3, Number 13, December 28, 2005
 

December in Korea

 Pages 1, 2, 3
All about the KLPGA Awards Banquet, and what the Korean golfers have been up to this month

KLPGA Awards
On December 5th, at the Koex Auditorium in Samsung-dong, Seoul, the KLPGA held its annual award show, the '2005 Lee Dong Soo Golf KLPGA Award Ceremony.' The Award show was broadcast live on MBC-ESPN, one of Korea's cable sports channels. Awards were given for best Korean players on both the local and International circuit, Rookie of the Year, and other assorted stuff like 'Best Dresser'. Lee Dong Soo Golf is a Korean golfwear company that sponsored this year's soiree. Here is their website:

http://leedongsoo.co.kr/golfwear/golfwear.asp

Bo Bae Song was the big winner of the night. She collected her second straight Player of the Year (domestic) award, as well as the Low Scoring Average award. Though she lost on the money list this year to Kyeong Bae, she beat her in POY points and scoring average. Jeong Jang was named best Korean golfer on an international tour.

Kyeong Bae was not able to appear to pick up her trophy for leading the money list, because she had to be at the LPGA's mandatory Rookie orientation on the fifth. So her mom accepted on her behalf.

Bo Bae Song won two awards at the banquet

18 year old Hee Young Park, who won the KLPGA's PAVV Invitational this year and finished 4th at the CJ 9 Bridges Classic (and later collected a second place finish at the Phuket Thailand Ladies Masters) won this year's Rookie of the Year award. She finished 4th on the overall money list, and easily beat a strong rookie crop, which included Na Yeon Choi (winner of last year's ADT-CAPS) and Jee Young Lee (the unknown player who won both the Korean Women's Open and the CJ 9 Bridges Classic).
Other awards included the 'Shot of the Year', which was won by Ga Na Lee, who made a hole in one en route to winning the Lordland Cup Maekyong Open. Jin Joo Hong won 'Best Dresser' (What? Over Kangsy? Maybe they mean just from the domestic players!!), and the 'Meritorious Service' award went to 43 year old Oh Soon Lee.

Ga Na on stage
All in all, 700 people attended the awards show. Among those there was pop group LPG, who performed for the golfers. LPG, which stands for 'long pretty girls' (hey, I don't name 'em), say that they often get confused with the LPGA because of their similar names. As a result, they were asked to appear at this show. Nice marketing gimmick, eh? Apparently they were quite thrilled to meet so many top Korean women golfers, which goes to show you the difference between the way golfers are treated there versus here.

LPG high kicks for their Korean fans at the Awards show

Young Kim in one of the two dresses
she wore during the awards show

One treat for fans was that Young Kim, popular up and coming golfer on the LPGA, was the co-host for the evening's festivities. The organizers felt it would be a good idea to get a golfer to co-host, along with popular male TV personality Soo Hong Pak. First they asked Jin Joo Hong, who was named this year's KLPGA Best Dresser, to give it a shot. But she failed to hold her own when they gave her a microphone test. Young Kim was asked next, and she did very well behind the mike. Turned out, she also looked fantastic when she donned her two different gowns that she wore in the evening (she started out in a purple ensemble, then halfway through switched to a light blue dress). She was so popular, in fact, that the next day she was the number one search name on several big search engines in Korea. Seems like everyone was trying to find a photo of Young in her award show finery! Young herself admitted to being nervous, but her co-host praised her for her professionalism, and compared her to a popular TV host named Yae Jin Son that he had worked with in the past.

Congratulations to her! But let's hope she focuses on the golf, cause that's where we like to see her the most!
Other awards:
Most Popular: Na Yeon Choi
Best Amateur: Jee Ae Shin (she won a KLPGA event earlier year)

Soo-Yun Kang takes a bow

I demand a recount! Jin Joo Hong wins 'Best Dresser' at the 2005
KLPGA Awards Ceremony, beating Soo-Yun!

Most of the top Korean golfers were in attendance. You can see
Hee-Won Han and Jimin Kang among the LPGA stars in the photo.
Birdie Kim, Jeong Jang, Christina Kim and Soo-Yun Kang were also there.

Here are a couple of great TV reports on the KLPGA Awards Show. Yes, they are in Korean, but you can really get a sense of what it was like to attend by watching them. Enjoy!

Report #1

Report #2 (click on the orange TV under the photo to view the report)

Bo Bae is awarded the big prize of the evening by Soo-Yun

Jeong Jang won the Best Korean Golfer on an International
Tour award.
What else was going on?