Top Ten Korean Golf Stories of 2006

In 2006, Korean golfers, and golfers of Korean heritage, were making news everywhere. Never before have Korean golfers won so many events, at all levels of the game, in all corners of the world. They won more events on the LPGA tour than ever before in their history, accumulating eleven victories spread out among nine different golfers. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. Eleven of the top thirty golfers on tour were Korean. They claimed the Rookie of the Year award on the LPGA, and one of the year's four Majors. On the Futures Tour, Koreans Song Hee Kim and In-Bee Park earned LPGA tour cards, while several more golfers chalked up victories. In amateur golf, Koreans claimed the titles in all three of the most important USGA women's events in 2006; in two of those events, Koreans were also runners up. In team sports, Korea again claimed the Kyoraku Cup over Japan, while Koreans were instrumental in wins at the Curtis Cup and Lexus Cup. Amy Yang became a star in Australia while setting records of her own, and several star Koreans made long awaited comebacks.

With so many great stories all year, it was tough to decide what stories were the ten most significant of the year. Indeed, the rankings that follow are for the most part a little arbitrary. All ten of these stories were very significant, and ranking between them was a challenge. As well, several important storylines had to be left out to make room. How can we have a top ten and not even mention Jeong Jang, who had a fantastic 2006, capped by winning a Major on the JLPGA tour? Or Hee-Won Han, who had a two win season and made more than a million dollars? It was tough to leave them out, but we think that the stories that remain were pretty interesting in their own right. With no further stalling, here they are!

10. Grace Park's slump
In 2004, Grace Park earned more than 1 and a half million dollars, won twice, won her first Major, finished second on the money list and earned the Vare Trophy. Just two years later, she barely finished inside the top 100 on the money list, and did not earn even a single top ten all year. How did such a calamitous fall from grace, excuse the pun, occur? Blame it on injuries. Grace has struggled with back issues all her life, even altering her swing over the years to preserve her fragile health. But in 2006, she found it hard to stay healthy for any length of time. And when she did get healthy, she found it tough to get back to her top form. She would occasionally squeeze out a great round or two, like she did at the opening tournament of the year, the SBS Open. But inevitably, she would follow those rounds with terrible ones that would knock her right out of contention. As her slump continued, she became mentally fried, adding burnout to her list of problems. By the middle of the year, she contemplated taking the rest of the season off. But after a couple of idle months, her hunger to compete returned, and she worked to get back onto the course. She had a couple of decent results after that, then captained the victorious Lexus Cup team in December. Unbelievably, the only reason she even qualified to be on the team was thanks to a sponsor's exemption. But she played solidly in Singapore, compiling a 1-1-1 record, her only loss coming to Annika Sorenstam, the International team's best player. What was most encouraging, though, was how completely into the competition she was. There are plenty of promising signs that Grace is returning to form, and that her desire to compete has returned as well. Perhaps 2007 will be her comeback year.

9. Team Events
This year, Korean golfers have made invaluable contributions to three different team golf events, in each case helping their teams to victory. Since it's difficult to know which of these events should be considered the most significant, all three of them are included in this category.

In late July, the United States participated in the biennial Curtis Cup team match against the team from Great Britain and Ireland. These matches pit eight top amateurs from each region against each other in team and individual matches. This year, the American team was given invaluable aid by three Korean American teammates. Jenny Suh, between her junior and senior year at Alabama, struggled, losing both the matches she participated in. Jennie Lee, who just completed her freshman year at Duke, fared much better. She lost her team match paired with Jenny Suh, but won both her singles matches, including the match that clinched the Cup for America. And then there was Jane Park, in the midst of a great summer after her freshman year at UCLA. She played brilliantly Saturday morning teamed with Taylor Leon, helping their team to eke out a 1 up victory. In the afternoon, she won her singles match following a brilliant bunker shot to save par. She won her singles match on Sunday and halved her team match that day to go undefeated for the weekend. The US easily took the Cup, 11 ½ - 6 ½.

In December, the Korean team met the Japanese team in the annual battle previously known as the Pinx Cup. This year, the event had a new sponsor and was rechristened the Kyoraku Cup. In 2005, the two teams had tied after day one, then watched helplessly as day two was canceled due to bad weather. As a result, Korea was forced to share the Cup with Japan. They were determined to take the Cup back for themselves in 2006, and did so magnificently. Indeed, they pretty much captured the Cup on the first day, thanks to great performances from Jee Young Lee, Jeong Jang, Hee-Won Han, Meena Lee, and Ji Yai Shin among others. On Sunday, team Captain Mi Hyun Kim sent out another strong lineup, but the Japanese team put on a concerted push and severely narrowed Korea's lead. Fortunately, Se Ri Pak and Meena Lee won crucial points to all but capture the event for Korea, and then Jee Young Lee finished the job with her win. Korea retook the Cup 29 - 19.

A couple of weeks later, the second annual Lexus Cup tournament was contested. This team event features twelve top Asian golfers pitted against twelve top golfers from everywhere but Asia. Korean star Grace Park was the captain of the Asian team, and she loaded her team with Korean stars. In fact, nine of the twelve golfers on her team were Seoul Sisters. And these great golfers played wonderfully, teaming to defeat a tough International squad headed by none other than Annika Sorenstam. It was a tooth and nail battle all three days, but perhaps the crucial action happened on day two, as Asia carved out a critical two point lead that they were just able to hold onto through the singles matches on day three. Among the Korean golfers who were invaluable were Young Kim, who went undefeated all three days; Grace, who was only 1-1-1, but who did a great job keeping morale high and planning pairings as the captain; and Seon Hwa Lee, who was also undefeated, and who won the critical points that secured the Cup for the first time for Asia. Credit also to Jee Young Lee, who destroyed Morgan Pressel in singles, won another team match, and only barely lost, when teamed with Meena Lee, to Annika Sorenstam and Natalie Gulbis, the strongest team the Internationals had.

Three team events, three wins, thanks in large part to great play by Korean and Korean American golfers.