Fairways and Greens

Jeon Mi Jeong keeps winning on the Japanese Tour
Here at SeoulSisters.com, we tend to focus on the Koreans on the LPGA and Korean LPGA (or KLPGA) tours. But Koreans also have a long history of doing well on the Japanese LPGA tour, and this year, one Korean has done particularly well. Her name is Mi Jeong Jeon, and she managed a historic feat in the last month over there: she won three consecutive events on the JLPGA tour, the first time anyone has ever accomplished that feat since the tour began back in 1988.

Her first win came at the Yashima Queens tournament, April 27 - 29th (pictured). She followed that up the next week with a win at the Salonpas World Ladies Golf Tournament at the Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club from May 3 - 6th. This event was a particularly tough one, as it contained not only the top players on the JLPGA but also several invited foreign stars, including LPGA Hall of Famer and former champion at the event Karrie Webb. In tough conditions, Jeon took the title by three shots over Japanese player Momoko Ueda. Webb finished tied for third with another Korean star on that tour, Ji Hee Lee.

But Jeon was only getting started. She went on to win the next event on tour as well, the Vernal Ladies Tournament. To do it, she had to beat none other than Yuri Fudoh, long the best player on the Japanese tour, in a seemingly endless playoff . Jeon finally polished off Fudoh on the 6th playoff hole with a ten foot putt. She had begun the final round three shots behind Fudoh, but was inspired to come back after hearing a television commentator before the final round brush off her chances of catching Fudoh. That will show them! Fudoh and Jeon finished five shots ahead of the third place golfer, Erina Hara.

The commentator, by the way, was the father of JLPGA star Sakura Yokomine, who was very annoyed by the gaffe afterwards, even going so farther as to call her dad an 'idiot' for saying this. She vowed to apologize to Jeon the next time she saw her.

The Vernal victory bumped Jeon's career win total on the JLPGA to six events, and made her the top player on the 2007 JLPGA money list. Her streak finally came to an end at the next event, the Chukyo TV Bridgestone Ladies Open in Aichi Prefecture. In a little bit of irony, the winner there was none other than Sakura Yokomine, who had also played on the winning Lexus Cup for the Asian team in 2006. Jeon finished tenth, 4 shots behind the eventual winner. Still, it's been a fantastic season so far for Jeon, resulting in not only a lot of money but also a top twenty world ranking at the moment. Here's hoping she keeps up the great play when the Pinx Cup tournament arrives in December!!

Click here to see more photos of Jeon (and bonus pics of Kimmie and a few others)!

Kolon signs as sponsor for LPGA program
Kolon is a Korean company best known by LPGA fans as the sponsor of the Korean stop on the LPGA tour, the Kolon-Hana Bank Championship, which last year was won by Jin Joo Hong (pictured). But they have now stepped to the plate to sponsor a new initiative. The LPGA has announced that Kolon will sponsor a professional development program that will offer educational and cross cultural learning possibilities for tour members. The program is now called the KOLON-LPGA Cross-Cultural Professional Development Program. The program will help international players to learn English quickly, as well as helping them to integrate more easily into the international culture of the LPGA tour. Korean players will obviously be prime beneficiaries of the program, but it is open to any player who would like to take advantage.

The program was introduced in 2006. In its first phase it focused on language skills, with particular emphasis on conversational ability and the lingo of golf. The program was available at tournament sites, and provided tutorials in real life settings like pro-ams, practice rounds, media sessions, and meetings with other players and LPGA staff. In 2007, the program will be expanded to help players learn and appreciate the differing communication styles and cultural norms of the various cultures of players on the tour. A systematic program like this to help the Korean, Japanese and other non-English speaking foreign players with their move to the States is long overdue. Here's hoping that, with Kolon's help, the program will do a lot to help the Koreans and all the players to become more comfortable on the LPGA tour more quickly.

Special events at the Michelob Ultra Open
The Korean golfers were involved in several special events during the week of the Michelob Ultra Open. Every year, Michelob sponsors a special dinner dedicated to the Asian players on tour. They all get a chance to have delicious food from their homelands and mingle in a party atmosphere, while they meet important sponsors and celebrities and are feted for their achievements and the unique qualities they bring to tour. This year, Mi Hyun Kim was given special recognition at the party for her generous $100,000 donation to the victims of the Greensburg, Kansas, tornado. Among the special guests at the reception were Olympic bronze medalist Toby Dawson, who is a Korean adoptee raised in Colorado. A fun time was had by all!

After the dinner, the Korean press corps trapped three of the most important Korean golfers and convinced them to pose for a number of photographs. The three players were among the most successful of all the Korean golfers on the tour: Grace Park, Mi Hyun Kim and Se Ri Pak. Naturally, when you get Grace and Se Ri together, it's difficult for the two of them to keep a straight face, as the photos show!

Mi Hyun Kim also participated in a clinic before the event to teach children about golf. Kimmie loves kids, and you can tell from the photos that they love her as well. Hopefully they picked up a tip or two from the tiny titan!

Check out the following galleries to see more photos from the Asian party, clinic and Big Three photo shoot:
Gallery1, Gallery2

Korean Futures Tour player critically injured in car accident
While traveling between events from El Paso, Texas, to Los Angeles, California, Korean Futures Tour rookie Min Young Kim was involved in a horrific car accident. The accident took place on May 7th. Her jeep flipped several times before stopping on its roof. Kim was taken to a nearby hospital where she was stabilized after several surgeries. No cause for the accident is known at the time.

She was recently taken off a ventilator and is getting better, but faces a long rehabilitation period. At this time, it is not known whether she will be able to play golf again. We at SeoulSisters.com wish her the best for as speedy and complete a recovery as is possible.

Cards and donations to help with medical expenses can be sent to: Min Young Kim, c/o Duramed Futures Tour, 1643 Williamsburg Square, Lakeland, FL 33803.

Article about Jimin Jeong
Be sure to check out this article on the LPGA Tour website about two time tour winner Jimin Jeong. Jeong is an upcoming player whom we might soon see on the LPGA tour.

http://www.lpga.com/content_1.aspx?pid=10827&mid=4

Money List
Korean rookies are starting to play better in the past few tournaments. The most impressive has been Na On Min, who has accumulated a fifth place and 11th place finish during that span to move to second on the Rookie of the Year race total. Jane Park, Ji-Young Oh, In-Kyung Kim and Angela Park have also done well during this period.

Se Ri Pak is also coming on strong. Her third place finish at the Sybase was her best in 2007, and it marks five events in a row where she finished no worse than 13th (four of those were top tens). This year, she has only once finished outside the top 20. Kimmie's win helped her vault into the top ten, but she has struggled with injuries since. Birdie Kim continues to play well in 2007; last year, she was not even in the top 100 on the money list, but this year so far she has maintained a position in the top 40, a vast improvement.

Among the young guns, the top performers have been Jee Young Lee and Sarah Lee. Thanks to her second place playoff loss at the Michelob Ultra, Jee Young is the top ranked Korean on the money list, while Sarah Lee, who finished top three in both that event and the Sybase Classic, has moved into the top ten on the money list as well. She has never finished in the top 20 on the money list, so she is poised to have her best ever season if she can keep it up. As well, Sarah has already broken her record for most money earned in a season; how much farther can she go?