|
Jennifer Song is a unique Korean golfer: while
many Korean golfers take up the game in Korea, then come to
the States to play, Jennifer did the opposite. She was born
in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but moved to Korea to attend school.
She is in fact a dual citizen of the US and Korea, making
her eligible to represent either country in international
golf tournaments.
Jennifer grew up in Taejeon, the same city
that spawned Se Ri Pak and Jeong Jang. She has played most
of her amateur golf there, but in 2006 and thereafter began
to branch out to play more international events. In 2006,
she won the Asia Pacific Junior Golf Championship, but it
was in 2007 that she really started to make her mark. That
year, she became the captain of the Korean national team and
finished second at the Korean Women's Amateur.
In the summer, she came over to the States
and had more success. She finished tied for 39th at the US
Women's Open, which tied her with Jennie Lee for low amateur.
A little later she played the US Women's Amateur, and once
again did great, advancing all the way to the quarterfinals
before losing to her good friend Kimberly Kim in 21 holes.
In the Fall, Song was invited to play at the
KLPGA's KB Star Tour #5 event, and made the most of it. She
captured the first round lead, was third after two rounds,
then moved up to second after three rounds, albeit six shots
out of the lead held by Young Ran Jo. Unfortunately, she stumbled
on the final day, shooting a 77 to fall to 11th. But it was
still a great week in a pro event against a tough field.
Jennifer joined the USC golf team in the fall
of 2008. 2009 proved to be an amazing and historic year for
her. She just barely lost the NCAA championship, making costly
mistakes on the last few holes to lose the lead. But she made
up for that by winning the US Women's Amateur Pub Links a
little later. Then, she finished low amateur, tied for 13th,
at the US Women's Open. She followed that up by winning the
US Women's Amateur, becoming only the second woman in history
(after Pearl Sinn) to win both the WAPL and Amateur in the
same year. Song was not even alive when Sinn did this in 1988.
Song continued her great achievements right
into 2010. At that year's Kraft Nabisco Championship, she
was in contention for several rounds, and was again low amateur,
ending up tied for 21st. She finally turned pro in the middle
of 2010, right after the Curtis Cup. She joined the Futures
Tour, and in her very first professional tournament, the Tate
& Lyle's Player's Championship, she cruised to a six shot
victory after shooting rounds of 68-67-65 and a blistering,
record tying 61. Her total score was also a four round Futures
Tour record.
She continued to be brilliant the rest of
the Futures Tour season. Though she started her year several
months after the rest of the tour, she relentlessly worked
her way up the money list. In her final four events, she finished
4th, 2nd, 1st and 2nd, losing the last event in a playoff
to the top player on tour, Cindy LaCrosse. Meanwhile, Song
managed to climb all the way to second on tour, which earned
her full membership on the LPGA in 2011 (in her final event
she moved from 4th to 2nd, showing she was improving week
to week right to the end!).
Song had a surprisingly lackluster rookie
season on the LPGA tour. She barely secured full status for
2012, finishing 79th on the money list. She had no top tens
during the year, her best finish a tie for 16th at the Avnet
Classic. She made the cut in one of the three Majors she played,
and was not a factor in the Rookie of the Year race.
|
