SPORTS
July 6, 2015
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 9
Asians in American sports w Asian Americans in world sports
South Koreans dominate LPGA top ranks
By Mike Street
Special to The Asian Reporter
A
sian golfers continue to dominate
the Ladies Professional Golf
Association (LPGA), but South
Korea easily leads every country, Asian or
not, in top-ranked golfers. Entering the
final week of June, no other country had
more players in the top 10, 100, or 500 of
the LPGA’s Rolex Rankings than South
Korea. Several up-and-coming golfers hail
from South Korea, too.
Some players are both in the top 10 and
among the best young players on the tour.
Sei Young Kim, currently ranked tenth in
the Rolex Rankings, and Hyo Joo Kim,
ranked fourth, are also tour rookies. Hyo
Joo made her debut on the tour last year,
competing as a nonmember, and arrived
with a bang.
Playing in the 2014 Evian Champion-
ship, she shot a 61 on the first day, the best
one-round score in the history of LPGA
major championships. Unsurprisingly,
she went on to win the Evian for her first
major victory. This season, Hyo Joo has
already won the JTBC Founders Cup and
leads the tour in rounds shot in the 60s, yet
she sits in second place on the Rolex Rookie
Rankings.
Sitting ahead of Hyo Joo Kim is her
countrywoman Sei Young Kim, who leads
the LPGA in birdies and eagles. Sei Young
won the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic
in February and the LOTTE Cham-
pionship in April. In June, she placed
second in the KPMG Women’s PGA
Championship. During the LOTTE
Championship victory, she won in
dramatic fashion, forcing a playoff by
chipping in on the 18th hole, then seizing
the victory on the first playoff hole by
sinking a 154-yard shot from the fairway
with an 8 iron.
The woman Sei Young Kim beat with
that series of incredible shots was Inbee
Park, who has been on the LPGA tour since
2007. Park also made her mark at an early
age; in just her second year on the tour, she
became the youngest player to win the U.S.
Open, a few weeks shy of her 20th birth-
day.
In 2013, after becoming the first player
in the modern era to win the first three
majors of the season, Park became the first
South Korean selected as Rolex Player of
the Year. She is currently leading the field
for the award this year after winning three
events, including the KPMG Women’s
PGA Championship.
The fourth South Korean in the top ten,
So Yeon Ryu, has been a winner for some
time now. As a 16-year-old amateur, she
won team and individual gold medals in
LPGA LEADERS. Sei Young Kim of South Korea hits a tee shot on the 17th hole (left photo) and Hyo Joo
Kim tees off on the first hole (right photo) during the KPMG Women’s Professional Golf Association champion-
ship last month at Westchester Country Club in Harrison, New York. (AP Photos/Julio Cortez)
the 2006 Asian Games. Two years later,
she joined the Korean LPGA, where she
won six tournaments before winning the
2011 U.S. Women’s Open and earning her
2012 tour card.
In her first year on the tour, Ryu earned
Rookie of the Year honors after winning
the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic and placing
in the top five in eight different statistical
categories. A third LPGA victory has
eluded Ryu in the years since, but she
remains a dominant player, consistently
placing in the top ten in birdies, scoring
average, and rounds under par.
If one counts heritage, not just country
representation, another top-10 South
Korean can be added to the list. Lydia Ko
was born in Seoul and moved at about age
six to New Zealand, where she is now a
citizen. Ko is already drawing raves for her
amazing play, with some calling her the
best young golfer in history, male or
female.
Earlier this year, a few months before
turning 18 years old, Ko became the
youngest golfer in history of either gender
to earn the world’s number-one ranking.
The LPGA had already granted her a
special waiver to allow her to play on the
tour in 2014, since its minimum age is 18.
That season, she won three tournaments,
placed second in two others, and finished
in the top ten in ten more. Few were
surprised when Ko became the youngest
player ever to win LPGA Rookie of the
Year.
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So far this year, Ko has won twice, been
runner-up twice, and placed third once. In
seven of her first eight tournaments, she
finished in the top ten, showing why she is
such a formidable young force. Ko is
currently in second place in the Rolex
rankings, nipping at the heels of Inbee
Park.
Aside from these South Koreans,
Shanshan Feng of China is currently
ranked sixth in the LPGA, and several
other Asian golfers are among the league’s
promising young rookies. Nineteen-year-
old Minjee Lee, an Australian golfer born
of Korean parents, notched her first LPGA
win
in
May
at
the
Kingsmill
Championship, and Thailand’s Ariya
Jutanugarnis, an excellent driver,
returned from shoulder surgery this
season. In addition, former KLPGA Player
of the Year Ha Na Jang is currently fourth
on the Rolex Rookie Rankings. The present
and the future of the LPGA is truly in the
east.