A blog about golf and what it does to you.
Showing posts with label Koreans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Koreans. Show all posts
Monday, June 15, 2015
Spectatorgolf: KPMGWGPAC Rounds 3 & 4, Westchester CC, Harrison NY
Ms. L and I attended the third round at Westchester. We followed the final two groups, which included Hall of Famer Karrie Webb, Korean rookie sensation Sei Young Kim and the queen bitch herself, the one and only Inbee Park. (I happened to be in the area Sunday, and happened to have a free ticket, so I couldn't resist going back by myself to watch some of the final round.)
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Roadgolf: Sunset Valley GC, Pompton Plains NJ
Hey, it's your old pal. I am still alive, still here, and still participating in golf-- at least as much as the fragile, volatile ecosystem of Earth will allow these days. It's been a long time since Ms. L has played any golf, so we fired up the old rental car, threw a dart at a map of the tri-state area, bundled up and headed out about an hour east to a tiny town called Pompton Plains in rural Sussex County.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Ghetto Golf, volume X: Alley Pond Golf Center, Douglaston, Queens
Queens, New York is possibly the most wildly multi-ethnic region on the planet. You name it, they got it. An especially big and thriving enclave is its Koreatown, and not surprisingly there's a place within the community dedicated to serving the golfer in need, a funky intersection of Korean-American culture and golf obsession.
Monday, July 1, 2013
QUEEN BEE
How a once-middle-of-the-pack golfer surged ahead and left the rest of women's golf in the dust.
Yesterday on a gloomy day in Sebonack, New York, world number one Inbee "IBP" Park won the biggest women's golf tournament in the universe for the second time in five years, marking a stellar--and seemingly sudden--rise to the very top.
We here at Legitimate Golf would describe ourselves as lukewarm fans of women's golf. However the success of this particular player is quite intriguing considering her origins, and a rather ordinary start to her pro career. For anyone with a deep interest in the game, it merits a closer look. Not surprisingly the US media is by and large dropping the ball, but of course that's where we come in.
We'll pick up the story in the early 2000s, when the South Korean native moved to the US to broaden her golf horizons. (Whether the rest of the Park family moved along with her is still unclear.) Even as a fresh-off-the-boat teen struggling through American high school in Las Vegas, Park shows signs of golf excellence right away, at the national level to boot. The fourteen-year-old thoroughly dominates the 2002 US Junior Girl's Championship, winning both the stroke and match play events.
The following year she mounts an admirable title defense, winning stroke play medalist again but falling in the final. The year after that, in a foreshadowing of her present-day tournament stroke play dominance, she wins medalist honors for the third straight year. (We don't know where these kinds of USGA records are kept, but surely it's an unparalleled feat.)
Finally in 2005, the last year she is eligible to beat up on underage golfers, she reaches the US Junior Girls final once again. She is routed by one of her future rivals (and coincidentally yesterday's runner-up) in a young IK Kim, but a fourth strong performance in this tournament caps off an altogether very distinguished junior career.
In 2006, still just 17 years old, Park petitions the LPGA to waive its minimum age requirement. Not surprisingly she is denied, but makes the best of things by turning pro anyways and qualifying for the LPGA's minor league feeder tour, known then as the Duramed Futures Tour.
She does not win during her year here, but consistent play puts her in third place on the tour's money list, earning her full exempt status on the LPGA for 2007.
Inbee's LPGA rookie year is not a smash success, but she plays steadily enough to rank 37th in money and renew her tour card for the following year. And already, signs of her current world-beating form emerge: she ranks fourth on tour in putts per round.
The beginning of 2008 shows promise and some gradual improvement--a couple of early season top tens. But then in June, she shocks herself and the golf world by coming out of nowhere and making her first professional win the US Women's Open at Interlachen CC in Minnesota. The youngest USWO champion ever at the clueless age of 19, she wins in convincing fashion by four strokes.
The remainder of the year is sort of a washout, but '08 is a successful campaign nonetheless. Besides the big win, Park piled up some top tens and finished #7 in money and #1 in putts per GIR. All poised for a run at the top right?
This is where it gets interesting. In 2009, Inbee not only fails to win, but suffers her worst year on tour to date--a slew of missed cuts, just two top tens, a bloated scoring average, and a fiftieth-ranked $271,303 in prize money. No doubt some dodgy ballstriking contributed to these woes--138th in GIR and 142nd in driving accuracy. Yet all the while Inbee's putting game continues to relentlessly seek out and find the hole--this year she ranked first in both LPGA putting stats. If she could just manage to hit more greens, surely the scores will drop...
2010, a fresh start. Inbee makes good on her goal to hit more greens, and manages a big improvement, rising to 30th in GIR. But when a golfer starts hitting more greens, naturally the putts tend to multiply. She slips down the putting stat rankings. No wins this year, but some more top tens and a bunch of money, enough to rank eleventh. Plus a couple of smalltime wins while slumming it on the Japanese tour. Baby steps.
2011, time to finally put it all together right? Wrong. It's sort of a setback year, again, with only three top tens and about as much money as she earned in her rookie year. The tag of "fluke major winner" begins to loom. But the putting continues to shine, and the ballstriking continues to improve. Still, all signs seem to point to a steady, if ho-hum journeywomen career in Ms. Park's future.
2012, like the year before it, begins without distinction. Grinding along, making cuts, but not much else. Still winless since '08. Towards the end of the year though, something clicks, and Inbee starts making regular appearances on the first page of leaderboards. In July she finally busts through the funk and wins at Evian in France, then closes out the season with tournament finishes of T3, T2, 2, 2, 1, T15, 2, T17 and T2. Once again she leads in both putting categories for the year, and for the first time leads the money list, taking home over a cool $2 million.
Which brings us to the present. A boatload of achievements, six wins in a half year span, the earning of Immortal Godhead Status. Grand Slam feats under intense pressure and expectations. Video gamelike stats. Inbee's ballstriking, which was once a liability, is now a strength. 45th in Driving Accuracy and 15th in GIR are impressive by themselves. Coupled with #1 ranks in putts per round and putts per GIR however, it's nothing short of devastating, make-everyone-wanna-go-home golf. Currently in the world rankings, the gulf between IBP and #2 Stacy Lewis is five points--the same gap between Lewis and the world's 25th ranked player.
Not only that, but sources say that she has all but locked up the 2013 Legitimate Golf Putter of the Year award. Stay tuned for more.
 |
| The 68th US Women's Open Champion |
We here at Legitimate Golf would describe ourselves as lukewarm fans of women's golf. However the success of this particular player is quite intriguing considering her origins, and a rather ordinary start to her pro career. For anyone with a deep interest in the game, it merits a closer look. Not surprisingly the US media is by and large dropping the ball, but of course that's where we come in.
We'll pick up the story in the early 2000s, when the South Korean native moved to the US to broaden her golf horizons. (Whether the rest of the Park family moved along with her is still unclear.) Even as a fresh-off-the-boat teen struggling through American high school in Las Vegas, Park shows signs of golf excellence right away, at the national level to boot. The fourteen-year-old thoroughly dominates the 2002 US Junior Girl's Championship, winning both the stroke and match play events.
The following year she mounts an admirable title defense, winning stroke play medalist again but falling in the final. The year after that, in a foreshadowing of her present-day tournament stroke play dominance, she wins medalist honors for the third straight year. (We don't know where these kinds of USGA records are kept, but surely it's an unparalleled feat.)
 |
| Inbee, the killer as a youth. Her English at this point might not be so good, but meet her on the golf course, and you gonna be in trouble. |
In 2006, still just 17 years old, Park petitions the LPGA to waive its minimum age requirement. Not surprisingly she is denied, but makes the best of things by turning pro anyways and qualifying for the LPGA's minor league feeder tour, known then as the Duramed Futures Tour.
She does not win during her year here, but consistent play puts her in third place on the tour's money list, earning her full exempt status on the LPGA for 2007.
Inbee's LPGA rookie year is not a smash success, but she plays steadily enough to rank 37th in money and renew her tour card for the following year. And already, signs of her current world-beating form emerge: she ranks fourth on tour in putts per round.
The beginning of 2008 shows promise and some gradual improvement--a couple of early season top tens. But then in June, she shocks herself and the golf world by coming out of nowhere and making her first professional win the US Women's Open at Interlachen CC in Minnesota. The youngest USWO champion ever at the clueless age of 19, she wins in convincing fashion by four strokes.
The remainder of the year is sort of a washout, but '08 is a successful campaign nonetheless. Besides the big win, Park piled up some top tens and finished #7 in money and #1 in putts per GIR. All poised for a run at the top right?
This is where it gets interesting. In 2009, Inbee not only fails to win, but suffers her worst year on tour to date--a slew of missed cuts, just two top tens, a bloated scoring average, and a fiftieth-ranked $271,303 in prize money. No doubt some dodgy ballstriking contributed to these woes--138th in GIR and 142nd in driving accuracy. Yet all the while Inbee's putting game continues to relentlessly seek out and find the hole--this year she ranked first in both LPGA putting stats. If she could just manage to hit more greens, surely the scores will drop...
2010, a fresh start. Inbee makes good on her goal to hit more greens, and manages a big improvement, rising to 30th in GIR. But when a golfer starts hitting more greens, naturally the putts tend to multiply. She slips down the putting stat rankings. No wins this year, but some more top tens and a bunch of money, enough to rank eleventh. Plus a couple of smalltime wins while slumming it on the Japanese tour. Baby steps.
2011, time to finally put it all together right? Wrong. It's sort of a setback year, again, with only three top tens and about as much money as she earned in her rookie year. The tag of "fluke major winner" begins to loom. But the putting continues to shine, and the ballstriking continues to improve. Still, all signs seem to point to a steady, if ho-hum journeywomen career in Ms. Park's future.
2012, like the year before it, begins without distinction. Grinding along, making cuts, but not much else. Still winless since '08. Towards the end of the year though, something clicks, and Inbee starts making regular appearances on the first page of leaderboards. In July she finally busts through the funk and wins at Evian in France, then closes out the season with tournament finishes of T3, T2, 2, 2, 1, T15, 2, T17 and T2. Once again she leads in both putting categories for the year, and for the first time leads the money list, taking home over a cool $2 million.
 |
| The last three USWO champions celebrating on 18 yesterday, probably having a good laugh at the state of American women's golf. |
Not only that, but sources say that she has all but locked up the 2013 Legitimate Golf Putter of the Year award. Stay tuned for more.
Monday, June 24, 2013
IBP: Rise of the Machines
Yesterday world number one golfer Inbee "IBP" Park won for the fifth time this year on the LPGA, reaffirming the emergence of yet another Asian as the runaway best player in women's golf.
This week is the U.S. Women's Open on Long Island NY, and here she'll be attempting to win a third "major" event consecutively. Just how "major" these women's events are is open to debate, but IBP has now won 7 of her last 23 starts, and that is indisputably pretty excellent.
As of today, there are just three white women in the top ten of the world rankings, only one of them American. Make of that what you will.
Many will see the rise of IBP as another blow to an already-flagging LPGA product. In the other half of the golf world though, many more will view her success as a triumph of hard work, steady nerves, quiet self-confidence and more importantly some kick-ass putting. (Park is ranked first and second in both putting stats available on LPGA.com).
I say "Why not?" I caught a bit of the end of yesterday's tourney and was pretty darned impressed with IBP's play over the last couple holes. She swung with confidence, putted with conviction and if you look closely, seems to have developed the stare of a real tournament killer. (If there was a putt to save the world I think that an Asian woman, either IBP or Ai Miyazato, would probably represent mankind's best hope.)
No matter how boring a player seems, winning golf tournaments in bunches demands attention. So it'll be interesting to see how this week's U.S. Women's Open, i.e. far and away the biggest tournament in the women's game, plays out and what kind of fanfare will accompany IBP's bid for major championship immortality.
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