0811BoysFromBusan

Results

Around the Clubs The Hong Kong Golf Club Shanghai Visitors Cup 1 October CS Fraser / I Houstoun won the Shanghai Visitors Cup played over the Old Course with Nett 62. RYC Yang / S Lee were the runnersup with Nett 63.

HKJC Centenary Trophy (Gross Section) 7 October K Inge won the HKJC Centenary Trophy Gross Section played over the Eden Course with 32 points. K S K Lam was the runner-up with 30 points.

HKJC Centenary Trophy (Nett Section) 7 October K S K Lam wont he HKJC Centenary Trophy Nett Section played over the Eden Course with 41 points. J Collier was the runner-up with 36 points.

Lindrick Trophy 11 October K Leung / Miss Y Chi won the Lindrick Trophy played over the New Course with 46 points. B Chong / Miss C Chong were the runnersup with 45 points.

Monthly Medal (Gross Section) 18 October R de Lacy Staunton won the Monthly Medal Gross Section played over the New Course with 70.

Monthly Medal (Nett Section) 18 October E J Evans won the Monthly Medal Nett Section played over the New Course with Nett 66.

International Cup 19 October China won the International Cup played over the New & Eden Courses with 210 points. Japan finished runner-up with 205 points.

Baffy Spoon 26 October J Blackwood / D Williams won the above competition played over the New and Eden Courses with +1. B Keung / E J Evans were the runners-up with -1.

Gussie White Trophy 26 October J Blackwood / D Williams won the above competition played over the New & Eden Courses with 146. K Inge / A J P Taylor were the runners-up with 152.

Clearwater Bay Golf & Country Club Ladies Events

September Medal 3 September Division 1 Gross Winner: Sunny Kang (84) Division 1 Nett Winner: Haj Wilcox (71) Division 1 Nett Runner-up: Joanne McKee (79) Division 2 Gross Winner: Chikako Yabe (98) Division 2 Nett Winner: Kanako Tanaka (78) Division 2 Nett Runner-up: Linda Wang (80)

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October Medal 15 October Division 1 Gross Winner: Division 1 Nett Winner: Division 1 Nett Runner-up: Division 2 Gross Winner: Division 2 Nett Winner: Division 2 Nett Runner-up:

Ashling Geh (86) Callie Botsford (71 C/B) K R Shin (71) Sue Hadaway (92) Fizzy Pavri (72) Peggy Wong (73)

Men’s Events

Captain’s Cup 21 September Gross Winner: Sibo Yan (71) Gross Runner-up: Dugene Pak (75 C/B) Nett Winner: Peter Chan (68) Nett Runner-up: Giles Scott (71) Chairman’s Cup 21 September Winner: Joe Lok (43 points C/B) Runner-up: S K Tse (43 points) Sir Run Run Shaw Trophy 28 September Winners: Tracy Fan & Denis Cheung (61 C/B) First Runners-up: Cindy Cheng & Charles Chan (61) Second Runners-up: Judy Chan & Wilson Chan (62) Captain’s Cup 18 October Gross Winner: Gross Runner-up: Nett Winner: Nett Runner-up:

Stuart Gethin (80) Jackson Chu (83) Rodney Cheung (74) Michael Brown (76)

Chairman’s Cup 18 October Winner: Wilson Chan (37 points) Runner-up: Steven Chan (36 points C/B)

The Boys from

Busan Why Korean male golfers are finally emerging from the shadow of their female counterparts

BY HARRY MCCUMBER PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF ASIAN TOUR

Discovery Bay Golf Club Ladies Events

Monthly Medal 28 September Best Gross: Chisako Kubota (75) Division A Winner: T S Uhm (Nett 68 C/B) Division B Winner: Y S Doo (40 points) Anniversary Cup 11-12 October Best Gross: Mari Maeda (56 points C/B) Winner: Mable Mak (Nett 77 points C/B) Runner-up: Candy Lai (Nett 77 points) Monthly Medal 26 October Best Gross: Rungnapa Winchester (76) Division A Winner: Rebecca Ho (Nett 67) Division B Winner: Alice Lau (Nett 45 points)

Men’s Events

Monthly Medal 28 September Best Gross: Shinichi Mizuno (77 C/B) Division A Winner: M Yanai (Nett 71) Division B Winner: Takenori Ino (Nett 66) Division C Winner: Ronald Tong (38 points)

Autumn Cup 10 September Winner: Anita Chu (73) First Runner-up: Diana Ting (74) Second Runner-up: Madoka Murayama (75 C/B)

Men’s Matchplay 7-21 September Winner: Michael Stott Runner-up: Akiyoshi Kubota Semi-finalist: Kimitoshi Hoshiyama Semi-finalist: K S Lee

Autumn Plate 10 September Winner: Cecilia Szeto (36 points) First Runner-up: Peggy Wong (35 points) Second Runner-up: Akiko Harada (34 points C/B)

Anniversary Cup 11-12 October Best Gross: Matajiro Nagatomi (61 points) Winner: Y H Chin (Nett 75 points) Runner-up: William Chung (Nett 74 points)

September Stableford 17 September Division 1 Winner: Elsa Chao (37 points) Division 1 Runner-up: Sunny Kang (30 points) Division 2 Winner: Chikako Yabe (34 points) Division 2 Runner-up: Akiko Harada (33 points C/B)

James Hui Cup 19 October Best Gross: Michael Stott (72) Winner: John Seto (Nett 69) First Runner-up: Kenneth Lam (Nett 70 C/B) Second Runner-up: B W Park (Nett 70)

October Stableford 8 October Division 1 Winner: Lily Lau (31 points) Division 1 Runner-up: Madoka Murayama (30 points) Division 2 Winner: Fizzy Pavri (33 points) Division 2 Runner-up: Cecilia Szeto (30 points C/B)

Monthly Medal 26 October Best Gross: B W Park (74) Division A Winner: Y S Kim (Nett 68) Division B Winner: Ferant Chan (Nett 66) Division C Winner: Edward Lau (Nett 38 points)

HK GOLFER・NOV/DEC 2008

Asians On Tour

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D

anny Lee, the highest ranked amateur in the world, is no accident. The 2006 number one, Lee Won-Joon, is no f luke. The Korean Open champion Bae Sang-moon is no surprise. The Asian Tour’s leading rookie is Noh Seung-Yul…well, you get the picture.

And then there’s Anthony Kim. Those who saw his demolition of the once-leading pretender to Tiger’s throne, Sergio Garcia, in the Ryder Cup saw something special. It was confirmation that young Koreans, whether born at home or abroad, are the hottest items in golf.

There are sound reasons for the rise of Korean men. The Korean golfing market is bigger than the rest of Asia (outside of Japan) combined. The knock-on effect from the women’s success is immense. Facilities for juniors are improving; overseas cells of young golfers are starting to bear fruit (see sidebar) and then there are the intangibles that go with being Korean.

The American-born Kim was in Korea for the Hana Bank Kolon 51st Korea Open in October and relished the chance to play at “home”.

“I had a great time,” he said. “I obviously felt very welcome here with the Korean fans and they supported me the whole way through.”

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Bang Sae-moon, Korean Open, 2008

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(clockwise from right): Noh celebrates with his father at the Midea Classic; Kim Dae-sub won an Asian Tour event while still an amateur; Anthony Kim has the potential to be world number one.

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Listen to Kim speak and he’s as Californian as they come. But while you can take the boy out of Korea, you can’t take Korea out of the boy.

“Obviously when I get to come back here, it’s a great time for me, I get to learn where my parents are from, and where my roots are from.

Obviously the tournament didn’t go like how I wanted and planned, but life goes on and I’m going to have a great time with my parents and my friends.”

Asian Tour veteran Anthony Kang has witnessed the rise of Korean golf first hand. A twotime winner in Asia, Kang was born in Korea but educated in the USA. Kim’s success is—to belabour the original point—no bolt from the blue.

HK GOLFER・NOV/DEC 2008

“There’s a lot of new players coming up at a younger age, be it from Korea or Australia or the USA following in footsteps of KJ Choi and the doors he’s opened for everybody,” Kang says.

“The men are taking after the Korean ladies.

It’s taken a little longer maybe because guys mature a little later and at home they have to do national service for two years so that holds them back, but everyone can see on TV the success the ladies are having and it gives the guys confidence and makes them want to emulate their success. It’s a snowball effect,” he says.

The Korean Diaspora (see sidebar) is also taking effect. “Because of the harsh winters, a lot of Korean players are leaving to go to New Zealand, the Philippines, Australia and the US, to hone their games. It’s a good sign for Korean golf.

Pretty soon the PGA Tour might become like the LPGA Tour where you have 20 to 30 Korean players teeing it up every week,” Kang says.

Kim is candid about the advantages being Korean. Much, too much, was made in the US press of teenage tiffs with his father and a year or so spent concentrating on what might be termed affairs off the course. In the end, though, traditional Korean respect for parents won through.

“Koreans I think generally are really hardworking people. So for me to have a day off or for me to kind of be a 14-year-old kid when I was 14 wasn't maybe as acceptable as it was over there in the States. So I would say more it was tougher on a Korean standard. But overall, I think it was blown way out of proportion and it was not that bad,” Kim says.

“I learned so much from those experiences.

It made me tougher. I really feel like where it helped me the most was to get my PGA Tour card and to get through Q-School when everything was on the line and I felt a lot of pressure from outside people as well as myself; it helped me block those things out and get to where I wanted to go.”

There’s a wealth of maturity in that reaction.

Not everyone makes it through the pressure cooker that can be Korean parental expectation.

Does the name Michelle Wie ring a bell? Kim says that many young Koreans in the past have peaked too early, but that may be changing.

“When they hit 18 or 19 years old, they were burned out, and I think parents are starting to realize to scale down and let the kids be kids when they need to be, but work hard when they are practicing golf,” he says.

Not that that applied to the young superstar.

“No. I was never worried about that because I did so many other things, and I did everything that a kid would want to do. A nd there wasn't anything that I really missed out in my childhood. I played sports. I had lots of friends.

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I went to sleepovers. I did everything that a kid could want. I felt like I had a pretty good balance in my life.

And that much-publicized tiff with his father? “ T here's not much to say ab out my relationship with him. He's my dad, I love him, and whatever has happened in the past has happened. I think we've both learned from our mistakes, and as I'm getting older, I'm realizing a lot of the things he did were for my

own good. I guess I thank him for that, and I'm lucky to be in this position. So overall, it was tough, but it was a good experience and I'm glad I got through it and now I'm playing on the PGA Tour and I'm lucky enough to be here.”

Professional Amateurs Veteran Philippine professional Danny Zarate spotted them first. Chips were being chipped, putts were rolling in. Nothing too unusual at the Southwoods Golf and Country Club south of Manila, except the chippers and putters were Korean. Korean kids; early teens at best.

“They’re all over the place,” Zarate said. “It’s the same at my home club Riveria, there’s young Koreans who do nothing but play golf all day. It’s been going on for a few years now.”

An Asian Tour television crew popped over for a chat and a “gosh-we-might-use-it-in-a-story-one-day” interview. The kids confirmed everything Zarate had said.

“We’re here to learn golf, we have a tutor for school work and we’re learning English,” said one of the youngsters. Their fathers, he said, took turns to spend a few days or weeks a month with their sons.

That, four years ago, got the young man a gig on an Asian Tour Weekly feature, along with others like him from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and further afield.

As the crew tracked the youngsters over the next few years once thick Korean accents transmogrified into twangs from the western suburbs of Sydney, rural New Zealand and Orange County, California.

Today the results of the Korean golfing Diaspora are beginning starting to show.

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