Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Rising stars click in pro golf's minor league

Two young women from Korea are honing their golfing skills at Cheval with an ambitious goal: conquer the LPGA.

By DAVID NORRIE
Published January 13, 2006

LUTZ - For most golfers, the Cheval Golf and Country Club provides a relaxing outdoor getaway where work stress seems miles in the distance.

But to Jin Young Pak and Seul Ki Kim, these fairways and greens are the workplace, and home is half a world away.

Pak, 19, and Kim, 22, represent the latest surge of Korean female golfers to cross the ocean with dreams of conquering the Ladies Professional Golf Association.

Their generation has contributed greatly to the skill level and financial benefits of women's golf.

With both Pak and Kim playing since the age of 12, they decided to put their college aspirations on hold and dedicate themselves 100 percent to turning professional.

Like the 14 other Korean players on the 2005 Futures Tour roster, Pak and Kim left their families and their culture behind to hone their game.

"To become a great golfer, I knew I had to come to the United States," Pak said through a translator.

"We have just as good golf courses in Korea but the convenience here is better. In our country there aren't as many courses, which makes it hard to get in, and they are very costly to play. By coming here we are able to go out and play as much as we want."

Kim has spent the past two years on the Futures Tour while Pak just completed her first season.

Originally established in 1981 as a developmental league featuring in-state players, the tour adopted the Futures name in 1984 and has swelled into an international breeding ground for the world's best up-and-coming female golfers.

Much like minor league baseball, the Futures Tour helps aspiring female golfers refine their game to the point they can compete at the highest professional level, the Ladies Professional Golf Association.

In 1999 the LPGA anointed the Futures Tour as its official developmental tour, billing it as the "road to the LPGA."

The top five players on the Futures Tour are awarded LPGA Pro cards.

Starting with the sixth-ranked player at season's end, 10 Futures Tour members who are not already members of the LPGA automatically advance into the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament, skipping two sectional qualifiers.

Each season, a number of spots on the LPGA Tour become vacant. Those places are filled with the top finishers in the Final Qualifying Tournament.

For the better part of the last year Pak and Kim have spent six days a week at Cheval, often beginning each morning at 8 a.m. and ending each day at sundown, in hopes of earning what is known as a pro exemption card giving them eligibility to play the following year.

Their commitment is "second to none," said Fayyadh Yusuf, a performance consultant whom the women hired to enhance their training.

Along with golf pro George Beardsley, Yusuf has spent the better part of the past year fine-tuning Pak and Kim's overall golf game.

When the four initially teamed up, the women spoke very little English while Yusuf and Beardsley's Korean stretched barely beyond basic counting. Body language and physical demonstrations took the place of nouns and verbs.

"I tried to design exercises to find out which kind of learning would be most easily understood," Beardsley said. "Eventually we got it narrowed down to a couple of key phrases and learned how to implement the instruction they needed."

While he and Yusuf expanded their Korean vocabulary, Pak and Kim continued to take English lessons. When difficulties arose, a translator was brought in and eventually, despite what Kim described as "some frustration," language became a nonissue.

Stress and the distance from everything familiar were bigger issues.

Kim tried to enjoy the opportunity to meet new people.

Still, Yusuf said, "it's not by accident they are excelling in golf. They are extremely dedicated and there are days when we have to pull them off the course."

The women unwind by doing things entirely apart from their chosen sport. Kim enjoys Adam Sandler movies; Pak prefers Brad Pitt. On a rare opportunity to leave Cheval, they sang karaoke at a restaurant.

The journey from amateur golfer to LPGA pro may be summed up in one word - sacrifice.

With a $400 entry fee per tournament, travel expenses, food and equipment, financing an existence on the Futures Tour can add up in a hurry.

The cumulative cost per event can run anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500. With a total of 18 events per year, it's easy to see the financial burden on each player.

Add in the professional fees of coaches like Yusuf and Beardsley and the costs are staggering.

Pak's father took leave from the family business for the better part of the past year to accompany his daughter on tour. Her mother owns a small clothing boutique back in Korea.

Cost-cutting can be creative among a tightly knit Futures contingent, even more so among those who share the same cultural background.

Women team up on road trips, splitting the cost of food and accommodations. It's not unusual for golfers to seek the shelter of host families to save on hotel expenses.

It helps that the 2005 tour had 16 Korean players. And Pak feels accepted by her American peers.

"Prejudice doesn't happen too much," she said. "There are a few instances I have felt a little isolated but I have not felt any negative impact, but rather more positive. I think we've become Americanized."

While internal support among the tour is high, there is no denying the competitive nature of more than 300 players vying for a few coveted spots in the LPGA.

Pressure is high and margin for error little. That's where Yusuf is trying to make headway.

Many have called golf a mind game. He tackles that "game within the game," using mental exercises to help control frustration, teaching the women how to let go of bad shots by taking a negative situation and processing it into a positive.

It's an edge Pak says that has developed her game a great deal.

"When I get nervous or feel I've played bad, I use a breathing mechanic which has helped me," she said. "I'm more able to overcome playing a bad ball and able to control the anger which may ensue."

While a love for the game motivates them, money also is a consideration. Each day away from home presents a financial weight and investment toward big dollars later on.

Pak earned just under $15,000 in 2005, including $9,100 from a first-place finish in the Lakeland Futures Golf Classic last March.

It was one of two top 10 finishes for her last year. Kim has earned $21,000 in two years with three top 10 finishes.

In their dreams of turning pro, Pak and Kim do not have to look far for inspiration.

Se Ri Pak, no relation, won the LPGA Championship and the Women's U.S. Open in 1998 at 21, becoming the youngest player ever to do so. She was LPGA Rookie of the Year. In 2004 she eclipsed $8-million in career earnings.

As of November, five of the top 20 money winners on the LPGA Tour were Korean, each earning over a half-million dollars in prize money. That doesn't include additional endorsement contracts, which are often more lucrative.

On Nov. 30, Pak and Kim were two of 140 women who earned the right to compete for one of 24 LPGA Pro Exemption Cards at the Qualifying School Tournament in Daytona Beach.

Six Korean-born players earned their LPGA exemption cards. But neither Kim's four-round total of 301 nor Pak's 309 put them in position to make the cut. Each left with greater experience and feeling one step closer to finally making it.

"I'm disappointed, of course, because we went in with high hopes and expectations," Kim said."I can see I'm not yet ready for the LPGA and have some learning to do. But I know what it takes to be a professional."

Beardsley continues to work with the women on their posture and their form.

As each has a strong drive averaging about 250 yards, he is trying to design exercises that work on their approach and short game.

"Both girls are talented enough," Beardsley said. "When we get them playing their best golf, I feel confident they can soon qualify and eventually win on the LPGA Tour."

[Last modified January 12, 2006, 08:39:04]