“Cinderella Goes to Another Party”

Now, she is a respectable “Superstar.”

After “Cinderella” Ahn Shi-hyun (19 years old, Kolon) won the U.S. LPGA Tour CJ Nine Bridges Classic, the value of her stock is skyrocketing.

According to the group-organizing sheet of the first round of the Korean Ladies Pro Golf (KLPGA) made public on November 4 at this season’s final tournament, the 2003 SBS Pro Golf Master Ladies Tournament (from Nov. 5th to 7th, Busan Asiad CC), Ahn Shi-hyun is treated as “special class player.”

Depending champion Kim Young (Shinsegae), a full-time qualifier of the U.S. LPGA tour, and Jung Il-mi, both advanced to the LPGA stage and were placed in the same group. For a rookie (Ahn Shi-hyun) to compete with the defending champion (Kim Young) in the first round is unusual.

Meanwhile, according to the result of this tournament, in which the players are competing for a 200 million won purse with the winner’s share as 36 million won, most individual titles are defined for this season. So it is expected that this match will face keen competition.

Kim Joo-mi (Hi Mart), who already has confirmed the Rookie of the Year award, challenged for four titles including Rookie of the Year, First place in prize money rank, Best Player title which means KLPGA Grand Prix, and the Most Frequent Winner of the Year. She is just 100,000 won below in the prize money ranking list, so she still has an opportunity to win that award. Currently, Chun Mi-Jung (TaylorMade) is in first place in prize money ranking with 130,750,000 won. Kim has only won twice this season.

Lee Sun-hwa (17 years old, CJ), third place in prize money ranking (120,400,000 won), is challenging for the youngest prize money leader in history. The Best Player of the Year might go to among Kim Joo-mi (96 points), Chun Mi-jung (86 points) or Lee Sun-hwa (84 points).

However, domestic fans are interested in whether Ahn Shi-hyun can win the KLPGA tournament for the first time, availing herself with the momentum from the victory at the CJ Nine Bridges Classic.

The first round will be live broadcasted from 1 p.m. and the second and the third rounds will be broadcasted live starting at 2 p.m. by the SBS Golf Channel.

Young-Sik Ahn ysahn@donga.com