Golf Phenoms to Vie for Amateur Title

The World Ladies Amateur Golf Championship is hailed as a launch pad for future golf stars. Highly prominent pre-star golfers make their debuts as pros after attending this biannual world-class match.

Many star golfers, and not only Korean female golf players such as Pak Se-ri (CJ), Kim Mi-hyeon (KTF), Han Hee-won (FILA Korea), but foreign stars including Annika Sorenstam (Sweden), Karrie Webb (Australia), and Lorena Ochoa (Mexico), started their golf legacies in this match.

On October 18, beginning at two courses in Stellenbosch Golf Club (Par 72) and De Zalze Golf Club (Par 72) in South Africa, this year’s match has attracted a group of pre-stars with powerful golf strokes from 49 countries across the world.

A triumvirate of Korean high school girls, Cheong Jae-eun (second year, Sehwa Girls’ High School), Yoo So-yeon (first year, Daewon Foreign Language School), and Choi Hye-yong (first year, Yemun Girls’ High School) will vie for the championship title. If they succeed, it will be the first victory for Korean golfers in 10 years.

The three players, who will also run for 2007 Asian Olympic Games in Doha, Catarrh in December, started pre-round practices just a day after their arrival at the International Airport in South Africa on October 14 after a 24-hour flight to analyze the unfamiliar African golf courses. They did their utmost to adjust to fussy green conditions along with a local caddy.

Thanks to outstanding performances by Han Hee-won and Kang Soo-yeon in 1996, the Korea team won the championship title in the World Ladies Armature Golf Championship, which sums up the top two scores out of three players’ in attendance. South Korea ranked in the second place in 1994 when Park Seri and Kim Mi-hyeon attended and in 2000 as well when Kim Ju-mi, Ahn Si-hyeon, and Shin Hyeon-ju played their active parts.

kjs0123@donga.com