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LPGA’s top players offer insight on Korean dominance

April 3, 2015

The world’s best female golfers are gathered at Mission Hills Golf Club this week for the first major of the 2015 LPGA Tour season — the ANA Inspiration. (AP)

Cristie Kerr, who put an end to the Korean winning streak at 9 (including LET wins) last week, says she’s not intimidated by Korean players at all. (AP)

By Brian Han

RANCHO MIRAGE — The world’s best female golfers are gathered at Mission Hills Golf Club this week for the first major of the 2015 LPGA Tour season — the ANA Inspiration.

It’s become a familiar sight while walking along the driving range and seeing almost half of the stalls filled by South Korean golfers.

Many argue it’s just a numbers game and with more players from a certain country, the more you’ll see them on leaderboards.

“It’s not intimidating to me at all,” says American Cristie Kerr who became world No. 10 after her win from the previous week. “It’s pretty simple really. They seem to outnumber a lot of other factions on the tour.”

The 37-year-old veteran is responsible for snapping the streak of six wins by Korean-born golfers after topping Lydia Ko at the Kia Classic.

Granted it’s not Kerr’s job to break down the demographics of the field, but at the moment there are 25 South Korean players who hold an LPGA Tour card compared to 45 Americans.

24 of those 25 are in the field this week while the number of Americans is just north of 35.

After all the theories flying around about Korean golfers, it only made sense to just ask them directly.

“It’s all practice” says world No. 13 Mirim Lee. “Golfers from Korea practice so much and the KLPGA is a really good tour. When I was an amateur I would wake up everyday at 5 a.m. and practice until 8 or 9 p.m.”

“In my opinion Korean players practice a lot more,” says world No. 2 Inbee Park, the highest ranked South Korean player on tour.

It’s not fair to make the generalization that only Korean players work harder though. Each player has their own routines.

For example, even after world No. 7 Suzann Pettersen shot one of the field’s best rounds Friday with a 4-under 68 under the dry desert heat, she spent a few hours after her round to sharpen her game.

To offer some perspective, another competitor had been wheeled away by an ambulance for dehydration.

“Honestly I respect the amount of practice I see Koreans put into the game,” said the Norwegian golfer. “If you work that hard and practice the right way, it will show.”

Some say though that the work ethic and mental strength comes at a price.

“If you look at the average career span of Korean golfers, it seems to be much shorter,” Kerr said. “Also with all the work they put in, I don’t think that they have much time for other things in life.”

To a certain extent, some Korean golfers do make sacrifices to stay competitive on the LPGA Tour.

“Hobbies? No, I don’t have time, it’s all about hit, hit, hit,” Mirim Lee said. “A lot of parents can provide pressure to the players. I think a lot of players are like that.”

Many of the Korean players did have parents hanging around during warmups, but many of these players are still young.

“My mom just wants to be supportive and she wants to be there for every tournament,” said Korean American rookie Alison Lee, 19.

Other golfers like Ilhee Lee, 26, state that even though the stereotype is somewhat true about putting in many hours of practice that it’s not the case that they don’t have lives outside of the sport.

“Even after [Thursday's round] I went out with friends,” she said. “That’s pretty normal for me. I also like going to the shooting range when I have time.”

As for longevity, Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak is probably the most recognizable Korean name in the sport and continues her almost twenty-year career this week at the ANA Inspiration — the only major she has yet to win.

For a lot of these Korean golfers, much of the passion and drive comes from Pak. She set the bar for what they can accomplish.

“A lot of the players will agree that Se Ri Pak was a big inspiration and gave us all an example to follow,” Ilhee Lee said. “She’s my role model.”