HERE SHE COMES
Though neither was scored on American soil, 20-year-old Korean phenom Ji-Yai Shin claimed her second official LPGA Tour title last weekend, cruising to a six-shot victory over Mayu Hattori in the Mizuno Classic in Shima Mie, Japan. While Shin’s previous LPGA triumph – August’s Women’s British Open – was a Major championship, the relative geographic isolation of her “U.S.” successes leaves her as perhaps the least-known top-shelf star in women’s professional golf. But for how much longer?
According to the Rolex Rankings, Shin is already the best Korean player in the game, her 6th-place ranking standing her four spots ahead of Seon-Hwa Lee, eight above Jeong Jang, and at least 10 notches beyond the cadre of Korean players that dominate the tail end of the top 20, including Jee Young Lee (16), Eun-Hee Ji (17), Hee-Won Han (19) and Inbee Park (20). What’s especially interesting about this is that Shin’s choice of venues works heavily against her when it comes to accruing ranking points, for she plays full-time on her home tour in Korea (a talent-light circuit only because its top stars have all jumped to America) while also adding a few Far Eastern/Australian Ladies European Tour events and the occasional JLPGA stop to her schedule. In between, she has managed nine LPGA starts in 2008, though six of these were events played in Hawaii, Europe or Asia, and two more were Major championships. Impressively, Shin amassed ’08 victories on every one of those circuits save the European – and all those wins tend to pile up the rankings points, even if some of them come on a KLPGA circuit that enjoys zero western TV coverage and can’t make their website work.
But heads up America, because the mystery woman shall not remain a mystery much longer. Shin’s victory at the Women’s British Open earned her LPGA playing privileges for 2009 – and one assumes she’ll make her presence felt early and often.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour continues to tweak the FedEx cup in futile attempts at creating some meaningful degree of fan interest, but I’ve yet to find anyone not drawing a paycheck from the Tour, or sitting on the Player Advisory Committee, that exhibits the faintest interest. And why should they? It’s a silly, made-for-TV concept that lacks even the excitement the Players Championship, nevermind anything resembling a Major. It is, by definition, relegated to a time of year when weekend sports television begins and ends with football, and its ballyhooed $10 million jackpot will inevitably be won by someone with enough cash salted away to no longer be motivated by purses anyway. And besides, The Masters will always be The Masters, the U.S. Open the U.S. Open. But if the FedEx Cup actually survives for the duration of its contract, it may well change sponsors with the same freedom as many regular Tour stops, leaving it to become, perhaps, the Dairy Queen Cup presented by Dr. Pepper.
And then, per PGA Tour marketing policy, the media guide will suddenly inform us that this has always been the event’s title (e.g. Ben Hogan won the 1947 and ’48 Northern Trust Opens), meaning we were referring to it by an erroneous name all along.
But what I really wonder is...
In the end, will it survive long enough to no longer be hyped as “A New Era In Golf?”
Daniel
5 Comments
Reader Comments (5)
I agree. It seems the whole concept of the FedEx cup is that these guys need more motivation to play hard at the end of the season than the few hundred thousand dollars difference between 1st and 2nd place.
Thanks,
Bill
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