Korean boom on LPGA has peaked

[dangerbob]

Don't take any polls taken in this forum seriously...mostly, they're just popularity contest!

[bangkokbobby]

It wasn't just here that people picked against Shin. Again, does anybody really believe that if Wie had the year Shin had in 2008 that Wie would not have been considered a lock for ROY? If Wie had won the British, Mizuno and ADT some people might have predicted she would be PGA ROY!

Ok, I went overboard there. Lol!

I'm not tying the poll results to work ethic. I'm tying overzealous fathers who gamble their families finances to that.

Let me say one thing, Blue might be absolutely correct that the Korean wave on LPGA might be subsiding. I'm saying that the wave of dominance has just chosen to play other places, hence the Korean wins here this year coupled with an increase in Korean wins on the JLPGA.

We'll see if some more great players from the KLPGA decide to leave home or stay in Korea or play in Japan or other places.

[bangkokbobby]

I agree that Lewis had fine pedigree coming in, which is why I made her my number two pick for ROY. But she nearly won the USWO. Shin did win the WBO. And in case people thought it was a fluke, she won two more LPGA events for good measure.

I understand the name recognition aspect. But there was plenty of information out there if one looked about Shin. Come visit us over at the SS forum or go to any number of articles HappyFan has written. You'll find out about future LPGA stars years before they hit the states. There was little chance of Shin hitting a sophomore slump because she had been a pro for years before she came to the LPGA. Unlike Wie, she had dealt with the pressure of trying to win in the final round of a pro event and emerged victorious so many times she was dubbed the Final Round Queen.

[bangkokbobby]

Originally Posted by dangerbob

Don't take any polls taken in this forum seriously...mostly, they're just popularity contest!

Ok, Blue and DB. Maybe I'm assuming because I go scour the net for KLPGA info that other LPGA fans should too. Fair enough.

But trust me when I say there are plenty of Koreans winning right now, not just on the KLPGA where of course you would expect it. But except for Shin, most of the better players are avoiding the LPGA at the moment.

[bangkokbobby]

Uh-oh! I just missed my stop typing in my replies! Hahahaha! Oh well, it was worth it to take the scenic route to work today!

[Blue]

I'm not sure how this discussion got sidetracked into an essay on whether Koreans are hardworking, or whether their fathers push them a lot or whether there are a lot of Koreans playing in Korea.

None of this is relevant to the main point I started this thread to make. There are not a lot of players currently in the main pipelines to the LPGA and these numbers appear to be dwindling. These pipelines are the Futures Tour, LPGA rookies and Q-School.

There may be plenty of Koreans in Korea (obviously), they may even be really good players (hard to measure without head-to-head competition, but if they don't come to the US and they don't try to join the LPGA, they won't be on the LPGA, therefore my point stands.

Korean fathers may be pushy. I think we know that, though the degree to which they are pushy may be overstated. Anyway, does this have to do with the number of Koreans choosing to join the LPGA? It may have to do with how well they play once they get here, but that's different.

As with many things, there are cycles. Golf apparently was a popular endeavor for Koreans to push their daughters into for a while. Now it appears to be waning. Maybe they will move on to another sport.

[Blue]

Since BKB brought up the point about the demanding Korean fathers, I'll bright up one factor where their pushiness does affect the number of players on the LPGA Tour. It seems that the domineering father dynamic endemic to Korean players may not be conducive to a long term career. I know we don't have many on which to judge, but how many Korean players have had successfuly careers that extended beyond their late 20? Se Ri Pak burned out. Mi Hyun Kim? What happened to her? Injured and then pregnant and essentially gone. Who else is there? Il Mi Chung?

I'm wondering if once a player reaches a certain age, being motivated and pushed by her father is no longer sufficient motivation and without that, there is no motivation to play at all. There is no built-in self motivation because she was raised from childhood driven externally by her father, not internally. I'm not a psychologist, so this is just guessing. But I don't know if we'll see many smooth transitions for these completely parent-dominated Korean girls to more self-sufficient adults on tour.

[bangkokbobby]

There is head to head competition. The KLPGAers who have come recently competed on the KLPGA before they came and except for Shin, they were not the best. Plus, the fact that the 2008 Korean POY won three events in limited starts and the 2009 Korean POY Seo has already won an LPGA event this year in limited starts would suggest the players on Durameds and LPGA rookies are not the best Korea has to offer.

What is relevant is the reason why the pipeline seems dried. It is not because of a lessening of great players. It's because those great players don't see the LPGA in as lucrative a light as they did a few yeas ago.

What I'm trying to convey is that those great players are still there. And since you question the head to head records of the Koreans here versus the one who stayed, I can do that this weekend if you need proof. But just the fact that Seo came here and won while Korean rookies here have not should give anecdotal evidence.

[bangkokbobby]

The point is, you could see another boom in a couple of years if the LPGA gets it schedule and prizemoney back up enough to entice better Koreans to come here. The pipeline in still full. The boom continuing on the LPGA has more to do with the LPGA getting itself back to where it was than the Korean talent not being there.

Your premise that the boom is over based on Koreans in this year's ROY race or Durameds might be true but not for the reasons you suggest. Not because of a gap between Se Ri's kids and Ji Yai's kids. There are plenty of kids on the KLPGA right now better than every Korean rookie on the LPGA this year. I can give you the numbers to prove it. The pipeline in there and full. Whether they come here is up to what Michael Whan can do.

[Blue]

Originally Posted by bangkokbobby

There is head to head competition. The KLPGAers who have come recently competed on the KLPGA before they came and except for Shin, they were not the best. Plus, the fact that the 2008 Korean POY won three events in limited starts and the 2009 Korean POY Seo has already won an LPGA event this year in limited starts would suggest the players on Durameds and LPGA rookies are not the best Korea has to offer.

What is relevant is the reason why the pipeline seems dried. It is not because of a lessening of great players. It's because those great players don't see the LPGA in as lucrative a light as they did a few yeas ago.

What I'm trying to convey is that those great players are still there. And since you question the head to head records of the Koreans here versus the one who stayed, I can do that this weekend if you need proof. But just the fact that Seo came here and won while Korean rookies here have not should give anecdotal evidence.

It sounds like anecdotal evidence all around. The Korean POY played one event and won.

Still, the main point of the argument keeps getting lost. I will repeat it again. Korean players are not competing on the LPGA Tour, for whatever reason. I don't know the reason. I guessed it's because the popularity of golf among Korean girls has dropped off. You guessed that it's because they found the KLPGA more lucrative. It doesn't matter really.