Korean boom on LPGA has peaked

[bangkokbobby]

Originally Posted by Blue

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.

Why the reason matters is this. If it's due to a gap between Se Ri kids and another wave inspired by Shin, then I would agree the boom is over. That was the title of the thread. If it's because better players are waiting a few years until the LPGA is lucrative enough to once again draw them away from Korea and Japan, then the boom is not over and could kick up as early as next year if Seo comes over and does well. Seo is an extremely popular player in Korea with many girls looking up to her. They look up to Shin too, but honestly, I think deep down they were happy to see Shin go in a way. She was killing everybody!

Think of Seo kind of like Grace Park to Ji Yai's Se Ri. Se Ri and Ji Yai are better but Grace and Seo are hugely popular as well.

By the way, Seo is in the Top 10 as I'm sure you know after two rounds at Birkdale. Don't know if she will remain there but she most definitely should come next year. I think Kia gave her automatic exemption. If she does and plays well, expect last year's KLPGA POY runner up So Yeon Ryu, who is younger than Seo, to come as well. Because of her Kia win Seo is more known here, but Ryu matched Seo's win total on the KLPGA last year and outdueled Seo in this year's opening event, which actually took place at the end of last year. A quirk of the KLPGA schedule.

I had fun with this. I rarely get to talk about the KLPGA over here (which is probably why I was so verbose in my answers) so it's great. I don't care if we disagree or not. Isn't that what a forum is for, lively but respectful sharing of opinions? Maybe next time I'll throw in a giggle just for fun :)