Tim Maitland: Texan Holds 'Em

Stanford’s HSBC Women’s Champions Victory Ends 14-year Wait for American LPGA Win in Asia

Singapore 27^th February

Tim Maitland

Angela Stanford ended a wait of 14 years and four months for an American victory in a LPGA event in Asia when she won a four-player play-off at the HSBC Women’s Champions at Singapore’s Tanah Merah Country Club. Stanford won with a par on the third play-off hole, finally knocking Korean teenager Jenny Shin out of the reckoning, after Korea’s world number two Na Yeon Choi and China’s Shanshan Feng had been eliminated in two previous trips up the tough 18^th hole. All four had finished on 10-under-par 278 for the tournament.

Amazingly, the last victory for a US player in the LPGA’s long history of staging tournaments in Asia was Juli Inkster’s win at the Samsung World Championship of Women’s Golf, from an invitational field of 16 LPGA players, in Seoul, South Korea in October 1997. The 2012 HSBC Women’s Champions was the 39^th event in the region since then.

Of the six Asian events on the LPGA’s 2012 schedule, the last to boast an American champion was the Mizuno Classic in Japan which was won by Betsy King in 1993 when it was known as the Toray Japan Queens Cup. King’s win, at the Lions Country Club in Hyogo, was the last US victory against a larger field, over 18 years ago.

“I’m the first American to win in Singapore. That’s pretty cool!” said the 34-year-old Texan, unaware at the time of how long her compatriots’ drought stretched back.

“It’s funny; sitting at the Pro-Am party (on the Wednesday before the tournament) I was thinking we haven’t had an American win this thing yet. Honestly, I thought, well, I’m an American. Might as well give it a go!”

Stanford, whose last win was in 2009, didn’t do it the easy way; only converting the fourth of the putts she had to win the tournament. The cruelest of those was in regulation play after a violent thunderstorm struck with the final group on the 18^th tee and all their rivals safely in the clubhouse. After a 90-minute delay, play resumed with 19-year-old Shin leading Stanford by one shot, but the young Korean found a water hazard off the tee and made double bogey, while Stanford’s first chance for victory went begging when she missed a par putt from around five feet.

Making pars throughout the play-off, Stanford adds her name to a roll of honour that consisted only of players to have been rated the best in the world game, from defending champion Karrie Webb through Ai Miyazato and Jiyai Shin to the winner of the inaugural event in 2008, Lorena Ochoa.

“I feel extremely honoured to be in that group of players and to be the first American to get a win is pretty special. Everybody knows this is one of the premier events on tour and always has the best players,” she said.

For Shin, who won the US Girls Junior Championship as a 13-year-old in 2006, there was the whole range of emotions.

“It’s a little bit of everything; I’m very excited but I’m very disappointed at the same time. The tee shot on the 18^th was all from nervousness. In the play-off I wasn’t nervous at all. I was really comfortable in the play-off. I really feel like I can do this again. I’m very surprised about how well I did. I’m happy… kind of:  happy-sad. I’m accepting it,” she revealed.

Shin’s wasn’t the only hard luck story. China’s Shanshan Feng fell a fraction short of becoming the first player from her country to win an LPGA event, the third time in her short career that she has had to settle for second place on the LPGA.

Current world number one Yani Tseng of Chinese Taipei, who was Jenny Shin’s main challenger for much of the day, finished one shot back in fifth place. She might have won had her approach shot to the 17^th hole gone in for eagle rather than catching the lip of the hole as it spun back, leaving her a birdie putt that she missed.

“I do feel disappointed. I just needed a little more luck. I‘ve been very close for two years. Hopefully next year I won’t be disappointed,” said Tseng, who was aiming for back-to-back wins after her victory at the Honda LPGA Thailand the week before.

Tim Maitland: Shanshan a Shootout Short of Making History for China

Singapore 27^th February 2012

Tim Maitland

China’s Feng Shanshan came within a whisker of creating a slice of history for her country at the HSBC Women’s Champions in February when she was beaten in a four-way play-off, on the same small patch of land that has witnessed two of the greatest moments for the Mainland since golf was reintroduced there 27 years ago.

In 2003 the godfather of the men’s game in China, Zhang Lianwei, became the first player from the People’s Republic to win a European Tour-sanctioned event when he snatched the Singapore Masters from under Ernie Els’s nose at the Laguna National Golf & Country Club. Four years later, in 2007, in the same event at the same course, the current Chinese number one Liang Wenchong claimed his first and only European Tour win and went on to become the first Mainland player to win the Asian Tour Order of Merit as a result.

Just a driver and wedge away from Laguna National, the other side of Junction Two of the Lion City’s East Coast Parkway, 22-year old Feng came within a whisker of becoming the first player from her country to beat a truly world-class field.

“I was pretty close, but I tried my best,” said the girl from Guangdong province, who had to settle for second place after the dramatic finale, which included a 90-minute thunderstorm delay for the final group, saw Shanshan eliminated after the first hole of the shootout won by America’s Angela Stanford. Despite the defeat, she still had the consolation of back-to-back top-five finishes on the LPGA’s Spring Swing in Asia having come in fifth at the Honda LPGA Thailand the week before.

“I wasn’t thinking of winning. I was just focusing shot by shot: if I win then I win, but if I don’t it’s OK because I know I have the ability to win. Overall, I think I did pretty well. Ten under on this course is my best score and all four days were under par. I was pretty consistent, even though my ball striking wasn’t that great.”

Feng matched her career-best results since she surprised the golfing public and media in China by winning her LPGA Tour card at the 2007 Q School as an 18-year-old amateur; she was also runner-up at the 2011 Mizuno Classic in Japan and at the 2008 State Farm Classic. While she may not have been thinking too much about winning in Singapore, in the sponsor’s Hexagon Suite overlooking the 18^th green, one person was.

“I know as a sponsor we’re neutral and I’m as delighted as anyone for Angela, but I couldn’t help thinking of the enormous impact Shanshan winning her first LPGA event would have had on the girls, and boys, on the HSBC China Junior Golf Program,” said HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship Giles Morgan, who in 2009 made the unusual move of announcing there would have been a sponsor’s invite to the HSBC Women’s Champions had Shanshan needed it, because of the way her arrival on the LPGA had inspired the children in China and particularly the elite players on the seven-event HSBC National Junior Championship.

“We made good on our word in 2010 when Shanshan needed a helping hand into our tournament after her sophomore season, because seeing her competing regularly and getting so close to victory in 2008 truly did energise the girls back in China. She didn’t win this time, but surely, the way she’s playing it can’t be long before she does,” Morgan added.

Feng finished 2011 in the best form of her career, winning twice on the JLPGA–at the Y90 million (around US$1.1 million) Meiji Cup in Hokkaido in August and the Y70 million (around US$860,000) Miyagi TV Cup Dunlop Ladies Open in Miyagi prefecture in September–and in between finishing runner-up at one of the country’s Majors, the Japan LPGA Championship Konica Minolta Cup, before doing the same at the co-sanctioned Mizuno Classic in November after a play-off with Momoko Ueda.

The idea that a win on the world stage can’t be far away is backed up by Shanshan’s belief that her game has taken a further step forward since then.

“My putting and short game is a lot better than last year and that’s what I think the difference is. I think I gained a lot of confidence after I won in Japan. It helped me to relax. I used to be a little rushed when I was in contention and now I don’t even feel nervous,” she said.

“I feel good. Especially after two top fives in a row in my first two tournaments I’m pretty confident: I’m ready.”

Tim Maitland Looks Ahead to the 2012 Showdown in Singapore

Why the #1s?

Tim Maitland

The HSBC Women's Champions returns to Singapore in February, with LPGA legend Karrie Webb defending the title as the latest name in a roll of honour that is almost unrivalled in recent years. Tim Maitland talks to the stars of the women's game to work out why the event has only ever been won by the best of the best.

Lorena Ochoa, at her most dominant, finished streets ahead of a returning Annika Sorenstam in 2008. A year later Jiyai Shin lifted the trophy at the start of her “rookie” season (she won three LPGA events as a non-member in 2008, including a Major), as part of a relentless charge that would make her the third number one in the history of the official rankings. In 2010, Ai Miyazato held the same silverware and shortly afterwards held the number one ranking, too. Then came Karrie, who by the age of 25 had already qualified for the World Golf Hall of Fame and who, but for the Rolex Rankings only being introduced in 2006, was a number one in everything but name.

Has any other tournament consistently crowned such worthy champions in this time span? It's a question that prompts plenty of head scratching.

“Maybe Kraft is one?” ponders current world number one Yani Tseng of Taiwan.

“The British Open?” she asks, cracking up laughing because her main motivation for mentioning it is the fact that she's won it the past two seasons.

Of the Majors, the Ricoh Women's British Open might be the nearest comparison to the HSBC Women's Champions roll of honour, with Yani winning in 2011 and 2010 while Jiyai claimed it in 2008, but 2009 champion Catriona Matthew might be the first to point out that she doesn't quite belong in the conversation if we're talking about the greats in the game. The same applies for Stacy Lewis and Brittany Lincicome, winners of the Kraft Nabisco Championship in 2011 and 2009 respectively, in between wins for Yani (2010) and Lorena (2008). The LPGA Championship also comes close with Cristie Kerr in 2010 and Yani in 2011 and 2008, but 2009 winner Anna Nordqvist hasn’t yet thrust her name into the highest echelon.

New to Major status next year, the Evian Masters won by Ai, Jiyai and Ai in the past three years comes close, and another of the Asian Spring Swing--the Honda LPGA Thailand--also belong in the conversation, with Yani, Ai and Lorena its most recent champions.

One can talk oneself around in circles debating the argument. The certainty is that in short order the HSBC Women's Champions has become something special.

“It's one of the best tournaments we ever play!” is Yani's take.

“I think the HSBC event is the biggest LPGA event in Asia!” is Jiyai Shin's verdict.

“It's great from when we first arrive to when we leave. We get looked after very, very well. We stay in great hotels, there’s great hospitality and we play on a great challenging golf course!” declares Karrie, who has certainly earned the right to talk about greatness.

“We'd like it like that every week,” the Queensland legend adds.

Yani, like Webb, expands on her statement by citing the overall package of the tournament week, rather than purely the golf.

“It's a good one. They're all the best players in the world challenging that week. It's always very tough to win that tournament. You have to play so well to be among the great players, which is fun. It doesn't matter what your score is; it's always very enjoyable in Singapore, the hospitality there. And you know I love Singapore; I have so many good friends there. I always look forward to going back. I have so much fun and have so many good friends come,” says Tseng, last year's double Major champion, seven-time winner and Player of the Year on the LPGA with 11 total wins worldwide.

Jiyai meanwhile backs up her description of the event being Asia's best with the following explanation: “All the events are very important, but it feels like a really big tournament. It's a beautiful course and a nice city. The tournament is early in the season, and when you win it feels like a good start and it gives you confidence at the beginning of the season, too.”

Roll of Honour

The first sign that something unusual was happening in Singapore was, perhaps, when Ai Miyazato declared eight months after her 2010 win that it was “an honour” to have added her name to a list of winners that had only two others on it. At the time she was speaking as the reigning world number one.

Karrie Webb is the youngest member of an exclusive club of five other legends to have won the LPGA’s Career Grand Slam of Majors, joining Louise Suggs (1957), Mickey Wright (1962), Pat Bradley (1986), Juli Inkster (1999) and Annika Sorenstam (2003). Yet the Aussie is unswerving when asked whether joining the HSBC Women's Champions roll of honour registered with her.

“Definitely!” says the Aussie.

“It's a quality field there. Anytime you win with that sort of field--you can win an event another time of the year and not every one of those players is there--when you win with that quality of field: I held off Yani at the end and since then she has completely dominated the tour. She's done it for two years, really, but I take a lot of pride in that.”

What's interesting is it's hard to put a tag on the Singapore winners, beyond the fact that they have all been at the very top of the women's game. As Jiyai Shin explains, it doesn't seem to be the style of the player, more just the ability to play at a world-class level for four demanding days.

“Ai and me, we're a pretty similar game type. Karrie plays quite safely and Lorena plays aggressively, so we're all a little different. The LPGA Tour has a lot of long hitters and the course is pretty long, but you need consistency. It's got really narrow fairways, lots of bunkers, pretty tough greens: it's a good course for consistent players,” Shin says of the highly regarded Tanah Merah Country Club's Garden Course.

The runners-up over the years also defy a stereotype as golfers, but do have a common trait. Chie Arimura, who fought Webb all the way last year, is described by caddies on the Japan tour as mentally tougher than any other player out there. Cristie Kerr, runner-up to Ai in 2010, happily calls herself as “a scrapper, a mudder and a grinder.” Annika needs no introduction, while Katherine Hull, pipped by Shin in 2009, thrives in a battle.

“I agree, they're tough players,” says Shin.

“They're all good players. They all hit good iron shots and have good control over their second shots. They really focus only on their own game.”

What's Luck Got to Do with It?

While the tournament doesn't seem to favour any particular aspect of the game--despite the length of Tanah Merah, it certainly can't be described as a long hitter's haven--there is a consensus that it does bring out the best from the best.

“I think so. You have to have good skill and a good mentality to win the tournament. You can't be lucky and win that tournament; you have to play good for four whole days,” says Tseng.

Her statement, that there will never be a lucky winner, is greeted with all-round agreement.

“That's true. The golf course is difficult enough; it's like a Major tournament,” Miyazato concurs.

“I agree. If you miss a shot, your next shot is a tough shot,” says Shin.

“We play great golf courses around the world, but on some holes you can miss a shot and it'll come back and you can escape. When you miss a shot a Tanah Merah you lose a shot, so we have to hit good shots all the time. For me, it's fun!”

England's Karen Stupples, who won the 2004 Women's British Open at Sunningdale by starting her final round with an eagle and albatross in successive holes, is another to wholly back Yani's point of view.

“That's absolutely right. It's about quality shots. You can't get away with having a lucky bounce and banking it onto the green, because if you miss the green the chances are it's going to bounce into some trouble. Kicking off a mound and bouncing onto the green doesn't happen there. She's right. You've got to hit good drives, good shots and you've got to golf your ball; that's the bottom line,” declares the 38-year-old from Kent.

Further proof to support the argument comes from the fact that every winner of the HSBC Women's Champions has had multiple wins in the season of their Singapore triumph. Karrie doubled up in her next outing to take the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup. In 2010, Ai had four other LPGA wins. Jiyai claimed two other titles and the Rolex Rookie of the Year award as well as a win on the Japan LPGA, while Lorena went wild in 2008, winning seven events in total, including a Major at the Kraft Nabisco Championship during a spell of four wins in four successive weeks.

Not a Game of Perfect

That's not to say all the winners have played perfectly. Jiyai Shin was one over par after two rounds in 2009 when she headed to the range and found a fix: it worked. The next morning she started her third round with almost no-one watching her, but by the time she had completed back-to-back rounds off 66 she had everyone's undivided attention.

Karrie Webb's win was based on one part of her game working brilliantly and that perhaps helped her believe in the rest.

“It was one of those events where my short game was probably the best weeks I've had, especially in the last five or six years. My ball striking I wouldn't say was my best, but under the gun, even when it was a little erratic, I hit some great shots and trusted myself. I hadn't won on the LPGA for a couple of years and I think I always felt I had to be at my best to win; I took away from that week that I didn't have to be 110 per cent to win. I just need to find a way to get it in the hole,” she says, echoing what Karen Stupples means when she uses the phrase “golf your ball.”

In contrast, Ai killed the course with consistency in 2010, carding three 69s in her four rounds.

“I'd won the first event in Thailand, so I felt good about my game at that time. I just tried to make simple plays; trying to hit the fairway and trying to hit the greens. That golf course is always in good shape, but the greens are really difficult. You need to make sure you know where you're going to hit your second shot. You need to be really smart on the golf course. I played really well. My putting was really good all week. I always remember the 16^th, the short par four: I made eagle hitting driver to a back pin, getting on the front and making the putt. I played really good the whole week, really solid,” Ai said.

The Japanese star has little doubt as to the stand-out winning performance of the four.

“Lorena shot 17 under or something?” she asks.

It was actually 20 under par.

“That's ridiculous!” she declares.

“I think shooting 10 under par on that golf course is really good. I played with her when she won the tournament and she was playing totally different golf. It looked so easy. Annika finished second, but Lorena was so solid and Annika couldn’' touch her!” Ai adds.

That win becomes even more impressive when one considers the context. Lorena had risen to number one in April 2007 when Annika was struggling with ruptured and bulging discs in her neck. By the start of 2008 Annika had announced her return to fitness and not just verbally; she won the SBS Open in Hawaii and 10 days later, with Lorena opening her season in Singapore, it was on! Annika beat the rest of the field, but was a massive 11 shots behind Lorena's winning total.

A Chess Match

So what is it about Tanah Merah's Garden Course that tests the best in women's golf? It starts with the fiendish mind of Phil Jacobs and his 2004 redesign. The end result is a course where the current world number one says you have to think several shots ahead and there is hardly a shot out there that allows you to relax.

“Maybe for tap-in putts! All the other shots you have to think in a different way and you have to think about what your strategy is, because it might cost you when you get to your second shot or third shot. You're always thinking ahead about what you're going to do. It's a really fun course to play,” says Yani.

“You play all the 14 clubs in your bag. Even though you're using all 14 clubs, you still have to hit a lot of different shots. There are different winds; all the challenges make you think and make you think you're enjoying the tournament and having fun with the challenges of the course. It doesn't feel stressful. You have to have the challenge and some stress, but that's why it's so much fun.”

For Karen Stupples, one of the things that stands out is the number of times you find yourself with nowhere to make a ‘good’ mistake.

“There are some holes you play and you think 'where is the out?' and there is no out. Typically a golf hole has an out--one side or another that is favourable to a miss. There are some holes where there is nowhere to miss it. That's a bit brutal! It's like the 17^th at Sawgrass; there's no get out! There's a tiny little bridge, but that's it. You've got to bring it!” says the Englishwoman.

“There are some holes that are incredibly challenging, like 10. Last year, 1 and 10 were incredibly tough holes. You're going in there with four irons; there are not too many courses that we go into with four irons with elevated greens and bunkers or water.”

For Jiyai, the enjoyment comes from the way Tanah Merah tests everything you've got.

“It's a really strong course for the women: long distance, tight golf course, firm greens. So we need really good ball control with every club. We need the whole skills. It's pretty tough because the greens are mostly elevated above the fairway, so if you miss, the ball is going a long way,” she explains, adding that her duel with Katherine Hull in the final round three years ago shows how slim the margin is for error.

“Katherine and me, she made only one mistake, but it made a big difference. She played good and could have made a lower score, but if you make one mistake it can lose you a lot of strokes, easily. You have to focus each and every shot. Number 18 is pretty tough. If you lead by one shot, you can easily lose one or two there. You have to really focus. It’s easy to make bogey or double-bogey. So nobody knows before the finish.”

Sheer Willpower

All those factors demand a level of resolve that Na Yeon Choi, currently the highest-rated Korean in the official rankings, believes plays into the hands of the women at the top of the global game.

“We have to have really good course management on that course. The top players never give up and always do their best until the last hole on Sunday, and the top players get better results because of that,” adds the winner of the 2010 LPGA Official Money List.

In a nutshell, it's a course that demands you get into the designer's head and understand the questions he's posing. In Phil Jacobs's own words, he does everything from test the golfer's self-discipline to “constantly have that question in a player's mind: 'If I'm going to miss it, where should I miss it?'” And in the case of the hardest holes, he tests their game to the breaking point.

“It asks you to miss in the right places and to be aggressive when you can be, and I think I did a good job of that,” says Webb of last year's victory.

“When I missed greens, I missed in places where I could get up and down. With my putting that week, I didn't give myself 12 or 13 unbelievably great birdie opportunities each day. I gave myself six or seven and probably made five of them. I just took advantage of the opportunities I had. It was just about getting the ball in the hole.”

Webb reckons that all the factors--a great course, a great field enjoying their entire week at the time of year, when everyone is raring to go--is what has combined to produce the almost unparalleled list of victors...that with the more unusual challenge of the holes that run along the side of Changi Airport.

“I think with the quality of the field, you're bound to get a good winner and it's the start of the year, so it's whoever is ready to go straight out of the blocks. It's whoever is ready mentally to overcome those things and to overcome not making that birdie on the first day, and the heat and the wind and the planes, and all of that,” she explains

Stupples, however, feels the final preparations for the tournament--the speeding up of the greens, the growing in of the rough and the other adjustments made to take something a weekend warrior can survive and morph it into a monster--play a big part, together with the fact that the most successful players make more minor adjustments during the winter break.

“They set it up particularly well. It's a tough, quality golf course, particularly that early in the season. You've got to be ready to play and typically you'll find that the quality players will always be ready to go. That's what you’re finding there,” she explains.

“They're ready for it. They've had a very good season the year before, so they're coming off good finishes, so the confidence is already pretty high. They've done a little bit of maintenance work over the winter, but they haven't had to do swing overhauls or any of that crap. They're ready to go. They're primed. All they have to do is go and play a quality golf course, which is what it is. You have to hit good shot after good shot after good shot, make good putt after good putt. That's what the course does for you and that's why you get the winners you do there.”

Digging the Vibe

Another of the factors seems to be the feeling of the whole week. To understand that, one has to remember just how many weeks of the year these players spend on the road and, especially for the internationals, how much time they're away from their real homes. It's also worth bearing in mind just how hard women golfers have had to fight over the years to establish their tour and to be taken seriously in a sport where, in certain parts of the world, to this day women golfers aren't always welcomed.

So when Singaporeans throw open their arms and the red carpet is both literally and metaphorically rolled out, it's universally appreciated.

“I love the tournament atmosphere, too. It's very special for everything. Very organized and the people are very nice. Because the tournament atmosphere is so good, that's why everyone is playing so good,” says Ai, referring as much to what is available away from the golf course as to what they get on it.

“The hotel is really nice and you can go shopping or do whatever you like. That's really special as well. That tournament is almost too good!” she exclaims.

“It is a terrific event. Every which way, it's top class!” says Stupples, who appreciates some of the “home” comforts all the more having gambled her house, furniture and car to move to the States in a bid to make it on the LPGA at the start of her career.

“I love Singapore! I feel very comfortable in Singapore. With my British background, how could you not feel comfortable in Singapore? The sockets are UK sockets. There's a kettle in the room and you can make a cup of tea...even if the weather is a little warmer. You've got Raffles just across the road and Marks & Spencers! It feels very comfortable. I love Marks & Spencers! I'm old now, what can I say?”

The answer to Stupples rhetorical question is 'lots.' We leave her as she enters into a charming monologue about all the reasons why she would be the perfect person for the British retailer to sponsor.

Who's Next?

If you start asking who is most likely to be the next to add their name to the prestigious list, one shouldn't overlook the chances of the event producing its first back-to-back champion. Karrie Webb has an unusually strong record going back as the title-holder, despite the fact that conventional wisdom suggests it is one of the harder things to do in golf.

“I've always enjoyed it. I obviously played the best there last year. I always feel it gives me an advantage: it gives me good vibes going into the event. I enjoy it,” says Webb, whose CV backs her up.

Among the Aussie's multitude of triumphs are repeat wins at the U.S. Women's Open title in 2000 and 2001, as well as The Office Depot tournament in Florida, Washington State's Safeco Classic and at two very differently named editions of an event at Murrells Inlet in South Carolina. At the Australian Ladies Masters in her native Queensland, she monopolized the trophy from 1998 to 2001, and more recently won the MFS Women's Australian Open title in 2007 and 2008.

Given that an HSBC Women's Champions victory has more often than not been the early signal as to who the year's dominant player will be, Na Yeon Choi might be a contender after a year of constant English lessons. The difference it has made to this engaging, but previously shy and nervous 24-year-old is heart-warming. With her multiple wins in 2009 and 2010 and the fact that last year she was close to Yani's levels in making the top 10 in over half of her events in 2011, the more outgoing Na Yeon could be set for a career year, simply because her new-found language skills have made her life less stressful.

“I wasn't scared, but I think I was uncomfortable. If I was walking through the clubhouse and someone was smiling at me, I would worry about what they were about to say to me. I didn't have the confidence with my English and that was why I seemed uncomfortable with maybe the LPGA players and with all the fans. I'm a lot more comfortable with American people or with Asian people who are speaking English. I have fans on facebook from Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand; I like it! It's made me a better player I think, a more confident player!” she reveals.

The most logical choice, however, is the most confident player of all: Yani Tseng.

Third behind Webb and Arimura last year, Yani has turned into a winning machine. She now understands that to add the HSBC Women's Champions to her rapidly increasing list of titles she has to find a balance between the self-styled “Birdie Machine” approach that helped her become the youngest player ever, male or female, to win five Majors and being more selective about when she attacks.

“Being more patient is better, playing smart. Some of the holes are sometimes really hard to make birdie. You can still be aggressive, but sometimes you have to play smart, too,” she says.

“I'm getting closer and closer. I was pretty close last year! I played well and did my best. Everyone wants to win, but it's not like I'm playing bad. This year I have a chance, because I know the course better, better than the last four years. I know how the strategy is on the golf course and how to play on the golf course. I'm looking forward to playing this year, because it's a fun course and it's a very good challenge.”

Tim Maitland: Wie Throws Her Weight behind Education for All in Asia

Wie Throws Her Weight behind Education for All in Asia

Hong Kong 17^th October 2011

Tim Maitland

American superstar Michelle Wie added her voice to a campaign by the United Nations’ children’s charity UNICEF for universal primary education in Asia, during a brief stop in Hong Kong.

Wie was speaking at the annual HSBC Champions Charity Golf Day at Hong Kong’s Clear Water Bay Golf & Country Club, which raises awareness and funds for UNICEF’s campaign.

“I believe everyone should have the opportunity to get, at least, a primary education,” declared the 22-year-old.

“I’ve learned so much about myself going to college, not just from studies but about myself in general: moving away from my parents, having to do everything for myself, having to manage everything, I met some amazing people and I think everyone deserves that opportunity. Hopefully I’ll graduate in March. Getting my education, obviously, I believe very strongly in that… and I think it aligns very strongly with this day,” added Wie, who was en route from last week’s LPGA event in Malaysia to Stanford University in California where she is finishing her fifth and final year of a degree in communications.

The Honolulu-born Wie, who as a 12-year-old became the youngest qualifier for an LPGA tournament, was making only her second trip to Hong Kong. Her first, a family holiday 12 years ago, was ruined by a typhoon.

She cited “YE” Yang Yong-Eun’s achievement in becoming Asia’s first male Major champion and the current domination of Taiwan’s current world number one Yani Tseng in the women’s game as proof of what Asians can achieve when they’re given the chance.

“She’s an amazing golfer. I’ve competed against her since I was 14 and the way she has improved is very inspiring. She’s a very strong force out there whenever she is in contention, which I think is very impressive and it makes me want to become a better player because I’m kind of in her situation. There are so many players on tour from different places; you have the American players but you have Yani, Shanshan [Feng of China] and all the Korean players and players from Asia where opportunities may not be as available but when one is given the opportunity it’s amazing what they can do with it: that’s so important. It’s just giving people the opportunity and seeing what they can do. If they aren’t given the opportunity you never know what might have happened. You might have the next genius, but they can’t get into primary education; it’s important to give people a chance.”

Wie also took to the golf course as part of the event, which was the culmination of HSBC charity days across Asia that had already raised HK$1.5M for the UNICEF Child-Friendly Schools program in over 20 countries. The events are part of the bank’s build-up to next month’s WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, the continent’s highest-ranked men’s tournament.

Wie singled that tournament out as an example of what Asia has been able to achieve once it got the chance to host top-quality golf. The HSBC Champions has been a World Golf Championship event since 2009. Meanwhile the women continue their “autumn swing” playing the inaugural Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship this week and the Mizuno Classic in Japan in two weeks time. They’ll return to Asia in February for the “spring swing” which normally includes the Honda LPGA Thailand and the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore.

“I think over the last few years the women’s tour has become very global, but watching the men’s tour on TV it’s also become very global as well. I think HSBC does a fantastic job of making world-class events and in Singapore and Shanghai you can see the results of that. Players love coming over here. It’s always a fun time. I love coming back to Singapore every year,” she said.

Tim Maitland on Mariajo Uribe's Win in Brazil

Uribe Boosts South American Golf with HSBC Brasil Cup Win
Tim Maitland

With five years to go before Brazil hosts golf’s return to the Olympics, Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe gave the women’s game in South America a significant boost by winning the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup in Rio de Janeiro.

The 21-year-old from Bucaramanga gained her first victory as a professional, shooting a 9-under-par 135 for the US$720,000 two-round event at the Itanhanga Golf Club in the Barra de Tijuca district of Rio. Uribe, the 2007 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, won by a stroke from Australian Lindsey Wright who narrowly missed a seven-foot breaking putt to force a play-off.

“It’ll make a huge impact on South American golf, especially women’s golf. With the Olympics coming up we need a lot of representatives from South America, so I think it’s a big deal,” said Uribe, who enjoyed enormous local support during her six-under-par final round.

“That’s how Latin people are! It’s not only because I’m Colombian, if you play with passion and if you’re emotional on the course they support you. The Brazilian fans reacted to me as if I were one of their own.”

Uribe added that even though the tournament is not considered an official LPGA event win and the prize money doesn’t count on the tour’s money list, it is playing a significant role in a country that, despite its population of 200 million, only has 25,000 golfers.

“A lot of the kids I saw last year are training more because they met me and they have someone closer to relate with. I think my win is going to create a huge buzz,” she said.

The President of the South American Golf Federation (the Federacion Sudamericana de Golf) and of the Brazilian Golf Confederation (the Confederacao Brasileira de Golfe), Rachid Orra, said Uribe’s victory was as significant to the region as Jhonattan Vegas’s victory at the Bob Hope Classic in January; even though Vegas’s win has single-handedly changed Venezuela president Hugo Chavez’s attitude to the sport.

“Symbolically it’s the same thing because it’s a girl that has beaten some of the best players in the world!” declared Orra.

“It’ll be all over the newspapers in Brazil that South America has one girl, and others, that can compete equally with some of the best players. It’s a great thing that one girl from South America has beaten some of the best players in the world. It’s very important for us. It’s an example for the young girls that want to play golf to see one girl from Colombia, a country like Brazil, can win a very important tournament. We are very happy. The coming of the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup was a very important step for us, taken three years ago. This is another one. Both are very, very, very important,” he explained.

Uribe’s victory is South America’s first at the LPGA level since Paraguay’s Julieta Granada scooped the million dollar jackpot at the ADT Championship in November 2006. The last Colombian win was Marisa Baena’s 2005 triumph as a complete outsider in the HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship in 2005.

“Golf in Brazil and in the region is at such an embryonic stage that every step in the right direction, every little thing that gains attention and increases the interest to a broader audience, is of enormous importance,” said David Kotheimer, Deputy CEO and Vice Presidente of tournament sponsors HSBC Bank Brasil.

“The sport has been so energised here by its introduction to the Olympics and the prospect of its return in the 2016 Rio Games, but a ‘local’ win at the HSBC Brasil Cup will still play a substantial part in fanning those flames even more. This event really can be a catalyst, just as the WGC-HSBC Champions has been a catalyst for growth in China. That was the strategy behind investing here just as we have in Asia,” he added.

Relatively forgotten in the excitement was the performance of the 31-year-old Wright, who was overjoyed at getting back into contention for a title for the first time since she finished runner-up at the LPGA Championship, one of the women’s Majors, in 2009.

“To finish second and to have a chance of winning was awesome; just for my confidence. I felt really pleased because I went for every shot. On the last hole I went for it, pulled off the shot and nearly holed the putt. I was happy to be in that position; really happy to get the nerves and that “Yeah! This is great!” feeling… and I haven’t had that feeling in a long time,” Wright said.

Tim Maitland on the HSBC Brazil Cup and 2016 Olympics

The HSBC Brazil Cup, an unofficial LPGA event, begins in a few days at Itanhanga Golf Club in Rio de Janeiro. Suzann Pettersen, Cristie Kerr, Hee Young Park, Brittany Lang, and a couple dozen other golfers will be competing on the 28th and 29th. Here's a piece by Tim Maitland linking the tournament to Brazil's hosting of the 2016 Olympics.

Golf: Getting Ready To Make the Most of the Olympic Opportunity
Tim Maitland

The LPGA is preparing for the most-important unofficial, small-field, two-round golf tournament anywhere in the world. The HSBC Brazil Cup is just one ingredient in the recipe that can make the sport's return to the Olympics a success. Tim Maitland reports.

A 27-player, two-day tournament is not normally associated with the start of something big in the wide world of golf, but the HSBC Brazil Cup could be the veritable small acorn from which a giant oak tree grows.

Prize money of just US$720,000 might not seem much, but the event is the closest thing to a fully-fledged global tournament in the nation that will provide the stage for golf's re-entry into the Olympics in 2016. As America's leading female golfer Cristie Kerr put it when she committed to making her first trip into South America, the Olympics is "the biggest single opportunity that women's golf has ever had."

Kerr really didn't need to add "women's"; golf itself has never had such a great opportunity, but to make the most of it the sport has to realise what the opportunity is and how its own strengths and weaknesses may impact on its ability to capitalise.

"I would have thought [the Olympics was] about 'how would you feel about four days in Brazil?' It has nothing to do with four days in Brazil, and it has everything to do with four years pre-Brazil!" LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan says, capturing the Olympic opportunity in a nutshell.

Perhaps because, unlike almost any other sport, the players effectively 'own' most of the biggest events around the world, the focus has initially been on what the Olympic tournament itself might be like and what impact that might have.

Europe's top-ranked woman golfer Suzann Pettersen was part of golf's final presentation to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Copenhagen when her sport won the vote to get back into the Olympic movement in October 2009. She's maintained her commitment to the cause by joining Kerr as one of the highest-ranked players ever to tee it up at Rio's Itanhanga Golf Club.

Her exclamation that "we're on a mission!"--translated rather pleasingly into Portuguese as "temos uma missao!"--summed things up quite nicely, but naturally enough, her prime focus is on her part of the business; putting on a show in 2016.

"I think it's important to get everybody on board: all the players need to be on board. I think you have 90 per cent-–the majority-–with you. You need the last 10 per cent going in the right direction, so we'll get the best golfers competing in 2016. I think the concept is there. What else can you ask for?" enquires Pettersen, or Tutta, as she's affectionately known in Norway.

"Competing in the Olympics, you have the sportsmanship, the values, the ethics; there's nothing better in sport. For me it's a dream come true. I grew up in Norway and it's always been the biggest thing for me, to take part and compete will be fantastic."

Next Stop Rio

From the viewpoint of a player who will be at or near her peak in five years' time, Pettersen is correct: getting the golf tournament right at Rio 2016 is essential. Like their fellow newcomers Rugby Sevens, the sport is back in the Olympics for two games, but has only one chance to prove its worth to the Olympic movement before the IOC convenes to decide whether or not to retain either sport or to vote them "off the island."

One chance is hard enough to take; harder still when you're asked to do it in a nation and a region that is not a stronghold for either sport.

The current status of tournament golf in Brazil is a far cry from the '70s or '80s when Gary Player, Ray Floyd, Jerry Pate and Hale Irwin had their names etched on the Aberto do Brasil or Brazil Open trophy. It's not even quite up to the level of 2000, when the celebrations of Pedro Alvaras Cabral's "discovery" of the country in 1500 led the European Tour to include the Brazil Rio de Janeiro 500 Years Open and Brazil Sao Paolo 500 Years Open in successive weeks on their schedule. (Trivia fans might like to note that Padraig Harrington finished runner-up to England's Roger Chapman in the former–-at the same Itanhanga Golf Club–-and won the latter ahead of America's Gerry Norquist, who would become a fixture and eventually a senior vice-president on the Asian Tour. Completists would need to note that the Sao Paulo event survived a further year and to memorise Darren Fichardt).

The Aberto do Brasil, now also sponsored by the world's local bank, remains the country's most prestigious men's tournament, with the 57th edition in December 2010 won by Paraguay's Marco Ruiz.

Additionally, Brazil hasn't featured as a venue for the Tour de las Americas in recent years and their players appear only slightly more frequently in the regional tour's tournaments.

That there is a shortage of opportunities for Brazil's professionals can be inferred from the fact that their names appear sporadically scattered around the world, although in most cases it owes as much to nomadic childhoods or a shared connection with countries with a stronger golf tradition.

In terms of tournament wins, in the professional era Brazil's greatest triumph might be Jaime Gonzalez winning the European Tour’s 1984 St Mellion Timeshare TPC in Cornwall, but Jaime’'s father Mario–-winner of the 1947 Spanish Open as an amateur and a two-time Argentine Open champion–-is the one frequently described as Brazil's golfing "great." Most other notable Brazilian players have those mixed roots.

Angela Park, who has Korean parents but holds dual US and Brazilian citizenship after moving to the States at the age of eight, won the LPGA Rookie of the Year award in 2007, but faded dramatically after her second season. Adilson da Silva, Brazilian-born but raised in South Africa, has had a successful career on the Sunshine Tour, winning seven times there. Likewise Maria Priscila Iida, a Brazilian-Japanese and a dominant amateur, winning both Rio and Sao Paolo city and state titles repeatedly, appeared briefly on the LPGA's Futures Tour in 2004 and more recently on the Japan LPGA and even the Ladies Asian Golf Tour.

Alexandra Rocha had bounced between the European and Asian Tours before becoming the first Brazilian to earn playing rights on the PGA Tour this year, but he hasn't yet come close to matching the attention-grabbing performances that could do for Brazilian golf what Jhonattan Vegas's 2011 Bob Hope Classic win has accomplished for the sport in Venezuela.

Building on the Foundations

Even though the numbers of regular golfers in Brazil have grown from 6,000 in 2000 to 25,000 currently, that number seems to have stabilised in the past five years. The number of courses has increased nearly 25% in those 10 years up to 110, but more encouragingly another 30 are under construction and there is a sea-change to more accessibility. Previously members-only clubs are said to be opening their doors to visitors and there is an increase in the proportion of "semi-public" and daily-fee paying courses.

Still, one could argue, with some justification, that the greatest exposure the sport has enjoyed in recent times was when the national football team chose to base themselves at a golf resort during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. So, golf, and perhaps especially women's golf, needs to make the most of the toehold they have.

"Exactly right! We'd like to, from an early stage, showcase golf to that market," Whan declares.

"At the same time we'd like to showcase that golf course, that city, that environment to the golfing population before we get there in 2016. One of the things we'd like to do, if we can figure out a way of turning the Brazil event into an official event, is not only show the golf tournament but show what else is going on. If [they] build a new course for the Olympics, [let's] show the building of the venue, because we want to engage our fans into 2016, too."

One senses that the world's local bank would like the same thing, but as HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship Giles Morgan points out, they will have to do the due diligence of ensuring that such an expansion would give a return on such an investment in the world's biggest little event.

"It's hugely important. We talk about championing golf worldwide and, if you look at all of our investments worldwide, the one continent where we haven't been overexposed to in golf is South America and South America hasn't been overexposed to golf," says Morgan.

"This year is important to us with the HSBC Brazil Cup because we need to get a gauge of what the market is; what is the opportunity? It is fantastic for us to be hosting a professional golf tournament in the city hosting the Olympics where golf is first going to return. As a starter for 10, it's a great place to start, but this year is when we really look at what the opportunity is for golf, in the same way that four years ago we went into Singapore with the HSBC Women's Champions to see what the opportunity was for women's golf, and in the same way we did for China with the HSBC Champions in 2005. In those cases it's mushroomed. I don't think Brazil is going to be quite the same. There's a fanaticism for golf in Asia and I don't think it's an exact parallel."

But, and this a big but, Morgan is the first to point out that laying some foundations in Rio and producing a successful Olympic tournament, while essential, is about prolonging the Olympic opportunity. The opportunity itself is something completely different!

"The point of the Olympics for sports like tennis, football and golf-–already hugely established sports in their own right that have their own world cups, top events or majors-–is that it can broaden the base appeal to more countries. It's very exciting and I hope both sports realise that's what the opportunity is; it's about development.

"That's the opportunity for golf; now you'll get funding from governments in all sorts of new countries saying 'we've seen how Korea, for instance, can play golf. We can play golf, we can invest in that and we can medal.' That's what's exciting for both the sport of golf and rugby. They mustn't look at their heartland, they must look beyond the heartland," insists Morgan, who as well as managing the bank's golf sponsorship portfolio also made them the first umbrella sponsors of rugb'’s global Sevens tournaments: the HSBC World Sevens Series.

This is a point that may not have sunk in to the golf world completely. Certainly Mike Whan is brave enough to admit it was lost to him when golf successfully presented its case to the IOC two years ago.

"I wasn't around for the vote and 'should we go pros [playing in the Olympics]?' I don't think I would have voted for it back then. I would have been naïve, back in the voting days. I would have said 'c'mon we're already worldwide and we already showcase the best players in the world’; I would have missed the extra excitement. I believe the Olympics is going to have a fundamental impact on the growth of the game. What I've seen as [LPGA] commissioner over the past year is what golf in the Olympics really means," Whan confesses.

"The level of interest and support, and the excitement, is happening in individual countries–-countries where it happens around Olympic sports, but doesn't happen around non-Olympic sports. I was at the China Golf Association back in October and to see the training facilities that they're building and the commitment to finding young athletes to become Olympic athletes from a golf perspective and what it's meaning for women's golf throughout Asia and throughout the world... I would have missed all that. It'll impact Canada and the US and Europe, too; everyone's going to want to keep up, that's what happens in great sports, whether it's swimming, track or golf. It's going to give a different plateau."

As Morgan says, the impact is felt most immediately where an established sport will notice it least. Pettersen, for instance, says she's noticed an immediate difference back in Norway.

"Once golf was taken in there's obviously a lot of money involved and the distribution down from it. The [golf] federation can now start to build a team and do the stuff they want to do for the young players to have them ready for 2016," she says.

"Money is one thing, but also wherever you go in the world you'll find a golf course and you'll find people playing golf; so I think it's good exposure for golf."

Investment x Interest = Growth

The combination of increased investment and added interest has the potential, as Whan quickly points out, to create a snowballing effect.

"After each Games, you get some profit sharing back into your sport and when we go to the Olympics and are able to reinvest monies in the different countries that participate, it becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy where the Olympics made it important, and participating in the Olympics enables you to continue to fuel the growth," says the LPGA commissioner.

However, to maximise the opportunity, golf does need to fully realise and fully adapt to the fact that its historical structure might work against it in making the most of the Olympic opportunity.

The rules, heritage and traditions of golf have been jointly governed by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews (until 2004 when The R&A was created to take over the role of “engaging in and supporting activities... for the benefit of the game”) and the United States Golf Association (USGA).

Why is this an issue? Well, for instance, the new Executive Director of the USGA, Mike Davis, was recently quoted as saying "one of the things that has never been in the USGA's mission is growing the game. We have never directly attempted to grow the game." Meanwhile the global remit, in big picture terms, has until very recently been in the hands of one single member's golf club. True, the R&A in its new guise distributes GBP5 million annually from the profits from the Open Championship, but half is spent in the UK and Ireland.

The structure of the professional game could also be regarded as a weakness when it comes to making the most of the Olympics. The tours are, generally speaking, rival businesses run for their "shareholders," the players. The International Federation of PGA Tours only formed in 1996 when the European Tour, Japan Golf Tour Organization, PGA TOUR, PGA Tour of Australasia and Sunshine Tour finally got around the same table.

It was only with the push to join the Olympic movement that it truly opened its doors to become fully inclusive, admitting women's golf for the first time as the Canadian Tour and the Tour de las Americas were elevated from associate member status, and full membership was offered to the China Golf Association, Korea Professional Golf Tour, Professional Golf Tour of India, LPGA, Ladies European Tour, Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tour, Japan LPGA, Korean LPGA, and the Ladies Asian Golf Tour.

"Now you have to set up an Olympic structure; governing bodies for each of the countries that are going to develop and find the talent. Just creating governing bodies for golf, that's one simple step but the Olympics takes you down that path. Then the governing bodies start coming together to ask 'how are we going to develop programmes that not only grow the game but also develop superstars?'" says Whan, correctly identifying the process as a positive for the sport.

95% of Jackpot Is National

The reason that all of this matters is that the Olympics and the money that comes directly from being in the Olympics is not the big opportunity. The money that will be injected into the sport for playing their part in Rio 2016 will be small change compared to the investment that is really out there to be capitalised on.

Badminton, when it was fighting to retain its Olympic status prior to the 2004 games, did an audit of its member associations. While the TV money from the Athens Olympics would bring in around US$6 million over the next four years, the investment from National Olympic Committees and Governments was worth US$110 million over the same period.

In other words, 95% of the benefit from being in the Olympics comes from funding at local and national levels!

While Rugby Sevens may appear to have the bigger challenge in making a successful first impression in Rio–-in TV terms it seems unlikely to beat golf–-it is certainly better equipped to take advantage of Olympic status. It has one governing body, The International Rugby Board (founded in 1886), that sits over regional and national rugby unions in a far more conventional structure. It's in the middle of its second long-term strategic plan (The Mission: Growing the Global Rugby Family), central to which is maximising the benefits of Olympic participation.

None of this is intended as criticism of golf, but the IRB's structure gives it a global overview and development role that golf is going to have to work hard to catch up with.

Put simply, at IRB's Dublin headquarters, Mark Egan, their Head of Development, can reel off a head-spinning array of numbers and details of where and how Sevens Rugby is growing exponentially all over the world even before the Olympic coffers are fully opened. More importantly he heads a department whose role it is to make sure those chances are taken advantage of. Does golf have someone who could match him? Probably not.

The Good News

Fortunately, as long as golf puts on the right kind of show in 2016, and survives the vote and stays in the Olympics, there will be plenty of time to catch up.

"The good news is that on this one we're completely linked on objective. All of us agree that we want to put on the best world showcase of the sport as we can AND make sure that that showcase turns into future growth. Like anything, it starts if you're on the same page to begin with and the good news is we're on the same page," Whan declares.

So, while designers like Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam, Robert Trent Jones Jr., Greg Norman and Lorena Ochoa, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, and Nick Faldo are jostling for position to design the course that will host the historic return of golf to the Olympics, the HSBC Brazil Cup, regardless of how small it may be now, is the one cornerstone on which the golf world can build the foundation for it to be a success.

"I can tell you, if you're looking for a corporate sponsor today, you'd look long and hard to find one better than HSBC. Not only are they a sophisticated, multicultural business-–they really understand global events like nobody understands global events-–they also have a passion for the game. It's really important for them to not only bring a global event but also understand and respect the local culture. They really do embrace what's going on locally and make sure we show that market a global experience, but we probably learned more about making sure we understood what was happening in a local market from sponsors like them," Whan says, before casting his mind forward to what the medal presentation might be like in five years time.

"I remember Michael Jordan said one time that he didn't expect standing up there with a gold medal to hit him the way it did. For some of our players, too, you might go down to Brazil to play four rounds of golf and you might stand on the podium and realise that it was bigger than a round of golf," he says.

Tim Maitland on the LPGA's Dragon Ladies, Extended Edition

The Dragon Ladies on Fire
Tim Maitland

One of the most remarkable group of athletes the world has ever seen is growing up fast. Led by Jiyai Shin, until mid-February the world number one, they are the Dragon Ladies and they are the dominant force in the world of women;s golf despite being only 22 or 23 years old.

"We're the girls who were born in 1988, in the year of the dragon; that's pretty much it," explains Inbee Park, 2008 US Women's Open winner, in a massive understatement.

"The Dragon Ladies are unique," states Giles Morgan, HSBC's Group Head of Sponsorship far more emphatically, perhaps because the bank's decision to move their LPGA event out of New York State to Singapore four years ago was based, along with more pure business decisions, on an awareness that their generation was about to emerge.

"Personally I'm surprised the world hasn't sat up and taken more notice, but we're fully aware of them because they bring so much to the HSBC Women's Champions. We brought the tournament to Singapore because we knew Asia and Korea in particular was about to produce some remarkable players and the emergence of such talent from countries that are relatively new to golf is close to our hearts as a business. I honestly cannot think of anyone to compare with them," he adds.

There are now four Dragon Ladies in or around the top 12 of the Rolex Rankings. Jiyai, with eight LPGA wins, was ranked number one in the world, until Yani Tseng made her fast start to the 2011 season, and is on course to secure her place in the LPGA's Hall of Fame faster than any other player in history. Ignoring Na Yeon Choi, who is four months too old to be a Dragon Lady, next comes In Kyung Kim who has won on the LPGA in each of the last three seasons. Sun Ju Ahn is another Korean born a few months before the 1998 year of the dragon, but Inbee Park and Song-Hee Kim are both up there among the world's elite, too. Throw in Ji Young Oh, whose 2010 season was disrupted by hip problems, but who has two LPGA wins to her name, and Na On Min, who finished third in the 2007 LPGA Championship at the age of 18, and you start to understand how great their year group already is.

They're part of a slightly broader generation of women, dubbed Se Ri's kids, who as young girls were inspired by Se Ri Pak winning two majors in her rookie season in 1998 on the LPGA headed straight to Korea's multi-storey urban driving ranges.

When the HSBC Women's Champions first arrived in Singapore in 2008 the Dragon Ladies were only just emerging onto the world stage. Jiyai showed her potential by finishing as the leading Korean in seventh place. A year later, in 2009, she won at Tanah Merah, and last year became only the fifth women to top the world rankings. The 2011 season sees the Dragon Ladies with their careers, in normal golf terms, still in their infancy--most players their age are happy to have their tour card and would be delighted to have a first win under their belt--but Jiyai is adamant that they are long out of their golfing nappies.

"Still babies? No!" she insists.

"We're 23; we're grown up already aren't we? I'm not getting taller anymore," she jokes, showing the same humour that she often uses to explain the secret of her success as being due to "kimchee power."

But Jiyai admits to being amazed at how fast the Dragon Ladies have raced into the superstar echelon of the women's game, something, she admits none of them could have imagined when they first started playing against each other in Korean junior tournaments around 10 years ago.

"We had a dream. We had a dream, but coming through so quickly? All the time we were dreaming of playing on the LPGA tour or being the number one, but it has come so quickly. I'm really surprised about that. We talk as friends and rivals too. A couple of years ago we were saying, 'wow, we're playing on the LPGA tour, we're 21...we can drink!'" she explains, once again dissolving into a mischievous giggle.

The combination of being both friends and rivals is what the Dragon Ladies say has driven them all to such a remarkably high level; spurring each other on with their success and yet, at the same time, supporting each other, too.

"I think we all have had some jealousies; we're all girls. So we kind of pushed each other a little bit harder. I think that's what made us. What interests me is I don't think I'm the one that practiced hardest. I wish I knew how all of us got here because I'd make a fortune!" says In Kyung, who is also known as IK and Inky.

"We didn't come in the same direction, after middle school or high school, but we all ended up here. I think we came from playing against the best. Since the age of 11, 12, 13 we all played against each other. I think rivalry is really important in sports and we made each other better. Sometimes it wasn't easy."

Those different routes included Inbee moving to the US at the age of 12 and In Kyung going to the States on her own at the age of 16 and getting her LPGA Tour card at the age of 18, while Jiyai spent three years winning on the KLPGA, re-writing their record books.

All of this proves that beyond having an exceptionally high level of competition and rivalry at an early age, the other ingredients were probably in place before they reached their teens. Fundamentally, the Korean War from 1950-53 and the fact that it theoretically never ended, play a role. The conflict brought the west, in particular the American military, into South Korea, and the fact that it ended in a ceasefire kept them in the country to create the initial demand for golf.

At the other end of the scale is Se Ri Pak, because without her bursting onto the global stage The Dragon Ladies would not have dived into the driving ranges.

"There were a number of other key cultural factors; like the fact that most of the girls have fathers or families that own their own businesses and are relatively wealthy and well-educated, which economically gave the girls access to golf. The fact that many of these businesses are the kind that need knowledge and expertise but not necessarily the kind of vocational training universities provide, may also have played a role," explains Morgan.

"At the same time, it's accepted in Korean culture that if a child shows talent, whether it's baseball, golf, playing the piano or dancing, that they should dedicate their childhood to making the most of that ability. Then the Korean work ethic--the 'work-hard-and-if-it-isn't-helping-work-harder' attitude--played a huge part," he adds.

"I think all the friends of the '88 girls have practiced harder than the previous generations. I’m really happy for that. We've tried our hardest and done our best to get better. It's been important having those friends, because all the travelling is lonely and you need a lot of people around you to travel together and eat together and spend time together," says Song-Hee, who, in sharp contrast to Shin's outgoing demeanour, stands out from among the different Dragon Ladies' characters for being remarkably shy around relative strangers.

"I think I was the immature one; I was just walking around seeing the flowers! Inbee was so much more mature than us. She's different; more calm than all of us. She came to the US after elementary school. She's always been quieter when she's talking and mature, even when we were talking about boys," says In Kyung, who as an adult has developed a love of reading, voraciously devours new information and has perhaps understood how to jump across the cultural divide better than anyone.

IK's experiences when she first arrived in the States may also help why the Dragon Ladies haven't been as widely reported or appreciated worldwide as one might expect for such an incredible year group.

The stoic, expressionless face that Koreans have is a very thin shell; underneath is a race that is arguably the most fun-loving and, most Koreans will admit, craziest in Asia. To many westerners and Americans in particular, the stern exterior looks rock-like; the lack of apparent emotion saying 'go away' to western eyes.

"Right! And I didn't know!" IK exclaims.

"Those two months were a little bit horrible. It was hard for them to approach me and I didn't know why they weren’t saying anything. The funny thing is I thought Americans were supposed to be friendly. I thought I'd have no problem making friends, but after two months I didn't have any friends. Then I started to say hi and get to know people a little bit through playing golf and they were saying, 'I thought you were, like, really mean!' because I wasn't talking. We [Koreans] don't say hi if we don't know each other. In the West you can go into a grocery store and talk to other people. So, I think I'm more open now and more sociable now. I'm open and I'll talk to strangers. The first year I travelled by myself. It helped me so much. I trust more people now."

So what does the future hold for the Dragon Ladies? Well, one could be glib and say that it is onward and upward. The truth is many of the earlier generations of Korean women golfers have struggled to make the transition into womanhood, especially going from being driven to succeed by their parents to finding their own motivations to work and win.

At the moment, the greatest upside might be with Song-Hee Kim. Unlike the other Dragon Ladies and most of Se-Ri's kids, she hasn't won on the LPGA yet. For that reason, with the exception of a fully-fit Ji Young Oh, Song-Hee might be the one with the most potential to rise further up the world rankings. She's steadily increased the number of top 10 finishes each year, from eight in 2008 to 12 in 2009 and 16 last year, including no missed cuts, two second-places and three 'bronze medals.' That 2010 success rate equates to almost 70 per cent. How good that is can be understood by considering the fact that Jiyai's conversion rate of top 10 finishes in 2009 tournaments, when she came within one shot of winning every single award for the LPGA season, was 48 per cent.

"I wanted to become more consistent. That was my target. Not just at golf, but in everyday life," Song-Hee explains.

"In my rookie year I wanted to so much, I wanted it too badly. I had too many things in my mind and it became a challenge for me. Now I know what I need and it's helping me be more consistent. I'm going to keep to that strategy and keep it simple, but eventually I'm going to win...soon."

While Song-Hee might still have scope to surprise the golf world, there's no doubt among the Dragon Ladies who the biggest surprise has been.

"Me! Myself!" exclaims Jiyai, who lagged behind the others, particularly IK Kim, when the girls were around 13 years old, only to discover the mental strength needed to win after her mother was tragically killed in a car crash in 2003.

"When we were young, I wasn't really that good and suddenly I changed and I played really well on the KLPGA and LPGA Tours, so I've surprised myself. The other girls; they were all really good playing as juniors. I was a little bit on the outside, a little bit, growing up," says Jiyai, who is cutting a more glamorous figure this year since laser surgery allowed her to shed her trademark thick glasses.

In the golfing sense, Jiyai was the ugly duckling that turned into a beautiful swan. She thinks about it briefly: "The ugly duckling? I think so...I was not THAT ugly, though!"

The Ultimate Dragon Lady

For a bit of fun Song-Hee Kim and Inbee Park sat down to create a Frankenstein's monster, using the strongest bits of each of the 1988 year group's games to create the ultimate Dragon Lady.

The Brain

Song-Hee: "Either Jiyai or Inbee."

Personality

Both: "Ji Young!"

The Body

Inbee: "Physically Song-Hee; she's tall and has long arms."

Driver

Inbee: "Song-Hee's straight; straight and long."

Fairway Woods

Both: "Jiyai!"

Irons

Inbee: "Song-Hee"

Putting

Both: "In-Kyung's putter!"

Bunker Play

Both: "Jiyai"

Chipping

Song-Hee: "Inbee."

Inbee: "Jiyai"

How long would the ultimate Dragon Lady stay world number one?

Inbee: "Forever!"

Tim Maitland on Karrie Webb

Webb Adds a Legend's Name to the List
Tim Maitland

The remarkable roll of honour at the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore added a touch of golfing royalty when Karrie Webb tapped in to seal a one-shot victory and claim the 2011 title. Webb, a seven-time Major champion and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, joined a short list of winners from the exclusive club of world number ones: Lorena Ochoa in 2008, Jiyai Shin in 2009 and Ai Miyazato last year.

"I'm glad my name is on the trophy, as well. I'm the oldest player, I don't know by how many years, but I'll take it," said Webb who at 36 years of age is actually 10 years older than Lorena was when she won the inaugural event at the Tanah Merah Country Club in 2008.

"It's definitely a world-class event and you have the best players in the world here. And great players have won this event."

Theoretically, Webb doesn't belong to the number one club, but only because the rankings were introduced after she had relaxed her grip on the world of women's golf. At her peak, the Queenslander was almost unstoppable, winning two majors in both 2000 and 2001 and back-to-back LPGA Rolex Player of the Year Awards in 1999 and 2000. Her last great season was in 2005 (the year she was inducted into the Hall of Fame) when she won five times on the LPGA and claimed the ANZ Masters in her home state and pocketed over US$2 million in prize money.

"For me, personally, to win this event, to win this early in the year, I really hope it sets things up for a great run. You know, I think I handled my emotions very well," said Karrie who has remained a regular winner of the landmark events in her home country, but last won on the LPGA in 2009.

Webb's duel with the latest young Japanese superstar, 23-year-old Chie Arimura, and the presence of home favourite and newly-crowned world number one Yani Tseng on the leader board led to record crowds for the HSBC Women's Champions, with around 28,000 crowding the fairways--an increase of almost 20 per cent on the previous year.

"We've crowned another great champion, this time a legend of the game, after two years of supremely talented young Asians winning," said Giles Morgan HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship.

"We've also seen another glimpse of the future in Chie who has been hugely successful in Japan. Yani Tseng's performance was remarkable, too, and then you had all the young Americans and Koreans in the top 10, too; having a leaderboard that looked like the United Nations and a crowd that was just as culturally diverse is a wonderful metaphor for us as a business!"

Webb, too, was eager to point out that no-one should think Chie "lost" the tournament after posting a one-under-par final round only to be trumped by her own three-under-par 69.

"I think she played well. It wasn't easy out there. I think any score under par under that pressure was a good score and she was there with a chance right until the end. I don't think she should hang her head at all. I think she should be very proud of how she played," Webb said.

[Update 1 (9:52 am): Here's a great article from the Australian press on Webb's career and her struggles after the wins stopped coming as easily as they did in her 1st decade on tour.]