Features

Korean golfers start to impress

Author: Lynda Collins
Date: 05/09/2009
Golf betting

What do the US PGA Championship, US Amateur Championship and the US Women's Open all have in common?

The answer is they have all been won by Koreans this season as Asian golfers take further strides towards global domination.

Asian and Korean golfers in particular have long been the pre-eminent force on the ladies' LPGA Tour in America, but now it seems that male golf is beginning to follow suit.

South Korea's Yang Yong-Eun struck the first blow after holding off sportsbook favourite Tiger Woods to win the US PGA at Hazeltine last month to become the first Asian born winner of a Major Championship.

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If that wasn't sensational enough then compatriot Byeong-Hun An triumphed in last week's US Amateur by a record 7&6 matchplay score.

The 17-year-old also became the youngest ever winner of a storied tournament which has launched the careers of the likes of Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

Ten of the current top 20 ranked women in the world are Asians so can we expect the men's game to go the same way following these two groundbreaking victories?

Yang certainly thinks not as he believes it will take another 20 years before an Asian golfer is a serious contender for the world number one spot.

In contrast to the ladies' game, there are only three Asian men in the top 50 - Yang at 33, India's Jeev Milkha Singh at 43 and Japan's Shingo Katayama at 49.

"There's still a long time before a male Asian player will top the golf world," explained Yang.

"We're probably two decades away from the time that Asian players will have as much of a foothold as their female counterparts have."

The main reason for the apparent disparity between the success of male and female Korean golfers on the world stage is believed to be the matter of national service.

Korean men have to serve in the military for two years in their 20s when they could be in the prime of their golfing lives, while women are allowed to continue their burgeoning careers without interruption.

Then there's the small matter of the men's game providing greater strength in depth than its female equivalent.

At qualifying schools on both the LPGA and PGA Tours each year, there are far more cards and therefore opportunities open to women than men.

It's therefore less daunting to visualise being a top female golfer than male golfer for Korean youngsters when growing up.

Whether that remains the case with the likes of Yang winning one of the game's major prizes remains to be seen.

However, the genie certainly appears to be out of the bottle and golf's established order is beginning to sit up and take notice.

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