South Korea’s Pak Se-ri, who has won 25 victories and five major championships during nearly two decades on the LPGA Tour, smiles during the first round of the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship at Sky 72 Golf & Resort’s Ocean Course, next to Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on Oct. 13, 2016. The first round was the last round in Pak’s golf career as the LPGA Hall of Famer retired afterwards. (Photo courtesy of LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship) (Yonhap)
Well according to the Korean female LPGA players it is because they practice more:
The world’s best female golfers are gathered at Mission Hills Golf Club this week for the first major of the 2015 LPGA Tour season — the ANA Inspiration.
It’s become a familiar sight while walking along the driving range and seeing almost half of the stalls filled by South Korean golfers.
Many argue it’s just a numbers game and with more players from a certain country, the more you’ll see them on leaderboards.
“It’s not intimidating to me at all,” says American Cristie Kerr who became world No. 10 after her win from the previous week. “It’s pretty simple really. They seem to outnumber a lot of other factions on the tour.”
The 37-year-old veteran is responsible for snapping the streak of six wins by Korean-born golfers after topping Lydia Ko at the Kia Classic.
Granted it’s not Kerr’s job to break down the demographics of the field, but at the moment there are 25 South Korean players who hold an LPGA Tour card compared to 45 Americans.
24 of those 25 are in the field this week while the number of Americans is just north of 35.
After all the theories flying around about Korean golfers, it only made sense to just ask them directly.
“It’s all practice” says world No. 13 Mirim Lee. “Golfers from Korea practice so much and the KLPGA is a really good tour. When I was an amateur I would wake up everyday at 5 a.m. and practice until 8 or 9 p.m.”
“In my opinion Korean players practice a lot more,” says world No. 2 Inbee Park, the highest ranked South Korean player on tour. [Korea Times]
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