Korean Dominance on the LPGA

Within the past couple decades the Korean golf players have made a huge presence on the LPGA golf tour. There is a lot of speculation and unease about their dominance on the tour. People are fearful about losing sponsorships and fans due to their lack of English speaking ability and “emotion” that they portray on the tour. Their dominance on the tour is no mistake. There are several factors that explain their great deal of success, and they are: Golf Boom in Korea, work ethic that is the envy of the tour, devotion and focus to the game that is unparalleled, indomitable mental toughness, family involvement while on tour, and they are from an agrarian society which means they are more futuristic. All of these characteristics are very favorable and result in success in professional golf. Working at the Jamie Farr I have been able to witness these characteristics such as their mental toughness, work ethic, and family involvement. The most evident to me was the involvement of their families. I would see their families camping out in mini vans for a quick nap between plays and them standing by their players every step on the golf course for encouragement. When they were not on the course, the majority of the players who took advantage of the practice putting greens were the Korean players; sometimes I could see them from the office practicing hours at a time. And last but not least I witnessed their mental toughness. There was only one Korean who was popular on the tour who happened to be Si Ri Pak. She has one this particular tournament six or seven times, so the locals have huge respect for her. She would have crowds that were just as big as Natalie Gulbis and Michelle Wie. However, the rest of the players did not have as big as a fan base, and if they were paired with an American, the crowed would be rooting for the American. Of course they are on the home course of the Americans, however, their focus was something to witness. It was as if they were the only ones on the course. I applaud the Koreans for doing so well, and I believe that a lot of the American players can learn from their strategies in order to excel in the tour just as they have.