西洋오랑캐

As anyone with any knowledge of profession women’s golf knows, there are quite a few female South Korean golfers that are dominating the scene. One Kim Jeong-kyoo over at the trusty Korea Times offers up this well researched, scientific report detailing exactly why there are so many South Korean golfers running rough shod over the LPGA.

By Kim Jeong-kyoo
Korea Times Golf Columnist

LPGA.com, the official website of the U.S. Ladies Professional Golf Assoc. showed as of Sept. 18 that 10 South Korean lady golfers ranked in the top 30 of its official money list, indicating that South Korea is one of the golf powerhouses of the world.
Those posted on the top 30 LPGA money list are Jang Jeong, ranked 5th with earnings of $950,647; Lee Mee-na, 7th with $749,247; Gloria Park, 9th with $685,250; Birdie Kim, 10th with $663,914; Han Hee-won, 19th with $495,039; Kang Soo-yun, 21st with $457,941; Christina Kim, 25th with $421,060; Kim Mi-hyun, 26th with $415,527 and Kim Young, 28th with $379,889.

Some other brilliant players that should also be mentioned are Kang Ji-min, Grace Park, Yim Sung-ah, Kim Joo-mi and Ahn Shi-hyun.

Ahn, earning the title of 2004 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year, became the LPGA’s fourth Rolex Rookie of the Year from South Korea, following Pak Se-ri, the first Korean who won the award in 1998, Kim Mi-hyun who wrapped it up in a row the next year and Han Hee-won who took the title in 2001.

Pak Se-ri, at the moment suffering from a long slump, once stormed onto the LPGA scene by winning 22 career victories including the U.S. Women’s Open in 1998. She was the heroine who paved the way for South Korean golfers to advance into the U.S. LPGA Tour.

Without her providing motivation and establishing a firm foothold for her compatriot golfers who followed suit, it would be impossible to see the South Korean lady golfers who are now dominating the U.S. LPGA Tour.

What enables South Korean lady golfers to be so formidable in the U.S. LPGA Tour? It is nothing less than the Koreans’ talent to make things skillfully with their hands, a trait handed down from generation to generation for thousands years.

Celadon in Koryo and the Yi dynasty are world famous for blue and white china in quality, and you know that pottery involves the same skills as playing golf.

Not to change the subject, South Koreans’ special talent to make things skillfully with their hands is also believed to greatly contribute to their making almost a clean sweep of the World Skills Competition.

By the same token, Koreans are good at various sports that are played chiefly with the hands: handball, archery and table tennis, to name a few.

Professor Hwang Woo-suk of the Seoul National University who led the first cloning of embryonic human stem cells told in a public lecture that one of his assistants surprised the stem cell big shots of the world with his skills, which were beyond their imagination but actually nothing for Koreans.

Professor Hwang, referring to the use of chopsticks, mentioned that the Koreans’ skill with their hands contributed to their success in cloning embryonic human stem cells.

An editor golf fan of an English daily newspaper mentioned that one of the root causes for Korean ladies to play such great golf in the U.S. is closely connected to dexterity, which is also critical to preparing delicious Kimchi, a Korean side dish loved by the people around the world.

We all know that even when you use the same materials for Kimchi, it tastes different depending upon the hands that mix the materials.

This is why a so-called hand-taste or rather a typical taste created by the hands is heard frequently in Korea when it comes to preparing foods.

Japanese, who also use chopsticks like Koreans, once produced a golf great named Ayako Okamoto, who became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1981 and won 17 events between 1982 and 1992. She was recorded as the first woman from outside the U.S. to top the LPGA tour’s money list in 1987.

Among Japanese golfers playing in the PGA of America is Shigeki Maruyama, who is often compared to South Korean golfer Kyung-ju Choi.

Despite this, the Japanese do not surpass Koreans in the golf world possibly because they do not attach as much importance to the hands in preparing foods. They use sashimi knife in preparing raw fish, their all-time favorite, instead of directly using hands as Koreans do.

Similarly, the Chinese do not distinguish themselves as much as Koreans in the LPGA tour of America because they do not stress the role of hands in making foods. Their food culture features fire. Mostly they use fire to create taste instead of using their hands.

Among Chinese golfers, Hong Mei Yang became the first Chinese player to win a tournament in the United States in April 2004 by capturing the IOS Futures Golf Classic in El Paso, Texas, the developmental circuit for the LPGA Tour.

Of course, there are some other factors that make all the great achievements possible including tenacity and indomitability, two characteristics of Koreans, along with quite a lot of synergy among the South Korean golfers. But without the dexterity unique to Koreans their great success would be hard to imagine.

Wait! Did I say well researched and scientific? What I wanted to say was complete ethno-centric bullshit. For starters, let me say I’m not much of a golfer, but in the golfing I have done, manual dexterity played no role what so ever. The idea that the use of metal chopsticks foster manual dexterity is sketchy to begin with, but it’s not even a skill needed to play golf.

Additionally I don’t see what using one’s hands (to prepare kimchi) has to do with golf. Last time I played golf you didn’t use your hands to hit the ball, you used a golf club, so I don’t see why the Japanese (who according to Kim uses knives to prepare their food) would be at any disadvantage.

If I were any of the golfer mentioned in this article I would have been offended by the way the author downplays the hard work and dedication these women have put into perfect their craft as a means to make a particular ethnic group look good. So let’s ignore everything after the six paragraph in the article, give mad props to these ladies for kicking ass on the links, and get back to things that are really important…namely the fact that Kang Soo-yeon (강수연) is friggin’ hot!

That’s what I’m talkin’ about!