Wendy’s Championship: Round 1 interviews
Interviews of the first day leaders (who all shot 6-under 66s) Marisa Baena, Catriona Mathew, Heather Daly-Donofrio, Paula Marti, Soo Yun Kang, Lara Tadiotto are up here. Here’s the question I asked Soo-Yun Kang, who just won last week in Portland, followed by her answer:
Q. It seems like there are so many good South Korean female golfers now. Do you have any explanation why the South Korean golfers are doing so well?
SOO‑YUN KANG: Maybe they have a gifted hands. I don’t know. But, yeah, they push us a lot, too.
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Correction: What I heard is they “practice” a lot, but with the noise of the fan and the use of a translator I think it was mistranscribed. If I’m right, Soo Yun’s suggestion would mirror Annika’s:
Q. The last two Majors of the year were won by Koreans who ‑‑ I think it was their breakthrough win for each one of them. You’ve been out here long enough to have a theory on what makes them so good and why does it seem to be there’s so many of them and they’re so good so quickly?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I think one of the things that I’ve noticed is they have a great work ethic. And they just work really hard. And, you know, I don’t know whether so many, but it seems like it’s a booming game over in Korea. And I’m sure Se Ri Pak had a big influence over there when she came out of her rookie and won Majors. And I think now, you know, eight years later you’ve seen the proof of that. And they just work really hard. And, you know, I have a trainer that works with several of the Koreans and he says that he would tell them how to do one exercise and they don’t forget. I mean, they have the greatest memory. And they have the greatest form when it comes to being in the gym. And it seems like when you look at their swings, they have great swings. And so there must be something to that.
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This topic deserves a much bigger post than I can devote here. “Work ethic” and lots of practice can’t explain all of the success because I’m sure the other women golfers are practicing hard, too. There’s a similar wave of talent from Russia in women’s tennis. We need to look more closely at the kind of training and junior programs that exist in these countries. Is there a David Leadbetter over there? They must be doing something right.
Related post
Woman’s major: Annika 2, Korean golf stars 2
