Top Row: TK Chun, Dr. Wonhee Sull, Yani Tseng, Grace Park, Soo Yun Kang, Jin Joo Hong, H.J. Choi, Birdie Kim, Meena Lee, Young Kim, Eun-Hee Ji, Na-Yeon Choi, Hana Kim, David Oh, Toby Dawson Bottom Row: C.S. Lee, Angela Park, Il Mi Chung, Su A Kim, Hee Young Park, Kyeong Bae, Seo-Jae Lee, In-Bee Park, Dr. Mike Hong, James Ryu
By Christine Pae
Photos by Chiuling Chen and Eric Sueyoshi
No one had a case of the Mondays.
On the morning of April 7, dozens of men and women ditched the office and headed to the Pacific Palms Resort in the City of Industry, Calif., which overlooked home-studded hills misty with haze. Clad in bright polo shirts and crisp visors, they were ready to play golf.
It was all for KoreAm’s 2008 Pro-Am, a golf tournament that brought together Korean LPGA members, special guests and community members for a friendly day on the greens.
The KoreAm Pro-Am benefits The LPGA Foundation by integrating its Korean players with local sponsors and introducing them to the Korean American community. Even after playing a major LPGA tournament like the Kraft-Nabisco, the players wanted to contribute to the event, says Sean Pyun, LPGA manager of international member services.
“It’s not about the money, it’s not about the endorsements,” Pyun says. “They wanted to give back to the Korean American community, particularly in the L.A. market.”
Prior to the game, a pairings party at Opus Restaurant in Los Angeles’ Koreatown linked pro players with amateurs as they mingled over an upscale buffet dinner and toasted the event with Michelob Ultra and Ultra Amber and Crown Royal Cask 16.
Hardly any of the amateurs flinched at the idea of playing with some of the LPGA’s top Korean and Korean American players, thanks to a scramble format that divided the 100 amateur players into teams of four, each which was graced with a pro player to guide the way.
Bruce Rothman of Solair, one of the event’s sponsors, liked the idea of playing side by side with a pro without being under the scrutiny of an audience.
“A lot of times in a Pro-Am, it’s at a tournament where there are a lot of people watching you,” Rothman says. “This isn’t the case here. It’s just you and the professional.”
The 25 LPGA players who participated included Grace Park, Angela Park, Birdie Kim, Hee Young Park and Shi Hyun Ahn. Olympic skier Toby Dawson and “Dexter” star C.S. Lee also came out and played.
“I’m not nervous,” says Lee, an avid golfer who plays nearly five days a week. “I’m more anxious and interested to see these pro players. I have never seen pro players hit balls before.”
Team members from Dura Coat Products Inc., the event’s title sponsor, played with Grace Park, who was happy to participate in the event.
“You get to meet a lot of Korean Americans who live here in California,” Grace Park says. “Their support is always appreciated and it’s time to give my appreciation. It is very exciting.”
Dr. Mike Hong, president of Dura Coat, believed the tournament was a great way to unite the Korean LPGA players with the KA community.
“Everybody enjoyed it thoroughly,” Hong says. “[The Dura Coat team players] didn’t expect that type of Pro-Am and were surprised to find out how wonderful the event was. They asked me to invite them again next year.”
The tournament signed off after an awards dinner. Champions Soo Yun Kang and the Michelob Ultra team took home Helio Mysto devices, Versus drivers and other prizes.
Though no one snagged either of the coveted hole-in-one prizes, which included a new Hyundai Genesis car, and a Helio Mysto device with unlimited Helio service for one year.
They’ll just have to try again next year.
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One of the the biggest Asian cinema events to hit Southern California opens on May 10. The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, presented by Visual Communications, features the latest works by established and emerging filmmakers, along with seminars, panel discussions and symposiums on topics relevant to Asian Pacific cinema.
Opening Night features “Shanghai Calling,” directed by Daniel Hsia and starring Korean American Daniel Henney, who plays a Chinese American expat lawyer navigating his way through the mean streets of Shanghai (the picture above also indicates he is a raisin smuggler). But does he take off his shirt? Go watch the movie to find out! read more
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