Korean golf fans have been waiting for the long-awaited news. Yang Hee-young won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the third major tournament of the LPGA Tour season. It was the first victory for a Korean player in the 16th tournament of this season.
This year’s LPGA Tour, the Korean Legion, had no wins in 15 tournaments since its opening. Without Yang’s victory, she would have had no wins for the longest period since 2000, when Park won her 16th championship. In this regard, Yang’s victory was a great feat that saved Korean female golfers who almost fell into “frogs in the well.”
Yang Hee-young, who debuted on the LPGA tour in 2008, has won her sixth career championship. Starting with her first LPGA KEB-Hana Bank Championship in Korea in 2013, Yang won the Honda LPGA Thailand, which was held in Pattaya, Thailand, three times from 2015 to 2019. Yang also earned the nickname “Woman of Pattaya.”
However, news of Yang’s victory, which had been separated by two years, had not been heard for some time. She then grabbed her fifth career championship title at the CME Group Tour Championship in November last year, four years later. She has won the title in seven months. Considering her pace of winning the title so far, it is a fairly fast one. The victory was all the more splendid because it was the title she had hoped for in a major league.
Yang appeared as a comet when she won the ANZ Ladies Masters Championship of the European Ladies Professional Golf Association (LET) Tour held in Gold Coast, Australia in February 2006. Back then, Yang was the youngest winner of an amateur and LET tour in 22 years since 1984. Moreover, the shock wave was even bigger because her competitors were Kari Webb of Australia and Katherine Cartwright of the U.S., who dominated world women’s golf at the time.
Naturally, he had high expectations. It was for this reason that KB Financial Group supported him for several years in the early days of his debut. Yang still vividly shows his determination to repay his support by becoming a world-class player at the signing ceremony for sponsorship. However, Yang’s relationship with KB Financial Group was short-lived.
She was also sponsored by Woori Financial Group for two years from 2019 to 2020. That doesn’t mean that Yang is a lucky sponsor. She won two big events, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the CME Group Tour Championship last year, without a sponsor. This marks the fourth year that she has performed without a sponsor.
There is a good reason for this. First of all, Yang Hee-young is not widely known among Korean golf fans except for the so-called “high involvement” in golf. In addition, Amy Yang is registered as an English name instead of a Korean name on the LPGA website. For companies in need of golf marketing, she may not be a very attractive player.
The second reason is that Korean companies are avoiding sponsorship of LPGA tour players. As the popularity of the KLPGA tour has soared, the ransom of Korean golfers has reached its peak, while overseas golfers are slowly losing interest in Korean companies. This is why not only Yang Hee-young but also Kim Se-young, 31, who has 12 wins in total, are unbeatable so far.
Lastly, there is no clear character that matches the trend. Yang Hee-young’s swing is characterized by smoothness without any effort, just like Ernie Els (South Africa). This swing is definitely a swing that professional golfers as well as weekend golfers want to imitate. However, it is not enough to appeal to companies. Rather, companies prefer players who can perform well in just one area, such as cheerful long shots, computer shots, and exciting putts.
Yang Hee-young wore a mint hat for the CME Group Tour Championship last year and a hat with a “smile” character on the front at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship this time. It seems to mean that she should always smile at him no matter how hard he gets. 업소알바
He said, “Go Jin Gam-rae.” Finally, he has a strong sponsor for him. It is none other than “Korea.” With this victory, Yang Hee-young produced an unscripted drama in which he boarded the last train to the Paris Olympics. Then, the front of his hat that he will be wearing will be engraved with a “Taegeukgi” on its chin unlike the previous one.
Yang’s victory this time will definitely serve as a catfish effect that will energize the Korean LPGA tour in a slump. I hope that Yang will become a catalyst for producing a second and third Yang Hee-young by meeting a long-term and practical sponsor rather than a temporary or symbolic sponsor of Korea. I hope Korean athletes including Yang will do well at the Paris Olympics.
