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South Korean golfer Lee Jeong-eun gets emotional after winning the US Women’s Open in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 3. (AP)
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Lee overwhelmed with emotion as she recalls unwavering support of her parents
Perhaps she was thinking of her father, who had supported her despite his physical challenges. While holding her victory trophy during the interview, Lee Jeong-eun (23, sponsored by Daebang Construction), burst into tears, apparently overcome with emotion.
“Winning the victory here feels different from any other tournament. I’m reminded of all the golf I’ve played up until this point,” she said.
When Lee was four years old, her father, named Lee Jung-ho, 55, got in an accident while operating a dump truck, which left him paralyzed from the waist down. After that, her father still drove her around the country in his van to tournaments, culminating in consecutive victories in the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) in 2017 and 2018. This year, she made her debut in the US Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). In the second tournament of the season, just five months later, she won a powerful victory in the world’s most illustrious golf tournament.
Watching their daughter’s victory as it was broadcast on South Korean television was an emotional experience for Lee’s father and mother Ju Eun-jin, 49, who kept cheering for her over the phone.
Lee’s victory at the US Golf Association’s 74th US Women’s Open (a total purse of US$5.5 million) — held at the Country Club of Charleston (par 71, 6,535 yards), in Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday — made her the the 10th golfer of Korean nationality or ethnicity to win that title. But Lee has a compelling story of her own.
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Lee with her mother (Ju Eun-jin) and father (Lee Jeong-ho) after announcing her plans to join the LPGA tour during a press conference in Seoul on Jan. 3. (Kim Kyung-moo, senior staff writer)
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Prevalence of S. Korean golfers in US Women’s Open
Korean golfers have done unusually well at the US Women’s Open. When the tournament was held at the Trump National Golf Club (owned by US President Donald Trump) in July 2017, eight of the top 10 golfers were Korean nationals, earning it the nickname of the “Korean Women’s Open.” Rookie Park Sung-hyun (also known by her nickname “Namdalla,” meaning “I’m different”) took first place in the tournament while Choi Hye-jin, an amateur player in her teens, took second place. Last year, the trophy went to Ariya Jutanugarn, from Thailand, who edged out Korean Kim Ho-joo in a playoff, but now it’s back in the hands of a Korean.
Lee Jeong-eun was the ninth Korean national to win the UN Women’s Open. Park Se-ri, the 1998 victor, blazed a trail for Koreans in the LPGA tour, followed by Birdie (sic) Kim (2005), Park In-bee (2008 and 2013), Ji Eun-hee (2009), Ryu So-yeon (2011), Choi Na-yeon (2012), Chun In-gee (2015), and Park Sung-hyun (2017). Adding Korean-American Michelle Wie (2014) makes it a total of 10 Korean champions. Korean athletes owe their strong performance in this tournament to the rigorous training they received from an early age, as well as to Korean women’s distinctive mental strength and concentration.
Lee Jeong-eun won back-to-back victories in the KLPGA tour, enjoying triple honors in 2017 by winning the tournament, collecting the most earnings, and having the lowest score, and then once again earned the most while getting the lowest score in 2018. But she wasn’t sure she wanted to join the US tour. Hoping to gain some experience, Lee entered the qualifying series for the LPGA tour — and had a glorious showing in a nightmarish marathon of eight rounds, with 144 holes altogether, handily qualifying with an aggregate score of 18 under par. This won her a seed for the 2019 US tour, but her parents were her first priority. She was worried about her father, with his disability, and her mother, who was in poor health.
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Lee holds up her championship trophy upon winning the US Women’s Open on June 3. (AP)
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Lee’s dedication to golfing rooted in love for family
But the overwhelming support of her sponsor and the approval of her parents gave Lee the courage to hold a press conference on Jan. 3, 2019, during which she officially announced her plans to join the US tour. “In the Korean tour, I won the rookie award [in 2016] without a single victory. I’m not going to set a goal for the number of victories,” Lee said at the time. But when asked which tournament she’d like to win, Lee said, “I’m already familiar with the US Women’s Open, since I’ve participated twice, including last year. I think it would feel pretty good to do well there.” Her wish came true, in spades, just five months after she joined the US tour, in only the ninth tournament she’d joined.
Born in Suncheon, in South Jeolla Province, Lee started learning golf as a second grader in elementary school, only to quit three years later. But considering her family’s financial difficulties, she decided to give it another go: she figured she could make a living as a semiprofessional since there weren’t any teaching professionals for women in Suncheon. Lee started getting noticed in her second year of high school, when she was selected as a potential candidate for the national golf team, and she really began to shine when she won double honors at the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju, winning the gold in both the women’s individual and women’s team competitions. Now that Lee has carried the day at the US Women’s Open, the most renowned women’s tournament in the world, she has the eyes of the world upon her.
By Kim Kyung-moo, senior staff writer
Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
