Son Sae-hee: New Enfant Terrible of the LPGA Tour

Son Sae-hee, a 20-year-old obscure golfer from Hanyang University, rose to second place after the second round of the 2005 LPGA Tour MasterCard Classic (total purse: 1.2 million dollars) held at the Bosque Real Country Club in Mexico City on Sunday with a four-under 140. Son is two shots behind the leader, Cristie Kerr of the United States.

Son directly advanced to the American tour after tying for seventh place in LPGA qualifying school. Unlike in Korea, an athlete can turn professional right away after declaring that he or she will become a professional player.

Son, who had been on the standing staff of the national team when she was in high school, did not have a fancy record in her amateur career in Korea, so her outstanding performance in the American tour came as a surprise.

“I can’t believe that I’ll be in the same group with Cristie Kerr. I was mesmerized with Kerr’s playing when I watched her play in the CJ Nine Bridge Classic in Jeju-do three years ago,” said Son.

Son, who was cut off in the season-opening SBS Open, is within the contention of the championship in her second professional tour event. However, the journey will not be easy, since Kerr seems as strong as ever. Kerr was four under in the second round. The empress of golf, Annika Sorenstam of Sweden, is in fourth place with a three-under-141 and is still within reach of the championship.

Young-Sik Ahn ysahn@donga.com