CME Group Tour Championship: South Koreans treated like rock stars in home country

These athletes walk through the massive crowds being adored by their fans, even screamed at and worshiped as someone from another place.

Tom Brady, LeBron James or Tiger Woods?

No, believe it or not.

In South Korea, women golfers are considered elite athletes, the passion so high they sit on top of a list of the country’s rock stars.

Sung Hyun Park, this year's KPMG Women’s PGA Championship winner, considered visiting Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort as a relaxing week compared to playing at home. Park is among 13 Korean players in the 72-player field.

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Korean players lead the LPGA with nine victories in 2018, one ahead of the Americans, and Park and So Yeon Ryu are ranked second and third, respectively, in the world.

“I sure don’t mind the lack of attention, for sure, and that’s usually the case here in America,” Park said. “It had been a really tough year for me until I won the LPGA in July, a lot of pressure builds up.”

"It's different in the U.S. and stress level goes way down and you're left alone a lot of time -- the opposite when you are home and out among people," Ryu said. "I enjoy my trips to the U.S., always fun leaving that hectic world behind me."

Still, the fan support can be a positive.

“The more fans on the course, the better I play,” Park said. “And I think the other players feel the same way, but we’re all determined to deliver the title to our fans."

“Koreans have always elevated their women players. All the pressure is on them when they’re playing in front of a home crowd,” said Cristie Kerr, the 2015 CME Globe Tour Championship winner.

Hall of Fame golfer Judy Rankin, a member of the Golf Channel and ABC television team here this week, has taken notice.

“They put pressure on them not only to be good, but to be attractive and do all the right things that come with being a star,” Rankin said.

Television partner and former British Open winner Karen Stupples has watched this cultural progression for years.

“People in the U.S. have no idea how big of a rock star they are at home, much more so than the famous male athletes in the U.S., like even Tiger,” she said. “They have trading cards, do a large amount of commercials and print ads, and when they walk by the fans go hysterical, almost like they’re going to faint.”

The boom goes all the way back to when Se Ri Pak won the U.S. Women's Open in 1998.

“The popularity initially started when Si Ri Pak came on the scene in the late 1990’s and she became a perennial contender, challenging Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb, developing a new budding rivalry,” Rankin said.

Golfweek writer Beth Ann Nichols recalled a visit in 2016 with a Korean journalist at the Hana Bank Championship.

“The journalist talked about how for the Korean players it’s about survival, and hunger to win stems from their culture,” she said “They are built to win; they are expected to win and they feed off that.”

“The Korean mindset is if you’re not one of the top players, why are you out there?” Stupples said. “That’s huge pressure for a young girl in her teens, but they know in many cases if they don’t hit the mark the coach has got another 12-year-old to work with.”

While that popularity for South Koreans in their home country is understandable, the LPGA Tour's global reach also is being reflected there as well.

LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan touched on the success of the Korean and Asian women in a reverse pattern during his Friday press conference.

“It used to be when you played in an Asian country, the only person they wanted to talk to was the star player from that country,” Whan said. “Now we go to the media center they want Lexi (Thompson), Ryu or Brooke Henderson. Henderson in Asia this year was a rock star, and I can remember five years ago they wouldn’t have wanted a Canadian in the media center.”