Nice article about Eun Jeong Seong in the New York Times:
Big Victories Propel South Korean Amateur Eun Jeong SeongAt least 30 players at the Evian Championship this week have ties to South Korea, and many of them have won L.P.G.A. tournaments or figured in the world’s top rankings.
But one of those players, the South Korean amateur Eun Jeong Seong, has come to Évian-les-Bains, France, so far below the proverbial radar that the pros may not have seen her coming. Perhaps they should take notice of Seong, who is 16 and has already won three United States Golf Association championships.
Seong defended her 2015 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship title in July to become the first back-to-back winner since the L.P.G.A. Hall of Fame player Hollis Stacy claimed her third consecutive U.S. Girls’ Junior crown in 1971.
When informed of that historic 45-year milestone after her victory this year, Seong acknowledged that she had never heard of Stacy, who also won three U.S. Women’s Opens. Seong noted, however, that 1971 was the year her mother was born.
In August, a few weeks after capturing that second junior title, Seong earned her exemption into the Evian Championship by winning the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship.
She defeated the 2016 N.C.A.A. Division I champion, the Italian Virginia Elena Carta, 1 up in the final match to become the first player to win both the U.S. Girls’ Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur championships in the same season.
Seong also became the youngest player in history to advance into four U.S.G.A. championship finals, losing only the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship, to Fumie Jo of China.
Only two other South Korean-born players have won three national championships in the United States: Inbee Park, who won the 2002 U.S. Girls’ Junior and the 2008 and 2013 U.S. Women’s Opens, and Pearl Sinn Bonanni, who won the 1988 U.S. Women’s Amateur and the 1988 and 1989 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links.
Maybe Seong didn’t know that she had drawn even with Park in total U.S.G.A. titles when she won the U.S. Women’s Amateur. But when she was handed her second large, historical trophy in less than a month, she knew it was special.
“Today is a different feeling because I made history,” said Seong, who also earned an exemption into the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open with the victory.
If Seong’s career finish is anything like her start, she appears to be headed for a spot in women’s golf history.
She began playing the game 10 years ago at the encouragement of her father, but it was her mother who suggested that she try to qualify for the national championships in the United States, which typically attract the world’s top players.
Seong played her first U.S.G.A. championship at the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur. She failed to advance into match play. She returned the next year and finished as runner-up at the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, and won her first U.S.G.A. title in 2015, at the U.S. Girls’ Junior, advancing through two rounds of stroke play and six rounds of match play to win.
“My mom told me I needed more play on U.S.A. courses, where north, south, east and west are always different,” Seong said.
She is long off the tee and her steady iron play allows her to hit a high percentage of greens in regulation, but what has struck her opponents is not the way she hits the ball, but how she converts on the greens.
“Her short game — chipping and putting — it’s unbelievable,” said Carta, who plays at Duke Univeristy and who won the 2016 N.C.A.A. Championship by a record eight strokes. “I think that’s her strength, for sure.”
Andrea Lee, a freshman at Stanford University this fall, was defeated by Seong in the final round of this year’s U.S. Girls’ Junior and again in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
But even squandering a 5-up morning lead in the 36-hole U.S. Girls’ Junior final to lose after Seong came roaring back in the afternoon, a disappointed Lee was pragmatic about the result.
“It’s always hard playing against a good friend knowing that only one will eventually be the winner,” she said. “She deserved it and I’m happy for her.”
After all, it was Lee and her fellow American Robynn Ree who helped Seong register when she showed up for the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur.
“My English was bad and they helped me,” Seong recalled.
She said she sometimes watches YouTube videos of interviews with the top-ranked Lydia Ko of New Zealand because she wants “to learn English and listen to interview questions.”
Seong’s youthful exuberance is a contrast with the often-stoic world of professional golf. But she also has a calm, unnerving confidence on the course, an ability to patiently and efficiently seize opportunity.
She has learned to shape her shots, and, much like Park, her putting stroke has given her an effective weapon that could take her far in the game. That journey could start on Thursday at the Evian Championship in her first visit to Europe. It will also be her first time competing against L.P.G.A. players.
“I feel thankful and honored to play in a major event on the L.P.G.A., and I’ve watched the tournament every year on TV,” Seong said. “I’ve played with many top Korea L.P.G.A. players, but I haven’t really had many chances to play with the top L.P.G.A. players.”
All summer long, Seong, No.14 in the world amateur rankings, was the player to beat in women’s amateur golf. Now, at the Evian, she will get to measure herself against the world’s top professionals.
“I don’t have that much experience compared to the other players,” she said. “But by winning the two events this summer, I feel pretty confident in my play.”