© Tristan Jones - Source: LET via Flickr

When May 14 arrives, South Koreans will be the first to enjoy what will be a new live golf experience. Two of the top ten players in the world - Sei Young Kim and Jeongeun Lee6 - meet in Yangju to try to win the Korea LPGA Championship. endowed with $ 1,8 million.

Full details of the event - including spectator locations - will be released along with the latest news on what will hopefully continue to be a declining number of COVID-19 cases.

The careful planning of the event fits perfectly with the way the country has handled the pandemic. As soon as the first cases appeared, they had a plan. As close as they are to China, where the virus originated, South Koreans have been able to avoid shutting down their economy thanks to widespread quarantine measures and a massive policy of continuous testing.

To give a telling statistic, on February 29, 700 people tested positive in the city of Daegu, where the first epidemic broke out in South Korea. Yet by March 15, the number of new cases in that city had fallen to 41. Another relevant fact, on Tuesday, South Korea recorded only nine new cases, for a total of 237 deaths in the country.

Their in-depth approach is no different than the one that goes with their golf since Se-Ri Pak inspired South Koreans across the country to replace their violins with a series of clubs.

Practice ? They can do this for six to eight hours at a stretch without flexing.

Putting? They don't just watch their putts go past the hole as they practice their putts. They should see the ball fall in the middle of the hole.

Practice ? The KLPGA takes the best teams to Jeju Island in the height of winter, and even when the temperatures are significantly below freezing, the girls don't retreat to the clubhouse. Why ? Because, as Inbee Park once said, none of them would want to be the first to set that example. Rather than complaining, they prefer to laugh about it.

So Yeon Ryu was another person with some interesting thoughts on the difference between the women of her country and, say, American or British female golfers. Far from believing that the South Koreans' record has mostly to do with the long hours spent on the course, Ryu focuses on the “mental training” they have in their early years.

"Koreans are encouraged to control their emotions, crying and noisy scenes are not tolerated", she said. "What they learn from this is a certain degree of self-control which is of great help when it comes to the different demands of tournament play.".

What she was saying takes us back to the Evian Championship 2016, where Ryu was tied for second. When the players had to negotiate as pouring rain poured down on soggy greens at the start of the final round, the South Korean players seemed less concerned about the situation than most other players, as they pushed their way through. on the fairways dressed in raincoats, like the hospital gowns put on by their doctors and nurses in recent weeks, which were 100% up to the task.

It is not known whether the South Korean players will wear protective masks for their first tournaments. But, if so, you can be sure that they will be TV ready rather than carrying makeshift gear. That's the way they are, and they wouldn't consider doing things any differently.

Inbee Park, the most famous of all South Korean players will not be present, indicating that she is in the United States and that she is preparing for the return of the LPGA Tour. She will be greatly missed by us.

However, South Korea has a veritable galaxy of stars, each ready to contribute to this welcome light heralding the end of the golf tunnel.

The KLPGA said it wanted to issue "A message of hope".

To know more : https://www.klpga.co.kr

To go further, read our previous article on the same subject

Coronavirus: the LPGA applies the precautionary principle