US and Europe out to break LAGT's Asian monopoly

In the inaugural LAGT season last year, Asian players chalked up wins in all five events. Thailand's Pornnanong Phatlum set the ball rolling by winning the Hong Kong Ladies Masters. Then Kim Hae-jung of South Korea lifted the crystalware in the Orient Zhuhai Ladies Open. This was followed by another Korean victory at the Thailand Ladies Open, with Park Hee-young winning at the Pattana Sports Club. The Korean women sealed their domination when Ji Eun-hee won the Malaysian Ladies Open and the LAGT-Macau Championship back-to-back.

In 2007, Natalie Tucker and Kelly Cap of the US are bent on breaking the Asian girls' domination. They have each won their conditional card on the US LPGA Tour, but admitted that it is not easy to win in Asia.

"However, the Asian girls are not invincible. All we need is to adapt our game to the undulating fairways and sleek but slow greens on the Asian golf courses. If we can manage that well, then we are capable of denying the Asian women from winning titles," said Tucker, from Florida.

Tucker said that the Asian women who visit the US very often stay, play and learn there for a year or more. "They adapt to the situation well and get some good results. But we are the reverse. We come here a day or two before the tournament, recovering from jetlag, find the greens slow, the fairways and rough very undulating which does not help us much. Most courses in the US and Europe are flat with fast greens that suit our kind of play," she said.

Cap, also from Florida, commented that she's here to prepare for the US LPG Tour. "I find this tournament has a strong field and it is a good way to tune up in a tournament that is very competitive," she said.

Cap added that foreign players don't come here with a strong learning programme, unlike the Korean and Japanese girls who visit Europe and the US, stay there for a long time and work daily on their programmes.

"We come here to prepare ourselves to get into competitive mood to get the desired strengths needed to play the US LPGA Tour and the same goes for the European players playing on the Ladies European Tour. Perhaps this explains why players outside Asia did not win any titles on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour. Give us fast greens and a relatively flat playing course and I reckon we'll hold the advantage," she said

Come what may the five American professionals, including Tucker and Cap, and Fame More of England, are bent on giving the Asian women a run for their money. Their quest for a champion begins tomorrow at the Macau Ladies Open.

January 23, 2007

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