[ VIEWPOINT ] TOUR TALES & TRUE

Grant Dodd
reasons for the US PGA Tours decision. It also reflects the likelihood that the International team in 2015 will have a markedly different makeup to those of the past. One of the likely inclusions will be Korean Sang-moon Bae. The current Japan Tour No.1 is a superstar in Korea already, and at 25 is starting to find his feet out of the comfort zone of his homeland. A final round of 67 in the 2011 US Open proved his class at the highest level. Possessing one of the silkiest putting strokes in the game and a powerful sense of ambition, Bae looks to be the type of player who can form the backbone of the International team for many years to come. Despite a nervous start, his countryman Kyung-tae Kim also marked himself as a player of note at Royal Melbourne. Perched well inside the world top 50 and still only 25, Kims stoic disposition disguises both steely resolve and a strong competitive streak. His execution under pressure during the pivotal lead-out singles match will only strengthen a burgeoning self-belief. It is easy to forget that Ryo Ishikawa is barely out of nappies in professional golf terms. The 20-yearold has had to grow up fast in the glare of the public spotlight in his native Japan since emerging as a precociously talented 15-year-old, but he has let his clubs do the talking. With Bae and Kim, Ishikawa may well form the nucleus of the International team for the next decade or more. Following on his heels is the newest phenom of Japanese golf, Hideki Matsuyama. Matsuyama will make his second trip to Augusta National in 2012 at the ripe age of 19 after winning his second consecutive Asian Amateur Championship this year. Like his contemporary, Ishikawa, hes also won on the Japan Tour as an amateur and will likely enter the professional ranks in a short space of time. But with Asia, it is almost impossible to predict where and when the next star is going to emerge. Koreas production line is in full operation. Thailand, India and of course China are only beginning to show their hands. In 2015, Tiger Woods will be rising 40, and the world top 10 will be significantly different from today. Holding the Presidents Cup in Korea is a somewhat reluctant but necessary recognition of the imminent shift of golfs power base.

All the Presidents men

Sang-moon Bae could replicate countryman K.T. Kims efforts at future Presidents Cup matches.

To ask Grant a question, e-mail us at golfdig@ newsmagazines.com.au

A caddie scorned. The return of the king. Conflict and redemption were the central themes of the preamble to the 2011 Presidents Cup, rendering the November 16 announcement that South Korea will host the 2015 edition to the footnotes during a week of drama and high-class golf at Royal Melbourne. If any surprise was expressed, it was merely that the honour of hosting the first Presidents Cup in Asia wasnt granted to China. Appeasement of the worlds fastestgrowing economy is at the forefront of most commercial decisions today. The symbolism inherent to the gesture would not have been lost on either the Chinese or the Koreans, but the initiative is a sound one based on the now, rather than the promise of tomorrow. Golf is growing in popularity in China, but it is positively bubbling over in Korea. The dominance of Korean women on the LPGA Tour has captured the imagination of the public, and a borderline fascination with the game is apparent with regular instructional programs on free-to-air TV. Swelling corporate support has enabled both a flourishing womens and mens professional tour, each with more than 20 events. Practice ranges and putting greens at Korean events on the OneAsia Tour this year have resembled highschool playgrounds. The Korean men are on the march after the lead of their female counterparts, and no country boasts a more exciting core of talent in the 18 to 25-year-old range. The quality of this youth revolution, both in Korea and elsewhere in Asia, is one of the key

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/ january 2012

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