Eight teenagers with Korean ancestry showed promising hopes for the future by finishing within the top 10 at the Thunderbird International Junior Golf Championship that ended at the Scottsdale Gray Hawk Golf Club in Arizona Tuesday (KST). Organized by the American Junior Golf Association, the occasion is a competition between the winners of junior championships of this and last year, and former American players of the year.


The three Song-Wonglukiet children Chan, Naree, and Aree (whose father is Korean) were at the center of the tournament with Chan coming first in the boy's division for the third time, while his younger sisters came third and fifth. Two Korean-American teens, Na Sang-wook (Kevin Na) tied second place, and Oh Seung-joon (James Oh) tied ninth place to put three Korean names within the top ten players.


A Thai player, Birada Nirapaspongpon, won the title in the girl's division with Naree and Cho Yoon-hee tied in third place, Aree tied fifth, and Kim Hanna and Kim Ina tied in ninth place. Cho Yoon-hee is the daughter of former Samsung Lions' baseball acting coach Cho Chang-su and former volleyball player Cho Hye-jeong. The Chos emigrated to the States in1997 and within two years Yoon-hee emerged as a strong player ranking 7th in the junior league last year.


(Cho Chung-hoon, donjuan@chosun.com)