Six weeks ago, on a trip to South Korea, David Leadbetter heard what he thought was the future of women’s golf. “There are apparently 2,000 girls over there aged between 14 and 19 playing off handicaps of scratch or better,” reports the renowned swing coach, who works with Lydia Ko, the world No2, and the former US Women’s Open champion Michelle Wie. “That’s an amazing figure. I think we can see where the ladies game is headed.”
Too late, it looks as if it has already arrived. Last year, playing in her first major event, Kim Hyo-joo won the Evian Masters. Last month, in only her third grand slam appearance, In Gee Chun claimed the biggest prize in the game, the US Women’s Open (seven Koreans have now won that title since Pak Se-ri became the first in 1998).
And now, playing in what is not only her first Women’s British Open but her maiden major championship, yet another Korean, the 20-year old Ko Jin-young, is the joint leader, alongside Teresa Lu of Taiwan, after 54 holes at Turnberry. Both are eight under par, one shot ahead of Norway’s Suzann Pettersen.
Other notable luminaries are also lurking close by. Inbee Park is three shots back, needing only a victory here to complete the Grand Slam of major successes. Minjee Lee, the former world No1 amateur and now the highest-ranked Australian professional, is alongside Park, as is Lydia Ko after an up-and-down 72 on Saturday.
Further emphasising the shifting order within the women’s game, not one American is either under par or to be found in the top 14 players on the leaderboard. The European contingent is not faring much better. Only Pettersen from the Old World is in the top seven. The world rankings, too, reflect a new way of things. As of Saturday, only one-third of the top 30 players are eligible for next month’s Solheim Cup matches between the US and Europe in Germany.
By way of contrast, 17 players within the top 30 are Korean, or of Korean extraction, which only underlines the strength in depth in that part of the world. “In Korean junior events, they have such big entries they have to have a week’s worth of qualifying just to get into the tournaments,” continues Leadbetter. “It’s unbelievably competitive. So the girls are better prepared when they get to the LPGA Tour.”
On a happier note for fans of the old establishment, a little lower down the leaderboard sit a couple of highly promising young British players who have not yet made the leap from the Ladies European Tour to the relative riches of America’s LPGA circuit. Strangely, neither is named Charley Hull – who is tied for 49th after a 77 on Saturday – but rather Mel Reid and Amy Boulden.
Reid was eventually the more spectacular of the two, nipping home in 31 shots for 69 to rise into a tie for eighth place, one shot ahead of Boulden. The 21-year-old Welsh girl – BBC Young Sports Woman of the Year in 2008 – is three under par for the week after a best-of-the-day 68 vaulted her up to a tie for tenth.
“Growing up in Conwy, I am used to the wind,” said Boulden, the 2014 LET Rookie of the Year. “I grew up playing links golf. So that is definitely helping me this week.”
Boulden came to Turnberry after a promising tied eighth finish in last week’s Ladies Scottish Open at nearby Dundonald. As it has been for Lydia Ko and Pettersen, a few days’ golf by the seaside has proved ideal preparation for more of the same. Which is not a word used too often these days in women’s golf. Change is all around. Ask anyone. But bring your handy Korean phrasebook.
