Jessica Korda, the top ranked American in this week’s Women’s British Open field, believes shortcomings within her country’s development programme for female golfers is contributing to Asian dominance.
Korda, at No 9, is one of just three non-Asian players in the world’s top 12. She will garner more attention from American eyes at Royal Lytham due to the surprise withdrawal from the major of Lexi Thompson. “They just have a better development plan from juniors,” Korda said, before citing South Korea specifically. “Golf is an expensive sport, they [centrally] pay for that. They travel to different countries and play a bunch. I feel like one of the things the US doesn’t have is a national team and somebody to help the girls and boys grow through the process. There are no camps.
“Basically the kids play AJGA [American Junior Golf Association] to try and get into college, from college they get jobs. In Korea, I know they play for two years on the Korean LPGA Tour before they even come to the States. So they have already been professionals before they come on tour. You can call them rookies but they might have won 10 times professionally. That’s a huge advantage.
“If you see all of the American girls, they might have played a year on the [second tier] Symetra Tour or they are fresh rookies. I feel like the biggest disadvantage for a lot of American players is there’s not a developmental programme, a team of some sort, to help with their game. If somebody sees a little bit of talent in a player and they don’t have the funds to get to all these tournaments, what are they going to do?”
Korda, who is seeking a first major title after recent struggles with injury, speaks with the knowledge of other sports. Both her parents were professional tennis players, with Petr Korda a former grand slam champion. “I know the United States Tennis Association is doing a bunch of camps,” she added. “I know that they are taking the kids under their wing, which is great. I would love to see something like that happen for golf.”
Kim In-kyung, who will defend the trophy at Lytham, explained the difficulties she has had since winning her first major 12 months ago at Kingsbarns. “I’ve gone through ups and downs emotionally,” she said. “I had very unnecessary expectations of myself. It has been a long process but now I feel like I’ve put in the right amount of work. Now I just need to have fun, that’s how I feel. I think I trust in what I have now.”
