One of the hotly tipped future stars of Korean golf is Soo Yun Kang, who, after a successful start to her professional golf career, has now become so famous in her homeland she needs security protection wherever she goes.
Kang, a three time Asian champion who has posted three top tens on the LPGA Tour, is playing in the Samsung Ladies Masters which begins on Thursday, and her appearance, along with many other rising stars from the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association, has attracted over 35 Korean journalists and photographers to the event.
Nicknamed the ‘model of the fairways’ by her compatriots in the media, Kang is tipped to join the likes of Se Ri Pak and Grace Park at the top of women’s golf and since she turned professional in 1997, she is frequently mobbed by her fans when she goes home.
The 28-year-old from Seoul now lives in Manhattan, but as one of the most recognisable faces in Korean golf, her life is no longer her own and she draws a following of which even the Beckham’s would be fearful.
“I have to be escorted by bodyguards as soon as I leave Seoul airport,” admitted Kang to the New Paper in Singapore on the eve of the tournament.
“It’s not so bad in New York where I live, still, there was one Korean man who flew all the way from Korea and waited for me under my apartment and I had to get security guards to chase him away.”
