SEOUL, KOREA, January 22, 2007 — Song Hee Kim, considered a strong candidate for 2007 LPGA Rookie of the Year honors, signed a $1 million contract with FILA Korea. The term of the contract is for two years and FILA Korea will pay Kim $500,000 per year. Kim, 18, will wear FILA apparel and appear in FILA advertisements.
This is the largest endorsement contract for an LPGA rookie from Korea since Se Ri Pak, who signed with CJ Corporation in 1998. Another 2007 LPGA Tour rookie, Jin Joo Hong, signed a $1 million, three-year contract with SK Corporation at the end of last year. Hong is 24.
"My goal is to become the LPGA’s Rookie of the Year," said Kim, who won five times as a rookie on the 2006 Duramed FUTURES Tour and posted 11 top-10 finishes in 18 events for top rookie honors. "I will try to win tournaments and to have consistently good results on the LPGA Tour."
To date, Kim’s top accomplishments are as follows:
* Youngest professional woman golfer to win a professional tournament in the United States at age 17 years, 10 months and 24 days, when she won the 2006 Louisiana FUTURES Classic. Kim broke the record set by Marlene Hagge (18 years, 14 days) at the 1952 LPGA Sarasota Open.
* Top money winner on the 2006 Duramed FUTURES Tour, which gave her honors as Player of the Year and full exempt status on the 2007 LPGA Tour. Her five wins during the 2006 season ties FUTURES alum and Korean compatriot Grace Park’s record for single-season wins.
* Winner of two playoffs in 2006, including a nine-hole playoff at the IOS FUTURES Golf Classic in El Paso, Texas, against the 2004 NCAA Women’s Individual Golf Champion Sarah Huarte of California.
* Medalist of the 2006 Duramed FUTURES Tour Qualifying Tournament to earn 2006 playing status. Kim won by five shots over second-place finisher Brittany Lang, playing as an amateur due to the Tour’s minimum age limit of 18 (at that time).
* First 17-year-old Duramed FUTURES Tour member allowed to play an entire season as a professional. Kim petitioned the Tour to make an exception in her case and was granted professional eligibility. (The Duramed FUTURES Tour later lowered its minimum age limit from 18 to 17 for professionals.)
* Member of the 2004 and 2005 Korean National Golf Team.
At 5-foot-9, the slender teen has spent most of the off-season concentrating on physical conditioning and improving her skills in tae kwon do, a Korean martial arts. She returned to the United States after a contract-signing ceremony and press conference with FILA in Korea.
Kim currently is practicing in Los Angeles and has spent several months working with her instructor Gary Gilchrist in Hilton Head Island, S.C. She will play in the LPGA’s season-opener in Hawaii next month at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay.
For more information, contact Jay Chang of HSMG World at 909-543-8086 and at jwchang@hsmgworld.com or Lisa Mickey, Duramed Futures Tour, 863.709.9100.
Contact:
Jackie Beck
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