LEWINE MAIR
SINGAPORE | When Jiyai Shin first started
to play in the West, her clubs did 99 percent
of the talking, and the golf-writing fraternity
struggled to add to what it saw. Today, in
contrast, Jiyai has entirely enough English at
her disposal to give an insight into what lies
behind her dogged determination.
Jiyai’s career plan is to play nine more years
on Tour and return to Korea, get married and
have children.
Her caddie, Dean Herden, is of the same
opinion. “Jiyai’s got endless patience with
people,” he marveled. He then told how, on
a tournament day, his player will arrive two
hours before her tee-off time to mix practice
with a bit of the socializing she so enjoys.
Jiyai’s nickname in Korea used to be
“Smile” until she started winning from a
series of tight situations. At that point it
changed to “Final Day Queen,” a label she
much prefers. “When it was Smile,” she
says, “there was pressure on me to be smil-
ing all the time and there were times when
I couldn’t. I like Final Day Queen because it
she has had recorded in Korea.
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