KEY POINTS:
You cannot help but be appalled by the cheek of Sharon Ahn. She won the New Zealand Strokeplay championship in 2005, was in the triumphant Tasman Cup team that year, and in the Asia-Pacific and World championships last year. Then she and her family returned to Korea in
March, taking a not-inconsiderable taxpayer-funded investment in her golfing future.
Last week she competed in the provincial age group championships at Maramarua where she finished second to another Korean-born player, Yeon Song Kim. But Ahn is only back for three months during the Korean winter and has no plans to play for New Zealand again. She sees her future in Korean women's golf.
Sharon Ahn has exploited this country and is ungrateful for the benefits she's had. Sure, she has ability and worked hard. But she was granted citizenship with help from the former Women's Golf New Zealand, making her eligible for national teams where she was part of the taxpayer-funded, high-performance programme which paid for coaching and tournament expenses.
Her disappearance, with only a few days' notice, left New Zealand Golf officials agog. Now she's back to exploit our system again. She has a cheap junior membership at Huapai - the club can't charge more because she has New Zealand citizenship. Citizenship means she can take part in local tournaments to hone her competitive edge during the off season in Korea.
Having her compete in local events should actually be encouraged because it raises the standard. But all junior girl's events, and most significant women's tournaments, are notable for the huge number of Korean and Asian-born players. In the Auckland age group champs, 14 of the 21 players in the girls' event were Korean.
The problem for golf officials, especially in the women's game, is how to treat these players for provincial and national representation. The Sharon Ahn situation isn't the first. Enu Chung did a similar disappearing act in 2004 although it was to the University of California.
Eddie Lee, a recipient of huge amounts of assistance when he was an amateur here up until 2002, lists his nationality on the Asian Tour as Korean.
New Zealand Golf is now extremely wary of who it assists. Representatives at all levels now have to be citizens. Membership of high-performance squads will come with a commitment to be part of New Zealand Golf as an amateur and to carry the New Zealand flag when or if they turn professional.
Much will rest on the shoulders of Danny Lee, Dasom Lee and Dana Kim in the national academy squads to rebuild confidence in young Korean players.
