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| Kim Hae-rym greets the gallery during the World Ladies Championship in Hainan, China, in this Mar. 19 file photo. Lotte, Kim's main sponsor, could not promote itself at that time, as China's state-run broadcaster CCTV refused to show the Korean company's logo on her cap. / Courtesy of KLPGA |
This is the final in a series on Korean companies sponsoring female golfers. ─ ED.
By Park Jae-hyuk
Female golfers were no exception during the nation-shocking scandal last year involving former President Park Geun-hye and her close friend Choi Soon-sil.
Korean conglomerates have begun to reduce their investment in golfers, since their chairmen faced questioning by judicial authorities over allegations of bribing Park and Choi.
The heads of the three largest sponsors of golfers ─ Hanwha, CJ and Lotte ─ were interrogated last year at a hearing on the scandal.
After the incidents, their companies have remained reluctant to renew contracts with golfers they had sposored, being timid about supporting additional players.
Public sentiment regarding golf as a luxury sport and a growing uncertainty about the country's economic condition, have also weighed on the firms.
While the companies have begun to think the players are overpriced compared to their advertising impact, agents have complained about stagnancy in the market.
Given that those who are sponsored by Lotte and CJ have yet to win at LPGA Tour tournaments this year, the two conglomerates have not carried out promotions through their players.
What is worse, China retaliated against the KLPGA Tour's Kim Hae-rym, who is sponsored by Lotte, over the company offering its golf resort as a site to deploy a U.S. anti-missile system here.
At the World Ladies Championship in Hainan, China, in March, the female golfer became "the faceless champion," as the state-run broadcaster CCTV refused to show Lotte's logo on her cap.
"The Chinese government was known to have ordered the broadcaster not to show Kim, citing the Chinese people's sentiments as a reason," a Lotte official said at that time.
As a result, Lotte could not promote the company, even though it sponsored the winner.
Deciding to sponsor amateur Choi Hye-jin, who placed second in the U.S. Women's Open this year, Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate has barely resumed sponsoring new players. Choi will likely get 1 billion won ($875 million) over the next two years.
In the case of CJ, the conglomerate has promoted itself through male players at the PGA Tour, instead of LPGA golfers.
After Kim Si-woo became the winner of the Players Championship, the name of CJ Logistics on his cap and shirt was shown to over 100 million viewers worldwide.
The advertising impact was estimated to reach around 200 billion won.
The only conglomerate that has sponsored winners on the LPGA Tour this year is Hanwha.
Following Kim In-kyung's victories at the Women's British Open, the Marathon Classic and the ShopRite LPGA Classic, the company has resumed promotions through its sponsored golfers.
Korea's eighth-largest conglomerate has advertized that its promoted female golfers have won nine trophies on the tours in Korea, Japan and the United States.
It sponsors four LPGA players, two JLPGA players and one KLPGA player.
Among them, Korean-Japanese Haru Nomura won the Texas Shootout, and Kim Ji-hyun earned three victories at KLPGA Tour tournaments. Lee Min-young on the Japan Tour has already won two trophies in her debut season.
