LPGA golfer Christina Kim showed up on The Golf Channel’s the Golf Fix with Michael Breed last week to share a few of her swing tips.  She’s gearing up for the new golf season and it starts this week in Thailand as the LPGA kicks off its 2010 season.  Before Christina hit a golf ball in Thailand, she IM’d an interview with Golf.com to talk about the off season and the future.

What have you been up to in the offseason?
Everything from working hard on my short game, trying new clubs, partying with friends, traveling to places, and playing around with social media.

You partied a lot. Clubs? House parties?
I didn’t go mad crazy partying all the time. Hahaha!!! Clubs, house parties, a lot of just chillin’ at friends’ places — that’s more accurate.

Let’s talk about the LPGA Tour. What do you see happening this year out there for yourself and the tour?
I see both myself and the LPGA Tour taking over by storm. I’m so stoked for the new season. The LPGA is rising again after a brief lull, and the world is ready for something new to stumble upon.

For the full interview, go to golf.com.

Anthony Kim played on the west team on Friday night’s NBA All-Star Celebrity game, which included other celebs and athletes like Chris Tucker, Terrell Owens, Mark Cuban and Common.  He played great defensive (including a steal), lead a couple of fast breaks, and dis’d out a couple of nifty passes.  I believe this is the first Korean-American to ever participate in an NBA All-Star celebrity game.   SWEET!  Now if we could finally get someone to play in the NBA full-time.  Anthony Kim must have been a kid in a candy store because not only did he play basketball at All-Star weekend, but he was coached by Magic Johnson, the player he grew up watching and idolizing as a Laker’s fan.

Y.E. Yang made a big splash this year by doing the impossible and that was take down Tiger Woods (when Tiger wasn’t with a lady of the night).  When we mean the impossible, we’re referring to his unbelievable defeat of Tiger Woods at a major golf championship: The PGA Championship at Hazeltine.  To put this into perspective, Tiger Woods had never lost a major championship when leading in the final round of a major golf tournament. However, it was Y.E. Yang of all Korean golfers (Anthony Kim, K.J. Choi) that stared down the greatest golfer of our generation and maybe of all time, and executed one of the greatest shots on the final hole (72nd) of a major golf championship.  He perfectly landed a hybrid shot that set up the birdie to bring down the hammer on Tiger Woods on the 18th hole.  No one east of Hawai’i would have predicted that Y.E. Yang would be the first Korean golfer to win a major golf tournament and no one in their right mind would have bet on Y.E. Yang beating Tiger head to head in the final group of a golf major.  Y.E. Yang is #7 on our top ten list of most influential Korean-Americans because he not only broke through to victory on one of golf’s biggest stage, but he showed the whole world that Tiger was beatable and that you could go toe to toe with the greatest golfer in the world.  And now the rest of the golf world knows that you can beat Tiger (on the golf course .  He made believers out of everyone!

It’s been a long time coming for Michelle Wie but she finally did it.  She won for the first time in a professional tournament.  Michelle Wie competed at the LPGA’s Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico and she walked away with the trophy with a two stroke victory.  She finished off in style with a birdie on her final hole.  The question is will this win propel her to new heights?  She had been criticized by many for competing in men’s tournaments and for not doing enough on the women’s tour.  Well, she’s got her first win and perhaps this will lift a weight off of Michelle’s shoulders.

Having spent her teens bouncing between tours and continents, Wie, 20, had finally found some stability this season as a full-fledged LPGA rookie. Even before her victory at the penultimate tournament of the year it had been a successful campaign defined by solid results, new friendships and a starring role at the Solheim Cup, during which Wie was overcome by a fist-pumping passion that was utterly foreign for a player who has always worn an icy gameface. The only thing missing was an individual victory, a familiar story for a player, who until Sunday had not won a tournament of any kind since the 2003 U.S. Publinks Amatuer, when she was a 13 year-old with a impossibly perfect swing and endless future. Back then no one could have imaged another victory would be such a long time coming. But Wie used the many blown chances and missed opportunities as a journey of self-discovery, and along the way the giggly, goofy tween phenom grew into a self-possessed young woman.

Golf season is unofficially over as in all the important tournaments are done but golf is still in the news.

Korean Amateur Golfer Qualifies for the Masters Tournament
Han Chang-Won of Korea earned a spot in the 2010 Masters Tournament with a victory in the inaugural Asian Amateur Championship in China.

“I knew I was leading by five or six after the first nine holes, but I was trying not to think about the result,” Han said. “Anything can happen in a round of golf and I was very nervous towards the end. I have to admit that it was the thought of playing in the Masters that made me nervous. I had never even thought it would be possible for me to be playing in the Masters as an amateur.”

Han Chang-Won becomes the second Korean amateur that will be playing at the 2010 Masters tournament because An Byeong-Hun also qualified by winning the U.S. Amateur Golf Championship. And oh yeah, Danny Lee of New Zealand was at this year’s Masters as the winner of the U.S. Amateur the previous year. What’s with all those young Korean golfers?

Anthony Kim Loses in the Finals of the World Match Play Championship
AK lost to Ross Fisher at the World Match Play Championship in Spain. He had dominated Robert Allenby the previous day to make the finals.  At least AK can say he’s getting closer.

Na Yeon Choi Goes to Korea and Wins The Hana Bank KOLON Championship
Ladies golf is still in play and the professionals traveled across the Pacific to South Korea. Na Yeon Choi made birdie at the last hole for a 5-under 67 on Sunday, giving her a one-shot victory over Maria Hjorth and Yani Tseng at the Hana Bank KOLON Championships.   Choi won the Samsung World Championships in September with an eagle at the par-5 last hole.

ESPN finally published their “Body Issue” which shows athletes in their birthday suits.  And yes there’s a Korean-American woman who bares it all.  She is LPGA golfer Christina Kim, and she’s joined by other fellow golfers Anna Grzebien and Sandra Gal.  The “Body Issue” is getting some great reviews because it’s done very artistically and it actually reveals not simply a nude body, but it shows some of the pain and hurt that these athletes have endured.  The body is a beautiful thing.   If you don’t know Christina Kim, she’s a Korean-American golfer who’s had great success on the LPGA tour.  She’s one of the more personable and animated golfers on tour, and she’s willing to share her thoughts.  She’s one of the most followed LPGA tour players on Twitter.  For a little more on Christina Kim, check out our interview below when we met up with her at a LPGA tour event earlier this summer.

Update from the PGA Tour website on late Wednesday: A statement from the Australian on the PGA Tour website read: “While I feel like the comments published were taken out of context, I did call Anthony to apologise for anything that I said or inferred that could possibly portray Anthony as anything less than a professional of the highest calibre.”

Kim has accepted that apology and commented; “we are both moving on”.

Intriguingly the duo could soon lock horns again as both are scheduled to play at the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Spain at the end of the month.

Update from ESPN on Wednesday:  ”Kim ‘crushed’ by Allenby Allegations.”  Looks like it’s getting a little heated with Fred Couples backing up AK that he wasn’t out partying during President’s Cup week in San Francisco.

“I promise you, there’s no way you can go out and beat a guy like Robert Allenby 5 and 3 if you’re out until 4 in the morning. There’s just no way,” Fred Couples told Seattle radio station KJR in an interview Wednesday on its “Mitch in the Morning” show. “It kind of crushed him. It was the best week that he ever had and those comments kind of crushed him.”

“Absolutely false,” Kim said, according to Golf World. “I was at the hotel, had dinner with the team, met my buddies for about 20 minutes, then went straight to my room. I was in tip-top shape. If Robert had that to say, he maybe needs to practice a little more.”

Couples said he told Kim he had to “let it go under the rug quick” and said that Allenby had called Kim to apologize.

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Anthony Kim is the best Korean-American golfer and one of the best golfers in the world.  He’s young, brash and has got balls of steel.  He’s got all the talent in the world but his issues previously were work ethic and focus.  Well, he finally cleaned things up and he had a breakout year last year by winning twice on the PGA tour and also dominating at the Ryder Cup.  This past weekend was the President’s Cup, a team golf competition between the Americans and the Internationals not from Europe.  Well, AK was ok during most of the weekend but he sure stepped up during singles competition by beating up on Robert Allenby.

Interestingly, Allenby suggested afterwards that AK may be back to his old ways because it was hinted that AK was out partying the night before his match against Allenby and AK showed up at the hotel a little sideways at 4am.

Allenby said friends here witnessed Kim getting back to the team hotel, in Allenby’s words, “sideways” at 4 in the morning, less than five hours before his scheduled tee time against Allenby at Harding Park.

“Some guys (from the U.S.) who didn’t play well played very well today,” Allenby said after the U.S. downed the International team, 19 1/2 – 14 1/2, to win its third consecutive Presidents Cup. Kim, going out in the fourth match of the day, drummed Allenby, 5 and 3, running his record in the matches to 3-1.

“Maybe we should all take the theory of Anthony Kim,” Allenby said. “Get home at 4 o’clock (in the morning) and then go shoot 6 under.”

Asked if his comments were on the record, Allenby said, “I don’t care. Ask his playing partners. Ask his team. He is the loosest cannon in that team.”

Allenby went on to call the 24-year-old Kim golf’s “current John Daly.”

Informed of Allenby’s comments outside the U.S. team cabin, Kim said reports he didn’t get back to the team hotel until 4 a.m. were “absolutely false.” Kim said he joined his team for dinner Saturday night, met up with friends for 20 minutes and went “straight to my room.”

Said Kim, “He said that today? Wow. That’s pretty surprising. . . . I hope that was a joke.”

Told it was not, Kim added, “I’m actually pretty surprised that he said that. I was in tip-top shape coming into today. When you get sat out in a match (as Kim did Saturday morning in foursomes), you’re out there to prove a point.”  Read the full article at GolfWeek.

Michelle Wie was one of the select representatives to speak in front of the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen to get golf approved for the 2016 Olympics, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Golf was approved 63-27 with two abstentions.

Golf will stage a 72-hole stroke-play tournament for men and women, with 60 players in each field. Rugby will organize a four-day seven-a-side tournament — instead of the more traditional 15-a-side game — for 12 men’s and women’s teams.

This was Michelle Wie’s presentation to the IOC:

Thank you Matteo, and on behalf of my fellow athletes, thank you again for the opportunity to be here today.

I have been playing golf since I was four years old. Growing up, I was inspired by the great athletes of our sport. Tiger Woods and Ernie Els have been my heroes. For so many boys and girls around the world, their heroes have been Olympic athletes. Until today, I never thought there was any chance that I could share in that dream. With your support, I can dream about being an Olympian, I can dream about the chance to enter the Olympic stadium during Opening Ceremonies. And I can dream of doing something that not even Tiger or Ernie have ever done – make the final putt to win an Olympic Gold Medal.

If this dream comes true, I have no doubt that somewhere in the world, there will be a four-year-old girl who will see me on the podium, and perhaps start her own Olympic dream.

And now, I would like to introduce my heroes, Ernie Els and Tiger Woods.

The President’s Cup starts today in San Francisco as all eyes in the golf world converge on this bi-annual team golf event.  It’s a team of American golfers against foreign golfers who are not citizens of Europe.  The Euros have their Ryder Cup which happens during the off years.   The President’s Cup will feature two Koreans: Anthony Kim on the U.S. team and Y.E. Yang on the Internationals.  It’s pretty cool that we there’s someone of Korean descent on both sides competing and representing.

Anthony Kim made a big statement last year at the Ryder Cup when he stared down everyone he went up against and took them down like a Tiger hunting for food in the wilderness.  It stamped off a remarkable year when he won two PGA tournaments during 2008.

Y.E. Yang is making his first appearance on the International team.  Usually the Korean that represented on the International team was K.J. Choi, but the most successful Korean golfer this year was Y.E. Yang.  He stared down Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship and beat him on an extraordinary hybrid shot on the 18th hole that would give him the Wanamaker trophy.

It could get interesting if Y.E. Yang is matched up against A.K.  That would be a cool dual between the Korean and the Korean-American.   However, what people want is a rematch of the PGA Championship between Tiger Woods and Y.E. Yang and you know everyone wants to see that!

Great to see the success of Korean golfers on the PGA Tour.

After losing a seven-stroke lead Sunday, Na Yeon Choi rallied to shoot 1-under 71 Sunday to win the Samsung World Championship on the 18th hole.

“I can’t believe that I won,” Choi said. “Throughout the second half I thought I was going to lose it again.”

Choi finished at 16-under 272 and held off runner-up Ai Miyazato of Japan, who shot a 69, the low round of the day at Torrey Pines.

Choi began the final round with a two-stroke lead, got birdies on two of her first four holes and made a 10-foot eagle putt on the sixth hole to extend her lead to seven strokes.

It looked then as if Choi, who has won four times on the Korean LPGA Tour, would cruise to her first LPGA Tour victory.

But Miyazato, playing in the group in front of Choi and Jiyai Shin of South Korea, made two quick birdies on Nos. 7 and 8 to cut Choi’s lead to five.

“I played really good,” Miyazato said. “I was very patient.”

Choi missed a 2-foot putt on the ninth hole for a bogey, cutting the lead to four heading into the back nine.

She continued to struggle with two consecutive bogeys, and Miyazato tied Choi at 16-under with a 4-foot birdie putt on No. 16. Miyazato took the lead shortly after, when Choi three-putted for bogey on No. 14.

Choi has been working with a sports psychologist on her mental game and was repeating some of the lessons she has recently learned.

“Mentally I felt I was very weak,” Choi said. “I kept telling myself to be positive. I wanted to be positive about everything.”

On the 18th hole, it was Miyazato’s turn to make a mistake. With 203 yards remaining for her second shot, Miyazato’s 5-wood approach hit the bank in front of the 18th green and rolled into the water. She dropped in front of the pond but could not get up and down for par.

“Mentally I felt I was very weak,” Choi said. “I kept telling myself to be positive. I wanted to be positive about everything.”

Choi’s second shot on the 18th reached the front left of the green and her third shot came to rest 5 feet below the pin. Choi, who had missed several putts of equal or less distance, converted the birdie for the victory – no easy task.

“I felt like I had just turned professional today,” Choi said when facing the putt for victory. “I was so nervous