Greetings from Asia!

We are in the middle of the LPGA's three-week swing in Asia. Last week, the LPGA went to China for the Tour's first official event in China - the Grand China Air LPGA. Grand China Air, the China Golf Association and Hainan Province did a great job putting on a first-class inaugural event. The event was hosted at the Haikou West Coast Golf Club on Hainan Island. Where is Hainan Island, you ask? It's OK - I had to look it up, as well! (On the map it is the small island to the South of the mainland.)

Many players flew in to Hainan from the Kapalua LPGA Classic in Maui and arrived Tuesday morning. That afternoon, fresh off her win in Hawaii, Morgan Pressel joined Shanshan Feng - the LPGA's first exempt member from China - at the airport driving golf balls of the wing of one of Grand China Air's planes, which was really neat. Many members of the media were able to attend and stand off to the side to take their photos. Had that been me on the wing, no one would've been safe from my unpredictable ball flight!

Hainan Island has a tropical climate, so the week was very warm and very, very humid. Despite 20 inches of rain less than two weeks before the tournament started, the course was in pretty good shape. By the end of the week, Shanshan had made her country proud with her fifth top-10 finish of the season (tie for sixth), and 2007 European Team Solheim Cup captain Helen Alfredsson had captured the title. With her 7-under-par 65 in the final round, Helen finished ahead of the final groups and stayed by the 18th green until everyone finished. It was pretty incredible to see all of the camaraderie among the players as they finished and went over to congratulate Helen.

She didn't have much time to celebrate her victory, though, as we were all up and loading buses at 4:30 the next morning to head to the airport. Many of us spent most of the day Monday either traveling home or to Korea for this week's Hana Bank • KOLON Championship 2008. In its seventh year on the LPGA Tour schedule, Suzann Pettersen will be defending her 2007 title on a new golf course - Sky 72 Golf Club in Incheon, South Korea, near Seoul. It's been a busy week for many of our members.

The tournament arranged for a bus for players to make the hour drive to Myeong-dong Tuesday night, which is one of Seoul's premier shopping districts, which offers shoppers everything from brand-name and department stores to vendors selling food on the streets. It was a great way for players to get out and see more of Seoul and hopefully find a few good deals!

On Wednesday, six of the "Se Ri" girls gathered on the putting green for a few photos. The "Se Ri" girls are in the generation of young players who, 10 years ago, watched Se Ri Pak win five times during her LPGA rookie season. Inspired, they have worked hard and are now champions in their own right. In this picture, you have U.S. Women's Open champion Inbee Park; Longs Drugs Challenge champion In-Kyung Kim; Ji Yai Shin, top player on the KLPGA who also won the RICOH Women's British Open; Ji Young Oh, LPGA State Farm Classic winner; Duramed FUTURES Tour 2006 Player of the Year Song Hee Kim; and Ha Neul Kim, who has three victories on the KLPGA. Needless to say, these golfers have garnered a lot of attention on their own with all of their phenomenal performances this season!

Later that night, Se Ri and Sky 72 Golf Club hosted a reception for players, caddies and staff. Entertainment and a delicious variety of food was on-hand. Shanshan was one of many in attendance who had their caricature done. What do you think?

We are eager for the tournament to start and look forward to continuing our journey through Asia. It's so neat to be able to travel around the U.S.A. and the world and find LPGA fans everywhere we go. These past few weeks, everyone has been very kind and helpful and supportive of the events and all I can say is, "Thank you!" I hope that many of you are able to journey out to Sky 72 Golf Club to watch the best of the LPGA and KLPGA compete this weekend.