Ji-Yai Shin Has No Sponsor for 2009

If you want a sign of the economic times, the Ginn news this week may have been a signal.  Another sign of the times may be that Ji-Yai Shin, a major champion winner on the LPGA Tour last season as a non-member, will have no sponsor for the first part of  2009.

Sal Johnson's Golf Observer pointed me to the Korea Times report:

She had been supported by Hi-mart for three years until the contract was terminated last year after the Korean electronics company failed to meet the more than 1 billion won demands from her former agent Tee Golf Studio, according to a local media report.

Shin, 20, now has a new agent, Sema Sports Marketing, the same company that represents fellow LPGA player Pak Se-ri [Pak].

"A few companies are interested in Shin," Lee Sung-whan, president of Sema told The Korea Times. "But it may be hard to make a deal before the Australian game," he added. "We're doing our best to get sponsorship before the SBS Open."

This sounds a lot like agent greed, although 1 billion Won is about $730,000.  With how popular women's golf is in Korea, that kind of surprises me.  So, perhaps it really is the economy.