Entering into really delicate territory here...
I suppose the Korean "problem" may partially be the result of there simply being a lot of one-hit wonders. To the untrained eye, you see a 20 year-old kid come out of nowhere to win the single most important women's golf tournament on the tour, and then for the most part you never hear from them again. Has Birdie Kim won anything else?
I hope Ryu wins again and soon.
The LPGA needs dominant players to succeed. It will breed familiarity. I think regardless of where that player comes from, you will see the masses come out. More than anything else, people just love a winner.
I don't want to make this sound remotely jingoistic against Korean players or women. I feel this way about men's golf and American golf too. We're going back to Sandwich this week; no disrespect to Ben Curtis but does anyone want to see that happen again? Never played in a major, never played links golf, and he's "the champion golfer for the year".
The Women's Open, and the majors in general, just don't see that prestigious to me when some 20 year-old can come out of nowhere and win it and then never win anything else. I think the events become a little bit watered down.... suddenly the perception is that maybe they aren't as hard to win as they should be.
I've watched the US Women's Am the last few years, and the one thing I have noticed is that the girls get younger.... and younger.... and younger. It might as well be the US Junior. It's high school sophomore vs. 8th grader in the quarterfinals. I'm troubled by this. I don't if that's because I'm not that young anymore and I didn't start playing my best golf until I'd turned 30. Maybe I'm just turning into a jaded old fart.
The funny thing is, I feel completely the opposite way about tennis. I find the same guys winning all the events has actually made it less fun to watch, for me anyway.