Jessica Bang, an 18-year-old Korean-Australian golfer, collapsed on a golf course in Bangkok, immediately lapsed into a coma, and then died the next week in a local hospital.
Bang reportedly suffered an acute brain hemorrhage, doctors reported, according to Korea JoongAng Daily.
The teen athlete was training on August 1 at the Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club in Bangkok in preparation for the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour’s (KLPGA) International Qualifying Tournament.
At around 1 p.m., Bang was working on her shots when she suddenly collapsed. She was taken to a local hospital, but was not treated there because the facility did not have brain surgery capabilities. She was then transferred to a larger hospital and underwent three hours of surgery due to massive bleeding in her brain. Despite the efforts, she never regained consciousness and died ten days later.
Bang was born in South Korea in 2007, but obtained Australian citizenship through her mother. She took up golf in fifth grade and was an up-and-comer with a hopeful pro career ahead of her.
Her father explained that her exposure to golf came through someone they hired to watch her as a child.
“My wife and I both worked, so it was difficult for us to look after our daughter, and we asked a golf coach whom we knew to take care of her,” her father told the media. “It was really more about having someone watch her until we got off work than teaching her golf, but she showed a talent for the sport and eventually pursued it competitively.”
“She was an only child, but she grew up without even going through a rebellious phase,” he added. “She played golf the same way she lived — calmly and steadily. After becoming an adult this year, she occasionally competed on the Jump Tour, the third tier of the KLPGA Tour, to test herself. We believed that if she could just make it through the IQT, she could go on to compete successfully.”
In February, Bang had recently won a regional qualifier for the Women’s New South Wales Open in Australia by five strokes.
Several Korea pros paid tribute to the young hopeful, including Hee Jeong Lim and Kim Shi-hyun. South Korean actress Ha Yoon-kyoung also paid her respects.
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