It’s April and the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) is preparing for the start of the 2022 season. Which means it’s once again time for the SeoulSisters annual article about what to expect this year. We call it the KLPGA Primer.
2021 saw the KLPGA get back to a virtually full schedule after the challenges of 2020. This also meant that there were far fewer LPGA golfers playing events, although they still were around and, in some cases, even winning. LPGA player Hyo Joo Kim, who led the tour money list in 2020, captured two more KLPGA wins in 2021, although she mostly focused on the LPGA (she also won an event on that tour). And Jin Young Ko denied an LPGA tour card to Hee Jeong Lim by beating her in a playoff at the BMW Championship. But for the most part, the tour was dominated by domestic players.
Those Who Have Left or Retired
Every year a few familiar faces leave the tour for retirement or other tours. 2021 was no different.
Among the retirees was one former Player of the Year, Ha Neul Kim.
Kim was a rookie in 2007, but her salad days were from 2008 – 2014. She led the money list in 2011 and 2012, capturing the Player of the Year in 2011 and the scoring title in 2012. She just missed repeating as Player of the Year in 2012 when Je Yoon Yang won the final event of the year to edge her in the standings.
Ha Neul means ‘Sky’ in Korean, and Sky Kim was not done with her success in 2012. Although she never made it onto the LPGA tour, she decided to move to the Japanese tour in 2015, where she had a second successful career. Like her friend Bo Mee Lee, she quickly became super popular, and matched that with success on the course. She never reached #1 but was in the top five for a while. She also learned Japanese and became so loved that they published a Ha Neul Kim photo book for her fans over there.
Sky retired at the end of the 2021 season, but she hopes to continue with her recently launched YouTube channel and making appearances on various golf-themed TV shows.
Shi Hyun Ahn was the original ‘Cinderella’, the very first KLPGA member to win an LPGA event and earn a tour card when she captured the 2003 CJ Nine Bridges as a teenager.
She won the 2004 LPGA Rookie of the Year award and played here until 2011. Around then, while playing an event in Korea, she met a TV personality and started a very public relationship. They got married and Ahn took 2012 and much of 2013 off to have a baby. She returned to action late that year, nabbed a top ten, and was back full time on the KLPGA in 2014.
Alas, the relationship didn’t last, and they broke up in acrimony around that time. Ahn returned to golf with a vengeance, shocking the league by beating top player Sung Hyun Park at the 2016 Korea Women’s Open. It was her first win in 12 years. From there, she slowly faded, playing less and less until she bowed out at last year’s Korea Women’s Open.
In 2021, Ran Hong set the record for the most official rounds played on the KLPGA, becoming the first player to surpass the 1000 round mark. She had been on tour since 2005 and had multiple wins over the years to her credit.
The LPGA gained two strong former KLPGA golfers as rookies in 2022: Hye-Jin Choi and Na Rin An. Choi is one of the most accomplished players of her generation.
Choi has already won more than ten events and won the KLPGA Player of the Year award three consecutive years from 2017 – 2019. In the past two years she has not played as well, but she was nonetheless still one of the premier stars on tour when she left.
An was not as strong a presence, but she still won several KLPGA events in the past couple of years. She made her mark by winning LPGA Q-Series last year to earn her card (Choi finished tied for 8th). They have each managed top tens already in their LPGA rookie campaigns, with An nearly winning the JTBC a few weeks ago.
The Unexpected Superstar
Min Ji Park was already a star before the 2021 season, but nothing prepared the tour for her explosive brilliance in the first half of last year. She won an incredible 6 of the first 13 events she played, including the Korea Women’s Open and the Doosan Match Play. She cooled down considerably in the second half of the year, but she still broke the all-time record for most money earned in a year with over 1.5 billion won. She collected the Player of the Year award as well.
Interestingly, when asked for her goals for 2022, Park said she wanted to win at least (only?) one event. Even she doesn’t seem to believe she has gone to another level. But if she can get back to her form at the start of last year, we could see many more records fall.
Top Stars
Ha Na Jang continued to be a great star on tour in 2021.
The five-time LPGA winner earned nearly 900 million won on the KLPGA in 2021, third on the money list. She had two wins, one of which was a Major, the KB Star. She also won the scoring title, beating even Min Ji Park. In addition to the wins, she had three seconds, two thirds and fifteen top tens. Although she has yet to lead the tour since returning full time to Korea, she certainly is capable of doing that; perhaps 2022 will be the year she accomplishes that feat.
Three of the other top stars on tour are part of that incredible rookie class of 2019 known as the Swing Girls. Hee Jeong Lim finished second on the 2021 money list, just missing out on a billion won season by a small margin.
Lim’s biggest challenge has been getting wins; although she contends often, she went winless in 2020. She did get one victory in 2021 but had several more near misses, including three seconds, three thirds, three fourths, and 15 total top tens. She was second in Player of the Year points and third in scoring average. She was even voted Most Popular by the fans!
Lim’s greatest week came at the BMW Championship, the annual joint LPGA/KLPGA event. She was nearly flawless: she didn’t have a bogey all week and missed just two fairways. She climbed to a 4-shot lead entering the final round but was not able to hold off world #1 Jin Young Ko, who caught her and beat her in a playoff. Still, Lim has world-class talent, and if she can find a way to get in the winner’s circle more often, she could easily be the top player in 2022.
Hyun Kyung Park may have lost Most Popular to Lim (she finished second), but there’s no doubt that she is massively loved by the fans.
She’s also another great talent from the Swing Girls class and she showed it again in 2021. She repeated as the KLPGA Championship winner (a Major), and very nearly won the Korea Women’s Open as well. Tied with Min Ji Park going into the final hole, Min Ji made a birdie to defeat Hyun Kyung; Hyun Kyung was 8 shots ahead of third place. She also had a runner-up result at another Major, the KB Star. When it comes to Majors, she brings her A Game.
In all, she had the win, four runner-up finishes, one third and 14 top tens. She was fourth on the money list with 844 million won. Hyun Kyung is young, stylish, talented, and fast becoming the face of the tour. If she backs it up this year with post-season hardware, she could become one of the biggest stars the KLPGA has seen in some time.
So Mi Lee is another Swing Girl who has risen to the upper echelon in the league.
She is not as consistent as Park or Lim, but she wins more often. In 2021, she started the season by winning the first event, and went on to win a second event later in the season. She also added a second, two thirds and two fourths with 12 top tens. She finished 6th on the money list with 758 million won earned. Lee’s on-course trajectory seems to be ever upward, and she is also loved for her quirky personality. She is slightly older than Lim, Park and Ayean Cho, but it still looks like her best is yet to come.
Other Big Names
Da Yeon Lee finished 8th on the money list in 2021 with 665 million won earned. She won the Hanwha Classic and had seven total top tens. She also achieved her career best LPGA finish, a tie for third at the BMW Championship. Known as one of the shortest players in stature on tour, she has a good sense of humor about it. She seems more willing to play overseas than many other KLPGA stars; she was the only KLPGA full timer to play the US Women’s Open in 2021 (she missed the cut).
Ga Young Lee is yet another Swing Girl with a good record. She finished 14th on the money list in 2021 with 501 million won earned. But unlike the others, though she contended a lot in 2021, she has yet to win her first event. If she starts winning, she could quickly become one of the tour’s biggest stars.
Ji Hyun Oh has been in a bit of a slump the past few seasons.
She started the 2021 season with a bunch of missed cuts but got her act together and won for the first time in three years at the Samdasoo Masters. She had six top tens in total, made 452 million won, and finished 16th on the money list. But the win and her career best LPGA finish at the BMW (a 10th) indicates that she might be back on the road to becoming one of the tour’s big stars again.
Ayean Cho is yet another Swing Girl, but after winning the Rookie of the Year award in 2019, beating Lee, Lee, Lim and Park, she has struggled the past few years. 2021 was another mediocre year for her. She earned only 206 million won, just 36th on the money list. She had only three top tens. Can she return to her pre-pandemic form? She still seems to have the talent to be a top tier star.
Former Rookies on the Rise
Hae Ran Ryu was a star as a rookie in 2020, and she extended her brilliance in 2021.
She earned 795 million won and finished fifth on the money list. She grabbed two wins, including the year’s final event, and had 10 total top tens. It was a bit quieter a year than her rookie campaign, but there’s every reason to believe that the long-hitting 21-year-old will keep it up this year.
Ga Eun Song won the tour’s 2021 Rookie of the Year award in a tight battle over Jung Min Hong.
She finished 13th on the money list with 513 million won earned. She had six top tens but really only seriously contended once: at the Hana Bank Championship. There she ended up in a playoff with LPGA star Minjee Lee, who had just recently won her first Major at the Evian. Amazingly, Song beat the Australian star for the title. That win alone accounted for more than half her total winnings for the year. So, it’s hard to know exactly how good Song is.
Jae Hee Kim had a relatively weak rookie year in 2021; she finished 6th in that race.
She had been the Dream Tour money list leader in 2020, but only finished 47th on the KLPGA money list in 2021, earning 168 million won. But Kim has just turned 21 in March, so she might still have some tricks up her sleeve. She also might be the single tour member with the most social media savvy; her hilarious Tik Toks and media posts made her so popular that there was a bidding war for her main sponsorship this year (eventually won by the ubiquitous Mediheal). She might become more of a factor on tour this year, but she certainly will have many eyes on her to see what craziness she comes up with next.
Up and Comers & Fashionistas
There are several KLPGA stars who are not in the upper echelon of tour talent just yet, but who are bound to get attention in 2022.
Da Been Heo has been slowly gaining steam since her rookie year of 2017.
Like Jae Hee Kim, she was the focus of a sponsorship bidding war, won by QCells. It’s easy to see why: she is pretty and charming, with an easy laugh that has made her very popular of late. She is also a surprisingly good singer, which has been exploited in several made-for-TV events she has participated in. In 2021, she made 300 million won and finished 26th on the money list. She got into a playoff but lost. It seems only a matter of time before she gets her first win and makes it into the top ten.
Hyo Ju You had an OK year in 2021, but had to go back to Q-School to earn full membership for 2022. You might be the most striking of the fashionistas on tour right now: she wears her Descente outfits very well, and as a result always gets a lot of press attention. Is she more than a good dresser? That will be something for her to prove in 2022.
Jee Hyun Ahn is another golfer who is for the moment better known for her looks than her golf, but she actually finished 30th on the money list in 2021 – not bad at all – and had several top five finishes. Another Mediheal star, she was named one of the 11 KLPGA spokesmodels this year.
Rookies to Watch
The 2022 Rookie class might be the best since the Swing Girls. No less than seven or eight ladies have been receiving a lot of preseason press. Here are four I think are especially promising:
Ina Yoon was just 17 at the start of last season, too young to be a member of the KLPGA or Dream Tours. Thus, she played as a semi-pro on the Jump Tour, the third-tier pro league.
She quickly won several events and took over the lead on the tour’s money list. In one event, she had a round where she made three eagles, the first time that had ever happened in any Korean golf league. She turned 18 in May and advanced to the Dream Tour, where she again dominated, eventually winning the money list to earn a full KLPGA card.
Yoon is known for having huge distance off the tee, as evidenced by the three-eagle round. The Dream Tour does not maintain stats for driving distance, but when she played on the KLPGA a few times in 2021, she was measured as hitting drives in excess of 300 yards on some holes. Every sign is pointing to this young woman becoming a superstar; the only question is when.
Yewon Lee had a similar trajectory to Yoon and is almost as promising.
A few months older than Yoon, she was also too young early last year to play on the Dream Tour at first. She also dominated early on the Jump Tour, turned 18 in February, and advanced to the Dream Tour, where she quickly became a top player. She finished in the top five on that tour and earned a KLPGA card. She also played a couple of KLPGA events in the Fall and did well. And she, too, is known for her length. It would surprise no one to see her become the 2022 Rookie of the Year.
Ye Been Sohn was a strong member of the Korean National team as a teenager.
A year older than Yoon and Lee, she played on the Dream Tour in 2021, but amazingly did not earn a KLPGA card. She went to Q-School in the Fall and won her regional qualifier, then won Q-School thanks to a 63. She is sponsored by Nike, one of the few KLPGAers to be primarily sponsored by them. This is a strong statement of belief in the teenager and her talent.
Uhjin Seo was another top member of the National team as an amateur. She led Korea to a title at the Queen Sirikit Cup a few years ago.
The same age as Sohn, she also was not able to earn a card through the Dream Tour and had to go to Q-School. She earned a tour card by finishing 15th. So far she has not had nearly the pro success of the other teens, but given her success as an amateur, it is wise not to count her out just yet.
Will one or more of the teens stars explode into the top reaches of the tour in 2022? Will Min Ji Park be able to duplicate her success of last year? Will one of the Swing Girls become the new Big Gun? The season starts this week, and those questions will soon be answered!