Last week at the LPGA’s first Major of 2024, the Chevron Championship, one of the greatest Korean golf stars played her final event and retired.  So Yeon Ryu has been a presence on the international golf scene since 2006, when, as a 16-year-old, she claimed the gold medal at the Asian Games and led her team to the team gold.  She has succeeded at every level since then: KLPGA, LPGA, and JLPGA.  She has reached the top of the game and spent much time struggling with injuries and emotional challenges.  And through it all, she has remained one of the kindest, most charitable and most graceful of all golf stars.  It can be genuinely said that she was loved by all.  She will be missed.

The Early Years

Before So Yeon became a golfer, she had wanted to be a concert violinist.  She was also quite a good pianist as well.  But when she discovered golf in grade school, she soon realized that she had a natural talent for it that far exceeded her musical gifts.  When she was 8, she watched Se Ri Pak win the US Women’s Open, and like many girls her age, was inspired by the superstar to want to play golf herself.  But she found it impossible to split her time between music and sports and be good at both.  Regretfully, she gave up the violin and went all in on golf.  But the love of music never left her heart.

As a teenager, she got better and better at golf while continuing to be a top student.  She would eventually attend Yonsei University, one of the best schools in Korea.  But before she got there, she qualified for the national women’s golf team, and was sent to represent Korea at the Asian Games.  This tournament is a quadrennial match patterned after the Olympics, with every imaginable summer sport including golf included, but with only Asian countries competing.  They only allowed amateurs in this competition, so it would in all likelihood be her only chance to try to bring her country the gold before she turned pro.  Fellow teen star Jiyai Shin had been forced to bow out when she decided to turn pro and cash in on her skill on the KLPGA the previous Winter.  But So Yeon stayed amateur, and boy was it worth it.    She would shoot 66-66-64-67 for a 29 under total, dominating the competition with a nine-shot win. Thanks to her efforts, Korea also won the team gold medal.

Team Korea at the 2006 Asian Games. So Yeon is on the right, He Yong Choi on the left.

She continued her amateur brilliance the following year, leading the Koreans to a mind-boggling 20-stroke win at the Queen Sirikit Cup, an annual match pitting teams of three golfers from various Asian countries against one another.  She also won the individual title there by six shots.

Turning Pro

The time was ripe for So Yeon to turn pro and join the KLPGA, and she did this in 2008.  Once she got there, she ran into the buzzsaw of her friend Jiyai Shin, who had in the meantime taken over the tour and dominated in the two previous years.  So Yeon made her presence felt by winning her very first event as a tour member.  But just a few months later, she went toe to toe against Shin at the year’s biggest event, the Korea Woman’s Open.  Ryu led by four with nine holes to play, but the Final Round Queen (as Shin is known) caught her by the 17^th hole and ended up beating her in a three-hole playoff.  Amazingly, Ryu would not win the Korea Women’s Open, or any Major on the Korean tour, until 2020, when she played it during the time she was staying home because of Covid.  She was so grateful she won that she gave her entire check away to charity.  But this was not so unusual for her; doing things for others is another hallmark of her personal style.

So Yeon during the 2008 Korea Women’s Open

As good as Ryu was all year, she ended up losing the 2008 Rookie of the Year to He Yong Choi, a teammate who had won the individual bronze medal at the Asian Games.  They had repeatedly run into each other all year, and the decisive moment in their rivalry came when they played the year’s third Major, the KB Star Championship. Ryu made an illegal drop and was DQed.  Choi would end up finishing second to Shin just like Ryu had earlier in the year.  But it was enough for her to edge ahead of So Yeon for the Rookie crown.  Like the Open playoff loss, it was another near miss for the smiling star.

But the rivalry with Choi was settled once and for all in their second year on tour, 2009.  They met in the finals of the Match Play, and a better script could not have been written.  They duked it out all day, ending up tied in regulation, then played a grueling NINE playoff holes before So Yeon finally put the stubborn Choi away and got the title.  The match had taken 7 hours and 11 minutes, and it was the second match they played that day.  That was pretty much it for Choi; her star faded after that while So Yeon blossomed. Ryu would go on to win four total events in 2009 and finished second on the money list.

So Yeon Ryu with her hard earned trophy for the 2009 Doosan Match Play

But Ryu still wasn’t the top gun.  Shin had left for the US, but in her place was a new rival: the beautiful Hee Kyung Seo, whose nickname was ‘The Fashion Model of the Fairway’.  Seo had won six times in 2008 but still lost the Player of the Year award to the unstoppable Shin, who had won seven times.  But now that Shin was gone it was Seo’s turn to emerge, and she won five times in 2009 to claim all the top hardware.  The next season, she would win an LPGA event and would go to the States in 2011. But in 2009, she was numero uno and So Yeon was numero dos.

Interestingly, Seo and Ryu met in a playoff at the 2010 China Ladies Open, the first event of that year.  Ryu won in three playoff holes.  It would not be the last time the two would meet in a playoff that lasted for three holes.

The popular Hee Kyung Seo (left) and So Yeon Ryu (right) performed a dance number at the 2009 KLPGA Awards show

But after that, So Yeon had her first serious slump.  The China win was her only one of 2010, and she would not win again on the KLPGA until the middle of 2011.  Part of the reason was that she was in college now and was studying and taking classes while playing on tour.  Feeling positive after her first win in a year and a half, she journeyed to Colorado to play in her second career US Women’s Open.  It would change her life.

The LPGA Years

The 2011 US Women’s Open at the Broadmoor was plagued with bad weather and frequent delays.  They could not finish all the golf by Sunday night and continued playing on Monday morning.  So Yeon was somewhere in the middle of the pack after two days, but, playing nearly two full rounds on Sunday, she made a big move.  By the time night fell with three holes to play, So Yeon had moved to within one of the lead.  The leader?  Her old rival Hee Kyung Seo.

Seo had had a chance to put the event away Sunday evening, but she began to hurry her play, running down fairways in the hopes of finishing before night fell.  As a result, she made a sloppy par miss on the par 5 17^th.  Still, she had the lead as night fell, and it looked unlikely that anyone would catch her.

So Yeon meets the press after finishing her Sunday play at the 2011 US Women’s Open

On Monday morning, So Yeon had three more holes to play.  She made par on the first with a gutsy up and down, then just missed birdie on the par-5 17^th.  She needed to birdie the final hole to force a playoff.  With bells tolling in the distance, she hit her approach to within five feet and drained the greatest putt of her life.  There would be a playoff and a second battle with an archrival for a big tournament.  But this time it was the biggest tournament of them all.

It was not even close.  Ryu birdied 17, Seo bogied, and to put icing on it, Ryu hit a great approach on 18 and made birdie there, too.  In just her second try at the Open, not even 21 years old, So Yeon Ryu was a Major winner.  For the second time in 18 months, she had won a three-hole playoff against Seo.

So Yeon Ryu with her US Women’s Open trophy

Ryu decided to take the plunge and join the LPGA in 2012 while continuing her college work remotely.  It took her no time at all to establish her credentials.  In her first event, the Australian Women’s Open, she had a short putt to win but missed it and ended up losing a six-way playoff (Seo was also a loser in that playoff).  But though she didn’t win, she put together top ten after top ten and by the early summer was dominating the Rookie race.  She ended up with a phenomenal 16 top tens for the year, 12 of which were top fives.  She had missed the Rookie crown in Korea, but nothing was going to stop her from getting it on the LPGA.  She beat second place Lexi Thompson by over 600 points and was 1000 points ahead of the third place rookie.

She finished some other business in her one win that year.  At the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic, she was tied for the third-round lead with Jiyai Shin, Seo and IK Kim.  Two of her big rivals at once.  But she shot a final round 62 and blew them off the course by seven strokes.

So Yeon’s one win in 2012 came at the Toledo Classic, a popular spot for Korean winners.

She continued her brilliance in 2013 and 2014, although wins were hard to come by.  She had 10 top tens in 2013 including top fives in three Majors, many of which were behind the unstoppable Inbee Park, who won three Majors that year.  No hard feelings, though: she and Inbee would end up becoming the best of friends. But her luck was typified by her appearance on the KLPGA at the Hanwha Classic, her sponsor’s event.  Leading by six with ten to play, she watched as new KLPGA star Sei Young Kim holed out TWICE, caught her and beat her in a playoff.

In 2014, she had fifteen top tens, ten of which were top fives.  She finally got her third career win at the Canadian Women’s Open.  But after that, she had two more years of great golf and amazing consistency but no wins.  She missed almost no cuts for years and notched double digit top tens year after year.  But LPGA wins continued to elude her for the most part.

So Yeon in 2015

Rising to the Top

While So Yeon spent these years as one of the best players on tour, she also became universally beloved by almost everyone she met.  Fans, sponsors, and fellow players all considered her one of the nicest and classiest people on the LPGA.  When watching Ryu and Seo at the 2011 US Women’s Open, the commentators over and over repeated how classy the two seemed in the face of all that pressure, even happily posing for photos with fans while they waited for their playoff to begin.  The media loved her, too.  In one notorious case, a Korean golf magazine featured a glamorous photo of her with the caption ‘The Perfect Woman’.  She might have blushed uncontrollably had anyone called her that, but it was hard to argue against the sentiment.

The Perfect Woman

So Yeon Ryu, ‘The Perfect Woman’, from the above magazine

As if to burnish her claim to perfection, she took up ballet at around this time.  If there was one person on tour who did not need to become even more graceful, it was So Yeon, but she really loved her new hobby. 

Even the commissioner of the tour, Mike Whan, had nothing but great things to say. On his retirement, he gushed about her: “I wish So-yeon was my daughter.  I wish I could take credit for someone who’s that well-rounded and that respectful,” said Whan, who has three children. “She gets a lot of respect on tour because she gives a lot of respect on tour. If I had to put a face and a name to the LPGA in my 11 years, So-yeon would be close to the top of the list, if not at the top.”

Her fellow tour members honored her by voting in 2017 to give her the William and Mousie Powell award, awarded every year to the player who best exemplifies the spirit of the LPGA.  She was the first Korean to be so honored.

Meanwhile, So Yeon was getting frustrated by her inability to get more wins on tour and by the fact that she missed her chance to qualify for the Olympic team in 2016.  With the sheer number of top fives she was achieving, she should probably have won two to three times as often as she did.  So, in 2016 she started working with a new coach to gain distance and generally improve her already amazing swing.

Her hard work paid dividends in 2017, the best year of her career.  She started the year with eight straight top tens, but the most dramatic moment came at the year’s first Major, the ANA Inspiration.  Once again, she was in contention, and once again an old rival stood in her way.  This time it was Lexi Thompson, whom Ryu had beaten decisively for Rookie of the Year in 2012.  Thompson established a lead on the final day, and the American fans were heavily rooting for her to win.  But then a TV viewer called in to say that they had seen Thompson clearly violate a rule on Saturday: she had picked her ball up off the green and immediately replaced it noticeably away from where it had been before.  The LPGA went into panic mode.  They could not allow Thompson to get away with this infraction, because it would taint her likely win if it came to light later that they knew and did nothing.  But the penalty for signing an incorrect scorecard (which she had done Saturday because her infraction would add two shots to the score) was disqualification, and if they DQed the popular player on live TV while she was in the lead, there would have been an uproar.  So they chickened out and made a compromise which pleased no one: they gave her a four-shot penalty, two for the infraction and two for not including it in her Saturday score.  So as a result, she fell back behind the second-place player, who was none other than So Yeon.

The remaining few holes showed some of the ugliest fan behavior I have ever seen at an LPGA event, as many in the gallery tried to throw So Yeon off her game, even openly cheering when she hit a bad shot at one point.  But the Perfect Woman kept her composure like the classy person she is.  If she were saddened or angered, she has never let it be known.  Eventually there was a playoff which So Yeon won.  The crowd gave her a long cheer despite their disappointment.  It was her second and final Major win, and even though forever after all anyone ever talked about was Thompson and how she was ‘robbed’ of the win (a ludicrous assessment given that she was not DQed like she should have been), it was actually the amazing display of sportsmanship and grit by So Yeon Ryu that saved the event from becoming a farce.

So Yeon won the ANA Inspiration in 2017

So Yeon continued to excel all year.  For the first time she earned a second win in a single year in Arkansas, thanks to a second-round 61, her career best score.  She finished second on the money list behind Sung Hyun Park, and for the only time ascended to the #1 ranking in the world, which she held for 19 weeks.  She also co-shared Player of the Year with Park.  At last, So Yeon was out from the shadows of friends like Inbee Park and getting the respect she deserved.

She had one more world class season in 2018.  She came agonizingly close to earning her third Major at the KPMG.  Once again she had a confrontation with an old rival, this time co-Player of the Year Sung Hyun Park.  Paired with Park, she sank a birdie on the 16^th hole to take a two-shot lead with just two holes to go.  But on the next hole, she put her tee shot into the drink and made double bogey.  She would go on to lose a playoff to Park for the title.  One swing cost her the crown.

She earned her final LPGA title at the Meijer Classic shortly before the KPMG, and promptly gave $100,000 of the purse to charity, because that’s what she does.  She was the first champion to ever give anything to the sponsor’s charity from her winnings.  She also won the Japan Women’s Open, her only JLPGA title.  But the highlight of the year came in the Fall.  She had played on the International Crown team for Korea several times, but despite being prohibitive favorites, they had never been able to win it.  In 2018, however, the Crown was being played in Korea, and the pressure would be on the local girls to win like never before.  Facing the biggest pressure of her career, she teamed with In Gee Chun, Sung Hyun Park and In Kyung Kim to thrill the MASSIVE galleries and collect the title. On the final hole she put the cherry on top by hitting a tough bunker shot to inches for a tap-in and the team’s final points.  She may not have ever played in the Olympics, but this win was a great consolation prize.

Her Final Years

Starting in 2019, So Yeon’s career started a downturn from which she never fully recovered.  She had her career worst number of top tens, just five all year.  Other than a runner-up finish at the US Women’s Open behind Jeongeun Lee6, she had almost nothing to brag about that season.  Then in 2020 the pandemic hit, and So Yeon spent most of the year in Korea playing on the KLPGA.  While there, she won the Korea Women’s Open, amazingly her only career KLPGA Major.  Yup: she gave the entire winnings to charity. Earlier in the year, she had lost in a playoff in Australia at the Vic Open and gave half the winnings from that to help fight wildfires in Australia.  Typical So Yeon.

At long last So Yeon Ryu held the Korea Women’s Open trophy

In 2021 she played full time in America, and though her season had its moments, she was again not able to qualify for the Olympics.  She would never get a chance to represent Korea in the Games, her biggest career regret.  After that, she struggled almost all of the time, not even earning a card to stay on tour for the 2024 season.  Thus, she decided that it was time to call it quits and made the 2024 Chevron Championship her final event.

She did not have a good week in Houston and missed the cut by a lot, but the outpouring of love for her was truly special.  Titleist created a special set of irons for her to use with the engraving ‘So Yeon’s Last Dance’ on them.  She was greeted on the green by many of her friends, who offered her a glass of wine and hugs.  She kept getting approached by players as they finished their rounds.  Atthaya Thitikul gave her a long hug after she finished her day, as did Anna Nordqvist.  And of course, the Korean players she had inspired, like Hae Ran Ryu and Hye Jin Choi, and the ones who had been her friends and rivals like In Gee Chun, also were there to say goodbye.

Legacy

So Yeon finished her career with two Major wins, six total LPGA victories and a 19-week stint as the world’s #1 player.  She also won the Rookie and Player of the Year awards.  In some ways she underperformed: her win to top ten ratio was far less than someone like her pal Inbee Park, who has had 21 wins in her career, roughly three times the number of wins So Yeon had.  But So Yeon was about so much more than the numbers.  She was consistently a friendly, smiling face who worked to make the league better for everyone, while contributing much to charity.  If there was a perfect ambassador for the league in the past decade it was her. It’s hard to even imagine an LPGA without her; that’s how much she has contributed.  She will be much missed!

This week the KLPGA will start its 2024 season in Korea after having played two events outside of the country.  So that means it’s time once again for our annual KLPGA Primer, where we look at the upcoming season and what to expect.

This year the story seems to be about youth and power.  Three young players created one of the most scintillating rookie rivalries in ages last year, and they will be back to challenge for the league’s top spot.  The player who dominated last year will be there to meet them.  And we will see the return of one of the most powerful players in league history, at last freed from a crippling suspension due to a rules violation.  And that’s on top of potential brilliance from a new crop of rookies and several amateur stars who threaten to win professional events in 2024. 

Without further ado, let’s get started!

Those who have left:

This year, a larger than normal contingent of players left the KLPGA to challenge overseas.  So Mi Lee, Yu Jin Sung and Jin Hee Im, all multiple winners on the KLPGA, are going to the LPGA, while Ga Eun Song and Shin Ae Ahn are trying their luck in Japan.

So Mi Lee

So Mi Lee is a five-time KLPGA winner who has played well in several events in the past on the LPGA.  She finished second at LPGA Q-Series, further giving rise to hopes she can challenge for the Rookie of the Year.  As of now, she is 66^th in the world rankings.  So far, her results on the LPGA in 2024 have been mixed.  She finished 16^th at the Drive On Championship, but finished way back at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship, missing the cut by a mile.  And those are the only two LPGA events she has been able to play so far, although she also had a tie for 7^th finish at an LET event in Saudi Arabia in February.

Yu Jin Sung

Yu Jin Sung finished tied for 7^th at the 2023 Q-Series to earn her tour card.  She has come the closest of the three rookies to winning on the LPGA, having lost in a playoff last year at the Lotte Championship in Hawaii.  She had a good season on the KLPGA in 2023; she won the Doosan Match Play early in the year and the S-OIL late, ending up 10^th on the money list.  So far in 2024, she has played two LPGA events, finishing 21^st and 35^th, and also finished 35^th in Saudi Arabia.  Not a bad start to her LPGA career.

Jin Hee Im

Jin Hee Im was the biggest of the Korean stars who won a card in 2023.  She finished second on the KLPGA money list last year, winning four times and earning over a billion won for the year.  But she only barely earned a full tour card at Q-Series, finishing t-17^th.  She missed the cut in the Saudi Arabia LET event and at her first LPGA event, but did much better at the Seri Pak championship, finishing tied for 27^th.  She is currently 46 in the world rankings, the best of the three rookies.

It was surprising to see three stars join the LPGA, but the two who went to Japan were even more surprising.  2021 KLPGA Rookie of the Year Ga Eun Song was one of them.  She won JLPGA Q-School to earn a card to play there but has said she intends to play both tours in 2024.  So far, she has done better in Japan, notching her first top ten last week, while she has somewhat struggled in her first two events on the KLPGA this year.  In 2023, she finished 50^th on the money list with five top ten finishes.

Perhaps the most surprising player to move to Japan is Shin Ae Ahn.  Ahn has been virtually retired the past four years, only rarely playing, but she decided to go to JLPGA Q-School last year and amazingly earned a card.  Even more impressively, she has already achieved a top ten in 2024.  It will be fun to see if she can keep playing well as the year progresses.

The Big Star: Yewon Lee

The player who dominated the KLPGA in 2023 was second-year player Yewon Lee.  She had come into the season having won the KLPGA Rookie of the Year in 2022 but no events.  She changed that quickly, capturing her first win in the very first event she played in Korea in 2023.  She followed that up with two more wins including her first Major at the Hite Cup and earned close to 1.5 billion won for the year, one of the biggest season totals in history.  She also won the Player of the Year and led the league in scoring.

There is no doubt that the 21-year-old Lee is the person to beat this year on tour, and as if to prove it, she won the KLPGA’s second event this year, the Blue Canyon Ladies Championship in Thailand, which is also the most recent official event played.  She is also the highest ranked player on the KLPGA, 31^st in the world, which makes her the fifth highest ranked Korean overall.

Lee can basically do it all.  She has the best short game on tour, has a great mind, is an excellent putter, and is great tee-to-green.  About the only thing she doesn’t have going for her is length off the tee; she’s a little over average in the league in that statistic.  She has said she is very interested in playing Majors on the LPGA this year to test her game, so it’s possible that being distracted by that might make her easier to challenge for full-time KLPGAers.  But without question, anyone challenging her for any top prizes will have to bring their A-Game.

The Powerpuff Girls: Min Byeol Kim, Youmin Hwang, Shin Sil Bang

Other than Lee, the most electrifying story on the KLPGA in 2023 was the emergence of three young, super talented, long hitting teens in the rookie class.  Their names are Min Byeol Kim, Youmin Hwang and Shin Sil Bang.  They duked it out for top honors all year, and all three promise to be among the best in the league in 2024.

Min Byeol Kim: Min Star, the cool collected athlete

After a ferocious battle for top Rookie honors, it was Min Byeol Kim who emerged as the Rookie of the Year.  Interestingly, she was the only one of the three players who did not manage a win in 2023, so she will most definitely be looking to rectify that quickly in 2024.  Kim, who turned 20 in January, is a long hitter with an excellent all-around game.  But her biggest strength is between her ears; everyone is impressed by how she refuses to get ruffled no matter how much pressure she is under.  She had three runner-up finishes in 2023, including at the Korea Women’s Open, but her most important one came at the hands of her arch-rival Hwang, who beat her in a playoff.  Kim’s consistency earned her 745 million won in 2023, 6^th on the money list, with 12 total top tens; both of those were the most of the three.  She is currently 52^nd in the world rankings.

She ended last year by teaming with Hwang at the Simone Cup, an event featuring teams of two players from the same country battling it out with teams from other countries.  Kim and Hwang finished tied for 2^nd in the team event, with Kim finishing solo third individually. 

That was great, but so far in 2024 she has started slowly.  She was tied for 27^th and tied for 47^th in her two starts, plus a tie for 23^rd in Saudi Arabia.  But with her talent and athletic prowess it should only be a matter of time before she gets back in the hunt for trophies again.  Look for her to be one of the top players in 2024.

Youmin Hwang: The Assault Leader

Last year, Youmin Hwang was the second longest hitter on the KLPGA tour.  She can flat out bomb it.  This is all the more amazing in that she is a relatively slight player for a long hitter.  Her aggressive play has earned her the nickname ‘Assault Leader’ and made her one of the most popular players on tour.  In fact, she finished second in fan voting last year for the Most Popular award.

Hwang is slightly older than Kim and generally finished slightly behind Kim in most of the stats last year.  For instance, she earned 655 million won last year and finished 11^th on the money list, both behind Kim.  But she also had the win over Kim in a playoff, which was her only win so far of her career.  She finished second in the Rookie race and will doubtless be a star going forward.

We already mentioned her success at the Simone Cup with Kim; she also finished tied for 8^th in the individual standings.  But she has done better than Kim so far in 2024.  She finished tied for 12^th and tied for 4^th in the two events she played.  She also teamed with So Young Lee to win an unofficial team event last week while representing her sponsor Lotte.  They had won this same event last year.  So she is coming into the year on a high.

Hwang has said that she intends to go to LPGA Q-Series at the end of the year.  She also hopes to play occasionally in Majors and other LPGA events when she can.  She is currently ranked 62^nd in the world, so if she can keep her ranking up, she should qualify to play a few big events later this year.

Shin Sil Bang: The Biggest Bomber of them All

The only player who was a longer hitter than Youmin Hwang last year was her fellow rookie Shin Sil Bang, who compiled one of the longest driving averages in tour history.  Bang is younger than either Kim or Hwang and started 2023 without full status on tour, but she won in May to grab a full card and went on to have a sensational season.  She garnered two wins, including one where she outlasted Hwang, and earned nine total top tens.  She finished 9^th on the money list, earning 694 million won.

Bang has already gotten out to a great start in 2024.  She barely lost the Singapore Open by a shot, and led much of the week at the Blue Bay Championship before a couple of big mistakes caused her to slip to a tie for 4^th.  She is currently 3^rd on the money list and has risen to 36^th in the world rankings, higher than her two rivals.

Bang’s extraordinary length has made her a big fan favorite on the KLPGA.  Like Hwang, she has talked about possibly going to LPGA Q-Series in the Fall.  But given how well she has played already in 2024, she will probably be challenging for all the top prizes on the KLPGA first.

The Return of Ina Yoon

Adding a great element of intrigue this year is the return of a player who quite possibly is the only one who can outhit even the vaunted Bang.  We say ‘possibly’, because they have not competed against one another on the KLPGA yet: Ina has not played on the KLPGA since July, 2022, before Bang was on tour.

Back then, Yoon was on her way to becoming a phenomenon, duking it out with Yewon Lee for the Rookie of the Year.  She was so ridiculously long off the tee that she was frequently giving herself only the shortest of wedges in as second shots; and even when she hit a drive offline into the forest, she was able to carve her way out and get to the green.  She had the best Greens in Regulation average that year, largely thanks to her length.

But in July, Ina revealed that she had cheated by playing a wrong ball at one tournament and not reporting in time, and the KLPGA responded by suspending her for three years.  She was forced to go to America to hone her game by playing in a minor league MEN’S tour; and she often finished in the top five there. 

Finally, after months of discussions with the tour, they agreed to reduce her sentence to 1 and a half years.  Her penalty officially ended March 20^th, too late to play in the previous KLPGA events, but just in time for the domestic opener this year.  She has said she intends to play, and the hype machine is going into overdrive.  How close to her best will she be?  Will she require a lot of time to get back to form?  How will the fans and other players treat her?  And most of all, who is longer, Yoon or Bang?

We have a few indications of her current readiness.  She played at the Vic Open in February, where she finished tied for 11^th.  A couple of weeks ago, she played in a special team event teaming pros who had attended the same college.  Pairing with rookie Hyun Jo Yoo, she won the team prize and finished second in the individual standings.  So she does seem to be at least somewhat ready to give us a thrill.  If she can be anywhere close to where she was when she was banned in 2022, this most mysterious of X-Factors could set the tour on fire.

The Swing Girls: Hyun Kyung Park, Hee Jeong Lim, Ga Young Lee, Ayean Cho

The four remaining great stars from the rookie class of 2019 (So Mi Lee, the fifth, has moved on to the LPGA) are among the most popular and exciting players on tour.  They were a little overshadowed last year by Yewon Lee and the Powerpuff Girls, but make no mistake, they will get among the biggest galleries in 2024, and several of them are capable of challenging for top prizes on tour.

Hyun Kyung Park: Cutieful Reigns

Hyun Kyung Park has the nickname Cutieful and is hands down the most popular player on tour; the fans made that official by choosing her Most Popular through fan voting last year.  Park is also one of the two or three best putters on tour, which means she is always a threat to win.  But she went a long time over the past few years without getting a win.  Indeed, she had nine second place finishes before she finally got her latest win at last year’s penultimate event, the SK Networks Classic.  Besides the win, she had three runner up finishes, a third and eleven total top tens.  She was 5^th on the money list with 860 million won earned.  Simply put, Hyun Kyung contends a lot, and is always capable of rising to be the top star on tour.

Hee Jeong Lim: the Desert Fox on the Road to Recovery

Once upon a time, Hee Jeong Lim, whose nickname Fennec is a kind of desert fox, was the best of the Swing Girls.  One of the most popular too: she actually beat Cutieful in the fan voting for Most Popular two years running before Hyun Kyung finally beat her last year.  But a car accident in 2022 has affected her consistency, and she has slowly been trying to recover and get back to her best.

In 2023, she was only 28^th on the money list, just 383 million won earned.  She had 7 top tens but no wins and just one second.  She has all the talent, but can she get back to the upper reaches of the tour?  She hasn’t had a top 20 in her first two starts in 2024.  It feels like this will be another tough year for her, but as she puts the accident further in the past, she should eventually get back to being a big star.

Ga Young Lee: Stableford Star

Ga Young Lee does not win very often (in fact just once, at an event featuring Stableford scoring), but she still usually finishes well on the money list and contends a lot.  Last year, she had two runner-up finishes and a third, and made 443 million won, 20^th on the money list.  She will be on leaderboards again in 2024 to be sure, and perhaps will increase her win count.

Ayean Cho: Iron Cho

Ayean Cho has won multiple times over the years, but last year was a real struggle for her.  She was suffering an unknown malady that sucked a lot of the strength out of her.  As a result, her driving distance plunged to worst in the league, barely over 215 yards.  She earned just 140 million won, 67^th on the money list.  There are some signs that she has gotten past this issue, however.  Although she hasn’t had a great result yet in 2024, she has had some great rounds, and has already notched a top 20.  Cho has a very funny and extroverted style of playing and has many fans.  If she can return to her best, she could easily return to being among the top stars on tour.

Other top stars:

Min Ji Park

Before Yewon Lee, there was Min Ji Park.  In 2021 and 2022, Park dominated the KLPGA, winning six times each year, setting the biggest money totals for a season both years and getting Player of the Year as well.  She was a little off her game in 2023, however, although she still had a solid year.  She won twice, earning 651 million won and finishing 12^th on the money list.

Min Ji was thinking about going to LPGA Q-series at the end of 2023.  Indeed, she played two Majors in 2023 and did well in both.  She finished tied for 13^th at the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach, and tied for 20^th at the Evian.  She also managed a tie for 20^th finish at the Salonpas Cup, one of the JLPGA’s Majors.  But despite this, she felt that she was not playing at her best, and so decided to remain on the KLPGA for the time being until she is truly ready to go to the States at the top of her game.  Will she be able to stem the tide of young talent and regain her supremacy?  If anyone can do it, it’s probably her.

Da Yeon Lee

Da Yeon Lee is another star who had serious injury issues in 2022.  In her case, she was forced to take half a year off to recover.  She returned in 2023, and it didn’t take her long to make her presence known.  She won the year’s first KLPGA Major at the KLPGA Championship.  She also won the Hana Bank Championship in the Fall and had seven total top tens.  She earned 729 million won, 8^th on the money list.

She also played at the US Women’s Open at Pebble and finished tied for 53^rd.  At the end of the year, she teamed with So Young Lee at the Simone Cup event.  They didn’t do that well, but Lee finished second in the individual standings, ahead of Min Byeol Kim and behind only world #9 Atthaya Thitikul.

Da Yeon is small in stature but big in heart and should continue to be a top star in 2024.

Su Ji Kim

Most of the KLPGA stars start playing great golf soon after they join the tour, but occasionally someone comes along who is a late bloomer.  Su Ji Kim is such a player.  She turned pro in 2014 but did not make it to the KLPGA until 2017.  It wasn’t until 2021 that she had a truly great season.  She followed that up with more fantastic play in 2022 and 2023.  Last year, she had one win at the Hanwha Classic, one second, three thirds and 11 top tens. She earned 904 million won, fourth on the money list, and got as high as 39^th in the world rankings.

She’s only played one event so far in 2024, finishing 35^th, but there’s every reason to believe she will be one of the top players on the KLPGA again this season.

Ji Young Park

For a while, it looked like Ji Young Park might seriously threaten Yewon Lee for Player of the Year.  She started 2023 well and ended the year with three wins, the same number as Yewon, including a win at the KB Star Championship, one of the KLPGA Majors.  She also had two runner-up finishes and ten total top tens, earning just short of a billion won, 3^rd on the money list.

Park might have fallen short of Lee last year, but she is still capable of challenging for all the hardware in 2024.  So far it’s been a slow start, with a tie for 16^th her best finish, but look for her to improve when she hits home soil.

First Time Winners

Jae Hee Kim

Jae Hee Kim is a popular player known for the wacky short videos and tik-toks she likes to make.  She has been a strong golfer for several years, but wins have eluded her.  But finally, at last year’s S-OIL, it looked like she would break through.  She trailed by one behind Yu Jin Sung going into the final round, but on the rainy final day, she quickly caught Sung and took a strong lead.  Alas, the weather got worse and eventually they canceled the final round, meaning Kim’s lead was canceled and Sung, the third round leader, got the trophy.  It might have been the best thing for Kim, in that she got a huge outpouring of positive comments from old and new fans, trying to cheer her up for the bad break.

Apparently, she used the situation as fuel, for she won the first event of the 2024 KLPGA season, the Singapore Open, to finally break through.  Afterwards, she expressed interest in challenging for Player of the Year in 2024.  Admittedly, that would be an amazing feat given her past history, but she did play brilliantly in that win despite heavy challenges from the likes of Bang and a teenage star we will get to in a minute (not to mention Thai star Patty Tavatanakit).  She finished 23^rd on the money list in 2023, with two runner-up finishes, but perhaps it is now her time to shine?

Ju Young Park

The biggest surprise winner in 2023 was doubtless Ju Young Park.  Park, the younger sister of LPGA star Hee Young Park, and herself a one time LPGA member, has recently gotten married and taken some time off to have her first child.  She has played on the KLPGA since 2010, but in all that time had never won an event.  But that all changed last year when she won the Daebo HausD Open.  It had taken her 279 events before getting her win, the longest wait in the history of the KLPGA.

Rookies to watch

It will be tough to top the brilliant rookie class of 2023, but there are some promising new players to watch in 2024.

Hyun Jo Yoo

Hyun Jo Yoo is a long hitting teenager with an infectious smile and a killer game.  She is the rookie who has received the most pre-season attention from the press.  The rumor is that she hits it around as far as Ina Yoon and Shin Sil Bang, which could make for even more firepower from the tee this year.  She also has some results to back up the hype.  She was on the Korean team for the Asian Games, a quadrennial event much like the Olympics but featuring just Asian teams.  Although most of the other top teams had pros and Korea just had amateur teens, they still won the silver medal for their team while Yoo won the bronze in the individual standings (she poses with her medals above!).

She also played on the 2023 Queen Sirikit Cup team for Korea.  Korea won the gold medal for team and Yoo won silver in the individual competition.

Yoo turned pro and finished 5^th at KLPGA Q-School to earn a full card for 2024.  All eyes are on her to see if she becomes the latest long-hitting teen to make a splash on tour.

Ji Yu Lim

Ji Yu Lim was another teen who played on the medal winning Korean Asian Games team.  She finished 10^th at Q-School and is another national team member with a strong amateur record.

Dong Eun Lee

Dong Eun Lee has a unique pedigree: it is believed that she is the first KLPGA player where both of her parents are former professional golfers.  Although her record has not been as impressive as Lim or Yoo, she is an aggressive player with a lot of star quality, and many predict she will soon be a star on the KLPGA as well.

Besides the Rookies, there are several even younger amateur players who have already contended on the KLPGA and might get a win before their 18^th birthday.

Min Sol Kim

Min Sol Kim, 17, is yet another long hitter with one of the most impressive swings you will ever see.  She has been making noise ever since joining the national team at the start of last year.  She has almost too many impressive results to name, but among them are a second place at the 2023 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship.  A few months later she nearly won the Korea Women’s Open, the most important pro event in Korea, finishing fourth.  She had two other top tens on the KLPGA as well.

She was part of the winning team at the Queen Sirikit Cup and the silver medal team at the Asian Games (she finished 6^th in the individual standings as well).  She also led the Koreans to a win at the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship aka the Espirito Santo Trophy.  As if that weren’t enough, she teamed with fellow amateur star Hyo Song Lee to finish tied for second in the team competition (and tied 4^th in the individual competition) at the Simone Cup in December.  Whew!

She’s been a bit quieter so far in 2024.  She is currently ranked 3^rd in the world in amateur golf, the highest ranked Asian at the moment.  She finished 5^th at this year’s Asia Pacific Championship but skipped the Queen Sirikit event.  Expect to see her a lot in the coming months as she continues to excel and possibly win more amateur and pro events.

Soomin Oh

Soomin Oh, 15, has burst onto the scene in the past year and quickly established herself as another ultra long hitter with limitless prospects.  Oh played at this year’s Singapore Open, frequently outdriving long hitting Thai Tavatanakit and even keeping up with Shin Sil Bang.  After three rounds, she stunned the field by taking a three shot lead.  Had she won, she would have been the fourth youngest winner in KLPGA history.  Alas, she struggled on Sunday and fell to 3^rd, but absolutely everyone was amazed by the phenomenal brilliance of her week.

Even last year she was making waves, starting with a 9^th place finish at the KLPGA’s Kyochon 1991 Ladies Open, later adding two more top 20s in other KLPGA events.  She added a third place at the World Junior Girls Championship.

A few weeks ago, she led the Koreans to a crushing come from behind win at the 2024 Queen Sirikit Cup.  She shot a final round 65 to win the individual title as well.

Hyo Song Lee

Hyo Song Lee, 15, is yet another young player with a gaudy list of accomplishments.  She is not a long hitter like the other two amateur stars we’ve mentioned, but she has an all around game that has her being compared to Inbee Park and Jin Young Ko.  She has won the last two Korea Women’s Amateurs, the first as a 13-year-old.  Last year’s win was a 9-shot victory after she shot a final round 62, the lowest score in the history of the event.  Now on the national team, she has already represented the team several times, getting a third and a second in the past two Asia Pacific Championships, playing on the 2023 and 2024 Queen Sirikit Cup teams (both wins for Korea); the Asian Games (where Korea won a silver team medal); and the Espirito Santo Cup, which Korea also won.

She also joined with Min Sol Kim to finish second at the Simone Cup in December, facing mostly professionals.  She managed a tie for 4^th in the individual standings as well.

The fun starts on the KLPGA in Korea next week; it ought to be an amazing season!

Rookie of the Year

And the winner is: Min Byeol Kim

This award was the hardest to decide of all the awards in this review.  The KLPGA was blessed with three amazing young rookies, all of whom did electrifying things during the year.  Meanwhile, Hae Ran Ryu won the LPGA Rookie of the Year award for the Koreans for the first time since 2019.  I ended up choosing Min Byeol Kim, the winner of the KLPGA’s Rookie of the Year award, as my choice for the SeoulSisters Rookie of the Year Award.

Interestingly, of the four top prospects for this award (the other two being Youmin Hwang and Shin Sil Bang, both on the KLPGA), Kim is the only one who did not win a tournament in 2023.  But from the start of the year to the end, she consistently put herself in the hunt, in the end accumulating the second highest rookie point total in KLPGA history, an especially amazing feat considering she did not win.

Her stats were impressive.  She ripped off top tens in three of her first four events.  She collected 12 total top tens during the season, one of the highest totals on tour.  Besides her rookie win, she also finished 6^th on the money list with over 745 million won earned, and 10^th in scoring average.  She had three runner up finishes, two of which ended in playoffs.  The first came at the Korea Women’s Open, the biggest event of the year.  She contended with Da Som Ma and Ji Won Hong all day, but as they reached the final hole, they were tied with the lead with Kim one back.  But after they both missed birdies to win, Kim drilled a ten-foot birdie to catch them and force the three-way playoff.  It was the putt of her life and she delivered.

Alas, Kim putted last on the first playoff hole but missed a birdie try for the win.  On the second hole, Ma hit into trouble and was done.  Kim hit a perfect drive and Hong put herself into an awkward spot off the fairway.  But from there, Hong hit a superlative shot to four feet while Kim ended up about twenty feet away.  Hong made the birdie and Kim had to settle for a runner-up.  But it was still a great performance.

The other playoff pitted Kim against her arch-rival in the rookie race, Youmin Hwang.  Both made clutch putts on the final hole to get into the playoff.  But Hwang hit her approach on the playoff hole close and made birdie to close out her only win of the year.

In addition to the three seconds, she had two thirds and two fourths as well.  After the season, she teamed with Youmin Hwang at the Simone Cup to finish second in the team competition; she also finished third in the individual standings.  From the first event of the year to the last, she was a presence on leaderboards, and so earned the SeoulSisters Rookie of the Year award.

Other nominees:

Hae Ran Ryu

Hae Ran Ryu, as mentioned above, won the LPGA’s Rookie of the Year award.  She had to deal with tougher competition and far more travel than the KLPGA rookies.  And she won a tournament, the Northwest Arkansas Championship.  She finished 15^th on the money list with $1.555 million earned.  She also finished 16^th in Player of the Year points.  She managed 6 top tens, including the win, a solo third and a solo fourth.

It was a really good season, but she was not overall as consistent as Kim was.

Youmin Hwang

Youmin Hwang finished second in the KLPGA rookie standings behind Kim.  She did manage one win, and it came against Kim, so that certainly was a big point in her favor.  Her scoring average was 13^th in the league, her earnings 655 million won, 11^th on the money list.  She had 8 total top tens: a win, a second, two thirds and a fourth.  She finished the year ranked 59^th in the world, compared to 49^th for Kim.  And she finished tied for 7^th at the Simone Cup and teamed with Kim to finish second in the team standings.

No doubt it was a great year for Hwang.  But other than the fact she won and Kim didn’t, Kim exceeded her in pretty much every other significant statistic all year.  It should be incredibly exciting to watch Hwang’s progress next year!

Shin Sil Bang

Shin Sil Bang finished third in the rookie standings, albeit quite a bit behind the top two.  She was less consistent than either Hwang or Kim but was the only rookie to manage two wins.  She also started the year without full status on tour and had to earn that with her first win before she was able to play all the events her main rivals could play.  She is also the youngest of the four rookies, just 18 at the start of the year.

Bang became famous for her prodigious length off the tee.  Hwang was second in the league in driving distance, but even she couldn’t hang with Bang when Shin Sil cranked one.  Bang finished the year 54^th in the world rankings, ahead of Hwang but behind Kim.

Her first win came at the E1 Charity Open as discussed in the Best Breakthrough category.  After that she cooled down for a while, but later in the season she had another great run, culminating in a second win at the year’s only Stableford scoring event, the Dongboo Consul.  She had nine total top tens, including two wins, three fourths and a third.  She was 9^th on the money list, behind Kim but ahead of Hwang, with 694 million won earned.  She was 8^th in Player of the Year points and 17^th in scoring average.  But she also missed 7 cuts, far more than her main rivals.

These are all fantastic stats, but like with Hwang, other than the fact that she won twice, she was behind Kim in pretty much every other important stat (other than driving distance, of course). 

Most Improved Player

And the winner is: Jin Hee Im

Jin Hee Im had a good 2022 season, grabbing a win and 8 top tens en route to a 14^th place finish on the money list.  But she far exceeded that in 2023.  She had her first season with multiple wins, managing four, the most anyone achieved this year.  Included in this stat was her win at the year’s final event, the SK Shieldus Championship.  She also had a runner up finish and 13 total top tens.  This allowed her to break a billion won in earnings for the first time in her career, more than doubling her money total from 2022.  She also earned an LPGA tour card, meaning we will be seeing her over here in 2024.  And soon: she said she intended to play in the earliest event she qualifies for, meaning we might see her in January or February at a time when most Korean golfers are still in Korea.

Other nominees:

Yewon Lee

Yewon Lee had a great rookie year in 2022, but she utterly topped it in 2023.  She was not able to get a win in 2022 but won three official events and a special year ending limited field tournament as well.  She also broke a billion won in a season for the first time in her career, leading the money list.

Ju Young Park

Ju Young Park had the second biggest increase in money on the KLPGA from 2022 to 2023.  Thanks to her first career win (see It’s About Time for details), Ju Young increased her earnings by 760% from 2022.  Of course, at least part of that increase came from her taking time off to have her first child, so the improvement was probably not quite as impressive as it looks.

Player of the Year

And the winner is: Yewon Lee

Yewon started 2023 with a win and ended it with an unofficial win.  In between, she got two more wins, including her first Major, and dominated the KLPGA in almost every important statistical category.  Hands down, she deserves our Player of the Year award.

As mentioned above, Yewon had a fantastic rookie season, but one thing she was not able to do was win.  There was some concern as to how much it would distract her in 2023 trying to get that monkey off her back.  She needn’t have worried.  At the first event she played in Korea in 2023 she easily won, and from there she pretty much dominated the rest of the season, only occasionally being challenged by Ji Young Park and Jin Hee Im.

She won her second event, the Doosan We’ve Championship, in August, and followed that with her first Major win at the Hite Cup in October.  She had 13 total top tens, including 4 seconds and a third.  Two of those second place finishes came at other Majors.  She earned 1.424 billion won, first on the money list and second in the all-time season earnings behind only Min Ji Park.  She won the Player of the Year award and led the league in scoring as well.  About the only major award she didn’t win was Most Wins, where she finished second to Jin Hee Im.  Lee finished the year ranked 33^rd in the world, just a spot behind Min Ji Park.

She ended her year with a bang, winning the Wemix Championship, a special year-ending event that only 20 players qualified for.  The prize money was paid in crypto-currency, and though it was supposed to be worth around 200 million won, by the time the event happened its value had risen to 600 million won, and just a few weeks later it was worth over a billion won.  She sold the tokens in the New Year, when they were worth about 800 million won. So, she managed in that one event to earn more money than she had in her three regular season wins.

After her amazing year, it is clear she is now the new top gun on tour.  And thus, deserving of our Player of the Year accolade.

Other nominees:

Jin Young Ko

Jin Young Ko was the only Korean to win more than once on the LPGA this year.  She grabbed wins at the HSBC Championship and the Founders Cup.

But besides those two wins, it wasn’t that great a year for Jin Young, especially by her lofty standards.  She almost added a third win at the Canadian Women’s Open but lost in a playoff to Meghan Kang.  She had a few other top tens early, including a t-9^th at the year’s first Major.  She was able to stay #1 in the world long enough to break the all-time record (once held by Lorena Ochoa) for most weeks at the top.  But she only had six top tens all year, and a knee injury sidelined her at the CME Tour Championship.  So, she just wasn’t playing at the same level as Lee this season.

Amy Yang

Amy had a strong season in 2023 which included a huge win at the year-ending CME Tour Championship.  Thanks largely to that win, she became one of the few Koreans to ever break $3 million earned in a year, finishing second on the money list.  She contended at the British Open, finishing t-4^th, and the Chevron, where she also finished t-4^th.  She had an additional 3^rd and a 4^th as well, and five total top tens.  Her year was among the strongest ever by a Korean in her thirties, but even so, it was not as good as Yewon’s dominance.

Jiyai Shin

Jiyai Shin had a great year in Japan, finishing third on the money list and winning twice.  But it was outside of Japan that she really made noise in 2023.  She finished tied for second at the US Women’s Open and third at the British Women’s Open.  She also contended in Australia, finishing tied for third at the Women’s Australian Open in November.  She also managed a tie for 5^th at the BMW Championship in Korea and a t-4^th at the Toto Classic in Japan.

Jin Hee Im

As mentioned in Most Improved Player, Im won four times on the KLPGA in 2023 and earned over a billion won, finishing second on the money list.  As impressive as all that is, of course, it’s still not as strong as Yewon’s season.  But she still deserves a mention for her fantastic year.

Best Amateur

And the winner is: Min Sol Kim

16-year-old Min Sol Kim has had a fantastic year in golf.  Already one of the best amateurs in the world, she finished the year ranked third in the world in amateur women’s golf, the highest of anyone in Asia.

Min Sol’s great year started at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship in March.  The event featured some of the best female amateur golfers from Asia and the Pacific Rim.  Kim immediately made an impact, taking the lead in the second round.  Alas, she struggled in round 3, but still managed a solo second behind Thai teen star Eila Galitsky.

A few months later, she contended at the Korea Women’s Open, finishing tied for 4^th, three out of the lead.  She also notched a t-9^th finish at the Doosan E&C We’ve Championship and a tie for 5^th at the OK Financial Group Open.

Min Sol wins low amateur at the OK Financial event

She continued to excel in amateur tournaments as well.  She led the Korean team – including Kyo Rim Seo and Hyun Jo Yoo – to a 5-shot victory at the Queen Sirikit Cup in May.  This is a team event that pits teams of three golfers from different Asian and Pacific Rim countries against one another.  She also was on the Asian Games team, and though they were the only team in the top five with no professionals, they won a silver medal there.

In late October, Min Sol Kim, Kyo Rim Seo and Hyo Song Lee were the Korean team at the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship aka the Espirito Santo Cup, a biennial event much like the Queen Sirikit Cup, except that it features teams from countries all over the world, not just Asia.  Korea had won this event four times in the past, but their last win came in 2016, when the team included future KLPGA stars Hye Jin Choi, Hyun Kyung Park and Min Ji Park.  This year’s Korean amateur squad came out on top again, shooting a 22 under par total to win the gold by four shots over Taiwan.  Kim’s final round 68 and Seo’s 71 made the difference, while in the previous round it had been Lee who had led the team with a 67.  This was also the fourth win for Korea in the past seven editions of this event.

Min Sol and teammates hold the Espirito Santo Cup

Min Sol ended the year by teaming with Lee at the Simone Cup.  Despite being the youngest team in the event and facing mostly pros, their team finished tied for second behind the Thai team that included world #9 Atthaya Thitikul.  Kim also finished tied for 4^th (with her teammate Lee among others) in the individual competition; she made a birdie on the final hole to rise to that level.

Min Sol and Hyo Song Lee with their silver medals at the Simone Cup

I eagerly await having Kim play a few events over here to see what she can do against the top amateurs in the West.

Other nominees: Hyo Song Lee

As mentioned above, 15-year-old Hyo Song Lee has really come on strong in the past two years.  She won the 2022 Korea Women’s Amateur, then repeated as the champion this year in dominating fashion (see ‘Most Dominating Performance’ for more details).  She teamed with Min Sol Kim to win the Espirito Santo trophy (aka the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship) and the runner-up in the team competition at the Simone Cup (and tied for 4^th in the individual standings, beating several players who play full time on the LPGA in the process).  She also played in a few KLPGA events this year, though she didn’t shine in those like Min Sol Kim did.

In fact, although her world ranking is below Kim’s, she is now considered the top Korean amateur.  It will be interesting to see if the girl whose nickname is ‘The Second Inbee Park’ (talk about pressure!) will make a major international splash in 2024.

Best Hot Streak

And the winner is: Jin Seon Han, Hi-One Resort Women’s Open

Going into the final round at this year’s Hi-One Resort Women’s Open on the KLPGA, Jin Seon Han was in contention, one shot back. But she had a ridiculous final round that allowed her to blow out the field by six shots. She had TWO hole outs for eagle, and at least one very lengthy birdie before the second hole out.  This resulted in the best score of the day, a 65, and her only win of the year.

Rookie to Watch in 2024

And the winner is: So Mi Lee

Before I get into the rookies to watch in 2024, a brief review of which rookies I predicted would make noise in 2023.  I said:

“On the KLPGA, the names I’ve heard most about are You Min Hwang and Min Byeol Kim.“  Well, good prediction there, since those two finished second and first respectively in the KLPGA Rookie of the Year race.

I then added:

“But without question, the rookie to watch in 2023 will be Hae Ran Ryu.  Her longtime goal has always been to get to the LPGA, and she has the talent to be a big star, something the LPGA Koreans definitely need. “

Another good call!  Hae Ran won the Rookie of the Year award with one win during the season and most definitely established herself as a top up and coming star on the LPGA.  As mentioned before, she led the league in overall long game (combining her accuracy and distance off the tee).

This year, there were four KLPGA stars who earned LPGA cards at Q-Series, three of them earning full status and one (Jung Min Hong) conditional status.  All four players have won on the KLPGA tour before and have the potential to be breakout stars on the LPGA.  The one who has had the most success playing overseas coming into the season has been So Mi Lee, who has contended a few times on the LPGA, and she very nearly won Q-Series, finishing tied for second, so I’ll call her out as the rookie to watch in 2024.

Lee has apparently spent the last year preparing for this move, so it’s no wonder she did so well at Q-School.  In interviews, she has talked about how hard she is working to prepare every facet of her game for this challenge.  She is a five-time winner on the KLPGA and usually features in the top ten on the money list.  She has played a few LPGA Majors, and though she missed the cut at the Evian this year, she finished tied for 33^rd at Pebble Beach and made the cut at the 2022 US Women’s Open as well.  She has also contended internationally, finishing fifth at the 2022 Lotte Championship in Hawaii and t-4^th at the 2019 BMW Championship when still a rookie.

Lee is an easy going, borderline goofy personality who I think will be able to handle the transition well.  Given her talent, achievements, and motivation I expect her to challenge for and possibly win the Rookie of the Year in 2024.

Other nominees: Hyun Jo Yoo

Among the rookies joining the KLPGA in 2024, one name seems to stand out: Hyun Jo Yoo.  Note that this is not the same golfer as glamour girl Hyun Ju Yoo, who has a very similar name.  Hyun Jo Yoo is a teenager who excelled in the amateur game and is notorious for extreme length off the tee.  Apparently, she was one of the few to challenge Ina Yoon for driving distance when she played an event back when Yoon was still on tour.  The media is writing a lot of articles about her in Korea and seem to have picked her as the rookie to watch in 2024.  I’m still not sure exactly how good she is; she hasn’t had a lot of great performances on the KLPGA so far.  But the potential is certainly there.

Jin Hee Im

Jin Hee Im has gotten better and better the last three years.  In 2023, she won more events (four) than anyone else on the KLPGA tour, including Player of the Year Yewon Lee, who won three.  She is decently long and explosive and seems to be peaking.  My main doubts about her is that she still hasn’t played that many times overseas.  Her lone international event this season was an LET event in Saudi Arabia, and she only finished tied for 53^rd there.  She also didn’t have a convincing Q-Series, finishing tied for 17^th to gain one of the final full cards.

On the other hand, she has six career wins, one more than So Mi Lee, and is higher ranked in the world, currently 40^th.  And she has shown that she can win if she gets into position.  So, I expect she will become a star, although perhaps not the top rookie star for the Sisters.

Yu Jin Sung

Yu Jin Sung has come the closest of the four KLPGA women at Q Series to winning an LPGA event.  At this year’s Lotte Championship, she got into a playoff, but lost to Korean-Australian rookie Grace Kim.  But she hasn’t had any other notable performances in her few overseas excursions, although she did outplay Im at the Saudi event, finishing tied for 35^th.

Sung is surprisingly long off the tee and has three career wins on the KLPGA tour.  She is perhaps the biggest question mark of the three top Korean rookies.  She has the least overall KLPGA experience and least overseas experience.  But she knows how to win – one of her victories came at the Match play event, a notoriously hard tournament to win.  I expect her to have a good year in 2024.

It’s About Time Award

And the winner is: Amy Yang wins in the US

Amy Yang has been a top player on the LPGA most of her 16-year career.  She had four career wins coming into 2023, and though, at 34, it looked like her best years were behind her, she had a surprisingly strong year, contending several times in 2023 without winning.  But Amy had one unusual quirk about her record: all her LPGA wins had come in Asia.  She won the LPGA’s Korean event once and their Thai event three times but had never won LPGA events in the US or Europe despite repeated close calls.

Amy put herself into contention at the year’s final event, the CME Tour Group Championship.  On days two and three she went very low on this easy course and was tied for the lead entering the final day.  She revealed to the press that she was coming back from a rock-climbing injury but felt like she was healthy enough to contend for the win.  But Amy had had a notorious record of underperforming in final rounds and here she was not only looking for her first American win but also the largest first prize money ($2 million) in tour history.

It was a close battle with Japanese star Nasa Hataoka, who had also come close to winning this event in the past without getting the job done.  Hataoka had a one-shot lead when Amy holed out for eagle on the 13^th hole to leapfrog into the lead.  On the 17^th hole, she nearly holed out for eagle again.  Meanwhile, Hataoka missed two nervous short putts.  Suddenly the win was in Yang’s grasp, and she put it away with a brilliant approach on 18 and final birdie to card a 27 under total, the lowest in the history of the event.  At last, after being on tour since 2008, Amy Yang had a win in the States!

It was a popular win.  When she talked to Golf Channel that night, a group of about twenty fans stood behind the interview desk and cheered loudly and chanted her name while Amy spoke.  I have never seen anything like it.  And at 34 years old, she was not only the oldest winner on the LPGA in 2023, she also became the second oldest Korean to ever win, behind only Eun Hee Ji.

She has talked about winning a Major at last; no one has come closer more often without getting one.  Who knows, with the way she’s playing, it might happen!

Other nominees: Yeon Jung Seo and Ju Young Park get first career wins

A weird coincidence happened on the KLPGA in 2023: two longtime players both got their first career wins after more than ten years on tour, both within a few weeks of each other, and both broke the all-time record for longest wait for the first win.

First came the KG Ladies Open at the beginning of September.  Yeon Jung Seo, a journeyman player with ten+ years on tour, found herself with a tenuous lead after the second round.  She played a strong final round and got into a playoff with another player looking for her first win, Seung Hui Ro.  But Ro struggled in the playoff and Seo claimed the win with a par.  She became the player who had the longest wait for her first win in league history: 259 events before the breakthrough.  But she wouldn’t hold that record long.

At the end of the month came the Daebo HausD Open.  Ju Young Park, the younger sister of LPGA player Hee Young Park, had been on the KLPGA on and off since 2008 but had never won.  She got married and took time off to have her first child, and in 2023 was trying to get her game back on track.  In the second round she grabbed a two-shot lead.  But she had a surprisingly easy time in the final round, with no one really getting close, and claimed her maiden victory by four shots.  She had to wait 279 events to get her first win, breaking Seo’s month-old record.

She had always said that she would retire after getting her first win, but needless to say, she intends to keep playing now that she has tasted victory.  Her big sis couldn’t have been prouder and played a few KLPGA events with her after the win.

Shot of the Year

And the Winner is: In Gee Chun hits two aces in two Majors

You could make an argument that 2023 was In Gee Chun’s weakest year since joining the LPGA.  She only managed one top ten all year, and her world ranking fell from near the top ten to outside the top 30 during the season.

But she did have two major highlights that somehow seem fitting for the famously charitable golfer.  At the year’s first Major, the Chevron Championship, In Gee made a hole-in-one on the 17^th hole during round 3.  That in itself is a special memory, but what made it better is that Chevron promised to donate one million dollars to charity if anyone made an ace during the week.  So, thanks to In Gee’s brilliance, a lot of people benefited. 

Even more amazingly, In Gee did it AGAIN at the year’s third Major, the US Women’s Open.  She aced the par 3 5^th hole in the final round, then walked all the way down the hole, high fiving fans all the way.  Has anyone ever had aces in two Majors in the same calendar year?

The crazy thing is, she nearly did it again at the KPMG, with the ball running over the hole and stopping slightly past.  But two aces in two Majors is more than enough!

Other nominees: Jin Young Ko gets into playoff, Founders Cup

Jin Young drained an 18-foot birdie try on the final hole to force a playoff with Minjee Lee.

Amy Yang hole out, CME Group Tour Championship

Amy Yang had a pretty successful 2023 season, putting herself into contention several times.  But wins eluded her until the final event of the LPGA season, the CME Group Tour Championship.  She found herself in a battle for the lead with Nasa Hataoka all day.  When she reached the 13^th hole, she was one shot behind, but hit a brilliant pitch from the fairway that landed two feet past the hole and snapped back into the cup.  This pole-vaulted her into the lead, and she went on from there to secure the title.

Round of the Year

And the winner is: Hae Ran Ryu, final round, NW Arkansas Championship

Hae Ran Ryu was a rookie on the LPGA in 2023.  She had already been a star on the KLPGA, and proved she was a player to watch by earning her LPGA tour card by winning Q-Series in late 2022.  But though she led the Rookie of the Year race much of the year, she had not yet won on tour when she reached the Northwest Arkansas Championship at the end of September, while several other rookies, notably Grace Kim and Rose Zhang, already had. 

Hae Ran put herself into the lead through the first two rounds and was perfectly positioned to finally get that maiden win.  She later would tell the press that she had been too tentative when in this position earlier in the year, and that she was determined to play aggressively on Sunday, win or lose.  She struggled a little on the front nine, but hung in there, and after she made birdie on ten, she executed one strong, focused shot after another.  The best came on the par 5 14^th, one of the best played holes of the year.  She pulverized her drive, then hit an approach with a shortish iron to just a few feet for a virtual tap-in eagle.  Not long after that, she collected her first win.

Before her final round, she discovered when she saw a photo in the clubhouse that Seon Hwa Lee had won the very first edition of this event back in 2008.  Ryu knows the Stone Buddha (as Lee was known) and texted her, saying she saw the photo.  Lee replied that now it was Ryu’s turn to carry on the tradition and get the win.  Seon Hwa’s inspiring words led to that very result!

Most Controversial Moment

And the winner is: The continuing story of Ina Yoon

Last year, one of the biggest new stars on the KLPGA was teen rookie sensation Ina Yoon.  She won an event in July and seemed on her way to superstardom when she revealed that she had played the wrong ball at an event a month earlier and not told anyone about it.  She immediately removed herself from the tour for the rest of the season while she awaited punishment from both the KLPGA and the KGA (the latter had a say because the infraction took place at the Korean Women’s Open, which the KGA runs).  Both bodies suspended her from all events they were involved with for three years, a potentially career-ending punishment and much harsher than she deserved for her crime.

After receiving the punishment in September, 2022, Yoon virtually disappeared from sight.  She did have a fan meeting in December, and a few photos of that were published, but then she completely disappeared from the press and social media.

Apparently, she was offered opportunities to play on other major women’s tours as sponsors invites but turned all of them down to show her sincere desire to rehabilitate and rejoin the KLPGA.  She did, however, go to Winter training early in 2023, and then resurfaced in the most unexpected place imaginable.  She moved to Florida and played on a mini golf tour called, literally, the Minor League Golf Tour.  This is a men’s tour, and she was the only woman, playing from different tees.  She played a number of events there, almost always finishing in the top five, including several runner up finishes.  But she was not able to get a win in her brief time there.  She donated what little money she made to charity.  Even the Korean press did not seem to be aware of what she was doing.

One of the few published photos of Ina Yoon in the past year: she is given an award for donating her prize earnings on the Minor League Golf Tour to girls golf.

In August, Ina returned to Korea and quietly petitioned the KGA for a reduction of her penalty.  She submitted a massive number of fan petitions, over 5000, to bolster her case, and told them about her charity contributions on the minor league tour.  In late September, the KGA announced that they would halve her punishment to 1 and a half years, meaning she would be able to play the Korea Women’s Open in 2024 and 2025.  The announcement generated the most positive media coverage she had gotten in a while; several articles opined that it was time to reduce her sentence, and even Se Ri Pak said that Yoon had served her time and should now return to golf to entertain the fans.

Some of the fan petitions requesting Ina’s reinstatement

But one big obstacle remained: the KLPGA.  She next requested a review of her situation from the tour, submitting even more petitions to them.

But months went by and the KLPGA said nothing.  Finally, they said that they would announce their decision on the 14^th of December.  But on that day, the KLPGA board was not able to come to a decision and delayed the decision another month.  So what exactly is the problem?  Why have they not been able to follow the lead of the KGA and give her a break?  Why is this not a no brainer to let her off at this point?

According to a recent article, there is still a sizable number of fans who don’t want Ina to return.  Even more surprising, according to the article, there was an “informal” poll of 70 KLPGA players around the time the KGA reduced her sentence, asking them if Ina should be allowed back, and NOT A SINGLE ONE said she should come back.

I don’t find either of these reservations compelling.  For one, we don’t know what the poll really asked or how hardcore the resistance of the players is.  There is no doubt that whenever Ina comes back she is going to face challenges from other players and fans.  But did the poll indicate 100% intractable resistance to her return, or was it more of a lightweight leaning towards her not returning yet but nothing they couldn’t be talked out of?  The same could be asked about the fan resistance such as it is.  And of course, the biggest question: if she is punished the full three years, will that make any difference to these attitudes?  In other words, will the same fans or players still not want her back even after that?  Why is an additional year and a half going to make any difference?

Hopefully the KLPGA will do the right thing and reduce her sentence when they get back together in January.  And if they don’t, hopefully Ina will finally realize that waiting for the KLPGA to let her back is a waste of time and she will move on with the next chapter in her life and play on some other tour.

[UPDATE]: On Monday, January 8th, the KLPGA announced that they would reduce Ina Yoon’s penalty from 3 years to 1 and a half years. She will be able to return to action in April, 2024, which means she will be able to play the entire domestic KLPGA season (she will be blocked from playing two earlier events outside of Korea). Fantastic news for the young player!

Other nominees: Yu Jin Sung wins the S-OIL Championship

Yu Jin Sung

The S-OIL Championship took place in early November on the KLPGA.  Yu Jin Sung grabbed a one-shot lead after the first round and fell a shot back after round 2.  In the third round, she fell into a battle with Jae Hee Kim for the lead.  Kim had never won an event before and looked like she would go into the final round with at least a share of the lead, but then Yu Jin holed out for eagle and grabbed a one-shot lead herself.

On Sunday, the weather turned nasty.  Sung plummeted down the leaderboard and out of contention.  Jae Hee Kim, meanwhile, hung tenuously onto the lead, trying to convert her first victory.  But then there was a rain delay.  They resumed but had another delay.  Finally, the KLPGA decided to cancel the final round.  Since Sung had had the lead after the third round (largely thanks to a lucky hole out), she was awarded the win, even though she had been nowhere near the top of the leaderboard on Sunday since the first hole.  Kim had to settle for second.

Jae Hee Kim

Even Yu Jin Sung felt a little embarrassed by how things had turned out, while Jae Hee Kim received well over 500 comments on her Instagram telling her to keep her chin up.  The results started a conversation about possibly a fairer way to settle a tournament result if the final round cannot be completed, especially if most of the action had been finished.  One suggestion was to determine the score at the highest hole that all the players in the field had finished.  It’s doubtful that there will be any changes, but this result surely showed that sometimes a winner doesn’t seem to have earned the win as much as other times.

Biggest Diss

And the winner is: Korean US Women’s Open qualifier discontinued

This year, the USGA decided to discontinue their Korea-based US Women’s Open qualifier.  They still have a specific qualifier for Japanese players in Japan, but they will no longer have one in Korea.  The reason was that they felt that not enough top Korean players were playing the event.

Examining the qualifiers for the 2022 event shows that this is not exactly true.  All four qualifiers were amateurs, but two of them were two of the top amateurs in Korea: Min Sol Kim and Youmin Hwang (who has since turned pro).  Meanwhile, the Japanese players who made it through their qualifier did not contain a single player of note.  It’s frankly hard to understand why the USGA made this move.

This follows a move by the LPGA which has removed KLPGA golfers from participating in the BMW Championship.  Of course, the JLPGA still has full participation in their LPGA sponsored event, the Toto Japan Classic, and this year at that event JLPGA golfers were all over the leaderboard, with one of them winning and earning tour membership for 2024.  With KLPGA players no longer allowed to play their LPGA event, one of the routes to KLPGA stars getting LPGA cards has been removed.  It also reduces the excitement of the event and robs the KLPGA players of a great chance to test themselves against top talent.

Hopefully the USGA and LPGA will reverse course and put the Koreans back in these tournaments.

Happiest News

Weddings and Kids!

Several big stars have gotten married recently.  Both Lydia Ko and Ji Hyun Oh tied the knot at the end of 2022, while Ran Hong got married earlier this year.  In January, Ji Hyun Oh went with her husband, Si Woo Kim, to a PGA event in Hawaii just a few weeks after their wedding, and Kim won!  He credited having Ji Hyun there with helping him to focus on the task at hand.

A few months later, the happy couple attended the Masters and Ji Hyun was allowed to hit a tee shot on one of the par 3s.  Impressively, she got her tee shot closer to the hole than Kim did.  Not so surprising considering her talent, but for those who didn’t know she was a 7-time KLPGA winner, her great swing became a twitter sensation.

Ji Hyun Oh at the Masters; her proud hubby is behind her.

The news kept getting better for the happy couple!  Si Woo Kim earned a full exemption from military service by leading the Korean men’s team to the gold medal at the Asian Games.  Around that same time, Ji Hyun announced that she’s expecting her first child.  Big congrats to them!

Several other stars have had children recently, including Inbee Park, Ju Young Park and Hee Young Park.  Ju Young returned to the KLPGA tour and even got her first career win!  She is only the fourth mother in KLPGA history to get a win.

Goodbyes for now

There were also a few retirements this year.  The most notable was Bo Mee Lee’s. Bo Mee had a great KLPGA record which included a Player of the Year in 2010, but her career really took off when she moved to Japan.  For two years she was the top player on the JLPGA, setting the record in 2015 for most money ever earned in a season on that tour.  Her money total even broke the record for the men’s tour in Japan.  Her fame in Japan was greater than just golf; for a while she appeared on game shows, variety shows and even had a travel show (!). I recall a cartoon featuring her as well. Marrying into K-Drama royalty didn’t hurt her popularity; her husband is the younger brother of superstar Kim Tae Hee and is himself an actor of some fame.

Bo Mee holds a newspaper announcing her retirement; her nickname is Smile Candy.

Her game has not been as strong in the last few years, although she did team with So Yeon Ryu to win the team event at last year’s Simone Cup.  It was time for her to wrap it up, but you can bet we will be seeing her still involved with the game for many years to come.

Her fellow players wore t-shirts for her at her final Japanese event.  Here are some fellow Korean stars from the JLPGA.

Chae Young Yoon, another KLPGA star who played for a time in Japan, also retired.  She earned the nickname ‘8 head’ in Japan owing to her tall lean body, which was as tall as 8 heads stack on top of each other.  Yeah, it’s weird.

Chae Young Yoon at her retirement

Si Won Kim, who originally went by the name Min Sun Kim 5, also announced her retirement.  She played on the KLPGA tour since 2014, winning multiple times along the way.

Clutch Performance of the Year

And the winner is: Korean Team, Asian Games

The Asian Games is a quadrennial event modeled after the Olympic Games, but only featuring teams from Asian countries.  This year the event took place in Hangzhou, China, for two weeks starting in late September.  Like at the Olympics, countries send golf teams to the event, but unlike the Olympics, there are both individual and team medals awarded.  Each country fielded teams of three players, with the top two scores each day counting towards the team total.

The South Korean women’s golf team at the Asian Games. (L to R): Min Sol Kim, Ji Yoo Lim, Hyun Jo Yoo.

In the past, the golf competition has been amateurs only, which has allowed some future superstars to shine.  In 2002, it was soon-to-be Japanese legend Ai Miyazato who won the gold, while four years later, eventual world #1 So Yeon Ryu got the gold as a 16 year old.

However, in 2023, they decided for the first time to allow pros to compete.  The home Chinese sent their top three professionals from the LPGA, including (at the time) world #2 Ruoning Yin.  On the men’s side, several top PGA pros turned up to compete for Korea; for them, the prize was huge.  If the men’s squad won gold, they would all be exempted from two years of military service, which is otherwise mandatory for all Korean men.  With that motivation, the Korean men did in fact win the gold and the exemption, meaning that PGA stars Sung Jae Im and Si Woo Kim will not be required to do military service.

The women have no such impetus to compete, though, so the Korean Golf Association was less successful recruiting pros for the women’s team.  Indeed, none of the pros who were asked on either the KLPGA or LPGA decided to go.  So, the Korean squad was one of the few that had three teenage amateurs on it.  Those amateurs were Min Sol Kim, Hyun Jo Yoo and Ji Yoo Lim.  They faced a huge challenge to even get on the podium for either the team or individual competitions, as many of the remaining teams had at least one top-tier pro.

Min Sol Kim

As if that weren’t enough, the Chinese were ‘very reluctant’ (according to a news article) to allow other teams access to the golf venue before the event, meaning they had an additional advantage of knowing the course better than their rivals.  They weren’t taking any chances, were they?  Anyways, it didn’t get any easier for the Koreans.  There was a cut after two rounds, and one of their team members, Jiyoo Lim, missed it.  That meant that the other two would have their scores count for the next two rounds, good or bad.  There was no margin for error.

After three rounds, India’s LPGA pro Aditi Ashok took a seven-shot lead in the individual race, with Min Sol Kim 12 back at 10 under and Hyun Jo Yoo a shot behind her.  There were just enough people ahead of them that it would take some kind of miracle to get an individual medal; the top three were all pros. Meanwhile, the Koreans were in the top five in team standings, but again would require some kind of special golf to medal there.

But everything went topsy turvy in the final round.  Ashok, who looked unstoppable the first three days, shot a 77 and was caught by Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol for gold.  Thanks to her great day, Thailand also grabbed the gold in the team event.

But the Koreans were uber clutch on the final day and amazingly medaled in both events.  The individual bronze was captured by Hyun Jo Yoo, who followed her third day 66 with a 65 on the final day.  She was the only amateur on the podium in the individual standings.  She and Min Sol Kim also vaulted into second to grab the silver in the team competition, the only team in the top five without a pro on board.  They finished ahead of the all-pro Chinese squad by four shots.  And keep in mind, they only had two players still in the event, since Lim had missed the cut.  Fantastic clutch performance by the teenagers!

Hyun Jo Yoo was the only amateur to win a medal in the individual competition

Other nominees: Jin Young Ko over Minjee Lee, Founders Cup

See Best Korean Confrontation for more details.

Biggest Disappointment

And the “Winner” is: South Korea at the International Crown

The last time the International Crown was contested, South Korea won the event in front of their home country fans.  This was in 2018, and they were set to defend their title in 2022.  But due to scheduling issues, the event did not actually happen until 2023.  It took place in San Francisco, and the squad looked formidable on paper: Jin Young Ko, Hyo Joo Kim, In Gee Chun and Hye Jin Choi (Min Ji Park qualified but bowed out, allowing Choi to play).

But there were problems with this team and the course setup that was chosen this year.  To wit: Korea was the shortest team off the tee, and the course really benefited long hitters.  They also ended up in a bracket with strong teams Japan and Thailand, and even the final team in the bracket, Australia, had some great players, led by Major winner Minjee Lee.

Korea played Australia first, and though in years past this had been one of the easier teams to beat, this time the Sisters lost both matches.  It was probably the worst thing that could have happened to them and made it very difficult for them to even get out of the preliminary bracket, let alone win the whole Cup.  Alas, in the second round they played Thailand, who had three bombers, and once again were blanked.  They now faced the prospect of not even winning a point, which would have been a thorough humiliation for the defending champions.

In Gee Chun

Fortunately, in their third round match it was Korea’s turn to sweep, and they won both matches against Japan, the other shortest team in the competition.  But for the first time in the event’s history, Korea was unable to get into the final four.

(L to R): In Gee Chun, Hye Jin Choi, Jin Young Ko and Hyo Joo Kim

Other nominees: Jin Young Ko loses two playoffs.

Before this season, Jin Young Ko had a perfect record in playoffs on the LPGA.  That came to an end in 2023.  Jin Young came to the Canadian Women’s Open — now called the CPKC Women’s Open — having won two events in 2023, one in a playoff.  She played well and put herself into the hunt on Sunday, where she uncharacteristically made several mistakes when she had a chance to lock up the win.  Megan Khang started the final day with a five-shot lead, but Ko caught her by the turn.  But on the par 5 11^th hole, Ko hit a perfect drive, then a terrible approach that wound up in the woods under a log.  Had she just made a birdie on that hole, or even a par, she would have had the title.  Khang rallied to a three-shot lead, but Ko fought back.  But she again struggled on the 18^th hole, needing to make an 8-foot par save to force a playoff.

OK, it had been tough, but she had made up five shots on Khang and had never lost a playoff, right?  So, this should have played into her hands.  But no, she hit a terrible drive on the playoff hole and allowed Khang to win with a par, a no-no when facing a player who had never won an event before.  It was the first time Jin Young lost a playoff on the LPGA.

A few months later, Ko played in an LET event in Hong Kong.  She got off to a great start, taking the first-round lead with a 65.  She shot a 70 in round 2 and was tied for the lead with China’s Xi Yu Lin.  Things looked good for a title for Jin Young.

Jin Young Ko in Hong Kong

But the third round was canceled due to terrible weather, and the two of them had to play a playoff to determine the winner.  Alas, the only hole she seemed to have trouble on all week was the 18^th, the one where the playoff occurred.  Still, she played all right.  On the second playoff hole, however, Lin sank a ridiculous long putt for birdie to claim the title.  It was perhaps not as sour a loss as the one to Khang, but she did have chances to put the event away in the second round and avoid a playoff. Alas, two late bogies cost her the outright lead and led to the playoff she would lose. 

Most Dominating Performance

And the Winner is: Hyo Song Lee, Korean Women’s Amateur

For the past year or so, the Korean amateur that has seemed like the next superstar has been Min Sol Kim.  Just 16, she was a pivotal part in several Korean teams that won medals in 2023.  But coming like a freight train has been an even younger star who surprised the country by winning the 2022 Korea Women’s Amateur: Hyo Song Lee.  Lee was just 14 when she achieved that, and as a 15-year old in 2023, she successfully defended her title at that event.  Boy, did she!  Entering the final round as one of the leaders, she shot a ridiculous final round 62 to blitz the field.  Her score broke the all-time record for lowest round in the Amateur, previously held by current KLPGA player Seo Yeon Kwon (63).  Her 19 under total was three shots better than the previous record total, held by Hae Ran Ryu.  The next player was 8 shots behind her; she crushed Min Sol Kim by 10 shots.

Since her elementary school days, Lee has had the nickname ‘The Second Inbee Park’.  If she keeps playing like this, people may one day be comparing future stars to Hyo Song Lee!

Most Fashionable

Here is a collection of some of the many interesting outfits worn on the KLPGA in 2023.  I could probably make this three times bigger, but for the sake of our sanity, I kept it brief and chose some of the more offbeat and striking outfits from the season past.

Ayean Cho

Ha Ni Kim

Hee Young Park

Da Been Heo

Hyun Ju Yoo

Hyun Kyung Park

Modeling a Hogwarts-looking sweater

Jae Hee Kim

Ji Hyun Lee 7

Ju Young Park – one of the most unique outfits of the year

Min Byeol Kim

Min Ji Park

She looks like she’s heading to the disco after the round

Min Sun Kim 7

Jeongmin Moon

Ye Been Sohn

So Hyeon Ahn

So Hyun Bae – Another really unusual outfit

Sun Jeong Yeun

Yewon Lee

Hyo Ju You

w/ Yu Jin Sung

It’s the end of the year, and time once again for my annual review of the year in golf for the Korean women golfers.  Each year I collect the most notable events and achievements in a recap I call the Seoul Sister Awards.

2023 was another tough year for Korean woman golfers, especially on the LPGA.  They ended the 2022 season on a historically bad losing streak, and it continued for several more events before Jin Young Ko got her first win in a year at the HSBC Women’s World Championship (indeed, she defended her title at this event).  Having struggled with bad injuries and some of the worst golf of her career in the previous year, she was overcome with emotion when she finally got another win.  She would win a second time not long after, but then the Koreans went into another long winless streak which spanned the Majors and the International Crown.  Fortunately, several Koreans managed to grab wins in the final two months of the year, preventing the season from being historically bad, and four KLPGA stars qualified for the tour at Q-Series, giving hope that 2024 will be an improvement.

Meanwhile, the KLPGA saw two major stories: the rise of second year player Yewon Lee, who won all the big awards on tour, and the arrival of three budding superstar rookies: Min Byeol Kim, Youmin Hwang and Shin Sil Bang, who collected three wins and numerous top tens.  And in amateur golf, several young stars helped the Koreans to have a great year at the biggest amateur events.  So, the future looks bright to say the least.

On with the awards!

Best Start to the Season

And the winner is: Yewon Lee

Yewon Lee had a fantastic rookie season in 2022.  She became the first rookie to ever break 3000 total rookie points in a season, a feat made even more amazing considering she was not able to get a win all year.  Obviously, Lee was a superstar in the making, but hanging over her head was the question: how long would it take for her to finally get her first KLPGA win?

The answer was: not long at all.  At the very first KLPGA event of 2023 and third of the season (the previous two took place in late 2022), The Lotte Rental Car Women’s Open, Lee opened with a 7 under 65 to move into solo second place.  By the end of the second round, she had a five-shot lead and was in the driver’s seat at the rental car sponsored event.  She increased the lead to 6 after three, then found herself in much more of a battle than she expected in the final round.  The lead shrank to two strokes but Yewon made a clutch birdie on 14 to increase the lead to three, which ended up being the final margin.  With her first win already achieved and the monkey off her back instantly, she would go on to have a phenomenal sophomore year.

Biggest Disappearing Act

And the “winner” is: Ayean Cho

After the end of the KLPGA season, there was an article on the Korean web that listed the players who had the worst drops in money earnings from 2022 to 2023.  Atop that list was Ayean Cho, who lost 74% of her earnings year to year.  In 2022, she won twice and earned 521 million won, while she earned just 134 million won in 2023, accumulating just a single top ten.  It’s hard to understand just what happened to the talented Cho this year, although one bad sign was that her driving distance, never her strong point, had plunged to 119^th in the league with a 216 yard average.  By contrast, she was 84^th in the league in 2022 with over 230 yards average.  So there seems to have been some problem with her tee game.

Some of the others listed on that ‘biggest drop’ list were players who, like Cho, had had good 2022 and lesser 2023 seasons, but they had not had as big a drop as Cho did.  Min Ji Park, for instance, was 4^th on the list with a 56% drop, but Park went from six wins in 2022 to 2 in 2023, still a good result.  Hee Jeong Lim, who was 5^th on the list, had injuries from a car accident that limited her action in 2023, and she took some time to recover once she did return.

Other nominees: Ha Na Jang

Ha Na Jang has struggled a lot the past couple of years, but her results were particularly terrible pretty much all year in 2023.  She finished 123^rd out of 123 players who made any money in 2023.  She missed 17 cuts and quit early an additional nine times.  Her best finish was a tie for 56^th.  Most weeks, she not only finished dead last, she was also several shots worse than anyone else in the field.  Her driving distance was a pathetic 211 yards, worst in the league.  But her driving accuracy was no better: 40%, also last in the league.  Her greens in regulation was 34%, and she averaged over 80 strokes much of the year. 

In other words, Jang is not just struggling, she is playing historically bad golf right now.  But she insists that the swing changes she is working on will soon bear fruit and expects to get back on form in 2024.  Let’s hope so!

Best Korean Confrontation

And the winner is: Min Byeol Kim vs. Youmin Hwang, Dayouwinia – MBN Women’s Open

One of the biggest stories on the KLPGA this year was the epic battle for Rookie of the Year between three players: Shin Sil Bang, Youmin Hwang and Min Byeol Kim.  Bang was the first of the three to get a win on tour, and in early July, all three ended up in a showdown at the Dayouwinia MBN Women’s Open. After two rounds, Kim and Hwang were tied for the lead, with Bang two shots back. They all duked it out for the title on Sunday. 

Min Byeol Kim

On Sunday, Bang played brilliantly and, despite missing about five great birdie chances on the back, still shot a 66 and got into the house first at 11 under.  Kim had trouble keeping her drives straight on the front, while Hwang was missing birdies.  But on the back nine they both corrected themselves.  Kim made a clutch birdie on the 17^th, and the two rookies and Jin Seon Han all reached 12 under.  Han finished first at that level, eliminating Bang.

Shin Sil Bang

It all came down to the 18^th hole, and the two rookie stars made the best of it.  Both hit superlative drives, and both got close onto the green.  Hwang went first and made an amazing 15-foot birdie to move to 13 under, eliminating Han.  Next came Kim; faced with a must-make 8-foot putt to tie, she also drained it to force a playoff with her arch-rival Hwang.  Electrifying stuff.  All three rookies shot 66, tied for the best score of the day.  You couldn’t script it any better.

So, the two top rookies now faced each other in a playoff, both looking for their first career win.  The Sunday round would turn out to be the highest rated KLPGA broadcast all year, with the playoff the highest rated part.  Everyone was tuning in to see which of these gifted new stars would take it.

Youmin Hwang

Both hit great drives, but Kim overshot the green on her approach.  Hwang then striped hers to within four feet.  A few minutes later she would claim the title with a birdie.  It was her only win of 2023.  Kim would not manage a win all year but won the war by getting the Rookie of the Year title on points while Hwang finished second.

Youmin Hwang with her trophy

Other nominees: Jin Young Ko vs. Minjee Lee, Cognizant Founders Cup

Jin Young Ko had already won once in 2023 when she arrived at the Founders Cup in mid-May.  She had won this event twice in the past five years, both in odd-numbered years: 2019 and 2021.  And in the first two rounds, it looked like she might take it again, putting herself into the hunt.  But Australian-Korean star Minjee Lee was unstoppable on day three, taking a four-shot lead into the final round.  Jin Young had a lot of work to do to challenge for the title.

Minjee Lee

But on Sunday Minjee quickly stumbled with an early double bogey, and her lead quickly evaporated.  Jin Young took a slight lead, then Minjee rallied and moved to a two-shot lead with three holes to play.  Jin Young struggled on 16 and 17 but got up and down brilliantly to stay in the hunt.  But she was still one back and faced a must make 20-foot birdie on the final hole.  Like a total boss, she drained it.  Playoff time!

Jin Young left herself a longer birdie try on the playoff hole than Minjee and did not make the putt.  But Minjee not only missed the birdie for the win, she blew the ball six feet past and missed the par as well.  Jin Young did not miss again, making the par and claiming the win for the third time in five years.

Jin Young with her second trophy of 2023

Best Breakthrough

And the Winner is: Shin Sil Bang, E1 Charity Open

18-year-old Shin Sil Bang turned pro late in 2022 and went to KLPGA Qualifying School.  She finished far enough back that she only earned limited status on the KLPGA for 2023.  So, when she started her professional career, she was only able to get into some tournaments that had bigger fields.

Her first event of the year was the KLPGA Championship in late April, and she played well, notching a t-4^th finish.  Just a couple of weeks later, she went to another event and finished tied for third.  But she would not be able to improve her tour status unless she won, meaning for the moment she was still only able to appear in occasional events.

It didn’t take much longer for Bang to have her big breakthrough, which came at the E1 Charity Open.  With her big length off the tee (easily the longest on tour), she had quickly become a star, and the crowds rooted her on as she shot a first round 68 to take a share of the lead.  She continued to be tied for the lead after round 2.  On Sunday, she clung onto a one-shot lead most of the day, eventually claiming the win with a final round 70.  With the win, she earned a full tour card enabling her to get into all the remaining fields and would go on to become a big rookie star.

Great Performance that came up short

And the winner is: Jiyai Shin, US Women’s Open and British Women’s Open

Jiyai Shin had a fantastic year on the JLPGA, coming closer than she ever had to winning the money list and Player of the Year titles on that tour.  But her appearances outside of Japan were even more impressive.  In six appearances outside of Japan in 2023, she notched 5 top fives, including at two of the three Majors she played. 

Jiyai Shin with one of her Japanese tour trophies

Her best Major result came early.  At the US Women’s Open in the early summer, played for the first time at world-famous Pebble Beach, Shin found herself near the top of the leaderboard almost immediately.  She was in the top ten after two rounds and was one of the only Korean players to go under par in round 3.  Amazingly, at 35 years of age, she was the Korean closest to the leaders.  She continued to shine in the final round, managing an all-world par save on the 16^th hole after making a 30-foot par putt, and a beautiful birdie on the final hole to move to a tie for second after a 68.

Alas, as well as she played, she was never close enough on the final day to mount a serious charge on Alisen Corpuz, the American who won the top prize.  Corpuz maintained a two – three shot lead over her most of the day, eventually finishing at 9 under for a three-shot victory.

Two months later, Shin was in a similar position at the Women’s British Open.  This time it was Lilia Vu who ran away with the tournament, leaving Shin to play for second.  After rounds of 73-69-69-70, Shin finished a shot behind Charley Hull in third; ironically, she had tied Hull at Pebble in her previous Major run.

The British was a good showing for the Koreans in general, with Hyo Joo Kim and Amy Yang tied for 4^th as well; the entire event could be considered a “Great Performance that Came Up Short” for the Sisters, with three of the top five on the leaderboard but not the winner.

Other Nominees: The Simone Asia Pacific Cup

The Simone Asia Pacific Cup is in its second year.  It is a tournament that invites top stars from many of the Pacific Rim countries to compete for team and individual prizes.  The teams are two players from the same country whose scores are added together to determine the winner.  The Koreans had five squads in the competition this year, the most of any country.  Four of the five teams had members who contended for individual honors, and three of the teams were in the hunt for the team trophy.

Alas, in the end both events turned into a blow out, thanks to the Thai star Atthaya Thitikul.  The top ranked player in the field, she dominated the individual event, and was so far ahead in that part that she lifted her partner Jaravee Boonchant to the team title as well.  But the Koreans filled much of the leaderboards for both events.  The two rookie superstars Min Byeol Kim and Youmin Hwang were fantastic in their first event since the KLPGA season concluded.  Kim shot a five under total to finish solo third in the individual contest.  Hwang struggled more but finished with a bang, making birdies on four of her final five holes to move to a tie for 7^th.  Combined, the two finished tied for second in the team event.

Youmin Hwang and Min Byeol Kim with their silver medals

Meanwhile, an even younger Korean team consisting of amateur stars Min Sol Kim and Hyo Song Lee also had a fantastic week.  Their team finished tied for 2^nd with the above team, and both amateurs finished the week at 4 under total, tied for 4^th.  Finishing a shot behind them in fourth was a third Korean team consisting of KLPGA stars So Young Lee and Da Yeon Lee.  Da Yeon also was the only Korean who briefly challenged Thitikul before fading, but she still managed to finish in solo second on the individual leaderboard.  Yet another Korean, Hee Jeong Lim, finished tied for 11^th, just outside the top ten.

So, Koreans had three of the top four teams and four of the top six in the individual race, but alas no wins.

(L to R): Youmin Hwang, Hyo Song Lee, Min Sol Kim and Min Byeol Kim

April signals the coming of Spring, and also the arrival of the main part of the KLPGA season!  They have already played two events outside of Korea back in December, but the 2023 KLPGA season really starts in earnest on April 6^th at the Lotte Rent-a-Car Women’s Open.  Before that happens, I will present to you our annual tradition, the KLPGA Primer: a brief look at the players to watch on the KLPGA this coming season.

Those who have left

First, a quick look at the players we won’t be seeing on tour in 2023.  Some, like Eun Soo Jang and long hitting rookie Jeong Min Moon, lost their cards and will be trying to get them back on the Dream Tour (Jang, in fact, has already won an event on that tour this year, so she’s on pace to make it back).  Some have left for other tours, and others have a big question mark by their names – have they left or not?

The most notable defector from the tour is Hae Ran Ryu. 

The 2020 Rookie of the Year, Ryu has already won six times on the KLPGA tour, and nearly won the Player of the Year and scoring title in 2022, finishing second in both.  She has also already achieved a tie for 13^th at an LPGA Major, the 2020 US Women’s Open.  She decided to go to the LPGA’s Q-Series last Fall, and to no one’s surprise, finished first to earn her tour card.  In her first event as a member last week, the LPGA Drive-On Championship, she was just a shot back going into the final round and played in the final group on Sunday.  She faded a bit on the final day and finished 7^th, but that’s still a great start to her LPGA career. 

She might in fact be better suited to playing the LPGA than the KLPGA: she’s a long hitter, and the Korean tour doesn’t tend to benefit such players as much as the LPGA does.  The fans will miss her in Korea, but she’s definitely where she ought to be.

Meanwhile, the player with the question mark by her name (did she leave or didn’t she?) is Ji Hyun Oh. 

Ji Hyun Oh and her hubby Si Woo Kim

A multiple winner on tour over the years, this beautiful and talented star was one of the biggest draws on tour.  She also drew the love of the PGA player Si Woo Kim, and they married last December in what I believe is the first marriage between a PGA and KLPGA player.  Just a few weeks later, Kim and Oh went to Hawaii so Kim could play in the PGA’s Sony Open.  He promptly won, showing that Ji Hyun might be a bit of a good luck charm for him.

Articles in Korea have implied that Ji Hyun either has retired to be with her husband or at least has temporarily put her career on hold.  I hope that, if she has retired, she at least returns to Korea to play one or two final events to let her fans say goodbye.  Kim did enjoy caddying for her several times last year at KLPGA events, so with luck she will tire of tagging along with her husband and make another go of the KLPGA.  But for now, she seems to be out of action.

The Superstar Repeats: Min Ji Park

Count them: six wins for Min Ji Park. Again!

In 2021, Min Ji Park had one of the most amazing seasons in tour history.  She won six times and became the first player to ever earn over 1.5 billion won (around 1.2 million dollars) in a season.  Well, unbelievably, she was almost as amazing in 2022.  She once again led the tour in money, albeit only 1.477 billion won, just the second highest total ever achieved.  She did not, however, win either the Player of the Year award or the scoring title.  Despite that small blip, she was almost always incredible all year.  She had 12 top tens and an amazing record in the five Majors, winning two and finishing second, third and fourth at the other three.  Needless to say, she is once again the player to beat on tour in 2023.

She also had an opportunity to pair with Mexican legend Lorena Ochoa at a special event where KLPGA stars teamed with former LPGA superstars in a competition to see which team was the best.  Park and Ochoa of course won.  But the event also got her thinking for the first time about making a run at the LPGA.  She intends to play overseas more often in 2023 with the hope of either winning an event to earn an LPGA tour card, or at least getting an idea how well she would do against top competition. She also is positioned to possibly make the International Crown team for Korea, which would put her on a team with three LPGA superstars. But if she is missing from the KLPGA frequently, that might give the rest of the tour a chance to stack up wins in her absence and possibly challenge her supremacy.

The new main rival: Su Ji Kim

Su Ji Kim with Korean golf legend Se Ri Pak; Su Ji won Se Ri’s namesake tournament last year.

If it weren’t for Min Ji Park’s dominance, we’d be talking a lot more about Su Ji Kim.  Kim has been on the KLPGA since 2017, but made little impact until 2021, when suddenly she became one of the best players on tour.  She finished 7^th on the money list that year, winning two events (one a Major).  She was even more amazing in 2022.  That year she again won twice in back-to-back weeks, but accumulated a stunning 17 total top tens, meaning she was almost always on the leaderboard all season.  This consistency earned her both the Player of the Year award and the scoring title over Min Ji Park, as well as over a billion won and second place on the money list.

Kim has made no bones about it.  She wants to be #1 on the tour.  Min Ji is standing in her way, but if Kim improves even more in 2023, she has a great chance of toppling the queen.

The Swing Girls

The fantastic rookie class of 2019 has yielded five big stars who continue to be among the most popular and successful players on tour.  They have been given the collective nickname “The Swing Girls” based on a same named TV series that featured them when they were rookies (see what I mean by popular?).  In 2022, all five of them were in the top fifteen on the money list and all but one of them collected wins.

The most successful of the five last year was Hee Jeong Lim. 

Lim had another great season, finishing fifth on the money list with 750 million won earned.  She had just one win, but it was the most important event on tour, the Korea Women’s Open.  She dominated on the weekend, winning by six shots.  She might have had an even better year, but suffered a car accident early in the season that affected her for several months. 

Like Min Ji Park, she is preparing herself for possibly leaving the tour to join the LPGA.  She played a couple of LPGA events early on in 2022 but didn’t have great results. But expect her to play more on the LPGA in 2023.

So Mi Lee finished 7^th on the money list. 

She had two wins – like Su Ji Kim in back-to-back events – and eleven total top tens.  Like Lim, she is also thinking about moving to the LPGA soon.  She had promising results in 2022, finishing fourth in Hawaii at the LPGA’s Lotte Championship in April.  So Mi is one of the biggest characters on tour, and her fun and wacky personality has made her a big favorite there. She is consistent and knows how to win, so she should be expected to be near the top of the money list again in 2023.

Ga Young Lee finished 9^th on the money list with 636 million won earned. 

She has been a promising star among the Swing Girls for years but wins eluded her.  That is, until last year, when she finally got her first, very long overdue win.  Interestingly, it came at the only event all season played with the Stableford scoring system.  For the moment, she is interested in staying in Korea rather than going overseas, and is looking to add more wins to her resume.

Hyun Kyung Park is arguably the most popular of the Swing Girls, although Lim has beaten her in the Most Popular fan vote the past two years. 

Park, whose nickname is ‘Cutieful’, had an off year in 2022; she was the only one of the Swing Girls not to get a win, although she came close, losing to So Young Lee in a playoff.  Still, she earned almost 600 million won and finished 12^th on the money list.  Park seems to excel at Majors in particular, so it’s quite likely she will get back on the winning track in 2023, possibly at one of the biggest events of the season.

The fifth and lowest ranked Swing Girl in 2022 is Ayean Cho, who was 15^th on the 2022 money list. 

Cho was not nearly as consistent as Lim or So Mi Lee in 2022, but she did manage two wins, her first wins on tour since 2019.  Ayean and So Mi are best friends, so much so that one week when Lee was taking the event off, she served as Cho’s caddie!  They have a hilarious, sarcastic relationship, frequently appearing together in extra-curricular golf TV shows, and since Cho is also pondering moving to the LPGA, they will possibly both end up cracking each other up on the LPGA tour next season.  But for now, Cho, whose nickname is ‘Iron Cho’, will be one to watch on the KLPGA tour this season.

Surprise winners

The KLPGA had a few surprise winners in 2022, some of whom are worth looking out for in 2023.  Yun Ji Jeong finished 6^th on tour in 2022 with nearly 740 million won earned. 

She had her win in May at the E1 Charity Open.  She also had two seconds and two thirds and a total of eleven top tens.  She had never finished in the top 20 on the money list in her previous two seasons, but her efforts in 2022 announced her as a player to watch.

Jeong Mee Hwang had an even less illustrious start to her career than Yun Ji Jeong. 

It took her several years to make it to the KLPGA, finally qualifying in 2020.  Her first two years saw her finish in the middle of the pack.  But in 2022 she broke out with a win and two runner-up finishes.  She wound up 16^th on the money list.  Is this a sign that she is about to become a big deal, or will she return back to the middle?  Signs are good for her to keep up her momentum.

Jin Seon Han finished 17th on the money list in 2022. 

She had more success previous to 2022 than the other women in this category, with a few top threes here and there and a previous best finish on the money list of 20.  But in 2022, she broke through with a win at the High One Resort Women’s Open and two other 4^th place finishes.  She had to wait a long time for her win, even longer than Ga Young Lee, and her challenge in 2023 will be to prove she belongs with the elite players in the league.

Hyo Ju You has been better known as a fashionista than a golfer in her time on the tour. 

In her first few years on tour, she has struggled to maintain her card, even losing it for a while in 2019.  She was more consistent in 2022, but still shocked the tour by grabbing an unexpected win at the WEMIX Championship.  The event turned into a free-for-all, with close to a dozen players having a chance to win on Sunday.  Amazingly, it was the unheralded You who made the crucial plays for the victory.  It was her only top ten of the season, her next best finish a tie for 12^th.  This would not suggest that she has a great career ahead of her, but she has surprised before and might do it again.

Big returnees

A couple of very popular players who had lost their cards will be returning to the KLPGA in 2023. Se Hee Lee had barely lost her tour card in 2021 when she finished 71^st on the money list. 

She played on the Dream Tour in 2022 but returned to the KLPGA via their Q-School.  She gets good TV exposure in SBS golf programming, making her fairly popular despite her limited success.  We can expect her to focus primarily on maintaining membership on tour, so it’s unlikely she will challenge the big girls for tour supremacy.

So Hyeon Ahn is one of the big bombshells in Korea golf. 

She has spent several years in the wilderness after briefly belonging to the tour a few years ago, but she earned her card back at Q-School and will be a full member in 2023.  Like Lee, it’s unlikely she will do more than just maintain her card, but it’s guaranteed that the cameras will be on her whenever she’s in the field.

Stars who were MIA last year

Da Yeon Lee has often been a top ten golfer in her career, but she struggled with injuries in 2022 and missed much of the year. 

She still has not been sighted in 2023, so it’s possible she is not yet over her issues.  Whenever she does return, she is bound to be a star again.

Ha Na Jang is a five-time LPGA winner who returned full time to the KLPGA several years ago. 

She has done quite well since returning, but last year she had surprisingly bad results.  She doesn’t seem to have been injured, as she played all season; she just didn’t play up to her usual standards.  She only finished 80^th on the money list and didn’t come close to winning.  Is this a temporary slump or the sign of something more long-lasting?

Ju Young Park, the younger sister of LPGA star Hee Young Park., missed most of 2022 due to maternity leave.

But she’ll be back in 2023.  She is best known for her famous sister and her wacky fashion sense.  She hasn’t yet won on the KLPGA, but she has come close often enough that it seems like just a matter of time before she breaks through.

The Teenage stars

The 2022 Rookie class was full of great young players.  Ye Been Sohn and Uhjin Seo came into the year with strong amateur records, but both just missed hanging on to their cards and had to go back to Q-School in the Fall. 

Uhjin Seo was the highest ranked player last year to lose her card. She finished 61st and only the top 60 kept their full cards.

Ye Been Sohn finished 62nd last year on the money list, also barely missing keeping her card.

They both got their cards back for 2023, and Seo has already managed a third place finish in one of the first two events of the year (back in December), so she is off to a great start in her sophomore year.

Jeongmin Moon, as mentioned before, certainly made an impression with her long hitting in 2022.  But she was not able to keep her card nor earn it back at Q-School.

The biggest name in the rookie class was also one of the youngest.  19-year-old Yewon Lee had a fantastic season. 

She was not able to win, although she came as close as you humanly can to winning without doing it.  She was 1 up with two holes to play in the finals at the Match Play, but lost the final two holes to lose the match. She also finished runner up in back-to-back weeks, both times to Su Ji Kim, and once by just a single shot.  In all, she had three seconds, three thirds, a fourth and four fifths, earning 850 million won, third on the money list.  For context, that’s the most money a player EVER has earned on tour in a season without a win.  She also had the highest rookie point total in history, becoming the first to break 3000 points.  If there’s one player on this list who has a great chance to elevate herself to superstar status in 2023, it’s probably Ye Won Lee.

The other teen star is alas not allowed to play on tour in 2023, despite winning in 2022.  Ina Yoon was the only rookie who won last year, but she confessed to cheating at another event and was banned from the tour for three years. 

Lately, there have been several articles in the Korean press talking about a growing number of people clambering for her return, feeling that the KLPGA was way too harsh in their punishment.  At this point it’s still an underground rumble, but the fact that she has made no known moves towards playing anywhere else lends credence to the idea that she might be working to get back to the KLPGA soon.  Stay tuned.  If Yoon, with her incredible long driving prowess (she makes Jeongmin Moon look like a plinker) returns to action, it could be a huge boon for the tour.

The Rookies to Watch

The 2023 rookie class looks as promising as 2022’s did.  The big name seems to be You Min Hwang. 

The teen has been getting ample chances to show what she can do.  For instance, she was the only amateur chosen last year to participate in the event that paired KLPGA stars with legends.  She came close to winning a KLPGA event last year, finishing second to Min Ji Park.  More recently, she played in a special event a few weeks ago that sent teams based on their main sponsor to compete in a stroke play event.  Despite the fact that their team had only two players, and thus they had to play every round, Hwang’s team won the trophy.  And Hwang basically carried that team, which also included multiple tour winner So Young Lee.  Hwang has a complete game, is long off the tee, and is not lacking for confidence.  She seems to have ‘superstar’ written all over her, and its only a matter of time before she proves it.

Don’t sleep on teen Min Byeol Kim, however.

Kim won KLPGA Q-School last year, having just turned pro the previous month.  She is known for her iron play and being a “cool customer” on course.  Born in January, 2004, she is about a year younger than Yewon Lee. 

Two of the top Dream tour stars from 2022 are also often mentioned as future stars. Ga Bin Choi finished third on the 2022 Dream Tour.  She won three times last year on that tour. 

Seo Yoon Kim 2 was the top player on the 2022 Dream Tour.  She is 20 years old and also won three times. 

Lastly, Min Sun Kim 7 has already played a few events on the KLPGA and stood out. 

At 177 cm tall (about 5’10”) she is one of the tallest players on tour.  She also is the first player to get the number ‘7’ appended to her name, meaning there are that many players with the same name as she has.  There is also a Ji Hyun Lee 7 in the rookie class, so it will be fun to see which of the ‘sevens’ ends up being the better player.

Ji Hyun Lee 7

We will start to get the answers to all the above questions and more as the KLPGA gets going this week.  Another great season seems assured!

Milestones

There were a few high-profile players who retired in 2022 or had other significant life changes.  The biggest name was Na Yeon Choi, a 9-time LPGA winner who had been a major star in the Korean golf world since 2003.  She had not had much success in the past five years and finally realized that the time had come to hang it up.  Youngin Chun is a young player who had briefly been on the LPGA before losing her card a few years ago.  She retired due to previously unrevealed medical issues that prevented her, in her opinion, from really being able to compete at the highest level.

Youngin Chun

Babies seem to be everywhere!  Inbee Park is expecting in 2023; Sun Ju Ahn had her twins and is back to playing full time on the KLPGA.  Hee Young Park and MJ Hur are also mothers or mothers-to-be.

Among the gals who tied the knot in 2022 were Rebecca Lee-Bentham, Lydia Ko and Ji Hyun Oh, who made history by marrying a PGA player, Si Woo Kim.  It is the first ever union of a PGA and KLPGA star.  Ji Hyun plans to put her career on hold for at least the time being and move to Dallas to live with her new husband, but hopefully we haven’t seen the last of the talented 7-time KLPGA winner.

Ji Hyun Oh (right) and Si Woo Kim

Rookie of the Year

The KLPGA fielded an impressive rookie class in 2022, the best since the legendary Class of 2019.  Although there was only one rookie winner all year, several more made strong impressions on leaderboards.  Among the most notable rookies were long-hitting Jeong Min Moon; Da Som Ma; Ji U Ko, who came close to winning; former amateur standouts Uhjin Seo and Ye Been Sohn; the tragic Ina Yoon, the only rookie to win in 2022; and the Rookie of the Year Yewon Lee, who became the first rookie to ever break 3000 rookie points in a season.  The LPGA had three important Korean rookies: Yaeeun Hong, who never really caught fire; Na Rin An, who won Q-Series in 2021 and had her moments in 2022; and Hye-Jin Choi, the big KLPGA star who often dazzled in 2022 on her new tour. 

Before I talk about the winner in this category, let’s review what I predicted about the race last year.  In Rookie to Watch, I said that Hye-Jin Choi was obviously a big talent to pay attention to, but I was most interested in seeing how Ina Yoon would do.  I said, “Yoon is more than just a long hitter.  She has skills across her game…”  Yoon got started slowly in 2022 but gained steam during the summer.  She was the only Korean rookie on either tour to get a win and rose as high as second in the rookie standings behind Yewon Lee (as well as reaching 71 in the world ranking) when disaster struck and she was forced out of the rest of the season due to the aforementioned cheating scandal.  It’s hard to know if she could have kept up the momentum and beaten Lee, who had a fantastic year all around, for the top prize.  But she and Hye-Jin certainly distinguished themselves with their play in 2022, as I predicted they would.

Ina Yoon

There are some interesting new names to watch in 2023 on both tours.  On the KLPGA, the names I’ve heard most about are You Min Hwang and Min Byeol Kim.  Hwang, 19, finished 6^th in Qualifying School to easily win a tour card.   She has already notched decent finishes in a few KLPGA events (including a t-7^th at the 2021 Pak Se Ri Invitational) and was a top amateur golfer who, among other feats, played the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2022.  The press in Korea really likes her potential, so we should keep an eye on her.  Min Byeol Kim has also had her moments in KLPGA events, including taking the first-round lead at the 2019 ADT-Caps Championship, and was the leading amateur at several events.  In 2021, she dominated the qualifier for the National team and was all set to play in the Asian Games when it was postponed due to Covid.  She decided to turn pro, reluctantly passing up her chance to play in that event.  She won the KLPGA Qualifying School in December to earn her full membership.

Min Byeol Kim

Both of those players are ones to watch, but the rookies with the most potential to shine are on the LPGA tour next year.  I like Korean Australian Grace Kim, who came oh-so-close to winning the Australian Women’s Open in December.  She was tied for the lead on the final hole but made a mess there and missed her chance for the win.  She finished fifth on the Epson Tour money list in 2022 to earn LPGA status for 2023.

But without question, the rookie to watch in 2023 will be Hae Ran Ryu.  The big hitting star from the KLPGA easily won LPGA Q-Series to earn her tour card.  She has consistently been a top five star on the KLPGA, with five career wins on tour.  She was the 2020 KLPGA Rookie of the Year, finishing second on the money list that year.  She was 5^th in 2021 and 4^th in 2022 with one win each year.  She even managed a win on tour when she was still an amateur.  Her longtime goal has always been to get to the LPGA, and she has the talent and the driving distance to be a big star, something the LPGA Koreans definitely need.  If she stays healthy, she has an excellent chance to become the first Korean to claim the LPGA’s Rookie of the Year award since 2019.

Hae Ran Ryu

OK, back to the 2022 rookie competition.  Which Korean deserves to be called our Rookie of the Year for 2022?

It’s a close call.  Yewon Lee and Hye-Jin Choi share a dubious distinction: this season, they both became the players on their respective tours who set the all-time record for most money earned in a season without a win.  Not the records they wanted to set, I’m sure.  Both came really close to breaking through with wins, both were extremely consistent all year.  It was a harder road for Choi, given she had to deal with the implacable Atthaya Thitikul, who beat her for Rookie of the Year.  Lee, meanwhile, easily won the Rookie of the Year on the KLPGA, especially once Ina Yoon was out of the picture: Lee’s 3001 point total was nearly 800 points above second place Ji U Ko.  Yewon Lee therefore edges Hye-Jin Choi as my choice for Rookie of the Year.

Yewon Lee had just turned 19 at the start of the KLPGA season this year.  She was coming off a strong year on the Dream Tour, where she earned her KLPGA card by finishing fourth on that tour’s money list.  She earned nearly 850 million won in 2022, third on the KLPGA money list.  She compiled 13 top tens including 3 seconds and three thirds. 

Her closest brush with victory came at the Doosan Match Play.  She made it all the way to the finals, led her final match most of the day, but lost the final two holes to lose by 1.  She also came close at the Hana Bank Championship, losing by 1 to Su Ji Kim (although her position was elevated slightly by holing out from the fairway on her final shot).  Amazingly, she also had finished second the previous week at the Pak Se Ri Invitational, again losing by one to Su Ji Kim.

She was 8^th in scoring average and finished the year inside the top 40 in world ranking, an enormous improvement from the start of the year, when she was outside the top 400.

Yewon Lee

Hye-Jin had a fabulous season that saw her hovering most of the year between 15 and 25 in the world ranking.  Her best finish was a tie for 2^nd at the Canadian Women’s Open.  She was in the hunt all the way, and even though she struggled with her putting on Sunday, she had chances to pull out the win on the final two holes.  Alas, she lost to South African Paula Reto.  Weirdly, this marked the second time in 2022 that a Korean star lost to an unheralded South African getting her first career win in a national championship, after In Gee lost to Ashley Buhai at the British Women’s Open.

Even without a win, Choi’s record was impressive.  She made over $2 million for the season, one of only a handful of Koreans to ever break the $2 million mark.  That was good for 6^th on the money list.  She was third in Greens in Regulation, 10^th in scoring average, 4^th in birdies made, 3^rd in eagles made and, of course, second in the Rookie of the Year race to Thitikul.  She had 10 top tens.  She had a great Major record, too: 17^th at the Chevron, 3^rd at the US Women’s Open, tied for 5^th at the KPMG (she made an epic lengthy birdie on the final green to the roars of the crowd), and top 25s at the other two.  She did everything except get a win and finish as the top Rookie. 

Given Yewon’s amazing year, and the fact that she crushed her rookie competition, I feel like Yewon should ultimately be the SeoulSisters Rookie of the Year, but Choi was so close she’s almost more 1a than 2^nd.  Great year for both ladies!

Player of the Year

With all due respect to In Gee Chun, the Player of the Year award this year came down to three players: Lydia Ko, Minjee Lee and the KLPGA star Min Ji Park.  I’ve decided to give the award to Min Ji, but I will lay out the weak and strong points for all three.  It was a pretty tough decision!

As mentioned before, Min Ji Park won six times in 2022.  She also won six times in 2021.  The last player who has won at least 12 times in two years on that tour was Jiyai Shin back in 2008-2009. It is an exceedingly rare feat.  Even more impressively, her 1.477 billion won earnings was the second most ever earned on tour, exceeded only by her 2021 total.  But in some ways, her 2022 season was more impressive than 2021.  For one, that year she managed all six of her wins in the first half of the year.  In 2022, she won the final event of the year while her first win came back in May, the second month of the season.  She was more consistently great throughout the year.

Min Ji won her third event in July, then had a mini-slump and did not get her fourth win until the KB Star Championship in mid-September.  That was one of two Majors she won on tour in 2022, the other being the year’s final Major, the Hite Cup.  Besides her wins, she also had a third at the Korea Women’s Open, a second at the Hanwha, and a 4^th at the KLPGA Championship, meaning she was top 4 in all five Majors in 2022.  Interestingly, those were her only top four finishes all year besides her wins.  She had 12 total top tens.

Min Ji with her Hite Cup trophy

On the downside, she had an unusual number of weaker events considering how great she often was.  She finished outside the top twenty ten times, although all but three of those were top 30 finishes.  She did not win Player of the Year, although she did finish a respectable third, and did not lead the league in scoring, finishing third there as well.  In her one event on the LPGA tour, the Amundi Evian Championship, she finished just tied for 37^th, although since she has almost never played outside of Korea, this is not so surprising. 

All in all, given her six wins, amazing record in the Majors, near-record setting money list total, and solid POY and scoring results, she deserved the Player of the Year award for this year.

Minjee Lee, the Australian star, a.k.a. ‘the other Min Ji’, had a fantastic season in 2022 herself.  Besides In Gee Chun, she is the only Sister to win a Major in 2022, claiming the US Women’s Open for her second career Major win.  Minjee breathed down Jin Young Ko’s neck all year, threatening to become the #1 golfer in the world, but she was never able to get above 2.  Still, she was amazing all season, starting with a tie for second at her first event, the HSBC.  She shot a final round 63 to come from way back and almost steal the win away from Jin Young Ko.  She put together several more strong events before claiming her first win of the year at the Cognizant Founders Cup in May. 

At the US Women’s Open a few weeks later, she started with rounds of 67, 66 and 67 to put herself in the driver’s seat.  The course had wide open fairways and scoring was easier than usual, so even though Lee had the lead, she had to play decently to prevent someone sneaking up on her and snatching it away.  But fortunately for her, they decided to set the course up tougher on Sunday, making it hard for anyone to go low and catch her. Lee still needed to shoot a decent score, however, and her 71 allowed her to easily claim the prize.

Minjee almost captured a second Major when she made a huge run in the final round of the KPMG the next month.  She finished just a shot behind In Gee Chun, tied for second.  She also had a t-4^th at the British Women’s Open.

But after that, she began to struggle mightily.  After withdrawing from the Canadian Women’s Open, she did not have a top ten the rest of the year.  Her best finish, in fact, was just a tie for 33^rd in her final six starts.  It seems likely she had an injury to explain the sudden massive downturn in her game.

She made $3.809 million in 2022, beating Jin Young Ko’s record of 2021 for all-time highest season money total for a Sister (but see below; it only ended up being the second best in history after all!).  That was good for 2^nd on the money list.  Her scoring average was 7^th (69.69).  It was a very strong year for Lee, but the other Min Ji had a better record at the Majors (2 wins and top 4s in the others), led the league in money, had three times as many wins, and was more consistent throughout the year.  Even given the fact of the LPGA being a tougher league than the KLPGA, I still felt Min Ji had the better year.

Lydia Ko had a more impressive year that Minjee in some ways, although she did not win any Majors.  She did have a 5^th at the US Women’s Open, a tie for 3^rd at the Evian and a tie for 7^th at the British.  Decent, but not the same level as either Minjee or Min Ji in their respective Majors.  Lydia did manage three wins, however, including capturing the CME at the end of the year to earn $2 million, the most money ever earned by a woman in a single event in history.  Her money list total ended up being first in the league, beating Minjee’s own best-ever Seoul Sister money total with an even better one, $4.364 million.  She also won the Player of the Year and the Vare Trophy for low scoring average with a 68.99 average.  She thus managed several awards Min Ji didn’t get but had only half the wins.  She had 14 top tens, slightly more than Min Ji.  Oh yeah, and she also rose to #1 in the world ranking, getting back to that level for the first time in several years.

Lydia with her many post-season awards

Without question, it was a fantastic season for the old Ko, after several years where the new Ko (Jin Young) had led the money list.  I decided, however, that Ko not winning any Majors and only half as often as Min Ji were the key factors in giving the SeoulSisters Player of the Year award to Min Ji Park over her.

Meanwhile, back on the KLPGA…

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  In 2021, Min Ji Park won six events and set the all-time record for most money earned in a single season on the KLPGA.  And what do you know, in 2022, she again won six times and led the money list, this time with the second highest money total ever achieved.  Min Ji has been so strong and consistent that she decided at the end of 2022 that it was at last time to prepare herself for the move to the LPGA at the end of the 2023 season. 

But as good as Park was in 2022, she did not win the KLPGA’s Player of the Year award.  That went to Su Ji Kim, who wins our award as the Most Improved Player in 2022.  Her world ranking rose from 81^st to 33^rd during the year.  2021 had been Kim’s breakthrough year, after several years of struggling to be seen.  That year she won twice and finished 7^th on the money list.  But she far eclipsed that in 2022.  She had two wins again, in back-to-back events at the Pak Se Ri Invitational and the Hana Bank Championship.  But she was also in the top ten pretty much all the time, week after week: a mind-boggling 17 top tens on the year, including two seconds and two thirds on top of her two wins.  She earned over a billion won for the season, one of the few to ever achieve that, and only the second player to ever do that and not win the money list title.  She also had the lowest scoring average on tour in 2022, 70.47.

But there was more to the tour in 2022 than Park and Kim.  Ga Young Lee is the winner of our It’s About Time Award for FINALLY getting her long awaited first win after non-stop excellence since joining the tour in 2019. That win came at the Dongbu Construction event in mid-October, interestingly the only event all year that used the Stableford scoring system.  Fellow 2019 rookie Ayean Cho had not won on tour since her rookie season but managed two wins in 2022.  So Mi Lee, Cho’s best friend and also a 2019 alumna, also managed two wins, although it took her until nearly the end of the season to get them.  Yet another 2019 star, Hee Jeong Lim, won the Korea Women’s Open, the most important event of the year.

Ga Young Lee and her long awaited trophy

Ayean Cho and So Mi Lee

Hee Jeong Lim

There were some surprising wins as well.  Jeong Mee Hwang and Hyo Ju You were both journeyman players who achieved surprise wins despite their frequent struggles to maintain their cards through their careers.  Hyo Ju is our Cinderella of the Year award recipient, as her win has led to a much higher profile for the fashionable star.  She was even given the chance to speak for the tour winners at the KLPGA Award Show and was invited to throw out the first pitch at a baseball game.

Hyo Ju You

Hae Ran Ryu continued her great career on the KLPGA in 2022, then packed her bags for the US after winning the LPGA’s Q-Series qualifying event in December.  A Lim Kim returned from that tour to play at the KLPGA Championship, the year’s first Major, and amazingly won, her first win since leaving for the States.  A Lim’s fantastic 50-foot birdie on the 16^th hole followed by a massive double fist pump and shout was one of the most iconic shots and reactions of the year.

Hae Ran Ryu

A Lim Kim

Han Sol Ji, Jung Min Hong, Su Yeon Jang and Jin Seon Han all returned to the winner’s circle after long absences.

Jin Seon Han

Han Sol Ji

There was controversy as well.  Ga Eun Song was DQed from one event for using an illegal range finder.  This finder had a feature that allows a user to gauge the elevation change in the shot, which is not allowed.  Even though she claimed to not use the feature, it is still illegal to use a finder that has that capability even if that feature is unused.  Later that year, the KLPGA was embroiled in a series of controversies involving the way it decided which TV network would gain the rights for its popular events.  The winner, SBS Golf, had not made the most lucrative offer, and there were accusations of payoffs and other shady activity, so much so that a government agency got involved.  The investigation is ongoing.

But perhaps the biggest controversy of the year involved a young rookie named Ina Yoon.  The teenaged Yoon, one of the longest hitters in the history of the tour, electrified the fans with several brilliant performances in June and July, culminating in a win.  She was on her way to becoming the most popular player on tour when she admitted that she had cheated by playing the wrong ball at one event.  The tour took months to decide how to punish her before banning her from the tour for a staggering three years.  This draconian punishment might very well be the end of her career unless she leaves Korea to play elsewhere.  Yoon disappeared for a while, but in the last month has started posting on Instagram again and showed up, all smiles, at a fan meeting in December, where she was greeted rapturously.  Her main sponsor, Hite, also promised to maintain her sponsorship until its natural end in two years’ time.  It’s still not clear if she will abide by the KLPGA’s ruling and not play until 2025, or if she will go somewhere else to play, but hopefully she has a Plan B, because there basically is no viable Plan A.

Ina Yoon greets her fan club in December

KLPGA Fashion Stars of the Year

Like most years, the KLPGA was chock-full-of fantastic fashions.  Here are a few of the standouts from the year.

Chae Eun Lee proves it IS easy being green

Eun Soo Jang

Gagyung Lee

Hyo Min Jun

Hyun Kyung Park had a number of interesting Pearly Gates outfits in 2022, including this stunner

Ina Yoon wasn’t wearing the crown and scepter to accessorize with her pink outfit at the Ever Collagen Queens event; she was awarded them after winning!

Ju Yeon In

Jae Hee Kim’s colorful top matches her vibrant personality.

Jee Hyun Ahn – lots of interesting details on this outfit, including the mesh shoulder, the vertical ribbing, and the unusual open section on the leg.

Jenny Shin

Ji Yu Jung – she’ll be playing in Japan next season.

Keun Young An is still trying to get back onto the KLPGA full time, but she wore this shoulderless number during one of the times she did play on the KLPGA in 2022.

Hee Jeong Lim

Jeong Min Moon dazzled in this bright pink outfit.

Sei Young Kim 2 is not the LPGA star, but she made our list with this red outfit.

Ye Been Sohn is the Nike girl on tour. Since she didn’t have a shoulder on the outfit, they pasted the Nike swoosh right on her bare shoulder!

So Hye Park

Su Jin Lee 3

Ye Won Lee: the Rookie of the Year in bright blue

Yoon Kyung Heo wore this interesting outfit in a made-for-TV event.  Retro and stylish!

Hyo Ju You won her first trophy in 2022 and, as usual, was the center of attention in her interesting Descente ensembles. The second one kept her warm in the late Fall events.