2023 SeoulSisters Awards (5 of 5): Rookie of the Year, Most Improved, Player of the Year

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.