It’s springtime in Korea. This season, the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour has no favorites. Several players have already reached three wins this season. Park Ji-young (27), Lee Ye-won (20), and Im Jin-hee (25) are three of them. This is all while Park Min-ji (25), who dominated in 2021 and 2022, has faltered.
The final four rounds of the KLPGA Tour’s Sangsangin-Korea Economic TV Open (total prize money of 1.2 billion won) at Lakewood Country Club (Par 72) in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, Korea, on Aug. 22. Lim carded seven birdies without a bogey to finish at 13-under-par 275. It was a come-from-behind victory that overcame a four-stroke deficit.
Im is the third player to win three titles this season, joining Park (Hana Financial Group Singapore Women’s Open, EverCollagen The Siena Queens Crown, KB Financial Star Championship), Lee (Lotte Rent-a-Car Women’s Open, Dusan Weave Championship, Hite Jinro Championship) and Lee (NH Investment & Securities Ladies Championship, Jeju Samdasoo Masters, Sangsangin Korea Economic TV Open).
In 2021 and 2022, when Park Min-ji dominated the KLPGA Tour with six wins each, the next highest number of wins was just two. The title of Most Valuable Player was also decided early on, with Park taking the top spot for the second year in a row. However, with three players already having three wins this year, the competition for the title has intensified with only three tournaments left in the season.
In an official interview after her victory, Lim Jin-hee said, “My number one goal this year was to become a multi-time champion, so I’m determined to achieve this goal.” “I want to challenge for the grand prize after I win the most wins, and I’ll try to finish in the top 10 in all the remaining competitions,” she said. “I don’t think I can catch Lee Ye-won even if I win all the remaining competitions,” she laughed.
Lee took home 216 million won in prize money to move from sixth to third on the money list (905,506,5048 won) and 70 points to move from fourth to second (521 points) on the money list. It was her “career-high” season, six years after debuting on the KLPGA Tour in 2018.안전놀이터
As for her recent growth, she credits “investment. Lim is so dedicated to the game that she has studied with three different coaches. “When I was a junior, I didn’t have enough money, so I did my best with the amount of practice, and when I became a pro, I tried to play more rounds and take at least one more lesson with my coach when I had a little bit of income,” she recalls. “Others say it’s too much and that I don’t need to do it, but I believe in what I’ve been doing and will continue to invest a lot in golf,” she explained.
Lim started the final round in a tie for fifth place, four strokes behind the leader, but came from behind to win the tournament. Her 65 tied the course record set by Jang Ha Na and Choi Eun Woo at the 2015 YTN Volvik Women’s Open, as well as Lim Hee Jung in the first round of this tournament.
Lim also expressed her desire to play on the U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour. “When I look at my seniors, they seem to play golf for a long time when they go abroad. I want to challenge myself to play golf for a long time. My final goal this year is to pass the LPGA Tour’s Qualifying (Q) Series,” she said encouragingly.
“I have a new coach because I want to make the LPGA Tour,” he said. “I have a hard time making saves in normal situations. I’m working with my coach to improve my consistency under pressure. I am very happy with the results.”