In the 2022 season of the Korean Women’s Professional Golf (KLPGA) tour, all nine champions came out for the first time in their lives. This is the second highest record after the 2017 season, when a total of 10 first-time winners came out.
In the second tournament of the 2023 KLPGA Tour, which started before the end of the year, there is a growing possibility that the first winner of his life will come out again. This is because in the second round of the PLK Pacific Rings Korea Championship (total prize money of 700 million won) held at the Twin Doves Golf Club (par 72) in Vietnam on the 17th, a large number of players who were thirsty for their first championship in their lives lined up at the top of the leaderboard.
First of all, Choi Ye-rim (23), who has only won runner-up four times, is aiming for the first win in her life at the sole lead. Choi Ye-rim, who reduced 5 strokes with 7 birdies and 2 bogeys, beat Lee Jung-min (30) and Ko Ji-woo (20) by one stroke with a total of 9 under par 135 strokes.
Choi Ye-rim won the first runner-up at the Hite Jinro Championship in 2018, and then took runner-up at the Nexen Saint Nine Masters in 2019. Last year, there was no runner-up, but this year, she won the runner-up at the Jeju Samdasoo Masters and High1 Resort Women’s Open. Choi Ye-rim showed off his back to catch birdies in a row in the last three holes.
Kim Woo-jung (24), who has been consistently ranked within the 60th place in the prize money ranking since 2019 when he was a rookie, is also a player who is thirsty for his first win. Kim Woo-jung, who reduced 4 strokes and tied for 4th place with Lee So-mi on the day, ranked 58th in prize money in 2019, 23rd in prize money rankings in 2020, 44th in prize money rankings in 2021, and 57th in prize money rankings in 2022, barely making the seed match. was able to avoid The 2021 Chris F&C 43rd KLPGA Championship runner-up is Kim Woo-jung’s best result.
Ko Ji-woo, who finished second in the rookie rankings last year with 6 top 10 finishes, is also aiming for his first win and will compete against the final shot on the final day.
Lee Ji-hyeon 3 (24), a regular in seed matches, also has a great thirst for victory. Lee Ji-hyeon 3, who cut 5 strokes and tied for 6th place with Hong Jeong-min and Lee So-young (total 6 under par 138 strokes), can truly be called a ‘player of will’. He has slipped outside the top 60 on the money list four times, but all of them came back through the seed fights in Hell. 메이저놀이터
Since 2019, when he was a rookie, he had to play a seed match to stay at 67th in prize money. At the end of the year, he returned to the regular tour by finishing 17th in the seed match, and stayed at 110th in prize money in 2020, but also returned after finishing 17th in the seed match. Last year, too, it was pushed back to the seed match with 67th place in prize money, but returned to the seed match in 5th place. And this year, it stayed at 63rd in the prize money rankings, played a seed match again, and won the seeding for the 2023 season again in 15th place. He desperately needs to secure the 2-year seeding right along with the championship.
Of course, Lee Jung-min, who recorded 6 under par 66 with 1 eagle and 4 birdies, tied for 2nd place with a total of 8 under par 136, also has a great thirst for victory. This is because last season, in 28 competitions, there was only one ‘top 10’, and it was the worst year with 84th place in the prize money ranking, missing 13 cuts and withdrawing twice. In October 2021, Lee Jung-min, who won the Dongbu Construction Korea Land Trust Championship for the 9th time in 5 years and 7 months, will challenge for the 10th victory in this competition.