Seo Yeon-jeong made history by winning her first tournament in her 260th start on the Korean Ladies Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour.
Seo shot a 3-under 69 with five birdies and a double bogey on the final day of the KLPGA Tour’s 12th KG Ladies Open ($800,000 purse) at the par-72, 6,748-yard Sunny Point Country Club in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on Wednesday.
With a final total of 14-under par 202, Seo won the tournament after a sudden-death playoff with Noh Seung-hee.
Seo, who has been playing on the Ladies European Tour since 2014, won her first title in her 260th career event.
Born in 1995, Seo’s five runner-up finishes on the regular tour have been her career high. This year, she tied for second at the E1 Charity Open in May.
The previous record for the most tournaments to win on the KLPGA Tour was 237, set by Ahn Song-i at the ADT Caps Championship in November 2019.
In the first extension on the 18th hole (par-5), Noh’s second shot veered right and ended up on the right rough slope rather than the cart path.
Seo placed her third shot on the green, but Noh’s third shot went into the rough in front of the green, giving Seo the advantage.
Seo sent her birdie putt to the front of the hole to save par, while Seung-Hee’s par putt from about 2.5 meters sailed over the hole to seal her ‘259 for 260’ victory.
The runner-up, Noh Seung-hee, has yet to win in 97 tournaments on the Korean Tour.
Seo, who held a one-stroke lead going into the second round, sank her tee shot on the sixth hole (par-4) to the right, and her bogey putt from about two meters missed the hole, dropping her from the top spot by two strokes.
Seo also missed a short birdie putt on the 15th hole (par-4), where she was tied with Noh Seung-hee by one stroke, and would have been one of the ‘lucky ones’ if she hadn’t won the tournament.
The tournament has produced six consecutive first-time winners in recent years, including Kim Ji-hyun in 2017, Jung Seul-ki in 2018, Park Seo-jin in 2019, Kim Soo-ji in 2021, Hwang Jung-mi in 2022 and Seo Yeon-jung this year.
The tournament was not held in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Noh Seung-hee could have won her first title without a playoff if she had capitalized on a 5.5-meter birdie opportunity on the 18th hole of the third round, but she had to settle for her first regular tour runner-up finish.
Rookie Yoo Min Hwang finished in sole possession of third place at 12-under-par 204, while Park Min-ji was tied for fourth at 11-under-par 205.
Park added 37 points to her tally and moved into first place on the money list (415 points), ahead of Lee Ye-won (396 points).
Last year’s winner of the event, Hwang Jung-mi, finished tied for 12th at 9-under 207, while last week’s Hanwha Classic champion Kim Soo-ji shot 10-under 206 to finish tied for ninth. 파워볼사이트
