Yoo Ji-na (21-Taewang Honors) made her debut victory 655 days (1 year, 9 months, 17 days) after becoming a full member of the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA).
The Buan (OUT) and Namwon (IN) courses (par 72, 6,400 yards) at Gunsan Country Club in Jeollabuk-do, South Korea, hosted the sixth round of the 2023 KLPGA MC Square-Gunsan CC Dream Tour (2nd Division) on April 24-26 with a total prize pool of 100 million won.
Yoo earned the top prize of 15 million won after defeating Lee Sun-young 2 (23-ONOFF GOLF) in a four-way playoff after finishing the regular round at 16-under-par 200.
Lee won her first title after 47 appearances, including 28 matches on the 2022 Regular Tour (1st Division), 7 matches on the 2023 Dream Tour, and 12 matches on the 2021 Jump Tour (3rd Division). The total prize money in Korean women’s professional golf is now 85.63 million won.
Yoo said, “I’m very happy to win my first title as a professional. I didn’t even think about winning, but I played calmly and without pressure, and I think it paid off,” she said.
Her best finish in a KLPGA event was a runner-up finish in the 12th round of the 2021 Solar Jump Tour. She finished sixth in the last event of the season, riding the momentum of her first top-10 finish on the Dream Tour.
“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my parents, Taewang Honors Chairman Noh Ki-won and Director Noh Kyung-won, and Daegu Country Club President Woo Ki-jeong for their support,” Yoo said.
As an amateur, Yoo won the 12th Jeollanam-do Governor’s Cup in 2017 and was ranked No. 1 in the women’s middle school national rankings. In November 2021, she qualified for the 2022 KLPGA Regular Tour by finishing second in the seeding event.
However, she only made seven cuts (25%) in her first year on the tour. After 21 cuts, she finished 98th on the money list. She was eliminated in the qualifying rounds of the seeding system, ending her chances of staying on the 2023 Regular Tour.
“It was really hard (this year) because I didn’t play well. I almost lost my love for golf, but after hearing my mom say, ‘You’re still young, do whatever you want to do,’ I felt a lot better,” she said, revealing how she rebounded with back-to-back top-10 finishes and a debut win on the Dream Tour.메이저놀이터
“I traveled to Thailand for 50 days to train,” she said, “and I realized that my putt was the most important thing I needed to work on from the regular tour last season. I worked really hard on my short game, especially my putts,” she said, recalling her winter training in preparation for the 2023 season.
Yuna quickly rose to second on the 2023 Dream Tour money list. “I had two goals, to get my first win in the second division and to return to the regular tour, and I accomplished one. I will improve my technique and try to win one more victory in the second half of the year to win the prize money,” she said.
The final round of the tournament, co-presented by MC Square and Gunsan Country Club and organized by the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Tour (KLPGT), will be televised on SBS Golf on June 6 at 6:30 pm.