Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
KLPGA title race goes down to wire
Kim Ha-neul is a front-runner in the KLPGA Tour’s money list and Player of the Year race, albeit slight leads. / Korea Times file
By Kang Seung-woo
By Kang Seung-woo
Although the Korea LPGA Tour is nearly close to the denouement of the 2012 season, the money title and best player award are still up for grabs.
And contending golfers are gearing up for the season’s final tournament to become the last woman standing.
The 400 million-won ($367,000) ADT Caps Championship will take place Thursday in Singapore and the three-day tournament featuring 65 players awards the winner 80 million won.
Kim Char-young
The year has two more tournaments ― the Swinging Skirts 2012 World Ladies Masters and Hyundai China Ladies Open ― in December, but the records from them will be counted toward the 2013 season.
In addition, last week’s MBN-KYJ Golf Ladies Open was cancelled due to inclement weather after the first round, so players are more sold on the season finale.
Kim Ha-neul, who dominated the Korean tour last year, is leading the pack on her way to repeating her position in both categories although her advantages in the standings are not as strong.
Yang Je-yoon
The 23-year-old, who bagged the money title with 524 million won after winning three tournaments ― the most victories by a single golfer ― and posting 11 top-10 finishes in 2011, has collected 455 million in 17 appearances this season. Although she got into the win column only once, she has recorded 10 top-10 finishes, nine of them in the top five.
Despite sitting atop the money table, Kim holds a razor-thin lead.
Runner-up Heo Yoon-kyung, who is winless yet has four second-place finishes, is about 51 million won back and the title is also within reach for Kim Char-young, who displayed a great first-half performance with three titles and earned 385 million won, given that the winner’s share is 80 million won.
Heo Yoon-kyung
“As I mind the individual titles, I feel pressured,” Kim Ha-neul said Wednesday in a press conference.
“As winning a tournament assures me of individual titles, I will just focus on winning a championship.”
Heo said, “I will try my best to have a competent game in the season’s final tournament.”
In the race for the season’s best golfer on the Korean women’s professional golf circuit, reigning Player of the year Kim Ha-neul is a front-runner with 293 points.
However, two-year pro Yang Je-yoon, who claimed her first career victory in August, is just two points behind Kim and Heo is sitting at 255, which puts both of them within striking distance of taking the award. Winning a tournament is worth 40 points, with 22 points for second, 19 for third, down to 11 point for 10th place.
In scoring average, Kim Ha-neul posts a tour-best of 71.47, followed by Yang Soo-jin’s 71.87 and Heo’s 71.82.