Looking back on the 2019 golf season at home and abroad
Choi Hye-jin has reason to be satisfied after receiving the Best Female Golfer Award at the 2019 Dong-A Sports Award at Four Seasons Hotel Seoul on Dec. 11. Yonhap
By Kim Jeong-kyoo
Golf addicts in South Korea will happily recall the year 2019. The season left golf fans overjoyed and there were plenty of memorable moments.
The 2019 KLPGA Tour schedule had 30 tournaments, boasting a total purse of 25.3 billion won, an all-time record. The total prize money went up by 4.7 billion won in comparison to that of the previous year. Competitions with a purse of one billion won or more increased from four to seven events. Featuring a star-studded 84-woman field from 16 countries, the BMW Ladies Championship had a total purse of $2 million, with $300,000 for the champion.
Choi Hye-jin swept the board, claiming five victories in 2019. Despite Jang Ha-na's last-minute challenge, she ended the season as the KLPGA's money leader. Choi carried off all the awards except for the Rookie of the Year award, which she won last year. She became the second Korean player to pull off the remarkable feat, Lee Jeong-eun6 being the first.
What attracted attention were two big rookie stars: the Player of the Year award winner Cho A-yeon and three-time winner Lim Hee-jeong.
In all, the year 2019 for the KLPGA Tour's rookies was a vintage year. The newcomers in 2019 season reaped notable success, combining for eight wins among 30 official tournaments. Winning eight competitions is the record for most wins in a single KLPGA Tour season by rookies.
High-profile Cho A-yeon and Lim Hee-jeong notched two and three victories respectively while Lee Seong-yeoun, Ryu Hae-ran and Kim Gyo-rin clinched the crown once. Ryu became the first player in 41 years to snatch the title on her KLPGA debut. Han Myung-hyun pulled off the feat in 1978.
Winless rookies Park Hyun-kyung and Lee So-mi were two other noticeable neophytes.
Ahn Song-yi, 30, won her maiden career victory at the ADT CAPS Championship in her 237th try over 10 years. In her previous 236 bids, she finished as runner-up three times.
Similarly, Park So-yeon, 26, earned her first career title at the Kyochon Honey Ladies Open in her 167th appearance over seven years. She hoisted the coveted champion's trophy, smiling tearfully.
The 2019 LPGA Tour season opened with a South Korean golfer elbowing her way right to the winner's rostrum. And it ended with another South Korean golfer holding the champion's trophy proudly aloft.
Ji Eun-hee clinched the season-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions title in January while Kim Sei-young won the finale of a yearlong series of events, the CME Group Tour Championship title in November.
South Korean golfers combined for 15 wins among the 32 LPGA Tour tournaments in 2019, equaling the record for most wins in a season by South Korean golf celebrities. South Korean players set the record in 2015, equaling it in 2017.
Ko Jin-young, the world No. 1 notched four victories including two majors and remained atop most of the season as the world No. 1. She obtained the Player of the Year award, following the winner in 2013 Park In-bee and co-winners in 2017 Park Sung-hyun and Ryu So-yeon.
On top, Ko became the third LPGA golfer who won the Rookie of the Year award and the Player of the Year award in successive seasons. Park Sung-hyun won these two highest individual honors in the same season in 2017.
Also, Ko claimed the Vare Trophy that is given to the player with the lowest scoring average. She had 69.062 strokes per round, with her compatriot Kim Hyo-joo finishing in second place at 69.408.
Lee Jeong-eun6 lived up to the expectations of her home fans. She clinched her lone title at the most prestigious major, the U.S. Women's Open. She won the race for the Rookie of the Year award without much effort, becoming the fifth Rookie of the Year winner. Kim Sei-young won the LPGA's Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award in 2015, Chun In-gee in 2016, Park Sung-hyun in 2017 and Ko Jin-young in 2018.
Former world No. 1 Park Sung-hyun captured two victories, Kim Sei-young clinched three titles and Hur Mi-jung had two wins. Yang Hee-young and Jang Ha-na each claimed a single title. Jang earned her win as a nonmember in October with an astonishing second shot within two feet in the third playoff at the inaugural BMW Ladies Championship in October in Busan. Jang, a former LPGA Tour player is competing on the KLPGA Tour now.