‘Namu Haengun’ Park Hyun-kyung, Excited with Consecutive Wins for 2 Weeks

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Park Hyun-kyung achieved her second consecutive victory.

Park Hyun-kyung is teeing off at the 4th hole of the final third round of the McCol·Mona Yongpyong Open.
[Photo by KLPGA]

On the 30th, at the final 3rd round of the KLPGA Tour McCol·Mona Yongpyong Open (total prize money 800 million KRW) held at Birch Hill Golf Club in Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon Province (par 72, 6,435 yards), she shot 3-under par and tied with Choi Ye-rim (13-under par 203). However, she secured the win with a 'winning birdie' on the first hole of the sudden-death playoff at the 18th hole (par 5). This marks her third win of the season and seventh career victory, following last month's Doosan Match Play and last week's BC Card·Hankyung Ladies Cup. The winner's prize money was 144 million KRW. She leads jointly in multiple wins and continues to dominate in prize money and points for the season-long award.

Park Hyun-kyung started with a one-stroke lead and recorded four birdies and one bogey. Although she had a shaky start with a bogey on the 3rd hole (par 5), she gained momentum with stepping-stone birdies on the 5th, 7th, and 9th holes. She briefly lost the top spot on the leaderboard to Choi Ye-rim but regained a tie for first with a birdie on the 16th hole (par 4). On the first hole of the playoff, her tee shot veered right, hit a tree, and luckily landed on the fairway. She then sank a birdie putt from about 5.2 meters to clinch the victory.

Winning two consecutive weeks on the KLPGA Tour is the first time in 1 year and 8 months since Lee So-mi won back-to-back titles at the 2022 SK Networks·Seokyung Ladies Classic and the S-Oil Championship. In a post-win interview, Park Hyun-kyung exclaimed, "I never imagined winning two weeks in a row; it feels like receiving a miraculous gift. I think my efforts have accumulated, leading to three wins in the first half of the season." Regarding the playoff, she said, "The ball veered right, and I think luck was on my side. I'm so happy to finish well."

Choi Ye-rim, who was aiming for her first victory, fought hard with a 5-under par round but settled for second place. This was her seventh runner-up finish overall. Lee Ye-jung and Choi Min-kyung tied for third place (11-under par 205), Seo Yeon-jung and Kim Yeon-hee tied for fifth (10-under par 206), and five players including Lim Hee-jung, Kim Min-byeol, and Ko Ji-woo tied for seventh (9-under par 207) concluded the tournament. Lee Ye-won and Bang Shin-sil tied for 12th place (8-under par 208), and Park Min-ji tied for 17th (7-under par 209). LPGA member Lim Jin-hee finished tied for 31st place (3-under par 213).