KG Ladies Open: Park Bo-gyeom Wins in 3rd Overtime
Hunts 3rd Season Victory, Ties for 1st in Wins
Park Ji-young and Bang Shin-sil Tied 5th, Lee Ye-won 7th
‘153 Attempts, 154th Success’ Bae Sohyun has risen to become a 3-time champion.
Bae Sohyun is making a birdie putt on the 4th hole of the final 3rd round at the KG Ladies Open. [Photo by KLPGA]
On the 1st, at the final 3rd round of the KLPGA Tour KG Ladies Open (total prize money 800 million KRW) held at Turning Point CC in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province (par 72, 6,721 yards), Bae shot 5 under par to tie with Park Bokyung at 12 under par 204 strokes. Then, on the third hole of the sudden-death playoff at the 18th hole (par 5), she made the ‘winning birdie.’ After claiming her first career victory at the E1 Charity Open in May, which was her 154th tournament appearance, she secured her third win of the season following last month’s The Haven Masters. The winner’s prize money is 144 million KRW.
Bae Sohyun joined in October 2011 and mainly played on the Dream (2nd tier) and Jump (3rd tier) tours. She entered the main tour after winning the Dream Tour money title in 2016 but lost her card due to poor results. She returned to the main tour in 2020 and has consistently ranked in the ‘Top 5’ and maintained a position within the top 30 on the money list every season since 2021. This year, she also showed consistent performance and succeeded in her fourth 3-win season, following Park Jiyoung, Lee Yewon, and Park Hyunkyung (all with 3 wins).
Bae started from a tie for 5th place, 3 strokes behind the leader, and collected 6 birdies (1 bogey). After birdies on holes 2 and 5, she took a brief breather with a bogey on the 6th hole (par 4), then made consecutive birdies on the 7th and 8th holes to jump into the title race. She showed resilience again with back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th holes in the back nine. Tied with Park Bokyung through birdies in the second playoff hole, Bae completed the ‘winning birdie’ on the third playoff hole by sending her second shot near the green and finishing with two putts. Bae said, “I did not expect to win. I’m so happy to win after the third playoff hole,” adding, “It feels like I’m reaping the rewards of my hard work. I will do my best until the end of the season.”
Park Bokyung, who was the leader the previous day, finished with 2 under par and was overtaken. She missed the chance for her second career win since the Kyochon 1991 Ladies Open last May. Kim Seromi and Lee Jeyoung tied for 3rd place (13 under par 203 strokes), Park Jiyoung and Bang Sinshil tied for 5th (12 under par 204 strokes), and Lee Yewon, Lee Soyoung, Lim Jinyoung, and Kim Minju tied for 7th (11 under par 205 strokes) to close out the tournament. Park Hyunkyung finished tied for 18th (8 under par 208 strokes), and Park Minji tied for 21st (7 under par 209 strokes).
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