Jiyai Shin Wins Japan Major Salonpas Cup

Playoff Birdie Secures Victory on Final Day
29th JLPGA Tour Win and 66th Career Triumph
Fujita Finishes Second, Minyoung Lee Fourth, Hyunkyung Park Eighth

Jiyai Shin claimed victory at a major tournament on the Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association (JLPGA) Tour.

On May 11, at the Ibaraki Golf Club East Course (par 72, 6,675 yards) in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, Shin lost one stroke in the fourth round of the World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup (total prize money 120 million yen), finishing tied at 7-under-par 281 with Saiki Fujita of Japan. She then secured a birdie on the first playoff hole, the 18th (par 5), to win the championship. In the playoff, Shin hit her third shot from 76 yards with a 54-degree wedge to within 30 centimeters of the hole, clinching the victory. This marks her 29th career win on the JLPGA Tour, coming nearly two years after her previous victory at the Earth Mondahmin Cup in June 2023.

Jin Young Shin won the World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup in a playoff. Photo by AP Yonhap News

Shin earned a winner’s prize of 24 million yen (approximately 230 million won), becoming the first player in JLPGA Tour history to surpass a total career earning of 1.4 billion yen (1,407,158,071 yen). At 37 years and 13 days old, she also set a new record as the oldest winner since the tournament was elevated to major status in 2008, surpassing the previous record set by Hiromi Motegi of Japan, who won at 36 years and 17 days in 2013 by about a year.

If Shin’s two wins before joining the JLPGA Tour in 2008 are included, her total on the Japanese tour rises to 31 victories. She is now just one win away from meeting the JLPGA Tour’s lifetime exemption requirement of 30 wins. Of her 31 victories in Japan, this is her fifth major title, the first since the Ricoh Cup in November 2018. Excluding co-sanctioned events, Shin has now achieved 66 professional wins in total. In addition to her 31 wins in Japan, she has 21 victories on the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour, 11 on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour, 6 on the Ladies European Tour (LET), 5 on the Australian Tour, and 1 on the Ladies Asian Tour.

Among Korean players, Minyoung Lee finished fourth at 5-under-par 283. Mijung Jun placed fifth at 4-under-par 284, while Hyunkyung Park tied for eighth at 2-under-par 286. In total, four Korean players finished in the top 10. Last year’s champion, Hyosong Lee, ended the tournament tied for 29th at 3-over-par 291.