KLPGA Tour '60th Place Battle'... "Protect Your Seed"

Prize Money 60th Lee Gippeum vs 61st Lee Hyorin '3,872,797 Won Difference', Remaining 3 Tournaments "Who Will Stay in the 1st Division Tour?"

Prize money rank 60 Lee Gippeum (left) and rank 61 Lee Hyorin are fiercely competing to remain in the KLPGA Tour Division 1.

[Asia Economy Reporter No Woo-rae] ‘3,872,797 won’.

This is the difference between 60th and 61st place in the 2021 season prize money ranking of the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour. As of the 28th, Lee Gi-ppeum (27, Cham Joeun Yeohaeng), ranked 60th, earned 111,582,500 won in 25 tournaments, while Lee Hyo-rin (24, ShinHyup), ranked 61st, earned 107,097,930 won. If the season ends immediately, Lee Gi-ppeum will dramatically remain in the first division tour next year, whereas Lee Hyo-rin will be pushed to the 2022 season seed ranking tournament.

To survive in the KLPGA Tour, players must either win or enter the top 60 in prize money. If they fail to reach 60th place, they must pass the ‘hellish seed tournament’ to participate in the first division tour next season. Failure means facing a thorny path in the Dream (second division) Tour. Although the Dream Tour and Jump (third division) Tour have grown in scale, they are still at a different level from the first division tour. Without securing a seed, players must endure harsh times.

This year’s seed tournament preliminaries begin on November 9 at Muan Golf Course in Jeonnam. Divided into three groups?A, B, and C?they play 18 holes per day over two days, totaling 36 holes stroke play. The finals continue at the same location from November 16 to 19. Exempt players join, and the final ranking is decided by 72 holes stroke play over four days. The ‘top 25 in the finals’ can participate in almost all KLPGA Tour events next year.

The KLPGA Tour has three tournaments remaining this year: the SK Networks·Seoul Economic Ladies Classic (October 28?31), the S-OIL Championship (November 5?7), and the SK Telecom·ADT Caps Championship (November 12?14). From 55th place Jeon Woo-ri (24, 120,709,286 won) to 65th place Lee Ji-hyun3 (23, 96,339,286 won, both DB Insurance), there is a 24,370,000 won difference?a truly nerve-wracking survival battle.

Players such as 66th Yoo Hyo-ju (24, Q Capital Partners), 69th Park Gyeol (25, Samil Pharmaceutical), 70th Hwang Jeong-mi (22, Q Capital Partners), 73rd Lee Se-hee (24, Mico-MC Square), 74th Kim Hyun-su (29, Lotte), 75th In Ju-yeon (24, Samchully), and 78th Choi Hye-yong (31, Mediheal) desperately need top 10 finishes. Even if they fail to enter the top 60, maintaining 80th place is essential because it allows direct entry to the finals rather than the preliminaries of the seed tournament.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.