'Korea's No. 1' Park Min-ji "Challenge, Back-to-Back Wins in 3 Tournaments in One Season"..."A Pleasant Place"

Daebo House Open: 'Title Defense', Seo Yeon-jeong's Rematch, Im Jin-hee's 2nd Consecutive Win Challenge, '2nd Prize Money' Im Hee-jeong Joins

Park Minji challenges a three-tournament two consecutive wins in one season at the Daebo House Open.

[Asia Economy Reporter No Woo-rae] ‘Back-to-back wins in 3 tournaments in one season’.

It is a remarkable record challenge by Park Min-ji (24), the ‘No. 1 player in Korea’. The Dabo House D Open (total prize money 1 billion KRW) of the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour, held on the 8th at Seowon Valley Golf Club in Paju, Gyeonggi Province (par 72, 6,741 yards), is the battleground. If she wins this tournament, she will successfully defend titles in 3 tournaments this year. Domestically, the late Ku Ok-hee is the only player who achieved back-to-back wins in the Suwon Open, Donghae Open, and KLPGA Championship in 1982.

Park Min-ji dominated the domestic stage last year. She swept 6 wins, ranking first in wins, prize money (1.52137 billion KRW), and the Player of the Year points (680 points). Although she had a difficult time early this season due to COVID-19, she successfully defended her title at the NH Investment & Securities Ladies Championship in May and achieved back-to-back wins again last month at the Celltrion Queens Masters. She is the fourth player in KLPGA Tour history to defend titles more than twice in one season.

At the BC Card·Hankyung Ladies Cup, which ended on the 26th of last month, she defeated ‘Mediheal Champ’ Park Ji-young (26) in a playoff battle to claim her third win of the season and 13th career victory. This year, she is leading all categories including wins, prize money (638.03 million KRW), Player of the Year points (351 points), average score (69.93), and top 10 finish rate (70%). Her strong performance is driven by a long drive average of 241.97 yards (43rd), a green hit rate of 78.93% (3rd), and an average of 29.93 putts (15th).

Park Min-ji has a good compatibility with this course. Last year, she shot 6 under par on the final day to complete a 2-stroke come-from-behind victory. She became the first player in KLPGA Tour history to surpass 6 wins and 1 billion KRW (1.128 billion KRW) in prize money in July. She took a break skipping last week’s McCol·Monapark Open held at Birch Hill Golf Club in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province. Park Min-ji said, "This is a place where I had good results last year," and added, "I will play with more focus."

Seoyeon Jeong aims for revenge at the Daebo House Open.

It is Seo Yeon-jeong (27)’s revenge match. Last year, she led by 2 strokes on the final day but was overtaken by Park Min-ji. However, escaping the slump of missing the cut in the last 3 consecutive tournaments is an urgent task. Im Jin-hee (24) is challenging for her second consecutive win. She is on the rise after securing her second career win with a wire-to-wire victory at the McCol·Monapark Open. This year’s champion group includes ‘2nd in prize money’ Im Hee-jeong (22), ‘2nd in Player of the Year’ Yoo Hae-ran (21), Park Ji-young, Cho Ah-yeon (22), and Hong Jeong-min (20).

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