Kim Minbyeol's 'Rookie Storm'... "Did you see the 8-under-par surge?"

Kim Minbyeol Leads Mediheal·Hankook Ilbo Championship 1R
Park Hyunkyung at 4 Under, Park Minji at 3 Under 'Smooth Sailing'
Lee Yewon at 2 Under, Kim Seyoung and Yoo Soyoun at 1 Under

It is the ‘Rookie Storm’ of top seed Kim Min-byeol in the qualifying rounds.

On the 13th, Kim Min-byeol surged ahead with an 8-under-par 64 in the first round of the Mediheal·Hankook Ilbo Championship (total prize money 1 billion KRW) held at Ferrum Club in Yeoju, Gyeonggi-do (Par 72, 6,652 yards) on the KLPGA Tour. No Seung-hee and Lee Joo-mi are tied for second place (5-under-par 67), while Park Hyun-kyung is in fourth place (4-under-par 68), chasing closely behind.

Kim Min-byeol is teeing off at the 12th hole during the first round of the Mediheal·Hankook Ilbo Championship.
[Photo by KLPGA]

Kim Min-byeol boasted a perfect play with eight birdies and no bogeys. After reducing two strokes with birdies on holes 2 and 7 in the front nine, she drew an upward curve with consecutive birdies on holes 10 and 11 and another birdie on hole 13 (par 4). Kim Min-byeol showed strong finishing power with three consecutive birdies from holes 15 to 17, taking over the top of the leaderboard. Leading by three strokes, she secured her first career victory opportunity. A former national team member, Kim Min-byeol turned professional last October, passed the full membership qualifying tournament, and proudly ranked first in the qualifying rounds to debut on the regular tour this year.

‘Domestic No. 1’ Park Min-ji started smoothly, tied for fifth place (3-under-par 69). Lee Ga-young, Ha Min-song, and Park Do-eun are also in this group. Lee Ye-won, who succeeded on her 33rd attempt in 32 tournaments at last week’s opening Lotte Rent-a-Car Women’s Open, is tied for ninth place (2-under-par 70). Ji Han-sol, Cho Ah-yeon, Han Jin-sun, Jeon Ye-seong, Kim So-jung, Kim Si-won, and Kim Ji-soo also joined the group tied for ninth place.

‘Overseas players’ Kim Se-young, Yoo So-yeon, Lim Hee-jeong, and Yoo Hyo-ju are tied for 17th place (1-under-par 71), while defending champion Park Ji-young is tied for 37th place (even par 72). Anna Lin, participating in the sponsor’s tournament, finished tied for 55th place (1-over-par 73). European powerhouse Lin Maria Grant (Sweden) is tied for 68th place (2-over-par 74), and ‘the first foreign player’ Li Shuying (China) struggled, tied for 102nd place (5-over-par 77).

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