"Park Minji's '3 Consecutive Losses' and 'Overtime Clutch'... 'At Worst, 2nd Place'"

Celltrion Queens Masters Extended Victory 6 Wins 1 Loss
No Impact from This Year's Slump, 17th Career Win Through Practice
Promise Strong Performance at US Women's Open and Evian Championship

‘Korea's No. 1’ Park Min-ji is a powerhouse in playoffs. On the 11th, at the Celltreon Queens Masters (total prize money 1.2 billion KRW) of the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour, held at Seolhaewon The Legend Course (par 72) in Yangyang-gun, Gangwon-do, she edged out Lee Ye-won in a playoff with a ‘winning eagle’. This marked her 17th career victory and a historic achievement of defending the title for three consecutive years since 2021. Following the late Ku Ok-hee, Park Se-ri, Kang Soo-yeon, and Kim Hae-rim, she became the fifth player in KLPGA Tour history to win the same tournament three times in a row.

Park Min-ji showed a very strong performance with a career playoff record of 6 wins and 1 loss. When asked about the secret to her playoff strength, she replied, "Yay, securing 2nd place." She explained, "I think that even if I don’t win, I at least secure 2nd place, but I play with the mindset that I will win, so I can play comfortably."

Park Min-ji is taking a commemorative photo after achieving her third consecutive victory at the Celltrion Queens Masters.
[Photo by KLPGA]

Park Min-ji also rose to joint 3rd place in the all-time wins ranking alongside Ko Woo-soon. She humbly said, "Actually, many players move to the U.S. after about 10 wins, so I reached 3rd place in total wins because I stayed. If I hadn’t gone to the U.S., I probably wouldn’t even be in the top 10." Park added, "Having 17 wins is a blessing and an honor," and modestly stated, "I’m doing well, but I still have a long way to go and need to build more skills."

Park struggled this year. Before this tournament, she had rarely achieved a victory. Last month at the E1 Charity Open, she suffered the humiliation of missing the cut. Park said, "Honestly, I was worried if I could win this year, and the anxiety was big," adding, "Since the end of May, I lived with the mindset to focus on every moment and do my best, which helped me." She continued, "I rested last week and practiced a lot," and pointed out the secret to her victory, "I also did a lot of physical training so I wouldn’t regret the practice, but in the end, it was about the amount of practice."

Park found the key to her success in this tournament by returning to her original mindset. She said, "Maybe because I won a lot, at the beginning of this year I thought, ‘This should be enough.’ I already had the wrong mindset," and added, "I thought I needed to maintain my lifestyle pattern well. Going back to the basics was important."

Park has a strong desire to perform well on foreign stages. She plans to participate in major tournaments such as the US Women’s Open in early July and the Evian Championship at the end of July. She said, "I’m glad to have regained confidence with today’s win before going to foreign tournaments," and expressed hope, "I was worried that I might not win in Korea and perform poorly in overseas tournaments, but today’s victory will be a good turning point."

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