‘Slugger’ Bang Sin-sil: "I Have Let Go of My Attachment to Distance"

Hana Financial Group Singapore Women's Open 1R 7 Under Par
Giving Up Power for Accurate Tee Shots
"I Want to Show Consistency This Year"

Bang Shin-sil started off fresh.

Bang Sin-sil is teeing off at the 10th hole during the first round of the Hana Financial Group Singapore Women's Open.
[Photo by KLPGA]

On the 7th, at the Singapore Tanah Merah Country Club Tampines Course (Par 72, 6,548 yards), Bang dominated the leaderboard by shooting 7-under-par 65 in the first round of the 2024 KLPGA Tour season opener, the Hana Financial Group Singapore Women's Open (total prize money 1.1 million Singapore dollars). She collected 7 birdies without a single bogey. She reduced 5 strokes in the front nine with back-to-back birdies on holes 12-13 and 15-16, followed by a birdie on the 18th hole (par 5). In the back nine, she finished the round on a high note with 'stepping stone birdies' on holes 7 and 9.

Bang Shin-sil is a second-year player who debuted on the KLPGA Tour last year. Although she did not win the Rookie of the Year award, she secured two victories by leveraging her powerful long drives at the E1 Charity Open in May and the Dongbu Construction & Korea Land Trust Championship in October. She ranked 8th in the overall points (430 points), 9th in prize money (694.57 million KRW), and 3rd in rookie points (2,399 points). She also topped the average driving distance category with 262.47 yards.

Right after the round, Bang exclaimed, "I didn’t make any major mistakes and hit the green on almost every hole. Thanks to that, I achieved a good score." She missed the fairway only twice, on holes 3 and 12 (both par 4s). She added, "Last year, I focused my training on distance, but this year I practiced with an emphasis on accuracy. Because of that, my precision improved and I didn’t have any big missed shots."

Bang has let go of her obsession with long drives. This came right after participating in the Foxconn TLPGA Players Championship held in Taiwan last month. "I saw many players who hit more than 50 meters farther than me. I realized that distance is not the most important thing in golf. I was able to let go of my attachment to distance." Regarding her goals for this year, she stated, "I want to show consistent performance. Since this is the first tournament, I won’t rush and will play as I practiced during training camp."

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