Cho A-yean takes her first victory in nearly 3 years at Kyochon Honey Ladies Open

Golf

Published: 08 May. 2022, 17:41 Updated: 08 May. 2022, 17:44

Cho A-yean takes her first victory in nearly 3 years at Kyochon Honey Ladies Open

Cho A-yean celebrates winning the 8th Kyochon Honey Ladies Open on Sunday at Kingsdale Golf Club in Chungju, North Chungcheong. [KLPGA]

Cho A-yean tees off on the fourth hole of the final round of the 8th Kyochon Honey Ladies Open on Sunday at Kingsdale Golf Club in Chungju, North Chungcheong. [KLPGA]

Cho A-yean took a wire-to-wire victory at the 8th Kyochon Honey Ladies Open on Sunday at Kingsdale Golf Club in Chungju, North Chungcheong, carding a 14-under-par, 202.

The Kyochon Honey Ladies Open was played as a three-day, 54-hole event. Cho started out the first round two strokes ahead of Pak Ju-young, carding six birdies. On the second day, Lee Da-yeon and Lee Ga-young carded a five-under to catch up with Cho at nine-under-par, 135. But on the last day, it was Cho who kept that lead with a bogeyless round, adding five more birdies and widening the gap with Lee Ga-young to four strokes.

This is Cho’s first win of the season and first win in nearly three years. After topping the KLPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, Cho debuted on the KLPGA Tour in 2019 and won her first and second title that same year as a rookie at the Lotte Rent a Car Ladies Open in April and OKSavingsBank Se Ri Pak Invitational in September.

However, in the 2020 season, Cho’s best result was a No. 6 finish in July at the Jeju Samdasoo Masters, and last season, Cho’s best result was a No. 5 finish in April at the Lotte Rent a Car Ladies Open.

“I haven't had a chance to win for so long; I think I was very thirsty for a win,” Cho said after winning the event Sunday.

“After getting good results in 2019, I didn’t play well in 2020 and I felt like I wanted to give up on golf, but I was able to keep on playing because of other people's encouragement. I think the timing is a funny thing because I started to play badly when Covid struck and we had to compete without an audience, but now that the spectators are back, I won. I think I won thanks to my fans and how they cheered me on throughout the event.”

Kwak Bo-mi tees off on the third hole of the final round of the 8th Kyochon Honey Ladies Open on Sunday at Kingsdale Golf Club in Chungju, North Chungcheong. [KLPGA]

Kwak Bo-mi, who was the defending champion going into the Kyochon Honey Ladies Open on Friday, won the Course Record Award after she carded a seven-under on the second round, the lowest-ever score in one round since the start of the event.

Last season, Kwak picked up her first-ever KLPGA Tour victory in her 11 years of playing golf at Island Country Club in Ansan, Gyeonggi, where the 7th Kyochon Honey Ladies Open took place.

Kwak took a tied 17th position carding a 74, 65, 75 for the three rounds and a overall two-under-par, 214.

The KLPGA Tour continues Thursday with the 2022 NH Investment & Securities Ladies Championship.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]