Kim Hae-rym looks to defend title at McCol Mona Park Open

Kim Hae-rym tees off on the third hole during the final round of the 2021 McCol Mona Park Open with SBS Golf at Birch Hill Golf Club in Pyeongchang, Gangwon on July 4, 2021. [NEWS1]

The McCol Mona Park Open with SBS Golf starts Friday at Birch Hill Golf Club in Pyeongchang, Gangwon as a three-day 54 hole event, with Kim Hae-rym competing as defending champion.

This year will mark the eight edition of the McCol Mona Park Open. Ko Jin-young, the 13-time LPGA champion, was the winner of the inaugural event in 2015. Lee So-young won in 2016, Choi Hye-jin in 2017 and Park Chae-yoon in 2018. Choi won the event for the second time in 2019 and Kim Min-sun won in 2020.

Last year, Kim Hae-rym won, carding an overall 203 after a sudden-death playoff with Lee Ga-young. It was Kim Hae-rym’s first win in three years and two months.

Kim Hae-rym will be looking to defend her title starting Friday as she also tries for her first win this year. Her best finish this season was eighth place at the 10th E1 Charity Open.

Having debuted on the professional tour in 2007, the 33-year-old golfer is currently the oldest active player on the KLPGA Tour. She has seven KLPGA titles, two in 2016, three in 2017, one in 2018 and one in 2021. Of her seven titles, three of them were won at the KyoChon Honey Ladies Open.

“I am excited to play as defending champion for the first time in such a long time,” said Kim Hae-rym in a pre-match interview.

“Others are also looking forward to my performance, I think it will be a meaningful week. When we play as defending champions, people are a lot more interested and send lots of support. I get a lot of energy from that.”

With the two KLPGA favorites Park Min-ji and Lim Hee-jeong skipping the three-day event, Ryu Hae-ran enters the golf course as the next highest on this season’s purse standings.

Ryu won the third event of this season in April, carding a 272 at the Nexen SaintNine Masters 2022 at Gaya Country Club in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang, taking a one-stroke victory over rookie Kwon Seo-yeon. She has six top-10 finishes, including two third place finishes at the Lotte Rent-a-Car Ladies Open, the first event of this season, and at the KyoChon Honey Ladies Open.

Just last week, Ryu finished eighth at the BC Card Hankyung Ladies Open at Fortune Hills in Pocheon, carding a 208, four strokes behind winner Park Min-ji, who won after a playoff against Park Ji-young.

“I was not confident for a while recently because my round scores went over the 60s,” said Ryu.

“But I felt that I had the best shots in the final round of last week’s tournament. I think my form is at its best right now. I will play aggressively this week and aim for a top finish.”

Ryu will tee off at 8:45 a.m. alongside defending champion Kim Hae-rym and last year’s runner-up Lee.

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