Kim Su-ji named Player of the Year at KLPGA awards

Golf

Published: 22 Nov. 2022, 15:06

Kim Su-ji named Player of the Year at KLPGA awards

Kim Su-ji celebrates winning the Player of the Year award at the KLPGA awards ceremony at Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas in Gangnam, southern Seoul on Monday. [KLPGA]

The 2022 KLPGA awards ceremony took place at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas in Gangnam, southern Seoul on Monday, with Kim Su-ji named the KLPGA Player of the Year after winning two titles this season.

Kim had a fruitful season after making it in the top 10 in 17 events while winning back-to-back tournaments in September, when she won the Hana Financial Group Championship and the OK Financial Group Se Ri Pak Invitational.

Park Min-ji celebrates taking the wins award at the KLPGA awards ceremony at Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas in Gangnam, southern Seoul on Monday. [KLPGA]

The KLPGA season ended on Nov. 13, with 2021 Player of the Year Park Min-ji finishing the season with a bang and winning the last tournament, the SK Shieldus-SK Telecom Championship 2022. This season there were a total of 30 tournaments ran from April to November, six of which were won by Park.

In addition to winning six titles last season, Park was able to rack up a total of six wins this season as well, starting with a win at the NH Investment & Securities Ladies Championship in May, then going on to win the Celltrion Queens Masters and BC Card Hankyung Ladies Cup 2022 in June, the KB Financial Group STAR Championship in September, the 22nd Hite Jinro Championship in October and the last event of the season on Nov. 13.

For the last two years, Park has played 47 events, winning 12 titles. Mathematically, she has won one titles in every four tournaments. Park is currently No. 14 in the Rolex World Women's Golf rankings. She is the top-ranked KLPGA golfer and the fourth-highest Korean golfer in the world, following No. 4 Ko Jin-young, No. 8 Chun In-gee and No. 9 Kim Hyo-joo.

Park finishes the season at the top of the KLPGA money standings.

Lee Ye-won was named Rookie of the Year, Kim Su-ji was awarded for the lowest average number of strokes, Lim Hee-jeong was made Most Popular Player of the Year for the second year in a row and Jeong Yun-ji won the Most Improved Player Award.

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