Lee Jung-min takes trophy at second tournament of 2023 KLPGA season

Golf

Published: 18 Dec. 2022, 18:30

Lee Jung-min takes trophy at second tournament of 2023 KLPGA season

Lee Jung-min tees off on the second hole during the final round of the PLK Pacificlinks Championship with SBS Golf at the Twin Doves Golf Clubtees in Vietnam on Sunday. [KLPGA]

Lee Jung-min won the second tournament of the 2023 KLPGA season, the PLK Pacificlinks Championship with SBS Golf, at the Twin Doves Golf Club in Vietnam on Sunday.

Lee carded a nine-under-par, 207, to clinch the trophy, three strokes ahead of Choi Ye-rim who carded six-under-par, 201, to finish runner-up.

Lee had started off the final round tied for second. With strong winds hitting the golf course as Lee reached the back nine, Lee bogied the 14th, 15th and 16th hole in a row but was able to finish on top after carding four birdies and three bogies on Sunday to finish on top.

This is Lee’s 10th career win on the KLPGA Tour, a feat only reached by 13 other Korean golfers including LPGA golfers Ryu So-yeon and Park Sung-hyun.

It is also Lee’s first win after her previous win at the Dongbu Construction · Koreit Championship in October 2019. At the time, it was Lee's first title in five years.

“All the golfers here are already very skilled, and I don’t think I have anything that I can tell them that would help,” said Lee after the win Sunday.

“But if I have to say something, it would be that winners don’t win because they are perfect. I think that golfers who have never won a trophy before have as much of a chance of winning as anyone else.”

Lee Jung-min plays her iron on the fourth hole during the final round of the PLK Pacificlinks Championship with SBS Golf at the Twin Doves Golf Club in Vietnam on Sunday. [KLPGA]

Lee’s win this week and her 44th finish last week at the Hana Financial Group Singapore Women's Open sets her up for a good upcoming season.

The Pacificlinks Championship was held for the first time in three years with PLK as the new sponsor and has a total purse of 700 million won ($538,000). The total of 96 golfers included 88 KLPGA golfers, three golfers from the Vietnam Golf Association, and five recommended golfers. The five recommended included three amateur golfers Kwak Ye-bin, Park Ye-ji and Cherry Lim. LPGA golfer Yealimi Noh will also join the field.

The three golfers from the Vietnam Golf Association, Thao My Nguyen, Pham Thi Kim Nguyen and Than Bao Nghi, failed to make the cut alongside amateur golfer Kwak who also failed to make the cut.

Amateur golfer Park Ye-ji finished in the top 10, carding a three-under-par, 213, to tie for seventh. Lim tied for 20th while Noh tied for 17th.

While past champions Lee Da-yeon, Park Ji-young and Choi Hye-jin missed out this week, KLPGA favorite Lee So-young who finished runner-up once at the 2018 Pacificlinks Championship had thrown her hat into the ring and tied for fourth after carding a four-under-par, 212, five strokes behind the winner.

After a runner-up finish at last week's Hana Financial Group Singapore Women's Open, this week's fourth finish is Lee So-young's second top-five finish in a row, opening up a good 2023 season.

The KLPGA Tour will take a three-month long hiatus before continuing with the 2023 season.

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