Sung Yu-jin takes third KLPGA victory at S-Oil Championship

Sung Yu-jin hits a shot during the S-Oil Championship at Elysian Jeju in Jeju on Sunday. [NEWS1]

Sung Yu-jin secured her third KLPGA victory at the KLPGA S-Oil Championship on Sunday after the event was reduced to a 54-hole stroke play due to heavy rain.

KLPGA enters home stretch at S-Oil Championship

Sung finished the third round as a frontrunner with a 12-under-par, 204, and had to retain her momentum through the last day, though it turned out to be unnecessary as the KLGPA organizing committee canceled the final round due to the weather and named Sung as the final winner.

Sunday’s victory was Sung’s second win of the 2023 season, having won her first title this season at the Doosan Match Play Championship in May.

Sung’s title comes as she is preparing to compete in the LPGA Tour Qualifying School at the end of the month, where she could earn 2024 LPGA Tour status.

She has already proved that she can compete on the bigger stage, as she finished as runner-up at the LPGA Lotte Championship, where she participated as a sponsor invitee in April.

The final round of the S-Oil Championship at Elysian Jeju in Jeju was likely a disappointment for some of the other competitors.

The last round first saw a change in the standings, with Sung making a double bogey on the third hole and ceding the top spot to Kim Jae-hee and Lee Seung-yeon, who tied the score.

Without the rain, it seemed tough for Sung to reclaim the top spot, as Kim managed multiple birdies until the ninth hole and even pushed Lee Seung-yeon down to second.

The heavy rain, however, ruined Kim’s chance to win her first-ever title.

Kim and Lee Ye-won finished as joint runners-up with a 11-under-par, 205, as they were tied in second place on moving day.

Had Kim won the S-Oil Championship, she would have become the ninth golfer of the season to win her first-ever KLPGA title.

This season has seen a total of eight golfers win their first-ever title, with Lee Ye-won winning the Lotte Rent-a-Car Women’s Open in April and Choi Eun-woo securing a title at the Nexen Saint Nine Masters.

Lee Ye-won has seen great success this season, as she secured two more titles at the Doosan E&C We’ve Championship and the Hite Jinro Championship. Lee and Im Jin-hee remain as this season’s winningest golfers with three titles apiece.

The S-Oil Championship was the second to last KLPGA event of the 2023 season, with the SK Shields SK Telecom Championship scheduled as the last official tournament of the year on Friday.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]