Ryu Hae-ran finishes fifth at Amundi Evian Championship

Ryu Hae-ran [AFP/YONHAP]

Sophomore LPGA golfer Ryu Hae-ran finished in solo fifth at the Amundi Evian Championship on Sunday with a 13-under-par, 271, managing the best finish by Korean and her third top five of the 2024 LPGA season.

Ryu, 23, carded a six-under-par, 65, in the final round of the major, co-sanctioned by the LPGA and Ladies European Tour (LET), at the Evian Resort Golf Club in France and recorded a sole fifth place finish. The course was a par-71 course.

The final round score was her best during the tournament, but her final score at 13-under-par, 271, fell short of the 19-under-par, 265, by winner Ayaka Furue from Japan.

Unusually, there were no ties among the top six at the tournament.

Ryu still walks away with $330,508 from a total purse of $8 million, the most she has earned from an LPGA tournament this year.

She has displayed good form at majors this season, having recorded a sole fifth place finish at the Chevron Championship and joint ninth place finish at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, although she has yet to win a title this year.

A third place finish at the JM Eagle LA Championship in April remains her best finish this year, with her last and only title on the Tour coming from the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship in October last year.

Fellow Korean golfer Cho Hye-jin tied for seventh on Sunday with a 10-under-par, 274, and Jenny Shin, Kim Hyo-joo and An Na-rin tied for 12th alongside Paula Reto and Madelene Sagstrom.

It's been a quiet year on the LPGA Tour for the usually dominant Korean contingent, with Amy Yang taking the sole Korean win of the year at the KPMG Championship last month.

For Yang, who tied for 63rd on Sunday, the Amundi Evian Championship was a tune-up tournament ahead of the Paris Olympics, where she will compete alongside Kim and Ko Jin-young.

The Olympics run from July 26 through Aug. 11, which falls in the middle of the 2024 LPGA season that ends in November. The three will head to the women’s golf tournament at the Games teeing off on Aug. 7.

Kim joins the Olympics on the back of two top 10 finishes on the LPGA Tour and an Aramco Team Series title on the LET Tour, while Ko joins with four top 10 finishes on the LPGA Tour.

Winning a medal in the French capital would be Korea’s second medal in golf at the Olympics after Korean golf legend Park In-bee won the women’s event in 2016, when the sport returned to the Games for the first time since 1908.

The LPGA season will continue this week with the Dana Open teeing off on Thursday in Ohio.

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