Kim Sei-young finishes Buick LPGA as joint runner-up

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Kim Sei-young finishes Buick LPGA as joint runner-up

Published: 14 Oct. 2024, 16:02 Updated: 14 Oct. 2024, 16:57

PAIK JI-HWAN
paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr

Kim Sei-young watches her tee shot on the first hole during the final round of the Buick LPGA Shanghai at Shanghai Qizhong Garden Golf Club in China on Sunday. [AP/YONHAP]

Kim Sei-young finished the Buick LPGA Shanghai in China on Sunday as joint runner-up alongside Mao Saigo of Japan with a 19-under-par, 269, making her best finish of the 2024 LPGA season.

Yin Ruoning of China claimed victory with a 25-under-par, 263, in the first LPGA tournament of this year’s Asian swing in her home country, pocketing the winner's prize of $315,000.

Sunday’s win was Yin’s second LPGA victory of the campaign and her fourth title on the Tour.

Yin Ruoning poses with the trophy after winning the Buick LPGA Shanghai in China on Sunday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Kim and Saigo took $166,508 apiece. Sunday’s result was Kim’s best finish of the 2024 season and her fifth top-10 finish this year.

Kim, one of the most successful Korean golfers on the Tour with 12 LPGA titles, has seen a title drought in recent years, with her last victory coming from the Pelican Women’s Championship in November 2020.

She also has one Women’s PGA Championship — one of the five LPGA majors — under her belt.

Fellow Korean golfer Choi Hye-jin, meanwhile, tied for fifth on Sunday with two strokes behind Kim, sealing her fifth top-10 finish on the Tour this season. Choi, 25, has yet to secure a win since joining the Tour in 2022.

This season has seen two Korean winners on the Tour so far, with Amy Yang claiming the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June and Ryu Hae-ran winning the FM Championship after an all-Korean playoff against Ko Jin-young last month.

Last season was a success for Korean golfers, with four Koreans claiming five LPGA titles. Yang, Ryu and Kim Hyo-joo took one title apiece, while Ko ended the season with two titles as the only Korean multi-winner.

Ko has been in good form again this season, with six top-10 finishes to her name, two of which were runner-up finishes. She made 12 cuts out of 14 LPGA events.

Fellow LPGA veteran Kim Hyo-joo, has also come close to winning an LPGA title this season, recording two top-10 finishes and making 11 cuts out of 13 Tour competitions.

Kim still saw victory at the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour in Korea in May, where she claimed an individual title with a wire-to-wire run.

The 2024 LPGA season has seen the dominance of Lydia Ko, who won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics in the middle of the campaign, and Nelly Korda. Ko has lifted three LPGA trophies, while Korda has secured six titles so far this season.

The 2024 campaign has six more tournaments left with the schedule lasting through at the end of November.

The LPGA now heads to Seowon Valley Country Club in Paju, Gyeonggi, for the BMW Ladies Championship, the only LPGA tournament teeing off in Korea this year.

The Tour then visits Malaysia and Japan during the Asian swing and heads back to the United States for three more competitions. The CME Group Tour Championship will be the last tournament of the campaign.

No more majors are scheduled this season, with Yang set to finish the campaign as the only Korean with a major trophy.

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