CME Group Tour Championship ends dissapointing year for Korean LPGA golfers

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CME Group Tour Championship ends dissapointing year for Korean LPGA golfers

Published: 25 Nov. 2024, 13:50 Updated: 25 Nov. 2024, 16:30

PAIK JI-HWAN
[email protected]

Amy Yang holds the trophy after winning the KPMG Women's PGA Championship in Sammamish, Washington on June 23. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

The 2024 LPGA Tour ended Sunday at the CME Group Tour Championship, drawing the curtain on a dissapointing year for Korean golfers with just three titles won across the 35 events.

An Na-rin tied for fifth at the CME on Sunday, the best result by a Korean to round off what has been the worst Tour for Korean golfers in 13 years.

An Na-rin putts on the second green during the final round of the CME Group Tour Championship 2024 at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida on Sunday. [AFP/YONHAP]

An finished with a 15-under, 273, tying with Nelly Korda for fifth but well behind Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand who took the title with a huge 22-under, 266.

Amy Yang, Ryu Hae-ran and Kim A-lim remain the only Korean golfers to secure victory this year.

Yang was the first Korean to take a title this season with a win at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship — one of the five LPGA majors — in June.

Ryu was next, winning the FM Championship in September after an all-Korean playoff against Ko Jin-young. Kim then won her first LPGA title in four years at the Lotte Championship earlier this month.

This year marks the first time Korean golfers have secured fewer than four wins since 2011, when Ryu So-yeon, Choi Na-yeon and Park Hee-young clinched one title each.

A noticeable absence from this season’s Korean winners’ list is 15-time LPGA champion Ko, who won two LPGA titles last season.

She still had an impressive season this year, making 16 cuts in 18 tournaments and finishing in the top 10 seven times, including two runner-up finishes.

Countrywoman Kim Hyo-joo also had a successful stint on the Tour, making 15 cuts of 18 tournaments with three top-10 finishes. She won a title outside the LPGA, however, clinching an individual title at the Aramco Team Series — a Ladies European Tour event — in May.

This year also saw LPGA rookie Im Jin-hee making her first season on the Tour a success, making the cut 21 times out of 24 tournaments with six top-10 finishes.

Im fell just short of the Rookie of the Year award, with Mao Saigo of Japan clinching it on Sunday.

Cho Hye-jin, meanwhile, made eight top-10 finishes this season but failed to win her first LPGA title, with a joint third-place finish being her best of the season. She shone especially in May, when she made three top-10 finishes in a row.

Choi Hye-Jin plays her shot from the third tee during the final round of the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida on Sunday. [AFP/YONHAP]

She also tied for eight at the CME Championship on Sunday.

This season saw dominance from Lydia Ko and Korda, who made their already trophy-rich cabinets richer by winning multiple titles.

Lydia Ko was the first to win an LPGA title this season and added two more titles on the Tour, in addition to a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, sealing a place in the LPGA Hall of Fame in the process.

Korda was the second to claim a victory this season in January and clinched four straight titles from March to April and secured two more wins, ending the season with seven titles as the contender with the most titles in the 2024 campaign.

Thitikul of Thailand, who used to play under her name Atthaya but switched to using her nickname Jeeno this year, ended the season with the most prize money, at $6.1 million, alongside two LPGA titles. She made 15 cuts from 17 tournaments and 12 top-10 finishes.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]