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Korean golfer once banned for playing wrong ball earns LPGA Tour card

Published: 11 Dec. 2024, 14:03

PAIK JI-HWAN
[email protected]

Yoon Ina hits a shot during the Sangsangin-Hankyung TV Open in Icheon, Gyeonggi on Oct. 17. [NEWS1]

KLPGA golfer Yoon Ina, who returned from a lengthy ban earlier this year, finished the LPGA Q-Series in eighth place Tuesday to secure a 2025 LPGA Tour card, edging out countrywomen Park Kum-kang and Joo Soo-bin as all three head to the top U.S. tour next year.

Yoon had the highest finish of any Korean contender at a solo eighth with a one-under-par, 71, on the last day for a final score of 15-under-par, 343. Park and Joo finished 10th and 11th respectively, Park at 12-under and Joo at 11-under at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Mobile, Alabama. The top 25 finishers and ties earned Tour cards.

Park Kum-kang [LPGA]

The Q-Series consist of five rounds during which golfers compete in a 72-hole stroke play system.

Yoon, 21, moves to greener pastures on the back of a strong performance in the 2024 KLPGA season, where she won the money leader, lowest stroke and Wemade awards.

She not only won the most prize money at 1.2 billion won ($840,000), but also recorded the lowest average strokes at 70.0526 and accumulated the most Wemade points at 535. The points are awarded to golfers with top-10 finishes in KLPGA competitions.

Her continuous success came in her first season since returning from a lengthy ban.

Yoon initially received a three-year suspension from the Korea Golf Association (KGA) and KLPGA in 2022 for playing the wrong golf ball during the first round of the DB Group Korea Women’s Open Golf Championship on June 16, 2022.

Playing the wrong ball means that after her tee shot, Yoon continued to play the hole with another ball — presumably one that fell in a more advantageous position than her own — to finish the hole.

The KLPGA reduced her suspension to one and a half years last September, but the KLPGA at the time upheld the initial punishment, making her ineligible to participate in KLPGA events until halfway through the 2025 season.

However, the KLPGA reversed that decision in January and reduced the ban to 18 months, making her eligible to compete in the 2024 KLPGA season.

Park and Joo, meanwhile, will be competing on the bigger stage after spending the 2024 season on the Epson Tour — the LPGA’s official development tour considered as a second-tier tour.

Joo Soo-bin plays her shot from the 18th tee during the first round of the Dana Open at Highland Meadows Golf Club on July 18 in Sylvania, Ohio. [AFP/YONHAP]

The three Tour card winners will be joining Korean LPGA contenders such as Ko Jin-young and Kim Hyo-joo.

It was an unusually quiet year on the LPGA Tour for Korean golfers, with both Ko and Kim failing to win a single title. Just three Koreans: Amy Yang, Ryu Hae-ran and Kim A-lim, lifted trophies, making it one of the quietest years of the last decade for Korean golfers in the LPGA.

Elite contenders like Lydia Ko and Nelly Korda also await the new LPGA contestants in the 2025 campaign after seeing immense success this year.

Lydia Ko secured three LPGA titles this season, in addition to winning a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, allowing her to be inducted in the LPGA Hall of Fame.

Korda, ranked at No. 1 on the Rolex World Rankings, dominated the season with the most wins, at seven, and became the Rolex Player of the Year.

Not a single Korean golfer won an LPGA award this year, but Im Jin-hee was close to claiming the LPGA Rookie of the Year title as she finished in second after falling behind eventual winner Mao Saigo of Japan.

The upcoming 2025 season will be the Tour’s 75th anniversary with 35 tournaments and a total $131 million in prize money on the line.

The new Korean LPGA contenders will have a chance to compete on home soil next year, with the LPGA’s BMW Ladies Championship happening here, although the venue is yet to be determined according to the LPGA schedule.

The Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown will also return to Korea next year, teeing off at New Korea Country Club in Goyang, Gyeonggi in October 2025.

The competition is an LPGA match-play team event that Korea is hosting for the second time after it was played in Incheon in 2018. The Korean team won that tournament.

The 2025 campaign will tee off with the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in Florida in January and last through December.

Five majors — the Chevron Championship, U.S Women’s Open, KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Amundi Evian Championship and AIG Women’s Open — are scheduled.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]