Kim Young Shot 10-Under in “Title Defense”

Kim Young (23 years old, Shinsegae), Rookie of the U.S. LPGA Tour and defending champion, made good on her title defense for two consecutive years. Domestic Tour rookie, Kim Joo-mi (19 years old, Hi mart), took the first place in prize money of this season.

The third round of the 2003 SBS Pro Golf Master Ladies Tournament, the final tournament of the domestic professional womens’ golf this season, competing for a 200 million won purse, was held at Busan Asiad CC (par 72) on November 7.

Defending champion, Kim Young, who advanced to the U.S. LPGA Tour this year, was two strokes ahead of co-2nd place Cho Yun-hee (21) and Goh A-ra (Hi mart) to take the lead following last year’s victory. Kim Young hit six birdies and one bogey to shoot a 5-under par today and finished with a total 10-under par for the tournament. Kim Young, who won the KLPGA Championship this September, has won every domestic game in which she participated, won a total of 36 million won purse. Kim Young, who gave up playing in the U.S. Tour Mizno Classic to participate in this game, said, “I didn’t expect to win this tournament. I would have regretted if I didn’t play in this game,” with great joy.

Even though Kim Joo-mi, who was confirmed as the Rookie of the Year after winning two tournaments last month, was tied for 29th place with a 3-over par, but she received a 132,250,000-won purse this season to take the lead in prize money earnings. Because Chun Mi-jung (Taylormade), who had taken the lead in the prize money ranking with a 100,000-won prize last week, tied for 54th place, Kim Joo-mi passed her up on the ranking by 39,600 won. With this, Kim Joo-mi swept titles including the Rookie of the year, the first place in prize money ranking, the Best Player of the Year, and tied for the most victorious player of the year with Kim Young to finish her fantastic professional debut season. The lowest stroke player title goes to Chung Il-mi (Hansol,) who tied for 6th place (4-under par), with an average of 70.19 strokes.

‘Cinderella’ Ahn Shi-hyun (19 years old, Kolon), who win the U.S. Tour CJ Nine Bridges Classic at November 2, didn’t lower the stroke to take the co-16th place with even par and to shatter the dream of the first domestic game winning. Ahn said “I was strained due to the thinking that a lot of people watching me. Even though I failed to win, I could learn a lot of things such as controlling my shot. I will do my best in LPGA stage.”

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com