Bae Sun-woo wins fourth major KLPGA event

Bae Sun-woo (24, Samchulli) won the Hite Jinro Championship, the fourth major event of this season’s Korean LPGA Tour. Bae had 4-under 68 in the final, third round of the championship, which took place at Blue Heron Golf Club (par 72) in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province on Sunday. She thus posted 4-under 212 overall to secure the title in a two-stroke lead over the runner-up Choi Ye-rim (19). It is her second win in this season and fourth career win. It is also her second win in a major event after the KLPGA Championship in 2016.

Bae received 160 million won (141,000 US dollars) in purse money from the championship, joining the race for purse money that was previously between Oh Ji-hyun (22), Choi Hye-jin (19), and Lee Jeong-eun (21). Bae, who ranked fifth before the latest tournament, thus advanced to the runner-up with a total of 792,480,000 won (700,000 dollars) in the race in this season. She is now only 11.01 million won (10,000 dollars) in total prize money behind the top-earner Oh Ji-hyun (803,490,000 won or 710,000 dollars), who finished tying for 26th and earned about 5.94 million won (5,250 dollars) at the event. Bae also ranks third in overall score points in this season after Choi and Oh.

Lydia Ko (21), who has played in a KLPGA tour event in Korea for the first time at the Hite Jinro Championship, finished tying for 19th (5 over par) by playing 4-under par in the third round to display a robust performance at final holes. Veteran golfer Kang Su-yeon (42) held her retirement ceremony on the day when she finished tying for 36th by posting 7 over par.


Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com