Refer Report
No one could stop Madasom (25). If you hit it, it sticks and if you roll it, it goes in. In the final round of the Korea Ladies Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour Hana Financial Group Championship (total prize money of KRW 1.5 billion) held on the 29th at the Bears Best Cheongna U.S./Europe Course (par 72) in Incheon, Madasom scored an eagle without a bogey, showing off her perfect shot feel and fantastic putt. He shot 11 under par 61 with 1 birdie and 9 birdies to win by 9 strokes.
Since 2000, she has tied the record for winning by the largest stroke difference in 72 holes with Kim Hyo-joo (2013) and Lee Seung-hyeon (2017). Born in September 1999, he achieved his first win in September of last year.
Bears Best Cheongna is famous for being a course advantageous to long hitters. Located on a reclaimed land, it has a wide and flat fairway, which is rare in Korea, and has a long overall length. If you look at the past winners of this competition, there are many long hitters such as Kim Su-ji (2022) and Lee Da-yeon (2023).
However, Madasom took the lead early and raced toward the win. Madasom’s average tee shot distance on this day was 226.99 yards. Even though her tee shot fell far short of Yoon Ina (252.23 yards) and Kim Su-ji (240.94 yards), she overwhelmed them with a score. Madasom said, “It is true that I was very nervous because there were many prominent players in the same group that day,” and added, “I was confident in my irons, so I focused on playing my own game.”
He won a landslide victory with good shots and long putts in the first half and perfect putts in the second half. He made 8m and 7m birdie putts in the 2nd and 3rd holes, respectively, and quickly ran away with a 4-stroke lead with a shot eagle in the 4th hole (par 5).
Madasom did not stop even when it seemed like the game was over as Yoon Ina was unable to reduce the number of strokes. In the second half, he hit all mid-to-long distance putts and made 7 birdies. The first place prize money of 270 million won also went into Madasom’s hands.
On this day, Madasom’s average number of putts was 1.31 and strokes gained (SG) in putting reached 4.93 strokes. He smiled brightly, saying, “Ahead of this competition, I decided to stop thinking and play simply. I focused only on keeping the distance as visible as the line, and the results were good.” He continued, “I shot 10 under par as an amateur, but this is my first time hitting 11 under par. “Life’s best score,” he added.
Madasom debuted on a regular tour at the age of 23 (2022), which is slightly later than her peers. This is because she delayed her pro-turn with the wish to wear the Taegeukgi on her chest and served as a member of the national team in 2020 along with Yoon Ina and Lee Ye-won, who are four years younger than her. He said, “I developed my skills a little late when I was a junior, so I joined the standing army in high school, and I wanted to represent the national team, so I went to Korea National Sports University. I wanted to debut as a professional.” He continued, “My goal is to become a long-running player.”
With this tournament, with a total prize money of 1.5 billion won, coming to an end, the competition for the 2024 season KLPGA Tour prize money has become even more intense. Yoon Ina, who started the season tied for the lead and was aiming for her second win of the season and first place in prize money and grand prize, only lost two strokes that day and finished the competition in second place. Yoon Ina, who added 165 million won in prize money as the runner-up, recorded 1.0386 billion won in prize money for the season.
Park Ji-young, who tied for 7th place on this day, maintained first place with season prize money of 1.06027 billion won. Park Hyun-kyung, tied for 5th place, received a total of 1,042.94 million won. This is the first time that more than three players exceeded 1 billion won in prize money in one season on the KLPGA Tour.
Lydia Ko, a gold medalist at the Paris Olympics who participated in the sponsor Hana Financial Games, hit 6 under par and ranked 10th.
Cheongna = Reporter Cho Soo-young delinews@hankyung.com
Source: Korean