"Top earner among winless players." It sounds like a compliment, yet it's not entirely welcome. That distinction belongs to Choi Hye-jin (27, Lotte), who competes on the LPGA Tour.
Since arriving in the United States in 2022, Choi has earned approximately $6.2 million across four seasons, making her the all-time leading money winner among players without a victory. She finished eighth in the 2024 season money rankings with roughly $2.15 million—just behind Chevron Championship winner Saso Mao of Japan—and first among Korean players.
How does she view this label? Between "I'm playing well, just without a win" and "I can't close when winning chances come," which interpretation does she embrace?
"I think I'm playing well—I just haven't won yet," Choi said in a recent interview. "If I were really struggling, I wouldn't get this many chances to win. Missing one opportunity could mean never getting another, but I keep getting them consistently. I won titles in Korea and have that experience, so I can look at this positively."
Choi recorded nine top-10 finishes last season, including two runner-up results. The Maybank Championship in Malaysia last November still stings. She entered the final round with a four-stroke lead but dropped a shot, was forced into a playoff, and lost to Japan's Yamashita Miyu. Her tee shots visibly wavered from mid-round onward, and missing a two-meter birdie putt on the final hole proved costly.
"I should have stayed calm, but I got rattled," Choi reflected. "Looking back, I just needed to shoot even par that day. But things don't always go as planned. I started the final round fine, then bogeys came in the middle and that was it."
Choi called the Maybank Championship her most painful runner-up finish since joining the LPGA Tour. When asked about frequently contending without closing, she said: "Even outside of winning situations, tough breaks happen every round. There are so many that dwelling on each one would only give me a headache."
Recalling her dominant run on the KLPGA Tour—three consecutive Player of the Year awards and 11 career wins—makes Choi's winless LPGA record seem incongruous. Yet maintaining consistent performance in the big league year after year is no small feat.
"Not converting those winning chances is disappointing, but I did produce steady results last year," Choi said. "I finished healthy without major injuries, and I'm quite satisfied with that." Indeed, Choi rarely dealt with injuries during her Korean tour days. "Golf is my job, so I can't be completely pain-free," she said. "But I've never had anything serious—maybe some discomfort from overuse. Consistent training may have helped, or perhaps I'm just accustomed to hitting so many balls and practicing so much since childhood. That might explain why I've had relatively few injuries."
Entering her fifth LPGA Tour season, Choi says she often feels she made the right choice coming to America. "The practice facilities and course conditions are different. Korea is good too, but there's more variety in course conditions and setups here. The long, frequent travel isn't easy, but competing against such diverse players is a real advantage. I sometimes think, 'Would I have needed to develop these shots and techniques if I'd stayed in Korea?' I've learned a lot in that regard."
When asked about loneliness, she said: "I'm fine because my manager, caddie, and trainer are always with me. Our schedule runs Monday through Sunday, week after week, and that actually brings us closer together. Enough to forget about being lonely."
After preparing for the 2026 season in Vietnam over the winter, Choi will open her year at the Ladies European Tour's PIF Saudi Ladies International from February 11-14 in Saudi Arabia. Her first LPGA Tour start comes at the Honda LPGA Thailand, beginning February 19. Could the time to shed that "winless" label finally be approaching?
When the conversation turned to Tommy Fleetwood—another player who led winless earnings before finally capturing his first PGA Tour victory last year—Choi said: "I believe if I keep at it consistently, I can do it too. Sometimes you win because you played incredibly well, but other times you need some luck. The next chance might come and I might miss again. People will say the same things, but I'll keep going—again and again, until the end."
Choi named "anticipation" as her keyword for the new season. "I felt significant growth last year, and that makes me even more excited for the new season," she said. "I expect that growth to show in my play this season and lead to better results."