"Super rookie" Kim Min-sol (20, Doosan Engineering & Construction) has set her sights on a "rookie grand slam."
Kim won the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour's McCol Mona Yongpyong Open (total prize money of 1 billion won) in a playoff at Birch Hill CC (par 72) in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, on Sunday. In the third round that day, she carded five birdies and three bogeys to shave two strokes, finishing the regulation round with a total of 12-under-par 204, tied for the lead with Choi Ye-rim, before claiming the title with a birdie in the second playoff hole.
It was the third win of the season and the fifth career win for Kim, who officially debuted on the KLPGA Tour this year. After registering her first win at the iM Financial Open in April, she lifted the trophy again just two weeks after winning the Mercedes-Benz Korea Women's Open on the 14th.
Kim, the first to reach three wins this season, laid the groundwork to challenge for a record of simultaneously sweeping the Rookie of the Year award and major titles, a feat not achieved since Shin Ji-yai in 2006. Although she won two titles last year, she competed in too few events and thus retains rookie status this year. With the winner's prize money of 180 million won, she maintained her No. 1 ranking in season earnings (963.09 million won) and also took the No. 1 spot in the points of the season (MVP) race. In Rookie of the Year points, she holds an overwhelming lead. In her debut season, Shin Ji-yai swept the Rookie of the Year, most wins (three), money title, MVP (Player of the Year), and lowest scoring average.
Starting the day in second place, two strokes behind leader Noh Seung-hee, Kim struggled early with consecutive bogeys on the 5th (par 4) and 6th (par 3) holes. But she recovered with birdies on the 7th (par 4) and 10th (par 5) holes to rejoin the championship race. While Noh wavered on the back nine, Choi Ye-rim took the lead with three consecutive birdies on holes 8 through 10, but Kim seized the top spot with birdies on the 12th (par 3) and 14th (par 4) holes. Kim, who appeared to have secured the win by taking a two-stroke lead with a birdie on the 17th hole (par 3), faced a crisis when she allowed a tie on the final 18th hole (par 5). After Choi applied pressure by sinking a birdie putt of just over 3 meters, Kim missed a par putt of about 2 meters.
Kim made par to tie in the first playoff hole at the 18th, and in the second playoff, when Choi Ye-rim's birdie putt went astray, she dropped a birdie putt of about 3 meters into the hole to win her first playoff since her debut. Choi Ye-rim, who lost a playoff to Park Hyun-kyung at this event two years ago, was seeking her first career win in her 231st career start but extended her career runner-up total to nine.
Seo Kyo-rim, who has two wins this season, finished at 7-under-par for a tie for 10th, lifting her in the season points ranking by one notch to second, while Ko Ji-woo, last year's winner of this event, finished at 1-over-par for a tie for 49th.
