Lim Hee-jung led throughout rounds 1-3, but a lack of heart in the final game prevented her from winning the comeback. It was Im who won the tournament again. Jin-hee Lim, 25, staged a final-round comeback to earn her third win of the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour season.
Im shot a 7-under 65 in the final round of the KLPGA Tour’s Sangsangin-Korea Economic TV Open ($1.2 billion in prize money) on Oct. 22 at Lakewood Country Club Mulgil and Flower Road (Par 72) in Yangju, Gyeonggi-do, to win with a four-round total of 13-under 275. It was her third win of the season after winning the NH Investment & Securities Ladies Championship in May and the Jeju Samdasu Masters in August. It is her fifth career victory. She is the third player on the KLPGA Tour to win three times this season, joining Park Ji-young and Lee Ye-won.
A virtual unknown before winning her first career title at the 2021 BC Card – Hankyung Ladies Cup, Im has transformed herself into a top-tier player this season after posting two career victories at last year’s McCall’s Mona Park Open.
With the $216,000 first-place prize, she moved up to third place on the prize pool ($905.6 million) and second place in the grand prize points.
In fact, not many people expected Im to win the tournament. Rather, many observers were expecting a second-round match between Lim and Lee, and that’s how it played out until the midway point. Entering the final round in a tie for fifth place, four strokes behind leader Im Hee-jung, Im turned things around with seven birdies without a bogey.
Her 65 tied the course record set by Jang Ha Na and Choi Eun Woo at the 2015 YTN Volvik Women’s Open and Lim Hee Jung in the first round of this tournament. Lim, who was looking for her sixth career victory in a year and four months, made three birdies and a bogey to drop two strokes, but had to settle for runner-up honors due to Lim’s tremendous momentum.
Lim didn’t make her first birdie until the 14th hole (par-4) and made a late charge with back-to-back birdies on the 17th and 18th holes, but came up one shot short. After taking a three-stroke lead over Lim early in the final round, Lee couldn’t get over the hump again. Lee shot a 2-under-par 70 to finish in third place (11-under-par 277).
Lee Ye-won, the winner of the cash prize, the grand prize and the top scoring average, shot a 토토 4-under-par 68 to finish in a tie for sixth place (10-under-par 278). Lakewood Country Club, where the tournament was held, drew a gallery of about 10,000 spectators, according to the tournament organizers.
Meanwhile, Lim, who is scheduled to play in the final event of the LPGA Tour’s Qualifying Series in December, said she wants to challenge herself on the American stage before it’s too late.