The eagerly anticipated 2024 season of the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour kicks off this week.
The Hana Financial Group Singapore Women’s Open at Tanah Merah Golf Course in Singapore kicks off the season on April 7. This year’s 30-tournament KLPGA Tour will have two overseas tournaments in Singapore and Thailand before opening in Korea on April 4 with the Doosan E&C Weave Championship. This year’s KLPGA Tour has a lot of box office appeal. ‘Exciting KLPGA’ is about to open.
The most anticipated event this year will be the ‘Longest Hitter Queen – Birdie Queen’ battle between Yoon In-na, Bang Shin-sil and Hwang Yoo-min.
Last year on the KLPGA Tour, it was Bang Shinsil who hit the longest drive. With an average distance of 262.47 yards, she was the longest hitter, beating out 257.16 yards by Hwang Yoo-min.
Last year, the player with the most birdies per round on the KLPGA Tour was Hwang Yoo-min. With an average of 3.62 birdies per round, Hwang’s 3.54 birdies topped Bang Shin-shil’s 3.54 birdies in 2023. The longest shot queen was Bang Xinxil, and the birdie queen was Huang Yumin.
Last year, the faces of the Longest Hitter and Birdie Queen were different, but in 2022, the Longest Hitter and Birdie Queen were the same player.
Yoon In In, who was suspended for three years for violating the rules during the season, is the main character. With an average driving distance of 263.45 yards, Yun In In ranked first in driving distance and was also first in birdie average with an average of 3.91 birdies.
With Yoon’s three-year suspension reduced to one year and six months, golf fans have finally gotten their long-awaited showdown between the “longest shot queen” and “birdie queen” this year.
If you look at Yoon In-na and Bang Shin-shil’s past longest shot records, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better example.
For starters, only five players have averaged more than 260 yards in the last 10 years, including Yoon and Bang.
They also lead all other long hitters in the probability of hitting 280 yards or more. You only need to hit more than 10% of your par-4 and par-5 tee shots 280 yards or longer to be considered a dominant long hitter, with Bang’s 16.18% and Yoon’s 23.46%.
Before she was suspended in 2022 for violating the rules, Yun In Yoon hit 145 of her 618 tee shots 280 yards or more. Bang sent 154 of her 952 tee shots 280 yards or more last year.
Yoon In-na topped the list of players who hit the ball farther than the average distance for all players that year, while Bang Shin-sil ranked third. Ina Yoon, who topped the list in 2022 with a 263.45-yard shot, was a whopping 27.91 yards longer than the average distance of 235.54 yards that year. Last year, Bang Shin-sil hit 24.81 yards more than her average.
The battle for the 2024 Birdie Queen will be a three-way tussle between Yoon In-na, Hwang Yoo-min and Bang Shin-shil.
Hwang Yoo-min, who is known for her risk-taking shots at the pin, will be competing for the Birdie Queen for the second year in a row. Last year, Hwang showed her ability to hunt down birdies in a frenzy. Last year, she had five birdies in a row, more than anyone else. She recorded four birdies in a row three times and five birdies in a row twice.
Yoon In-na, who was released from her suspension, also showed off her rusty birdie instincts at the Women’s Professional Golf Association (WPGA) Big Open in Australia, where she made 17 birdies and an eagle before returning to Korea. Yoon is expected to skip overseas tournaments and start competing from the opening round of the domestic season.
The “KLPGA Greatest Showdown” between Lee Ye-won, Park Min-ji, and Kim Soo-ji also promises to be exciting.
One of the statistics of the KLPGA Tour is the K-Ranking. The K Ranking, which has been published since the end of May 2019, is a numerical ranking of KLPGA Tour players, similar to the Women’s Golf World Ranking. It”s based on the number of points earned in two years and 104 weeks of competition.
At the end of last year, there were significant changes to the K Ranking. Lee Ye Won Lee, who won the money winner, lowest stroke average, and the grand prize last year, overtook 토토사이트 Park Min-ji to take the top spot for the first time. After topping the K Ranking in May 2021, Lee knocked Park Min-ji down to second place after holding the top spot for a whopping 134 consecutive weeks.
At the end of February, the top three players in the K ranking were Lee Ye-won, Park Min-ji, and Kim Soo-ji. Kim Soo-ji has yet to reach the top spot, but her performance over the past two years shows that she is as solid as Park Min-ji and Lee Ye-won.
In terms of prize money earned over the past two years, it’s a tie between Lee with KRW 2.274 billion, Park with KRW 2.2906 billion, and Kim with KRW 1.9867 billion. The current world rankings are similarly close, with Lee ranked 34th, Park 37th, and Kim 39th.
The battle for the top spot is expected to continue in the 2024 season.
In addition to the longest birdie duel between Yoon In-na, Bang Shin-sil, and Hwang Yoo-min and the big battles between Lee Ye-won, Park Min-ji, and Kim Su-ji, there is one more intriguing question on the KLPGA stage in 2024 that will excite golf fans.
Can Kim Min-byul, the undefeated Rookie of the Year in 2023, follow in the footsteps of Lee Ye-won, the undefeated Rookie of the Year in 2022?
After being crowned Rookie of the Year without a win in 2022, Lee swept the major titles last year with three wins, including money winner, top batting average, and Player of the Year. Kim Min-byul’s path to Rookie of the Year last year was similar to Lee’s in 2022.
The amount of money earned as a winless rookie isn’t much different. In total, 10 players have earned more than 500 million won in a season without a win, with Lee Ye-won earning the most in 2022 with 849.78 million won, followed by Kim Min-byul in 2023 with 745.75 million won.