As Lee Da-yeon kisses the trophy of her third major tournament in her personal career, the career grand slam competition in women’s golf is in full swing.
Lee Da-yeon confirmed her victory with her final total of 13 under par 275 strokes at the ‘2023 KLPGA Tour Chris F&C KLPGA Championship’ held at the Lakewood Country Club in Yangju-si, Gyeonggi-do on the 30th of last month.
Lee Da-yeon, who won her first major tournament of the season, jumped to second place in her season money rankings as well, taking her prize money of 234 million.
It was her seventh win of her personal career. Among them, Lee Da-yeon, who is especially strong on a stage so big that she has won three major tournaments. Previously, she won the 2019 Korean Women’s Open and the 2021 Hanwha Classic.
Major tournaments in Korean women’s golf refer to a total of five tournaments, including the KLPGA Championship, which ended this time, the Korea Women’s Open, the Hanwha Classic, the KB Financial Championship, and the Hite Jinro Championship. If you win four of these competitions, you will be recognized for achieving the Career Grand Slam.
Classified in order of hosting, the KLPGA Championship was first opened in 1978, the year of its establishment, the Korea Women’s Open hosted by the Korea Golf Association was opened in 1987, and the KB Kookmin Bank STAR TOUR (currently KB Financial Championship) was opened in 2006. The major tournament system was maintained.
Since then, the Hite Jinro Championship has been promoted to a major tournament in 2009, and in 2017, Hanwha Classic joined and expanded to five tournaments.
The most victories in major tournaments are 7 wins by Go Woo-soon, a legend of women’s golf who played in Korea and Japan. Go Woo-soon reigned as her original ‘major queen’ by winning 7 out of a total of 18 wins (4 KLPGA Championships, 3 Korean Women’s Open) in major tournaments.
Among active players, she cannot leave out Shin Ji-ae. Shin Ji-ae, who has mastered the Korean, American and Japanese stages, collected trophies in three tournaments, conquering the KLPGA Championship, the Korean Women’s Open twice, and the KB Finance Championship once.
With Lee Da-yeon sweeping her three championships, the countdown to whether or not she will achieve the Career Grand Slam is now underway.
So far, no player who has won more than four championships in Korean women’s golf has yet appeared, and there are a total of six active players who have achieved three tournaments, starting with Shin Ji-ae, Jang Ha-na, Kim Hyo-joo, Lee Da-yeon, Park Min-ji, and Jeon In-ji.
Among them, Shin Ji-ae is playing in Japan, and Kim Hyo-joo and Jeon In-ji also occasionally appear on domestic tours, but their main stages are on the US LPGA tour. It is no exaggeration to say that the Career Grand Slam is actually a match between Lee Da-yeon and Park Min-ji, except for Jang Ha-na, who has recently suffered from a rapid slump.
In the case of Park Min-ji, the title best suited for her is the current strongest player, winning prize money two seasons in a row and winning six victories in one season until last year. In particular, in her last season, she swept three championships (including the former Korea Women’s Open), making the KB Finance Championship and Hite Jinro Championship trophies her own. If she stayed in the runner-up and even won the Hanwha Classic last year, she could have become the first ever Grand Slam heroine, Park Min-ji.
The next major tournament to be held after the Kris F&C KLPGA Championship, in which Lee Da-yeon is the main character, is the ‘DB Group 37th Korea Women’s Open Golf Championship (location undecided)’ to be held in June. Golf fans are also interested in who will be the first to greet the moment of glory 토토사이트.