KLPGA: 2017 KIA MOTORS WOMEN'S OPEN GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

Round 3

1 LEE Jeong Eun6 -5 70 69 72 211
2 JUNG Yeon Ju -3 72 72 69 213
3 OH Ji Hyun -2 73 68 73 214
- KIM Ji Hyun -2 74 68 72 214
5 JANG Ha Na -1 72 72 71 215
6 KIM Min Sun5 E 73 74 69 216
7 JANG Eun Soo (R) +1 71 71 75 217
- Choi Hye Jin (A) +1 72 72 73 217
- AN Na Rin +1 72 69 76 217
- Kim Woo Jeong +1 74 72 71 217
- Brittany Lang +1 74 72 71 217
- KIM Hae Rym +1 74 74 69 217
- KIM Bo Ah +1 75 74 68 217


Jeong Eun Lee 6











w/ Ji Hyun Oh







Yeon Ju Jung



Ye Jin Kim (t-32, +7) -- third round 80 knocked her out of the top ten





Ji Hyun Kim



Ha Na Jang



w/ Seon Woo Bae



Char Young Kim (t-32, +7)



Gyeol Park (t-19, +4)

Round 4

Jeong Eun Lee 6 couldn't take the heat and collapsed. Ji Hyun Kim, coming off a recent win, shot a 3 under par round and got into the house at 5 under. No one else could catch her, and Kim became the latest first time Major winner on the KLPGA.

This is her third win of the year and career. She seems to have come from pretty much nowhere to seize control of the KLPGA.

1 KIM Ji Hyun -5 74 68 72 69 283
2 JUNG Yeon Ju -3 72 72 69 72 285
- KIM Min Sun5 -3 73 74 69 69 285
4 Choi Hye Jin (A) -2 72 72 73 69 286
- OH Ji Hyun -2 73 68 73 72 286
6 LEE Jeong Eun6 -1 70 69 72 76 287
7 KIM Hae Rym E 74 74 69 71 288
8 PARK Min Ji (R) +1 73 73 72 71 289
- Brittany Lang +1 74 72 71 72 289
10 JANG Ha Na +2 72 72 71 75 290

Ji Hyun Kim





Ji Hyun Oh







Gyeol Park (t-32, +9)










Hye Jin Choi and Eun Soo Jang (t-12th, +4)







Hae Rym Kim



Brittany Lang



Jeong Eun Lee 6



Ji Young Kim 2 (11th, +3)



Ha Na Jang

Congratulation to Ji Hyun Kim.

I had penciled Jeong Hyun Lee in for the win.
I didn't think anyone would be able to catch her because of how well she plays.

Hye Jin Choi continues to impress.

I guess Ha Na is also finding it a little tougher to go low on a  KLPGA tough course.

If the golfers made more of their five or six footers at Meijer.
Most of the field would be in double figures.

I assume it's the length of this course that resulted in poor scoring...otherwise this looks like a REAL goat track without much trouble nor rough.
Yup, Bethany & Ha Na should be embarrassed they could not beat the wash outs in the minor leagues...they are POSERS.

This has been a strange year on the KLPGA. The past few years, one player has really dominated the proceedings, and it looked like this year it would be Jin Young Ko's turn. Ko hasn't played badly; for instance, she is second in scoring average on tour, and way ahead of most other players. But she hasn't won yet, and that has left a vacuum at the top.

How good is three-time winner Ji Hyun Kim? Generally, the past few years, the winner of this event has gone on to be a force in world golf. Last year you had Shi Hyun Ahn, who may be past her prime but was an LPGA player at one point; Sung Hyun Park the year before, Hyo Joo, In Gee and Mirim Lee, all winners on the LPGA.

So is Ji Hyun Kim in that class? The patterns seems to suggest otherwise. She is 26, and has not really become any kind of force on tour until last year. And even last year, she was not doing nearly as well as she is this season. Look through history at the number of Koreans who have started playing well past 25 who went on to be LPGA or top 20 in the world players. Have there been any? I can't think of them. The far more common pattern is, if you are going to be a force on the world stage, you will have done something of note by 21, 22 at the latest.

That pattern maintains across generations, from Se Ri in the early nineties through Jiyai and Inbee through So Yeon to In Gee and Hyo Joo more recently.

So: if the top player on tour is not destined to be a top player in the world at some point, what does that say about the tour in general? I think it says they are in another transition stage. In 2012 or thereabouts was one such time; by 2014, you had a gaggle of great players competing week in and week out (that year alone you had Ha Neul Kim, In Gee Chun, Hyo Joo Kim, Ha Na Jang, Sei Young Kim, Jin Young Ko and Q Baek at her best all duking it out week after week).

I could be wrong; perhaps Ji Hyun Kim is about to join that august group of stars. Or, perhaps we are at a point where several young players are just starting to get ramped up. Jeong Eun Lee 6, Gyeol Park and Min Sun Kim have had good years. Ji Hyun Oh, Seon Woo Bae, and Jin Young Ko have been a bit off but are proven winners. Min Ji Park seems like a promising rookie. Rookie Eun Soo Jang has had her moments, and don't forget about So Young Lee, who is in just her second year on tour. Then there's Hye Jin Choi and Eun Jeong Seong waiting in the wings.

It will be interesting to see if one or more of these young players mounts a serious challenge to Kim this year.

Hae Rym is even older than Ji Hyun Kim!

My main interest in the KLPGA is as a breeding ground for future LPGA stars. As a result, I focus on the younger players who might someday end up over here. For the most part, these are also the players who dominate on the KLPGA.

I doubt Hae Rym or Ji Hyun Kim at their age will come over here, since it's almost never happened before (the only older player I can recall ever coming over here was Il Mi Chung, and she never won over here).