KLPGA 2024 Qualifying Tournament

Round 2

The two amateur stars featured on the Asian Games team, Hyun Jo Yoo and Ji Yu Lim, have moved onto the leaderboard.

1 Ye Na Hwang -11 68(31) 65(2) 133
2 Da In Shin -10 67(14) 67(7) 134
3 Hyun Jo Yoo -10 67(11) 67(9) 134
4 Yu Jin Shin -10 69(42) 65(1) 134
5 Jun Hee Lee -10 69(35) 65(3) 134
6 Uree Jun -9 69(40) 66(5) 135
7 Ji Yu Lim -9 68(30) 67(12) 135
8 Ji Hyun Kim -9 67(6) 68(16) 135
9 Min Sung Ha -9 65(1) 70(51) 135
10 Yi Sul Shin -8 69(36) 67(7) 136

Notables:
15 Ji Hyun Lee 7 -8 67(10) 69(32) 136
19 Yaeeun Hong -7 67(15) 70(38) 137
24 Jee Hyun Ahn -6 71(70) 67(6) 138
25 Bo Mee Kwak -6 71(71) 67(13) 138
28 Ju Yeon In -5 70(57) 69(28) 139
30 Min A Yoon -5 69(43) 70(50) 139
41 Seo Yeon Kwon -4 68(21) 72(80) 140
42 Sehee Lee -4 67(9) 73(101) 140
44 LI Shuying(I) -3 72(90) 69(20) 141
53 Kum Kang Park -3 69(39) 72(86) 141
59 Ye Ji Park -2 73(110) 69(22) 142
75 KOGA Eimi -1 70(47) 73(95) 143
81 Eun Jeong Seong -1 72(86) 71(67) 143
91 Cherry Lim Even 71(69) 73(96) 144
96 Ah Ro Mi Kim +1 73(106) 72(68) 145
119 I An Cho +3 71(76) 76(125) 147

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Major winners already have 2024 tour membership.
Event winners already have 2024 tour membership.
Top 60 in money already have 2024 tour membership.
The top 20 Dream tour money list already have 2024 tour membership.

This is the 2024 seed event to fill out the last 45 seed spots. The better you do the more 2024 events you can participate in.

Moon Jeong Min played this event last year. It resulted in her playing some KLPGA events this year but she also played Dream tour. She won the Dream tour money list and will be a full KLPGA member in 2024. Moon was able to play about half the KLPGA events due to her seed and Dream tour performance in 2023.

This event is pressure!!

Yes, I assume Min Byeol couldn't qualify any other way and was forced to play this event and won it. Good for her. It got her into a lot of events in 2023. Enough to win ROY. Congratulations 🎊

If, on the other hand, there was a player who did not need to play this event and flew through the lower divisions like Yewon did finishing 5th in Dream Tour money in her first attempt...you might have your 2024 ROY candidate. 😃

So my point is, who flew thru the lower ranks in 2023 and could have an awesome year in 2024?

Ina and Yewon might have been somewhat joined at the hip in 2021, but not 2022.

After the Korean Women's Open in June, Yewon already had 1221 ROY points, while Ina was half that with 662 Rookie points.

I know you swear up and down that Ina would have won the ROY last year but she would have had to beat 3000+ points. I can't believe Ina would have done that without winning more events.

I don't "swear up and down" that Ina would have won Rookie of the Year, it's just my theory that it could have happened and I personally think it would have, but it wouldn't have surprised me at all if it didn't. It was more a hunch than a definitive statement on my part.

I did point out that the same pattern that had happened on the Dream Tour -- Yewon got out to a huge lead, then Ina caught and passed her -- seemed to also be in the process of happening on the KLPGA when Ina was taken out of action. Around the time she had won, Ina was hitting her stride, with multiple top three finishes in succession culminating in a win. She had reduced the gap to its smallest since the start of the year.

Heck, Min Byeol was great all year but still lost the ROY lead once or twice in the middle of the season, and Hwang was always hovering nearby until she was forced to drop out of the second to last event. And Kim had the second highest Rookie total ever, while Hwang only had one win, but she was nonetheless in danger of losing. So Lee's point total, great though it was, was not unbeatable by Yoon, especially if she had managed another win, which fellow long hitter Shin Sil Bang did do this year.

As far as 'who flew through the lower ranks who could have a great 2024', assuming you are talking about rookies and not someone like Jeongmin Moon, who has already been on the KLPGA before: at this point, no one stands out. Two years ago, there was a lot of hype about Yewon and Ina, but so far at least the media has not made a big deal about the Dream Tour stars of 2023, so I don't have any predictions.

Looking at the Dream Tour money list, the highest ranked player there who would be a rookie next year is I believe #5 Na Young Kim, and she has spent the past five years trying to get on tour, so not exactly a superstar resume.