Chuncheon-born super rookie Kim Min-byul (19-Height Jinro) narrowly missed out on her first career victory.
Kim shot an even-par 72 in the final round of the DB Group 37th Korea Women’s Open (total prize money of 1.2 billion won, winner’s purse of 300 million won) at Rainbow Hills Country Club (par 72, 6,721 yards) in Eumseong, Chungcheongbuk-do, on Monday. With a final total of 12-under-par 276, Kim finished tied for first place with Madasom and Hong Ji-won, but lost the trophy to Hong Ji-won in a two-way playoff for second place.
It was a disappointing finish. Entering the final round in second place, two strokes behind leader Madasom, Kim started the day with birdies on the second (par-4) and fifth (par-4) holes to move into contention. However, bogeys on the seventh (par-5) and ninth (par-4), and a bogey on the 17th (par-3) put her in trouble. Fortunately, Kim miraculously made a 7-meter birdie putt on the 18th (par-4) to send the match into overtime.
In the first overtime, Kim had a chance to win. She placed her second shot 2.2 meters from the cup for a birdie. Madasom and Hong Ji-won had both made par. However, Kim’s championship putt narrowly missed the cup.
The match went to a second extension. Madasom fell out of contention early, failing to reach the green until her third shot. However, Kim Min-byul’s second shot also fell far short of the hole. Hong Ji-won, on the other hand, placed her second shot within one meter of the cup. Unfortunately, Kim missed her birdie putt, and Hong Ji-won calmly sank her birdie putt to win the tournament.먹튀검증
Despite missing out on her first major championship, Kim’s career-best second-place finish shows that she is getting closer and closer to winning. She also consolidated her lead in the Rookie of the Year standings with 976 points.
Other Gangwon golfers’ performances were disappointing. Wonju’s Park Ji-young, Hwang Jung-mi and Lee Da-yeon finished tied for 16th, tied for 22nd and tied for 48th, respectively. Defending champion Lim Hee-jung from Taebaek and Han Jin-sun from Sokcho withdrew. Jang Ha-na from Chuncheon missed the cut.
