Park Min-ji’s first K-Grand Slam Challenge
Every player who plays golf has a dream.
It’s a career grand slam.
Grand Slam is a familiar baseball term.
means home run.
For golfers
a Grand Slam means winning four major tournaments.
Among Korean players
Park In-bi (35, KB Financial Group) 바카라 did it on the LPGA Tour.
On the Korean Women’s Professional Golf (KLPGA) tour
there are players who challenge the career grand slam.
Park Min-ji (25, NH Investment & Securities)
who won 18 personal wins
is the main character.
A career grand slam literally means winning four majors during your career.
Park Min-ji won his first major victory by winning the 2021 Korea Women’s Open Golf Championship
and collected the KB Financial Group Championship and Hite Jinro Championship trophies last year.
The KLPGA Tour has five major tournaments
including the Hanwha Classic 2023 and the KLPGA Championship
in addition to the three tournaments Minji Park won.
Park Min-ji won three of the five major tournaments.
Park Min-ji
after winning the Hite Jinro Championship last year
said
I didn’t even think about it
but it suddenly came to mind.
He has won three of the five majors
and he wants to win the other two,” he said.
Expectations are high that she will achieve 20 wins and a career grand slam on the KLPGA Tour as she is still young and is evaluated as having matured.
Among active players
Lee Da-yeon and Jang Ha-na have won three competitions.
Shin Ji-ae, who is active on the Japan Women’s Golf (JLPGA) tour
has reached the top of five major tournaments on the KLPGA tour
and Kim Soon-mi
Jang Ha-na, and Kim Hyo-joo have won four
but there is no case of winning more than four tournaments.
Jeon In-ji also won three K-major tournaments
but is challenging the LPGA Tour Career Grand Slam.
In particular
Shin Ji-ae won the Hite Cup Women’s Professional Golf Championship in 2008
but it was not a major tournament at the time
so it was ‘no count’.
Kim Hyo-joo also became the winner of the 2014 Hanwha Financial Classic
but she was not a major tournament.
This is why attention is focused on the Hanwha Classic 2023 (total prize money of 1.7 billion won)
which opens on the 24th at the Jade Palace Golf Club (par 72, 6777 yards) in Chuncheon
Gangwon-do.
Considering Park Min-ji’s tendency to challenge herself
expectations are high for her first career grand slam title on the KLPGA tour.
Park Min-ji
who added two wins this year
came in 6th at the High1 Resort Women’s Open
which ended on the 20th.
She had better final round performance (69 strokes) than her first day (71 strokes).
She made up for her disappointment of missing the cut in both the final tournament of the first half and the opening game of the second half with her seventh top 10.
She finished runner-up last year at this event
where she shot 5-over-par 293. She also performed well in the notorious Rough Hell.
In 2021
she finished 29th with 1 over par 289
and in 2019
she finished 39th with 7 over par 295
a performance that erased memories of struggle.
This year’s Jade Palace GC is relatively less difficult than last year.
The rough has been shortened to 80mm
and the fairway has been widened to 20-27m.
The point is that the course
which required defensive game management
opened up room for the ‘dakgong’ strategy.
The fact that the fairways and greens are soft due to rain is also expected to act as a variable to choose between offense and defense.
One major spectating point has been added to watch the Hanwha Classic.
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