Hyun-Ju Shin, 2012 Nichirei Ladies winner
There are a handful of very successful Korean golfers on the LPGA of Japan Tour (JLPGA), including Mi-Jeong Jeon, Ji-Hee Lee and 2-time defending Player of the Year Sun-Ju Ahn. One of the forgotten Seoul Sister stars on the JLPGA might just be Hyun-Ju Shin. She finished 5th on the JLPGA money list back in 2005. In 2008, she won 2 events, including a Major, the 2008 JLPGA Championship Konica Minolta Cup. Hyun-Ju even outdueled the great Jiyai Shin down the stretch to win Konica. But it’s been a few years since Hyun-Ju’s last win, and sometimes out of sight is out of mind. She did have 1 win in 2010 but was not nearly in contention as frequently as she once was. Fast forward midway through 2012 and Hyun-Ju Shin reminded us how good she can be. Coming from 3 shots back of the leader, Shin fired a 5-under 67 to vault up the leaderboard with an 11-under overall, winning the 2012 Nichirei Ladies by 1 stroke over a trio in 2nd place. In fact, she birdied 6 of the first 11 holes (against 1 bogey), including birdies on the first 3 holes in a row. It is her 6th JLPGA victory. Let’s hope it’s not almost 2 years until her next win.
Soo-Yun Kang
However, I was a bit disappointed as Hyun-Ju Shin’s success came at the expense of 2 players for whom I was rooting, overnight leader Soo-Yun Kang and Chie Arimura. Kangsy didn’t play terribly at 1-under for the final round, her 10-under overall score falling 1 shot shy of Hyun-Ju. After only 1 bogey in the first 2 rounds, Kangsy would have 2 at inopportune times in the final round. She birdied the 1st hole only to give it back with a bogey on the 5th. After birdying the par 5 7th, she once again gave it back on the par 4 9th. She did birdie the par 3 11th but couldn’t manage another coming in. Still, it’s not a bad round. She forced somebody to have to have a great round to beat her. Unfortunately for Kangsy, somebody did. Chie Arimura had a better round at 4-under for the final round, matching Kangsy’s 10-under overll and also falling 1 shot shy of Hyun-Ju. The bogey bug also bit Chie. After finishing the 2nd round with an eagle on the par 5 18th, she fired 7 birdies in the final round. But she also had 3 bogeys, including one on the par 5 7th. Arimura is an absolute fan favorite and the crowd would have loved to see her break the 6 tournament winless streak by Japanese players, but in the end the streak extends to 7 tournaments. 6 of those 7 were by Korean players. The other was by recent LPGA Major winner Shanshan Feng of China. Chie is the last Japanese winner, at the 2012 Cyber Agent Ladies.
HYUN-JU SHIN
BO-MEE LEE
CHIE ARIMURA
KAORI OHE
RIKAKO MORITA
RITSUKO RYU
SAKURA YOKOMINE
YUMIKO YOSHIDA
YURI FUDOH
| Position | Player | ToPar | Thru | Today |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hyun-Ju Shin | -11 | F | -5 |
| 2 | Ritsuko Ryu | -10 | F | -4 |
| Chie Arimura | -10 | F | -4 | |
| Soo-Yun Kang | -10 | F | -1 | |
| 5 | Bo-Mee Lee | -9 | F | -6 |
| Yuri Fudoh | -9 | F | -4 | |
| Na-Ri Lee | -9 | F | -4 | |
| Esther Lee | -9 | F | -4 | |
| Kaori Ohe | -9 | F | -1 | |
| 10 | Young Kim | -8 | F | -2 |
| 11 | Yun-Jye Wei | -7 | F | -3 |
| 12 | Rikako Morita | -5 | F | -2 |
| Yumiko Yoshida | -5 | F | -1 | |
| 14 | Erina Hara | -4 | F | -2 |
| Natsu Nagai | -4 | F | E | |
| Miki Saiki | -4 | *F | -5 | |
| Mi-Jeong Jeon | -4 | F | +4 | |
| 18 | Megumi Kido | -3 | F | -3 |
| Keiko Sasaki | -3 | F | -2 | |
| Kumiko Kaneda | -3 | F | -2 | |
| Hiroko Fukushima | -3 | *F | -5 | |
| Kaori Aoyama | -3 | F | -1 | |
| Mihoko Iseri | -3 | F | -1 | |
| 24 | So-Hee Kim | -2 | *F | -3 |
| Maiko Wakabayashi | -2 | *F | -3 | |
| Kurumi Dohi | -2 | F | +2 | |
| Na-Ri Kim | -2 | *F | -2 | |
| 28 | Miki Sakai | -1 | F | -1 |
| Hiromi Takesue | -1 | F | -1 | |
| Hiromi Mogi | -1 | F | E | |
| Nana Akahori | -1 | F | E | |
| Chie Sakai | -1 | F | +1 | |
| Yeo-Jin Kang | -1 | *F | -2 | |
| 34 | Kaori Nakamura | E | *F | -2 |
| Junko Omote | E | F | +1 | |
| Ya-Huei Lu | E | F | +2 | |
| 37 | Sakura Yokomine | +1 | *F | -1 |
| Airi Saitoh | +1 | *F | -1 | |
| Kaori Yamamoto | +1 | *F | -1 | |
| 40 | Erika Kikuchi | +2 | F | +2 |
| Mayu Hattori | +2 | F | +3 | |
| Orie Fujino | +2 | *F | E | |
| Yuki Ichinose | +2 | *F | E | |
| Misuzu Narita | +2 | *F | +1 | |
| Kotono Kozuma | +2 | *F | +1 | |
| 46 | Eun-A Lim | +3 | F | +3 |
| Nachiyo Ohtani | +3 | *F | +1 | |
| Onnarin Sattayabanphot | +3 | *F | +2 | |
| 49 | Hsuan-Yu Yao | +4 | F | +5 |
| Bo-Bae Song | +4 | *F | +2 | |
| Mayumi Shimomura | +4 | *F | +3 | |
| 52 | Yui Kawahara | +5 | *F | +3 |
| Shiho Toyonaga | +5 | *F | +3 | |
| 54 | Kyoko Furuya | +7 | *F | +6 |
| 55 | Asuka Tsujimura | +9 | *F | +7 |
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