Mi-Jeong Jeon, 2012 CAT Ladies winner
With all of the Korean stars on the LPGA, a Seoul Sister fan like myself has a plethora of players for whom to root each tournament. However, one player who has not chosen to come to America, Mi-Jeong Jeon, leaves the legion of LPGA Seoul Sisters incomplete. Instead, MJJ has stayed in Asia, building a stellar career on the JLPGA. She has added to her JLPGA resume with a win at the 2012 CAT Ladies, her 20th JLPGA victory and counting. 2 shots off the lead going into the final round, Mi-Jeong was on fire to close the tournament with a bogey-free 8-under 64. She had only 1 bogey the entire tournament. MJJ now has a JLPGA leading 3 wins on the season.
MI-JEONG JEON
AIRI SAITOH
BO-MEE LEE
CHIE ARIMURA
HIROKO FUKUSHIMA
MAYU HATTORI
ONNARIN SATTAYABANPHOT
SAE YAMAMURA
SAKURA YOKOMINE
YUKARI BABA
YUMIKO YOSHIDA
| Position | Player | ToPar | Thru | Today |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mi-Jeong Jeon | -13 | F | -8 |
| 2 | Rikako Morita | -9 | F | -2 |
| Bo-Mee Lee | -9 | F | -2 | |
| Mayu Hattori | -9 | F | -2 | |
| 5 | Miki Sakai | -8 | F | -4 |
| 6 | Yumiko Yoshida | -7 | F | E |
| 7 | Esther Lee | -6 | F | -4 |
| Hsuan-Yu Yao | -6 | F | -2 | |
| Junko Omote | -6 | F | -1 | |
| Airi Saitoh | -6 | F | E | |
| Hiroko Fukushima | -6 | F | E | |
| Onnarin Sattayabanphot | -6 | F | +1 | |
| 13 | Shiho Toyonaga | -5 | F | -1 |
| 14 | Sae Yamamura | -4 | F | E |
| Kaori Ohe | -4 | F | E | |
| Misuzu Narita | -4 | F | E | |
| 17 | Tao-Li Yang | -3 | F | E |
| 18 | Chie Arimura | -2 | F | -3 |
| Mami Fukuda | -2 | F | -1 | |
| Yukari Baba | -2 | F | -1 | |
| Akane Iijima | -2 | F | +1 | |
| Erika Kikuchi | -2 | F | +3 | |
| 23 | Soo-Yun Kang | -1 | F | -2 |
| Kaori Aoyama | -1 | F | E | |
| Kotono Kozuma | -1 | F | +1 | |
| Hiromi Mogi | -1 | F | +2 | |
| 27 | Sakura Yokomine | E | F | -1 |
| Ritsuko Ryu | E | F | +1 | |
| 29 | Harukyo Nomura | +1 | F | E |
| Lala Anai | +1 | F | E | |
| Maiko Wakabayashi | +1 | F | E | |
| Akiko Fukushima | +1 | F | +1 | |
| Ah-Reum Hwang | +1 | F | +1 | |
| Yuko Mitsuka | +1 | F | +1 | |
| Rui Kitada | +1 | F | +2 | |
| Yasuko Satoh | +1 | F | +3 | |
| 37 | Natsu Nagai | +2 | F | +1 |
| Erina Hara | +2 | F | +2 | |
| 39 | Aiko Kaneda | +3 | F | +2 |
| Na-Ri Kim | +3 | F | +3 | |
| Tomoko Kusakabe | +3 | F | +3 | |
| 42 | Mihoko Iseri | +4 | F | +3 |
| Erina Yamato | +4 | F | +3 | |
| Ikue Asama | +4 | F | +4 | |
| 45 | Ayako Uehara | +5 | F | +4 |
| Ji-Woo Lee | +5 | F | +5 | |
| 47 | Chie Sakai | +6 | F | +6 |
| Satsuki Oshiro | +6 | F | +6 | |
| Na-Ri Lee | +6 | F | +6 | |
| Yui Kawahara | +6 | F | +7 | |
| 51 | Orie Fujino | +8 | F | +7 |
Bobby do you have any knowledge in the difference of the average win
payout between the LPGA and the JLPGA.
The money is decent on the JLPGA. It’s a very viable alternative for top Asian players. Sun Ju Ahn led the tour the past two years with 127,926,893 and 145,073,799 Japanese Yen, about 1.6 million USD and 1.8 USD respectively. Sakura Yokomine led the year before SJA’s first money title with 175,016,384 Japanese Yen, or about 2.2 million USD. Of course, that doesn’t include how big of a star players like Sakura and Chie Arimura are in Japan and their endorsements. The CAT Ladies overall payout is one of the smallest tournaments at only 60,000,000 Japanese Yen, or around 755,000 USD. The two biggest events on the JLPGA are the JLPGA Championship Konica Minolta Cup and the JLPGA Women’s Open, both at 140,000,000 Japanese Yen, or around 1.75 million USD. With several months still to play, Mi-Jeong Jeon leads the money list on the JLPGA at 91,258,332 Japanese Yen, or around 1.14 million USD.