In-Gee Chun Wins World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup, Takes Major Title In First Ever JLPGA Event

In-Gee Chun (click to enlarge)

South Korea’s In-Gee Chun is presently a college student in addition to being a professional golfer. Fittingly, she took the field to school at the 2015 World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup in her first ever LPGA of Japan (JLPGA) event, establishing a 5 shot lead after 3 rounds at 13-under and cruising to a 4-shot victory at 12-under after 72 holes. The 20-year old Chun becomes the youngest winner of the initial Major of the Japanese tour’s season. She earns the 24,000,000 Japanese Yen (about 200,368 USD) winner’s share. This is not the first time In-Gee has made a Major her first tour victory. Her maiden victory on her home LPGA of Korea (KLPGA) tour was the 2013 Korea Women’s Open. Overall, she’s won 5 times and counting on the KLPGA, including this April’s Samchully Together Open. Chun also finished 2nd at the LPGA/KLPGA co-sanctioned KEB HanaBank Championship in 2014. I am very pleased to see In-Gee have this kind of success. In a way, I could make the argument that despite her KLPGA Major and five overall wins back home, she’s been overshadowed by Hyo-Joo Kim. They both had rookie years together with Hyo-Joo taking Rookie of the Year. Kim also has 8 KLPGA victories, not to mention 2 LPGA wins, including an LPGA Major victory at the 2014 Evian Championship. So today is about In-Gee Chun and her moment to step into the spotlight and be celebrated. Clearly, Chun seems destined for continued success regardless of the tour on which she decides to ply her trade.

Jessica Korda (click to enlarge)

The Salonpas Cup has attracted a number of players from other tours over the years. There is a long list of LPGA players who have moonlighted their way to wins at this JLPGA event dating back to Jane Blalock in 1975 and 1976. More recent winners since 2000 include Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb and Morgan Pressel. This year’s top current LPGA finisher was Jessica Korda, a 3-time winner on her home tour. Korda tied for 4th at 3-under, 9 shots behind Chun. Other current LPGA players who made the trip to Ibaraki included In-Kyung Kim, who finished tied for 12th at even par, and Ai Miyazato (who started her career on the JLPGA), who missed the cut at 5-over.

ALL PICS CLICK TO ENLARGE

1 IN-GEE CHUN (-12)

with low amateur, Minami Hiruta

with Bo-Mee Lee

2 MOMOKO UEDA (-8)

3 BO-MEE LEE (-4)

T4 JESSICA KORDA (-3)

T4 SERENA AOKI (-3)

T4 AKANE IIJIMA (-3)

T4 YUKO MITSUKA

RANK	PLAYER	SCORE	TOTAL	1R	2R	3R	4R	PRIZE
	優勝	In-Gee Chun	-12	276	66	70	67	73	¥24,000,000
	2	Momoko Ueda	-8	280	69	69	70	72	¥12,000,000
	3	Bo-Mee Lee	-4	284	65	72	72	75	¥9,000,000
	4T	Akane Iijima	-3	285	72	74	71	68	¥5,460,000
	4T	Yuko Mitsuka	-3	285	71	72	72	70	¥5,460,000
	4T	Serena Aoki	-3	285	69	74	71	71	¥5,460,000
	4T	Jessica Korda	-3	285	72	67	72	74	¥5,460,000
	8T	Lala Anai	-2	286	73	68	74	71	¥2,640,000
	8T	Jae-Eun Chung	-2	286	66	73	74	73	¥2,640,000
	8T	Ai Suzuki	-2	286	73	66	72	75	¥2,640,000
	11	Erika Kikuchi	-1	287	69	71	75	72	¥2,100,000
	12T	Na-Ri Lee	0	288	69	72	74	73	¥1,668,000
	12T	Ritsuko Ryu	0	288	67	75	73	73	¥1,668,000
	12T	Kotone Hori	0	288	70	75	70	73	¥1,668,000
	12T	Yuri Fudoh	0	288	69	72	73	74	¥1,668,000
	12T	In-Kyung Kim	0	288	70	73	69	76	¥1,668,000
	12T	Teresa Lu	0	288	69	74	69	76	¥1,668,000
	18T	Ji-Hee Lee	+1	289	69	73	75	72	¥1,164,000
	18T	Ji-Yai Shin	+1	289	71	74	69	75	¥1,164,000
	20T	Hikari Kawamitsu	+2	290	73	72	74	71	¥936,000
	20T	Yeon-Ju Jung	+2	290	72	70	73	75	¥936,000
	20T	Misuzu Narita	+2	290	72	74	69	75	¥936,000
	20T	Asako Fujimoto	+2	290	71	74	69	76	¥936,000
	20T	Rikako Morita	+2	290	74	72	67	77	¥936,000
	25T	Erina Hara	+3	291	71	73	75	72	¥852,000
	25T	Yuki Ichinose	+3	291	70	71	74	76	¥852,000
	27T	Na-Ri Kim	+4	292	75	72	71	74	¥768,000
	27T	O Sattaya	+4	292	70	77	71	74	¥768,000
	27T	Mika Miyazato	+4	292	72	72	75	73	¥768,000
	27T	Ayaka Watanabe	+4	292	72	72	73	75	¥768,000
	27T	Saiki Fujita	+4	292	70	73	70	79	¥768,000
	32T	Ayaka Matsumori	+5	293	73	73	73	74	¥660,000
	32T	Mi-Jeong Jeon	+5	293	74	73	71	75	¥660,000
	32T	Rui Kitada	+5	293	74	70	73	76	¥660,000
	32T	Kaori Ohe	+5	293	74	71	72	76	¥660,000
	36T	Yoko Ishikawa	+6	294	74	68	76	76	¥573,000
	36T	Hiroko Azuma	+6	294	75	72	71	76	¥573,000
	36T	Kaori Yamamoto	+6	294	74	73	73	74	¥573,000
	36T	Shiho Oyama	+6	294	72	75	73	74	¥573,000
	40T	Junko Omote	+7	295	74	74	71	76	¥522,000
	40T	Ah-Reum Hwang	+7	295	72	75	71	77	¥522,000
	40T	Nana Yamashiro	+7	295	70	74	75	76	¥522,000
	40T	Kurumi Dohi	+7	295	71	77	73	74	¥522,000
	44T	@Minami Hiruta	+8	296	71	74	74	77	¥0
	44T	Kumiko Kaneda	+8	296	69	71	77	79	¥486,000
	44T	Eun-Bi Jang	+8	296	72	72	76	76	¥486,000
	47T	Haruka Kudo	+9	297	75	73	73	76	¥450,000
	47T	Yoko Maeda	+9	297	75	73	73	76	¥450,000
	47T	Megumi Shimokawa	+9	297	71	73	77	76	¥450,000
	47T	Aoi Nagata	+9	297	73	74	77	73	¥450,000
	51T	Tomoko Kanai	+10	298	73	75	74	76	¥408,000
	51T	Yuko Fukuda	+10	298	76	72	74	76	¥408,000
	51T	Yukari Nishiyama	+10	298	74	74	76	74	¥408,000
	54T	Sumika Nakasone	+11	299	71	74	77	77	¥372,000
	54T	Erina Yamato	+11	299	72	72	81	74	¥372,000
	54T	Shiho Toyonaga	+11	299	76	72	78	73	¥372,000
	57T	@Kana Nagai	+12	300	71	77	70	82	¥0
	57T	Esther Lee	+12	300	73	74	74	79	¥330,000
	57T	Airi Saitoh	+12	300	71	72	73	84	¥330,000
	57T	Hiroko Fukushima	+12	300	71	77	75	77	¥330,000
	57T	Kotono Kozuma	+12	300	76	72	77	75	¥330,000
	62T	Jia-Yun Li	+13	301	73	73	76	79	¥294,000
	62T	Yumiko Yoshida	+13	301	73	70	83	75	¥294,000
	64	Maiko Wakabayashi	+14	302	74	74	74	80	¥276,000
	65	@Woo-Jung Kim	+16	304	72	74	79	79	¥0
	66	Aya Ezawa	+17	305	73	75	74	83	¥264,000
以上、予選通過
		Yukari Baba	+5	149	71	78			¥0
		Mayumi Shimomura	+5	149	73	76			¥0
		Ai Miyazato	+5	149	72	77			¥0
		Mihoko Iseri	+5	149	71	78			¥0
		Rumi Yoshiba	+5	149	77	72			¥0
		Misaki Hama	+5	149	75	74			¥0
		Hikari Fujita	+5	149	77	72			¥0
		Young Kim	+5	149	74	75			¥0
		Kana Taneda	+5	149	75	74			¥0
		P Chutichai	+5	149	77	72			¥0
		Da-Ye Na	+5	149	73	76			¥0
		Nobuko Kizawa	+6	150	76	74			¥0
		Nachiyo Ohtani	+6	150	73	77			¥0
		Mina Nakayama	+6	150	75	75			¥0
		Miki Sakai	+6	150	77	73			¥0
		Mami Fukuda	+6	150	73	77			¥0
		Mamiko Higa	+6	150	71	79			¥0
		Ji-Woo Lee	+6	150	71	79			¥0
		Akane Saeki	+6	150	71	79			¥0
		Karen Gondo	+6	150	77	73			¥0
		Ayano Nitta	+6	150	74	76			¥0
		Yuko Saitoh	+7	151	73	78			¥0
		Natsu Nagai	+7	151	75	76			¥0
		Yun-Jye Wei	+7	151	74	77			¥0
		Ha-Neul Kim	+7	151	73	78			¥0
		Saki Nagamine	+7	151	76	75			¥0
		Yasuko Satoh	+8	152	76	76			¥0
		Hiromi Mogi	+8	152	72	80			¥0
		Shinobu Moromizato	+8	152	74	78			¥0
		Yukiko Nishiki	+8	152	75	77			¥0
		Natsuka Hori	+8	152	72	80			¥0
		Asuka Kashiwabara	+8	152	78	74			¥0
		Phoebe Yao	+8	152	78	74			¥0
		Saki Takeo	+8	152	72	80			¥0
		Hee-Kyung Bae	+8	152	74	78			¥0
		Megumi Kido	+9	153	77	76			¥0
		Ji-Min Lee	+9	153	76	77			¥0
		Yumi Sasahara	+9	153	76	77			¥0
		Xin Wang	+9	153	76	77			¥0
		Aiko Ueno	+10	154	77	77			¥0
		Yeo-Jin Kang	+10	154	74	80			¥0
		Ikue Asama	+11	155	76	79			¥0
		Miyako Tanaka	+11	155	76	79			¥0
		Asami Kikuchi	+11	155	75	80			¥0
		Aoi Ohnishi	+11	155	79	76			¥0
		Saki Okamura	+11	155	79	76			¥0
		Motomi Aoki	+11	155	80	75			¥0
		@Hyun-Ji Ryu	+13	157	75	82			¥0
		Ai Tanaka	+14	158	80	78			¥0
		Kurumi Ohtsu	+17	161	82	79			¥0
		Mayu Hattori	+19	163	82	81			¥0
	棄権	Yayoi Arasaki	+7	79	79				¥0
	棄権	Soo-Yun Kang	0	0					¥0
	棄権	Kaori Nakamura	+8	80	80				¥0