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 | ||||
Great job as usual with the coverage. Your site features the best photography in ladies golf. Well done.
Thanks!