In-Gee Chun (click to enlarge)
With the way players hop from tour to tour these days, going wherever there is prizemoney to be won, maybe the four Major women’s golf tours (LPGA, LET, JLPGA, KLPGA) should hand out a Global Player of the Year award. It would honor whichever player had the greatest success tour-hopping in a calendar year. If such an award existed…actually, I’m not certain that it doesn’t exist, I might just not be aware of its existence…then 2015’s Global Player of the Year, in my humble opinion, would be In-Gee Chun. She had already made her first victory on the KLPGA a Major back in 2013, the Korea Women’s Open, when she duplicated that achievement on the JLPGA in May 2015 as she made her first victory on the Japanese tour a Major, the 2015 Salonpas Cup. In-Gee would make it a three-time achievement in July by making her first LPGA victory the greatest test in women’s golf, the US Women’s Open. Two weeks later, she would add another KLPGA Major victory at the 2015 Hite Jinro Championship. By the way, that was her 4th KLPGA title of the season. And if all of that were not enough of a case for Chun as my mythical Global Player of the Year, she now has won her 2nd JLPGA Major of the Year at arguably that tour’s greatest event, the Japan Women’s Open. In American Football, there is a Hall of Famer named Cris Carter of whom it was said, hyperbolically, all he does is score touchdowns. In the same vein, I feel like saying of In-Gee Chun, again not literally, all she does is win Majors. Like Cris Carter, In-Gee does more than what that description of her says, but it gives an idea of how great she excels at doing that one…in this case, pretty amazing…thing. It wasn’t as easy win for In-Gee Chun. Like the US Women’s Open, the Japan Women’s Open tested the skills and wills of the field with the course and the elements. After 4 rounds were in the books, only Mi Hyang Lee, Erika Kikuchi and In-Gee were under par, all tied at 2-under. It took a 4-hole playoff, but in the end In-Gee took home top honors and the 24 million Japanese Yen (about $200,000 USD) winner’s share.
So Yeon Ryu (click to enlarge)
There were familiar names to LPGA fans in America competing such as So Yeon Ryu and Shanshan Feng. Ryu tied for 14th with another one of my favorites, Ha Neul Kim. But how So Yeon arrived in 14th was admittedly disappointing. She was in solo 3rd at 2-under after the first three rounds, only 2 shots behind overnight leader Erika Kikuchi. In fact, Ryu was 1 shot ahead of eventual champion In-Gee Chun. But she plummeted from the top of the leaderboard with a final round 78. Just an even par round would have put So Yeon into the playoff. Teresa Lu looked to be gaining some ground on JLPGA stats queen Bo-Mee Lee, but after Lu missed the cut and Lee finished tied for 4th, it appears it would take a massive surge by Teresa combined with an utter collapse by Bo-Mee for Lee not to win JLPGA Player of the Year. However, there are more tournaments to be played, including another Major…and I haven’t done the math on the points…so maybe the race is not yet over. Before getting on the to the photos, I have to give respect to amateur Minami Katsu, who continues to shine with a tie for 11th. Minami has emerged as a potential future champion on the JLPGA. I’m following her progress with great interest.
ALL PICS CLICK TO ENLARGE
1 IN-GEE CHUN (-2)
with low amateur, Minami Katsu
T2 MI HYANG LEE (-2)
T2 ERIKA KIKUCHI (-2)
T4 BO-MEE LEE (E)
T4 ASUKA KASHIWABARA (E)
A FEW OTHER NOTABLES:
T6 MI-JEONG JEON (+2)
T6 SHANSHAN FENG (+2)
T6 KOTONO KOZUMA (+2)
T11 MINAMI KATSU, low amateur (+3)
T11 AYAKA WATANABE (+3)
| RANK | PLAYER | SCORE | TOTAL | 1R | 2R | 3R | 4R | PRIZE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 優勝 | In-Gee Chun | -2 | 286 | 71 | 73 | 71 | 71 | ¥28,000,000 | |
| 2T | Mi Hyang Lee | -2 | 286 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 70 | ¥13,090,000 | |
| 2T | Erika Kikuchi | -2 | 286 | 72 | 73 | 67 | 74 | ¥13,090,000 | |
| 4T | Bo-Mee Lee | 0 | 288 | 74 | 69 | 74 | 71 | ¥6,440,000 | |
| 4T | Asuka Kashiwabara | 0 | 288 | 71 | 70 | 72 | 75 | ¥6,440,000 | |
| 6T | Ji-Hee Lee | +2 | 290 | 73 | 71 | 75 | 71 | ¥3,696,000 | |
| 6T | Shan-Shan Feng | +2 | 290 | 75 | 70 | 74 | 71 | ¥3,696,000 | |
| 6T | Mi-Jeong Jeon | +2 | 290 | 76 | 71 | 72 | 71 | ¥3,696,000 | |
| 6T | Shiho Oyama | +2 | 290 | 76 | 72 | 71 | 71 | ¥3,696,000 | |
| 6T | Kotono Kozuma | +2 | 290 | 72 | 70 | 73 | 75 | ¥3,696,000 | |
| 11T | @Minami Katsu | +3 | 291 | 75 | 71 | 73 | 72 | ¥0 | |
| 11T | Ayaka Watanabe | +3 | 291 | 76 | 71 | 72 | 72 | ¥2,331,000 | |
| 11T | Sun-Ju Ahn | +3 | 291 | 70 | 73 | 75 | 73 | ¥2,331,000 | |
| 14T | Ha-Neul Kim | +4 | 292 | 74 | 74 | 73 | 71 | ¥1,841,000 | |
| 14T | So Yeon Ryu | +4 | 292 | 68 | 72 | 74 | 78 | ¥1,841,000 | |
| 16T | Hee-Kyung Bae | +5 | 293 | 74 | 72 | 73 | 74 | ¥1,596,000 | |
| 16T | Maiko Wakabayashi | +5 | 293 | 72 | 74 | 73 | 74 | ¥1,596,000 | |
| 18T | Kyu-Jung Baek | +7 | 295 | 77 | 73 | 76 | 69 | ¥1,309,000 | |
| 18T | @Kana Nagai | +7 | 295 | 74 | 73 | 76 | 72 | ¥0 | |
| 18T | @Yumi Matsubara | +7 | 295 | 77 | 73 | 73 | 72 | ¥0 | |
| 18T | O Sattaya | +7 | 295 | 75 | 71 | 75 | 74 | ¥1,309,000 | |
| 18T | Shoko Sasaki | +7 | 295 | 72 | 71 | 76 | 76 | ¥1,309,000 | |
| 18T | Hyo-Joo Kim | +7 | 295 | 77 | 70 | 72 | 76 | ¥1,309,000 | |
| 18T | Erina Hara | +7 | 295 | 73 | 72 | 73 | 77 | ¥1,309,000 | |
| 18T | Kotone Hori | +7 | 295 | 72 | 73 | 72 | 78 | ¥1,309,000 | |
| 26T | Jia-Yun Li | +8 | 296 | 77 | 72 | 78 | 69 | ¥1,092,000 | |
| 26T | Saiki Fujita | +8 | 296 | 75 | 69 | 77 | 75 | ¥1,092,000 | |
| 26T | Ai Suzuki | +8 | 296 | 70 | 76 | 75 | 75 | ¥1,092,000 | |
| 26T | Miki Sakai | +8 | 296 | 77 | 71 | 73 | 75 | ¥1,092,000 | |
| 26T | Eri Joma | +8 | 296 | 74 | 70 | 75 | 77 | ¥1,092,000 | |
| 31T | Yumiko Yoshida | +9 | 297 | 73 | 73 | 82 | 69 | ¥945,000 | |
| 31T | @Mone Inami | +9 | 297 | 77 | 72 | 75 | 73 | ¥0 | |
| 31T | @Hina Arakaki | +9 | 297 | 71 | 72 | 80 | 74 | ¥0 | |
| 31T | Yukari Baba | +9 | 297 | 74 | 74 | 75 | 74 | ¥945,000 | |
| 31T | Ritsuko Ryu | +9 | 297 | 74 | 73 | 75 | 75 | ¥945,000 | |
| 31T | Mayu Hattori | +9 | 297 | 76 | 74 | 72 | 75 | ¥945,000 | |
| 31T | Junko Omote | +9 | 297 | 73 | 73 | 75 | 76 | ¥945,000 | |
| 31T | Esther Lee | +9 | 297 | 76 | 72 | 73 | 76 | ¥945,000 | |
| 39T | Ji-Yai Shin | +10 | 298 | 77 | 72 | 76 | 73 | ¥875,000 | |
| 39T | Momoko Ueda | +10 | 298 | 75 | 75 | 72 | 76 | ¥875,000 | |
| 41T | Yuri Fudoh | +11 | 299 | 74 | 74 | 78 | 73 | ¥819,000 | |
| 41T | Mami Fukuda | +11 | 299 | 75 | 73 | 78 | 73 | ¥819,000 | |
| 41T | Jae-Eun Chung | +11 | 299 | 74 | 74 | 77 | 74 | ¥819,000 | |
| 41T | Kumiko Kaneda | +11 | 299 | 76 | 75 | 72 | 76 | ¥819,000 | |
| 41T | Na-Ri Lee | +11 | 299 | 77 | 71 | 74 | 77 | ¥819,000 | |
| 41T | Misuzu Narita | +11 | 299 | 75 | 72 | 72 | 80 | ¥819,000 | |
| 47T | Mika Miyazato | +12 | 300 | 79 | 71 | 76 | 74 | ¥735,000 | |
| 47T | Akane Iijima | +12 | 300 | 74 | 72 | 79 | 75 | ¥735,000 | |
| 47T | Sakura Yokomine | +12 | 300 | 73 | 75 | 77 | 75 | ¥735,000 | |
| 47T | Asako Fujimoto | +12 | 300 | 76 | 71 | 77 | 76 | ¥735,000 | |
| 47T | Miho Mori | +12 | 300 | 76 | 73 | 74 | 77 | ¥735,000 | |
| 47T | Haruka Kudo | +12 | 300 | 73 | 73 | 75 | 79 | ¥735,000 | |
| 53T | Hikari Fujita | +13 | 301 | 76 | 75 | 77 | 73 | ¥679,000 | |
| 53T | Yuko Mitsuka | +13 | 301 | 73 | 75 | 77 | 76 | ¥679,000 | |
| 55 | @Suzuka Yamaguchi | +15 | 303 | 76 | 74 | 78 | 75 | ¥0 | |
| 56T | Kaori Ohe | +17 | 305 | 75 | 75 | 81 | 74 | ¥651,000 | |
| 56T | Mei Takagi | +17 | 305 | 76 | 70 | 84 | 75 | ¥651,000 | |
| 58 | Rui Kitada | +18 | 306 | 77 | 74 | 76 | 79 | ¥630,000 | |
| 59 | Yasuko Satoh | +19 | 307 | 76 | 74 | 80 | 77 | ¥616,000 | |
| 60T | @Riri Sadoyama | +20 | 308 | 76 | 73 | 85 | 74 | ¥0 | |
| 60T | Eri Fukuyama | +20 | 308 | 75 | 76 | 80 | 77 | ¥602,000 |
