Ji-Hee Lee (click to enlarge)
Even local wildlife running around on the course behind her was not enough to distract Ji-Hee Lee from winning the 2016 Yamaha Ladies Open. The South Korean star fired a sensational 7-birdie, 1-bogey 6-under 66 final round to finish at 9-under for the tournament, 3 shots clear of Jiyai Shin. I have to feel a little for the Final Round Queen Jiyai. That’s one tie for third to go along with back to back second place finishes in four events this year. She is due. But today belonged to her fellow Seoul Sister Lee, a JLPGA veteran who notches her 20th career victory on the Japanese tour.
Ji-Hee Lee hit all the right notes in the final round (click to enlarge)
By the way, speaking of the Seoul Sisters, that’s now 3 South Korean winners in 5 events so far on the JLPGA this year. The other 2 winners are Teresa Lu (Taiwan) and Kaori Ohe (Japan). The Sisters also captured winner, second and tied for third honors this week at Yamaha. Of course, it’s very early in the season, but 4 of the top 8 on the JLPGA Mercedes Rankings are Seoul Sisters; Ha-Neul Kim, Jiyai Shin, reigning Player of the Year Bo-Mee Lee (who played the ANA Inspiration this week) and Ji-Hee Lee. Kim, Shin and Lee are all in the top 5, with Ha-Neul sitting on top. Ha-Neul tied for 13th this week, her first event out of the top 7.
Wildlife on the Course!
ALL PICS CLICK TO ENLARGE
1 JI-HEE LEE (-9)
with Chae-Young Yoon
with Chae-Young Yoon
with Jiyai Shin
with low amateur Minami Katsu
“I’m the Queen of the World!”
T2 JIYAI SHIN (-6)
with Chae-Young Yoon
T3 CHAE-YOUNG YOON (-5)
T3 AYAKA WATANABE (-5)
T5 ASUKA KASHIWABARA (-1)
T5 MEGUMI KIDO (-1)
T5 SAKI NAGAMINE (-1)
LEADERBOARD
| RANK | PLAYER | SCORE | 1R | 2R | 3R | 4R | TOTAL | PRIZE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 優勝 | Ji-Hee Lee | -9 | 73 | 67 | 73 | 66 | 279 | ¥18,000,000 | |
| 2 | Jiyai Shin | -6 | 70 | 73 | 70 | 69 | 282 | ¥8,800,000 | |
| 3T | Ayaka Watanabe | -5 | 70 | 73 | 72 | 68 | 283 | ¥6,500,000 | |
| 3T | Chae-Young Yoon | -5 | 71 | 70 | 70 | 72 | 283 | ¥6,500,000 | |
| 5T | Asuka Kashiwabara | -1 | 77 | 70 | 71 | 69 | 287 | ¥4,166,666 | |
| 5T | Megumi Kido | -1 | 73 | 70 | 73 | 71 | 287 | ¥4,166,666 | |
| 5T | Saki Nagamine | -1 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 71 | 287 | ¥4,166,666 | |
| 8 | Mami Fukuda | 0 | 71 | 73 | 72 | 72 | 288 | ¥3,000,000 | |
| 9T | Teresa Lu | +1 | 70 | 70 | 75 | 74 | 289 | ¥1,975,000 | |
| 9T | Ritsuko Ryu | +1 | 69 | 73 | 73 | 74 | 289 | ¥1,975,000 | |
| 9T | Ai Suzuki | +1 | 71 | 73 | 71 | 74 | 289 | ¥1,975,000 | |
| 9T | Yuki Ichinose | +1 | 73 | 73 | 69 | 74 | 289 | ¥1,975,000 | |
| 13T | Hee-Kyung Bae | +2 | 72 | 74 | 79 | 65 | 290 | ¥1,400,000 | |
| 13T | Ayaka Matsumori | +2 | 73 | 73 | 74 | 70 | 290 | ¥1,400,000 | |
| 13T | Soo-Yun Kang | +2 | 75 | 72 | 72 | 71 | 290 | ¥1,400,000 | |
| 13T | Ha-Neul Kim | +2 | 72 | 75 | 71 | 72 | 290 | ¥1,400,000 | |
| 17T | Miyu Shinkai | +3 | 72 | 76 | 72 | 71 | 291 | ¥1,100,000 | |
| 17T | Shiho Toyonaga | +3 | 72 | 74 | 72 | 73 | 291 | ¥1,100,000 | |
| 19T | Shoko Sasaki | +4 | 72 | 75 | 76 | 69 | 292 | ¥821,428 | |
| 19T | Babe Liu | +4 | 77 | 72 | 73 | 70 | 292 | ¥821,428 | |
| 19T | Hikari Kawamitsu | +4 | 72 | 78 | 72 | 70 | 292 | ¥821,428 | |
| 19T | Na-Ri Lee | +4 | 73 | 72 | 75 | 72 | 292 | ¥821,428 | |
| 19T | Ah-Reum Hwang | +4 | 72 | 76 | 72 | 72 | 292 | ¥821,428 | |
| 19T | Rikako Morita | +4 | 76 | 73 | 71 | 72 | 292 | ¥821,428 | |
| 19T | Miki Sakai | +4 | 73 | 73 | 73 | 73 | 292 | ¥821,428 | |
| 26 | Maiko Wakabayashi | +5 | 73 | 73 | 73 | 74 | 293 | ¥730,000 | |
| 27T | Asako Fujimoto | +6 | 71 | 77 | 78 | 68 | 294 | ¥650,000 | |
| 27T | Yuko Mitsuka | +6 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 69 | 294 | ¥650,000 | |
| 27T | Mi-Jeong Jeon | +6 | 74 | 74 | 76 | 70 | 294 | ¥650,000 | |
| 27T | @Minami Katsu | +6 | 73 | 70 | 80 | 71 | 294 | ¥0 | |
| 27T | Yumiko Yoshida | +6 | 72 | 77 | 74 | 71 | 294 | ¥650,000 | |
| 27T | Hikari Fujita | +6 | 74 | 74 | 74 | 72 | 294 | ¥650,000 | |
| 27T | Yuko Fukuda | +6 | 75 | 74 | 72 | 73 | 294 | ¥650,000 | |
| 27T | Erina Hara | +6 | 72 | 74 | 73 | 75 | 294 | ¥650,000 | |
| 27T | @Minami Hiruta | +6 | 77 | 72 | 70 | 75 | 294 | ¥0 | |
| 36T | Jae-Eun Chung | +7 | 71 | 73 | 82 | 69 | 295 | ¥526,250 | |
| 36T | Rie Tsuji | +7 | 76 | 73 | 76 | 70 | 295 | ¥526,250 | |
| 36T | Nachiyo Ohtani | +7 | 77 | 73 | 73 | 72 | 295 | ¥526,250 | |
| 36T | Esther Lee | +7 | 72 | 75 | 75 | 73 | 295 | ¥526,250 | |
| 36T | Yukari Nishiyama | +7 | 71 | 77 | 74 | 73 | 295 | ¥526,250 | |
| 36T | Kotono Kozuma | +7 | 72 | 74 | 75 | 74 | 295 | ¥526,250 | |
| 36T | Miki Uehara | +7 | 76 | 71 | 74 | 74 | 295 | ¥526,250 | |
| 36T | Serena Aoki | +7 | 75 | 73 | 73 | 74 | 295 | ¥526,250 | |
| 44T | Kotone Hori | +8 | 75 | 74 | 74 | 73 | 296 | ¥460,000 | |
| 44T | Haruka Morita | +8 | 78 | 71 | 73 | 74 | 296 | ¥460,000 | |
| 44T | Aya Ezawa | +8 | 73 | 77 | 72 | 74 | 296 | ¥460,000 | |
| 44T | Aoi Nagata | +8 | 74 | 72 | 73 | 77 | 296 | ¥460,000 | |
| 44T | Kumiko Kaneda | +8 | 72 | 72 | 73 | 79 | 296 | ¥460,000 | |
| 49T | Haruhi Nakao | +9 | 73 | 76 | 75 | 73 | 297 | ¥415,000 | |
| 49T | Yoko Maeda | +9 | 75 | 74 | 74 | 74 | 297 | ¥415,000 | |
| 49T | Hiroko Azuma | +9 | 76 | 74 | 72 | 75 | 297 | ¥415,000 | |
| 49T | Eri Okayama | +9 | 73 | 75 | 71 | 78 | 297 | ¥415,000 | |
| 53T | Junko Omote | +10 | 74 | 76 | 76 | 72 | 298 | ¥360,000 | |
| 53T | Mamiko Higa | +10 | 73 | 73 | 79 | 73 | 298 | ¥360,000 | |
| 53T | Airi Saitoh | +10 | 78 | 71 | 76 | 73 | 298 | ¥360,000 | |
| 53T | Yukari Baba | +10 | 69 | 80 | 76 | 73 | 298 | ¥360,000 | |
| 53T | P Chutichai | +10 | 76 | 70 | 78 | 74 | 298 | ¥360,000 | |
| 53T | Hiromi Mogi | +10 | 77 | 73 | 74 | 74 | 298 | ¥360,000 | |
| 53T | Erika Kikuchi | +10 | 74 | 73 | 75 | 76 | 298 | ¥360,000 | |
| 60 | Yu-Ling Hsieh | +11 | 73 | 75 | 77 | 74 | 299 | ¥320,000 | |
| 61T | Hiroko Fukushima | +12 | 76 | 73 | 77 | 74 | 300 | ¥305,000 | |
| 61T | Kaori Aoyama | +12 | 74 | 74 | 73 | 79 | 300 | ¥305,000 | |
| 63T | Yeo-Jin Kang | +13 | 71 | 79 | 76 | 75 | 301 | ¥285,000 | |
| 63T | Pei-Ying Tsai | +13 | 76 | 73 | 75 | 77 | 301 | ¥285,000 | |
| 65T | Akane Yoshino | +14 | 79 | 71 | 76 | 76 | 302 | ¥265,000 | |
| 65T | Ayako Kimura | +14 | 72 | 76 | 75 | 79 | 302 | ¥265,000 | |
| 67 | Hiromi Kamata | +19 | 74 | 75 | 84 | 74 | 307 | ¥250,000 |
Fairways and Forehands 