KLPGA Update

Next on the KLPGA schedule was the second of the KB Star tour events. The event was played from May 10 - 12th, and to no one's surprise, after round one, Ji Yai Shin was atop the leaderboard (actually, maybe it was a bit of a surprise. Shin has been having trouble in 2007 getting off to a good start in events; this marked her first opening round lead of the season). She opened the tournament with a six birdie, no bogey 66. She was playing the event near where she went to high school, so was doubtless getting a lot of support from the local galleries. Mi Sun Kim was second following a 67, while last week's winner Eun Hee Ji (pictured) was third after a five birdie, one bogey 68. The previous week's runner-up, Hee Young Park, and Hae Jung Kim both opened with 70s.

This year, Shin has usually gotten off to a bad start, then played better as the week progressed. This time she saved her poor round for the second round. She shot an uncharacteristic 4 over par 76 to fall out of the lead. She was still in contention, though, and is always dangerous.

The new leader was the winner of last week's event, Eun Hee Ji. Ji shot a 2 under par 70 to move to 6 under total. Right on her heels was last week's runner up, Hee Young Park, who shot a 69, the best round of the day, to move to 5 under. One shot behind her was Hae Jung Kim at 4 under, with Shin lurking at 2 under. Talk about a star packed leaderboard!

The third round turned into a battle between Hee Young Park, Ji Yai Shin and Eun Hee Ji (pictured). Shin shot a blistering 66 in round three and finished at 8 under total, which turned out to be not quite enough to get the win. It secured her a third place finish, however, yet another great top ten for her. Hee Young Park also shot a 66, sort of, which should have given her the outright victory. But an unfortunate incident occurred. On the first hole, Park made a birdie. Ji left her wedge on the ground and went to the next hole. Someone at the hole saw the club and gave it to Park, who put it in her bag with her other clubs. The problem is, that gave her 15 total clubs in her bag, which is illegal in golf. A few holes later, Ji noticed a wedge was missing, than spotted it in Park's bag. Park was given a two stroke penalty, meaning her actual final score for the round was 68, which left her in a tie at the end of the day with Ji. The mistake came when Park told her caddie to put the club into her bag. If she had kept the club out of her bag until she could give it to Ji, everything would have been all right.

Anyway, the two players went to a playoff, and Ji won on the second hole for her second straight win. For the second straight week, Hee Young had to settle for second.

Scores & Notables:
1 Hee Young Park 70(6) 69(1) 68(3) 36/32 207 -9
1 Eun Hee Ji 68(3) 70(2) 69(5) 36/33 207 -9
3 Ji Yai Shin 66(1) 76(62) 66(1) 33/33 208 -8
4 Ha Na Pak 69(4) 71(7) 70(6) 34/36 210 -6
5 Hye Jin Jung 71(11) 74(40) 66(1) 32/34 211 -5
7 Na Yeon Choi 72(16) 70(2) 71(12) 35/36 213 -3
9 Sun Ju Ahn 73(24) 71(7) 70(6) 36/34 214 -2
10 Ran Hong 73(24) 71(7) 72(21) 37/35 216 0
11 Hae Jung Kim 70(6) 70(2) 77(53) 40/37 217 1
13 Da Ye Na 75(50) 73(23) 70(6) 36/34 218 2
17 Ha Neul Kim 73(24) 74(40) 72(21) 38/34 219 3
24 Woo Ri Choi 73(24) 74(40) 73(27) 37/36 220 4
37 Hyun Hee Moon 75(50) 74(40) 73(27) 34/39 222 6