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Choi also had some great performances playing
in pro events. Though she missed the cut at her first LPGA
event, the Lotte Championship, she took a three shot lead
after two rounds at the Lotte event on the KLPGA the previous
week. She ended up tied for fourth. She also finished tenth
at the BC Card event in June and 6th at the Hanwha Classic
in September.
Choi continued to shine in 2016. She contended
all week at the New Zealand Open, finishing tied for 2nd behind
world #1 Lydia Ko. She qualified for the ANZ Ladies Masters
by shooting a 62, then finished tied for 5th in the actual
event. She also managed a tie for 38th at the LPGA's Australian
Women's Open and tied for 52nd at the Lotte event in Hawaii.
In the amateur world, she won the single
title at the 2016 World Amateur Team Championship (the Espirito
Santo Cup) while leading Korea to a dominating win in the
team championship. She also collected the Canadian Women's
Amateur title by four shots. She made it to the semifinals
at the US Girls Junior, but lost to Andrea Lee of the US.
In professional golf, she was the low amateur at the 2016
US Women's Open and the 2016 Hyundai China Ladies Open.
Choi continued her torrid play in 2017. She
won the Australian Ladies Amateur in March but lost to fellow
Korean So Mi Lee in the New South Wales Amateur final. She
also made a top five at the Oates Vic Open, a pro event on
the ALPG tour, and followed that with a tie for 7th finish
at the Australian Women's Open, an LPGA event; this was her
first top ten at an LPGA tournament.
But nothing prepared people for what happened
at that year's US Women's Open. Choi was utterly brilliant,
contending all week, and as the last few holes unfolded, she
amazingly took the lead. If Choi had won, she would have become
the youngest player to ever win the Open, and only the second
amateur. Alas, it was not to be: on the 16th hole, she hit
her tee shot in the water, allowing Sung Hyun Park to overtake
her and eventually win the title. But Choi's second place
finish was still astounding.
Choi's performance at the Open got her invited
to the Evian, where she finished tied for 14th. But she also
around that time won her first KLPGA tournament, shooting
a final round 63 to capture the ChoJung Sparkling Water Open
in July. Not long after that, she captured a second win at
the Bogner-MBN Ladies Open. Finally after that, she decided
in August to turn pro and actually earn some money! She did
so, playing the rest of the year on the KLPGA with the occasional
guest appearance on the LPGA.
At the end of the year, Choi played in the
special LF Point Queen of Queens, a tournament where only
the top players on the KLPGA were allowed to participate.
She won that title as well, her first as a pro, although it
didn't count as an official KLPGA win.
Choi wasted no time making more noise in 2018.
She won her very first event as an official member of the
KLPGA, the Hyosung Championship, which took place in Vietnam.
By May, she was second on the money list, with an additional
second and fourth place finish to go along with her win.
Choi wound up easily winning the Rookie of
the Year award in 2018, more than doubling the total points
of her nearest competitor. She also won the Player of the
Year, the first woman to win both awards on the KLPGA since
Jiyai Shin did it in 2006. And she was selected Most Popular
Player by the fans.
Choi finished 4th on the money list, earning
over 822 million won. She was also second in scoring average.
She made an incredible 16 top tens on the year. She had two
wins, her second coming at the BC Card Ladies Cup in June.
She also had three seconds, three thirds and three fourth
place results.
Choi also played a few times on the LPGA.
Her highlight was a runner-up finish to Jin Young Ko at the
Australian Women's Open. She also played at the ANA, but did
not have a great result there. She also missed the cut at
the Women's British Open, and finished tied for 27th at the
US Women's Open.
Choi played for the KLPGA team at the OrangeLife
Champions Trophy. She teamed with Ji Hyun Oh to lose an epic
match to So Yeon Ryu and Inbee Park 1 up, squared a match
teamed with Seung Hyun Lee against Inbee and Jeong Eun Lee
5, and lost her singles match against Sung Hyun Park.
Hye Jin Choi dominated the KLPGA in 2019,
winning pretty much every award she was qualified for. She
claimed the Player of the Year and had the low scoring average
with 70.45. She led the money list with over 1,207,000,000
won, one of the few players in history to break a billion
won for a season. She had the most wins of the season with
five, and was even named Most Popular player by the fans.
In short, 2019 was the year of Hye Jin Choi.
Choi's first win of the year was also her
most important. She claimed the KLPGA Championship, one of
the tour's five Majors, in late April. It was also her first
career Major win. She followed that a few weeks later with
a win at the NH Ladies Championship. In all, she had 13 top
ten, including 2 seconds and a third. One of her runner-up
finishes came at the Hite Cup, which almost became her second
Major of the year. Another came to Rookie of the Year Ayean
Cho at the Pak Se Ri Invitational.
Choi also played several times overseas. She
had a tie for 5th finish at the Lotte Championship in April.
She only finished tied for 49th at the Evian and missed the
cut at the Women's British Open.
Choi played for the winning KLPGA team at
the OrangeLife Team Championship at the end of the year. She
teamed with rookie star Hee Jeong Lim to trounce Inbee Park
and Danielle Kang 4 & 2, but lost when teamed with Da
Yeon Lee against Jeongeun Lee6 and Jenny Shin. She lost her
singles match against LPGA superstar Jin Young Ko, a battle
of the top players on both tours, 5 & 3. The KLPGA won
the event 15-9.
Hye Jin started out 2020 well. When Ayean
Cho collapsed in the final round, Hye Jin made a great run
for the title at the Vic Open, just missing it with a tie
for 2nd result. The next week she struggled, finishing only
tied for 48th at the Women's Australian Open. She also had
a top ten in Vietnam in the only event she played on the KLPGA
before the Covid pandemic halted the tour.
Once the tour restarted in mid-May, Choi played
consistently for the rest of the year. Out of 17 starts, she
managed 15 top tens, although she only won once, at the final
event of the year (she did have a second tournament where
she finished first, but that was unofficial because rain forced
it to be reduced to just one round). Besides the wins, her
best finishes were a pair of thirds. She wound up making 538
million won, 6th on the money list, but still won the Player
of the Year for the third straight year thanks to her consistency.
She was also third in scoring average.
In December, Choi played at the US Women's
Open, but only finished tied for 30th. Choi also played for
the KLPGA team at the annual LPGA/KLPGA team competition,
the OrangeLife Champions Trophy. She teamed with Hyun Kyung
Park to beat Na Yeon Choi and Mi Hyang Lee 3 & 2. In an
epic battle, she lost singles to So Yeon Ryu 3 & 1. Nonetheless,
the KLPGA won the match, 10.5 to 7.5.
2021 was Hye Jin's weakest season to date,
though still strong by most standards. For the first time
in her KLPGA career, she failed to win Player of the Year,
and also failed to win any events. She finished just T-41st
at the BMW Championship, her only LPGA event of the year.
However, she still made 12 top tens, including two runner-up
finishes. She finished 11th on the money list. Da Yeon Lee
ran away with the Hanwha Classic, winning by five over Hye
Jin. She came much closer at the ELCRU-TV Chosun Celebrity
event in September. She wound up in a playoff with Hae Ran
Ryu. Both got close to the green on the second playoff hole,
but only Ryu got up and down.
Hye Jin ended the year in style. She went
to LPGA Q-Series, a two week qualifier for the LPGA tour.
After the first week, she was in great shape, solo second
place. She was far more mediocre in the second week, but still
easily earned a card, finishing 8th in the end. At long last
she was to be a rookie on the LPGA!
Her rookie year was indeed really strong.
She made over $2 million on the year (6th on the money list)
with ten top tens and several near misses for wins. Despite
that, she still lost the Rookie of the Year to the Thai teenager
Attaya Thitikul, who won twice and was briefly the number
one player in the world. But that should take nothing away
from Choi, who was sensational. Among her highlights was a
great performance at the US Women's Open, where she finished
3rd, and the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, where she was
in the final group on Sunday but faded towards the end to
a tie for 5th. Her other three Majors were all top 30 finishes.
She also contended in Korea at the BMW Championship,
but Lydia Ko was too strong that week and Choi finished third.
Choi came closest to winning at the CP Canadian Women's Open,
grabbing a tie for 2nd. She had several great chances on the
back nine but couldn't make the putts she needed, and the
winner was an unheralded South African name Paula Reto, ironically
the second time a South African had beaten a Korean star for
a national championship in 2022 (the other time being Buhai's
win over In Gee Chun at the British Open).
Hye Jin finished the year playing the Singapore
Open on the KLPGA. She managed a t-18th in the rain shortened
event.
Hye Jin strggled a lot more in the 2023 season,
finishing just 38th on the money list with about $747,000
earned. She had only two top tens all year on the LPGA, with
a solo 17th at the Chevron Championship her best finish in
a Major. She also played on the International Crown team when
Min Ji Park, who qualified ahead of her, decided to skip it.
But the team did not do well, failing to earn a point in the
first two matches before sweeping the final match against
Japan. This was not good enough, though, and for the first
time the Korean team was not able to get out of the preliminary
round.
Hye Jin also played several events on the
KLPGA. At the Lotte Open in June, she moved into a three-shot
lead after three rounds and held on for her first win in two
years. She also had the solo lead after two rounds at the
Hana Bank Championship but sank to a tie for 14th by the end.
She also notched a t-7th finish at the E1 Charity Open.
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