SUN YOUNG YOO

She turned pro in 2005 and joined the Futures Tour, where she immediately made a big splash. She ended up making all 18 cuts and compiling 10 top tens during 2005. Thus, she hovered around the top five on the money list all year.

She cemented her spot in the top five, and thus her exempt tour card for the LPGA for 2006, by winning one of the last events of the year, the Betty Puskar FUTURES Golf Classic. She ended up fifth on the money list, gaining the last card. She also won Futures Tour rookie of the Year as a result.

She had a solid LPGA rookie campaign in 2006, easily securing her exempt status for 2007. The highlight was a 5th place finish at the John Q. Hammons in September. Her 2007 season was just a little worse, but she still maintained her exempt status for 2008 with ease.

2008 proved to be a breakout season for Sun Young. She put herself into contention several times and compiled three top four finishes in the process, including her career best finish of tied for third at the Corning Classic. She made well over $500,000 and finished in the top 30 on the money list for the first time.

Yoo continued her great play in 2009. She managed four more top tens and her best ever Major, a tie for 12th at the Nabisco. Her top moment for the year came at the P & G Beauty; she charged in the final round and wound up in a playoff with Jiyai Shin and Angela Stanford. Though she lost, it was her first ever professional playoff and career best finish. She finished the year playing for the first time at the Kyoraku Cup, and with a career best 23rd on the money list.

2010 saw Yoo break into the win column for the first time. The event was the Sybase Match Play, and Yoo certainly did not have an easy draw. But she proved unstoppable, mowing down #5 Cristie Kerr in round 2, #12 Song Hee Kim in round 3, #4 Ya Ni Tseng in the quarterfinals, #1 Jiyai Shin in the semis, and #10 Angela Stanford in the finals. Thanks to the win, Yoo finished 16th on the money list, her first time in the top 20.

Yoo's 2011 season was only slightly worse than her 2010 campaign. She finished in the top 25 in three of the year's four Majors, including a tie for 7th at the British Women's Open, her first ever top ten in a Major. She had 6 total top tens and finished 25th on the money list. Her best finish of the season was a fourth place at the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore.

Yoo had a fantastic 2012 season, highlighted by her first Major win and largest money total for a season (over $781,000). Yoo had a second place finish at the Kia Classic, but that was just a warmup for what happened the following week at the year's first Major, the Kraft Nabisco. Yoo put herself into great position on the weekend, and in the final round posted a 9 under par total, then waited to see what would happen. It looked like IK Kim, who was at 10 under, would take the trophy. But Kim inexplicably missed a one foot par save on the final hole, forcing a playoff. Yoo beat the shellshocked Kim in one playoff hole with a birdie, and took the victory dive into Poppy's Pond.

Yoo had four top tens during the year and finished second in greens in regulation for the year.

Sun Young's 2013 season was not as good as 2012, but she still had a solid year, finishing 39th on the money list with 4 top tens. She contended at the LPGA Championship and finished the year with back-to-back top tens.

She took another downturn in 2014. She only finished 61st on the money list with a little more than a quarter of a million dollars earned. Her sole top ten during the year came at the Sime Darby in Malaysia, a tie for 8th.

Yoo got out to a great start in 2015. She finished tied for 8th at her first event, then, at the Bahamas event the following week, got into contention and eventually a playoff, where she lost to rookie Sei Young Kim. Her next event was a tie for 13th, and it looked like Sun Young was in the midst of a great season. But she missed the next five cuts, and though she had a few more top twenties, no more top tens.

She wound up making about $340,000 for the year, which placed her 53rd on the money list. Good enough to keep her card, but not nearly as good as her started had indicated her year might be.

Yoo had a decent start to her 2016 season, but from April to June missed almost every cut. She did manage 1 top ten on the year at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, but followed that with six straight missed cuts. She wound up making about $125,000, which left her 91st on the money list. She dropped to category 11 for 2017.

Yoo didn't have a great 2017 season, but she did manage two top tens, including a late season tie for 7th at the Blue Bay in China. She made around $236,000 for the year, which moved her to 71st on the money list and gave her category 1 status for 2018. Amazingly, Yoo is now the Korean player who has been on tour the longest!

Yoo had a poor 2018 season. She only made about $85,000 and finished 107th on the money list. This dropped her to category 15 for 2019. She had one top ten, a tie for 7th, at the Women's Australian Open, but missed a bunch of cuts in June and July and did not play the rest of the year after that. Presumably she is dealing with injury issues.

Yoo has not played at all since 2018. Her current status is category 16, and she has probably retired.