Chun In-gee Dominates LPGA by Winning Major Titles
Chun In-gee is the first female golfer to win three major titles after dominating in the Hite Jinro Championship on July 26, 2015 at the Blue Heron Golf Club. Her winning score is 69-66-73. Prior to this, she won the World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup in Japan on May 10, 2015 and the U.S. Women's Open on July 12, 2015.
Chun played professional golf in 2012 and obtained her first major title on June 2013 during the Korea Women's Open. She has ranked in several tournaments since then, and her latest accomplishment on Sunday is the eighth.
Having won 617 million won and acquired three wins the previous season, Chun has broken her personal records with domestic earnings of 719 million won and successive victories this year. And it looks like she might also break Kim Hyo-joo's record earnings of 1.2 billion won, considering that she still has remaining 13 Korean tournaments.
Another South Korean female pro golfer, Shin Ji-yai, has also won LPGA tour events in Korea, Japan and the U.S. However, she failed to obtain the major title during the Japan tour.
It seemed unlikely for Chun to win on Sunday because she wasn't able to perform well. But the difficult course and the bad weather condition were too much for the other golfers and she was able to hold on until the tournament ended. Withdrawing from the BMW Ladies Championship to rest and the 18-hole less (from the normal 72-hole) competition have been favorable.
The runners-up are Park Gyeol, who won a gold medal in the Incheon Asian Games last year and joined the KLPGA recently, and Cho Yoon-ji, who acquired the BMW Ladies Championship title. They both ranked second. Defending champion Kim Hyo-joo finished fourth after failing to keep up in the final round.