Lee Ye-won, a new sensation on the Korean Ladies Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour, has set her sights on breaking the record for most winnings in a season.
Lee won the KLPGA Tour’s final major of the season, the Hite Jinro Championship, at Blue Heron Golf Club in Yeoju, Gyeonggi-do, on Monday, increasing her season earnings to 1.264 billion won.
The previous record for the most money won in a season on the KLPGA Tour was 1.52 billion won by Park Min-ji in 2021.
Park is also second on the all-time list after earning 1.47 billion won last year.
“My goal was to win three titles this season, and I wanted to win the third one at a major,” says Lee, “I’m happy to have accomplished those two goals, but I’ve also set myself a new goal: to win three titles and a major.”
Lee will need to earn more than $260 million to surpass Park Min-ji’s record for most winnings in a season.
There are five tournaments left.
That’s more than $53 million in prize money per tournament.
If she finishes fourth or higher each time, or wins twice, she’ll have the most money of the season.
“I will participate in all five remaining tournaments without missing a single one,” Lee said, adding, “I will earn every single penny by playing every single shot carefully.”
Lee also expressed his desire to win, saying, “I want to win one more tournament in the future.”
Lee, who won the Rookie of the Year award last year but never won a title, said that his transformation into a “mainstream” player, winning three major tournaments this year and leading the prize money and grand prize, was the result of “working hard to make up for what I lacked last year”.
In particular, her short game around the greens and accuracy within 100 meters has improved significantly from last year, Lee said.
His mental strength has also improved.
“Last year, I was nervous when I was in the lead,” he said, “but now I play confidently even when I’m in the lead.”
Lee was particularly strong in crunch time at this tournament.
On the 16th hole (par-3) in the second round, he had to hit his third shot from the teeing ground after a bad tee shot and made a 15-meter bogey putt, which he also bogeyed twice on the day.
“In crunch time, I told myself not to be greedy for par and not to make more than a double bogey, but I didn’t have any double bogeys in this tournament, which was the driving force behind my victory,” Lee said.
Lee, who started the day with a five-stroke lead, said, “I had a better lead than I thought, but I was still nervous because the course was difficult and I didn’t know what would happen.”
“At one point, I was down by eight strokes, but I didn’t care about that, I just focused on my game and thought about maintaining a good flow,” Lee said.
“When I won the first time, I was very nervous because I had a big lead and then it narrowed a lot,” he said. “This time, I was relaxed, but it felt like a long day because I couldn’t relax because it was a major tournament.
Lee cited his inability to stop the flow in times of crisis as one of his weaknesses.
After a bogey on the 12th hole, Lee was unable to get a birdie and made three bogeys to close the gap to two strokes.
“I need to forget about the things that went wrong, but it’s not working out,” Lee said.
Lee was cautious about going overseas.
“I’m still in my second year, so I don’t think I’m at the stage where I can make a decision,” she said. “For the time being, I’ll focus on the KLPGA Tour, but if I get a chance to play in an LPGA Tour major like the U.S. Women’s Open next year with my world ranking, I’ll play.” 토토사이트