Song Bo-bae Wins First Pro Tour Event

“Super Rookie” Song Bo-bae (Superior, TaylorMade, pictured above) won the most prestigious tournament in Korean women’s golf, the 18th annual Korean Women’s Open Golf Tournament (total prize money: 200 million won) sponsored by the Ramada Plaza CheJu Hotel for the second consecutive year.

On June 20 at New Seoul C.C North Course, Song Bo-bae made six birdies and one double bogey for 4 under at 68 strokes in the third round, which took her to 8 under par and 208 strokes for the tournament, which was good enough for the championship cup,

--Song’s second consecutive Open victory

Song, Bo-bae won the same title last year as an amateur, which gave her an exemption for the tournament this year. She was again given a taste of joy from the same tournament.

Ko Woo-sun (39 years old), Kim Mi-hyun (KTF), and Kang Suh-yun previously have won this tournament in two consecutive years also. Song Bo-bae was the fourth player to do so, and after Kim Mi-Hyun (95-96 champion), she was the second player to win as an amateur and win as a professional the following year. The first-place prize money was 36 million won.

Starting the final round at 1 stroke behind the leader, Chun Mi-jung (TaylorMade) in second place, Song Mi-jung scored a birdie in the 8th hole (par4) for the lead. After that, she made 4 consecutive birdies starting from the 10th hole to put her in a favorable position to win earlier in the game. Meanwhile, Choi Na-yun (Dae Won Foreign High School), a reserve player on the national team, came in second place (5 under at 211 strokes), making a total of 5 amateur players in the top 10, showing that this year will again be highlighted with lots of rookies.

“Small Giant” Jang Han-na (6th Class, Banwon Elementary) came in tied for 50th (7 over par at 223 strokes), easing her way into the adult tournament. Kim Sun-Hee (Fila Korea) scored a hole-in-one on the 17th hole (par 3) and received a Ford Mustang estimated to be worth more than 40 million won.

Young-Sik Ahn ysahn@donga.com