By Ryan Herrington
A memorable moment deserved a memorable gesture. That’s at least how So Yeon Ryu approached her one-stroke victory over Hyo Joo Kim on Sunday at the Korean Women’s Open, one of the flagship events on the Korean LPGA Tour.

In her first start since February due to the long break in competition in her home country and on the LPGA Tour from the coronavirus, Ryu shot a closing even-par 72 to take the title at the Bear’s Best Cheong Na Golf Club in Incheon. Shortly afterwards, the soon-to-be 30-year-old (her birthday is June 29) announced that she was donating the entire first-place prize of 250 million won ($206,000) to COVID-19 relief funds.

“I thought of donating since last night,” Ryu said. “Before the awards ceremony, I called my mom. I told her that I’m going to make the announcement so don’t get too surprised. She was just as happy I was. Since this tournament has a lot of meaning to me and I thought that I may be able to play better if I had a positive goal, I came up with it last night.”

A two-time LPGA major champion and former World No. 1, Ryu had never claimed the title in one of her country’s most prestigious events. That said, national championships are something she has experience in winning. She started her LPGA career with a victory in the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open, then added the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open in 2014, the World Ladies Championship on the Ladies European Tour in 2015 and the Japan Women’s Open Golf Championship in 2018.

This win, however, seemed a long time coming. Despite earning 19 titles around the world, Ryu had seen her world ranking fall to No. 18 having not had a victory since the Meijer LPGA Classic in June 2018. The last time she won a KLPGA event was 2015.

“Since it’s been a while since I competed in a tournament, I did want to win,” Ryu said. “But rather than being greedy, I just told myself to do my job. I was glad that I didn’t lose my focus until the end.”

Congratulations to @1soyeonryu on winning the Kia Motors Korea Women’s Open on the KLPGA! ?

Ryu announced after her victory that she will be donating her 1st place prize money to COVID-19 relief funds. ??#DriveOn | #WeClapForeYou pic.twitter.com/ssfymm5UQ3

— LPGA (@LPGA) June 21, 2020

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By Ryan Herrington

As if the 2017 golf season wasn’t already filled with a myriad of bizarre rules controversies, there is another dandy to add to the list, one that apparent has cost the job of a top official with the Korean LPGA Tour.

The KLPGA issued an apology on Friday over an incident at this week’s KB Financial Star Championship, when difficult distinguishing between the green and the fringe on several holes at Black Stone Golf Club in Icheon, South Korea, ultimately resulted in all first-round scores in the tournament having to be thrown out.

According to a Reuters report, the problem started when two players, Hye-Jin Choi and You-Na Park received two-stroke penalties after finishing their rounds because they marked their balls during the round on what they thought was the putting green and picked them up, but they were actually just off the green. Choi (above) had shot six-under 66 and was the co-leader before the penalty was assessed.

Later in the day, however, KLPGA officials realized that four other players had done the same thing, but already signed their card. In trying to figure out what to do, the tournament committee initially decided to rescind the penalty to Choi and Park and not impose a penalty on the other four players.

That decision did not sit well with many players in the field, who held a meeting on Thursday. According to Reuters, some threatened to withdraw from the tournament if the penalties were removed while others said they would do the same if the penalties remained.

On Friday, KLPGA officials talked convened with players and decided to wipe out all first-round scores.

“We deeply apologize to players, golf fans and sponsors who helped organize the tournament,” the KLPGA said in a statement. “We will do better to meet the expectations of those who love the KLPGA and will do our best to prevent similar cases from happening again.”

Reuters also reported that the KLPGA’s lead rules official, Jin-Ha Choi, resigned over the matter.

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