In her fifth year on the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour, Noh Seung-hee (23, Yojin E&C) has been a player who has stayed out of the spotlight. In 119 KLPGA Tour events, she has yet to reach the top of the leaderboard. Her best result was a runner-up finish at the KG Ladies Open last season in 32 events. In her rookie year, 2020, Noh finished seventh on the rookie points list (998), but the spotlight was on her teammate Hae-ran Dong, and she had a disappointing 2022 season with just one top-10 finish.
Noh Seung-hee saw an opportunity. She realized that “shot accuracy” was the most important aspect of her rise to the top of the KLPGA, and she worked on her fundamentals. Although she didn’t make an immediate impact, she was confident that she would eventually reach the top if she refined her shot. Her faith paid off with her first win of the season. It was a wire-to-wire victory at the KLPGA Major and National Title.
Seung-hee Noh shot a 1-under 71 in the final round of the DB Group Korea Women’s Open, the second major of the season with a total prize pool of 1.2 billion won at Rainbow Hills Country Club (Par 72) in Eumseong-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do, on Saturday. The four-round total of 13-under-par 275 pushed Noh to the top of the leaderboard in her 120th career tournament.
After shooting a 12-under-par 204 at the midway point of the third round, Noh entered the fourth round with a four-stroke lead over runners-up Bae So-hyun (31, Prom Bio) and Kim Soo-ji (27, Dongbu E&C) and never relinquished the lead in the final round. Kim Soo-ji, who harassed Noh Seung-hee all the way to the end, finished second with a final total of 9-under 279, while Kim Min-byul (20-Heightjin Road) finished third at 8-under 280. Bae So-hyun lost one stroke on the day and slipped to fourth, while Bang Shin-sil (20-KB Financial Group) and World 토토사이트 Amateur No. 25 Rian Michaela Malixi (Philippines) finished the tournament in a tie for fifth. Yoon In In (22-Heightjinro) and Kim Min Min (22-Hanwha Q Cells) tied for seventh.
Noh was in excellent form at the tournament, shooting 68 for three consecutive days until the third round, when he bogeyed the ninth (par-4) hole in the second round. The crisis came on the first hole of the fourth round. While Noh double-bogeyed the second hole (par-4) and bogeyed the ninth hole (par-4), Kim Soo-ji reduced her metallurgical strokes and eventually closed to within one stroke.
In crunch time, Noh’s iron shots once again shined. Noh’s second shot from 69 meters on the 12th (par-4) landed next to the cup, while Kim’s 62-meter iron shot was 9.9 meters from the cup. Noh birdied the hole to hold off a late charge from Soo Ji Kim, who made par.
Joining Hae-ran Hwang (23-DAOL Financial Group), Jung-mi Hwang (25-Pepper Savings Bank), Yubin Kim (26-Taewang Honors) and Yoon-ji Jeong (24-NH Investment & Securities) 바카라사이트 on the KLPGA stage in 2020, Noh was runner-up in last year’s KG Ladies Open, falling to Seo Yeon-jung (29-Yojin E&C) in a playoff. That runner-up finish was medicine for Noh. It solidified her belief that “accuracy is important to win,” and she focused on improving her shot accuracy in training.
The results were immediate. Noh’s fairway stroke percentage increased from 77.64% (16th) last season to 84.63% (2nd) this season, and his green stroke percentage went from 68.81% (65th overall) in 2022 to 73.35% (11th) last season to 75.98% (9th) this season. This has allowed Noh to win 13 events this season without missing a single cut. She has six top-10 finishes, including this one.