Park Min-ji (24), who won 6 wins last year and this year, added 4 wins each year from 2017 to 2020, recording a total of 16 wins. It is the most wins by an active player on the Korean Women’s Professional Golf (KLPGA) tour. Some golf fans might wonder how many times Park Min-ji has won runner-up. There were no runners-up in 2017 and 2018, and from 2019 to 2021, there were two runners-up each year. He has been runner-up a total of seven times, including one runner-up this year. In particular, the fact that he has only been runner-up three times in the past two years after winning 12 wins shows how strong his competitive spirit is.

The difference between winning and runner-up is actually a piece of paper. In an overtime match, the championship and runner-up can be separated, and at the end of a close match, the 1st and 2nd places are decided by one stroke. However, there are players like Park Min-ji who have won more championships, and there are definitely players who have more runner-ups than championships.

In the 2022 KLPGA Tour, where 32 tournaments were held, there are four players who have finished runner-up three times. Including Park Hyeon-kyung, Lee Ye-won, Choi Ye-rim, and Hong Jung-min. Among them, Hong Jung-min is the only player who has won the championship. However, Hong Jung-min also won the Doosan Match Play Championship, so it is no different than winning the runner-up three times in competitions held in stroke play.

There can be only one winner but multiple runners up, so there are far more runners up, but strangely, there were a lot of ‘single runners up’ this year. Out of 24 competitions, there was a single runner-up. Only eight competitions have had multiple runners-up. There must have been a lot of runner-up that was so disappointing. In six competitions, the runner-up came out after a close match that went to overtime, and there were also nine competitions in which the runner-up by one stroke came out.

So, which runner-up was the most disappointing?

Perhaps there is no runner-up as disappointing as Choi Ye-rim, who took second place by one stroke at the Jeju Samdasoo Masters, which was held in the first tournament in the second half of August.

At that time, Choi Ye-rim, who was aiming for his first win in his 114th tournament, took the lead from the first round and had only 4 holes left to win the wire-to-wire. He was three strokes behind Hansol Ji, who was running second. However, while it might have seemed like a miracle to some, 4 birdies in a row came out like a nightmare to others. Ji Han-sol turned the game around by dropping birdie putts on all four holes. After the match, while she generously congratulated Ji Han-sol for winning the championship, her expression of regret was evident on Choi Ye-rim’s face. Choi Ye-rim also finished runner-up at the High1 Resort Women’s Open in August, and she also finished runner-up at the PLK Pacific Rings Korea Championship, held as her second tournament in the 2023 season.

Choi Ye-rim recorded her first runner-up at the Hite Jinro Championship in 2018, and she also took runner-up at the Nexen Saint Nine Masters in 2019, bringing her record of five runner-ups in total.

There are many stories behind Lee Ye-won’s runner-up, ‘Rookie of the Year’. Yewon Lee set her first runner-up record of her own when she lost to Jeongmin Hong in her Doosan Match Play final. She drew her attention because it was a match between players who had not won her championship at the time, and in the end Hong Jung-min first reported her first victory. In both stroke play competitions, he finished second behind the same player. OK Financial Group Pak Se-ri INVITATIONAL, where Kim Su-ji won two consecutive victories, and Lee Ye-won, the second consecutive runner-up in the Hana Financial Group Championship. Both times he was runner-up by one stroke.

If she wins runner-up, she cannot leave out Park Hyeon-kyung.

Park Hyun-kyung was a player who had no runner-up until she recorded her third career win at the 43rd KLPGA Championship with Chris F & C in April of last year. However, after the Lotte Open in June 2021, which was the only cutoff in the last two years, a’runner-up jinx’ occurred. She immediately wrote a record of three consecutive runner-up finishes, including the Celltrion Queens Masters, the DB Group 35th Korean Women’s Open, and the BC Card Hankyung Ladies Cup. And even in September, she was runner-up at the KB Financial Star Championship as well. Even this year, the runner-up record continued until the Daeyu Winia · MBN Women’s Open, SK Networks · Seoul Economic Daily Ladies Classic, and the Hana Financial Group Singapore Women’s Open, which was held as the opening game of the 2023 season. It is ‘7 runner-up after 3 wins’. In particular, the Hana Financial Group Singapore Women’s Open was canceled due to bad weather on the final day of the tournament, so the number of runner-up finishes was in vain without a chance to turn around. 메이저놀이터

Hong Jeong-min, who is the only one among the 4 ‘three runners-up’ players this year, also won the match play, but was only runner-up three times in the stroke play competition. Including the two runner-ups last year, it is the fifth stroke play runner-up.

Of course, it’s not just ‘sad runner-up’. If it came in 2nd place by a wide margin from 1st place, it would be a ‘happy runner-up’. Kwon Seo-yeon, who finished second by 6 strokes at the DB Group 36th Korea Women’s Open, and Lee Chae-eun, who also finished runner-up by 6 strokes at the Mediheal and Hankook Ilbo Championships, are also happy to see runner-up. In addition, Park Hyun-kyung, who finished runner-up by 5 strokes in the SK Networks/Seoul Economic Daily Ladies Classic, and Park Min-ji, who finished 2nd by 4 strokes in the Hanwha Classic, would not have had much regret.