Sung Yoo-jin (23, Hanwha Q CELLS) became the 82nd player in the history of the KLPGA Tour to surpass KRW 1 billion in total earnings after winning her first victory of the season and second of her career at the Doosan Match Play Championship last week.
Earlier in the week, Sung won $225 million in prize money after clinching the final match of the KLPGA Tour 2023 Doosan Match Play Championship against Park Hyun-kyung at Ladena CC in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, on April 21.
With this victory, Sung has earned 284.76 million won this season and surpassed the 1 billion won mark in her career on the LPGA Tour.
After making her debut on the LPGA Tour in 2019, Sung earned about 56.37 million won in 24 tournaments, 147.8 million won in 11 tournaments the following year, 299.45 million won in 2021, and 435.1 million won last year when she won her first title (Lotte Open).
As a player with a waiting list, Sung Yoo-jin gradually increased her value in the seasonal prize money rankings, ranking 85th in 2019, 32nd in 2020, 28th in 2021, and 19th in 2022, and has already earned 284.76 million won at the beginning of this season, placing herself at No. 4 on the prize money list.
“Where did all those winnings go,” Sung said, laughing, “I feel like all my hard work hasn’t been in vain,” he said through his management company, Initials Sports.
“I’m proud of myself for living my life to the fullest. I will continue to work harder in the future,” he vowed.
After taking a break from the E1 Charity Open this week, Sung will return to action at the Lotte Open in Cheongna, Incheon, starting next month, where she will defend her title as the defending champion.
Meanwhile, the most decorated player in KLPGA Tour history is living legend Jang Ha-na.
Since making her debut in 2011, Jang has played in 233 tournaments and won 177 of them, leaving her at the top of the list with a cumulative prize pool of KRW 5,765,544,000.메이저놀이터
However, Jang’s record is very likely to be broken early on. Park Min-ji, who is second on the all-time list, is closing in on her with 5.3534 billion won. The gap between the two is about 600 million won. Until last year, Park Min-ji had two consecutive six-win seasons, earning 1.5 billion won and 1.4 billion won respectively.
By amount, Jang Hana and Park Min-ji are the only two players to have earned more than 5 billion won, 14 players have earned more than 3 billion won, 41 players have earned more than 2 billion won, and Sung Yoo-jin has joined the 1 billion club, bringing the total to 83.