'Back-to-back champion' Seo Gyo-rim stands tall at the KLPGA Championship, defeating Kim Min-sol in a thrilling playoff.

*This content was translated by AI.

A thrilling victory. Seo Gyo-rim (20, Samcheonri) claimed her first major Queen title and became the first to reach four wins this season after a fierce playoff battle against same-age rival Kim Min-sol (20, Doosan Construction).

On the 23rd at Pochon Hills Country Club (par 72) in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, Seo shot a final-round 74 (2 over par), with two birdies and four bogeys, in the fourth and final round of the BC Card·The Korea Economic Daily (Hankyung) 48th KLPGA Championship, the second major of the KLPGA Tour season with a total prize fund of 1.5 billion won.

Finishing with a total of 280 strokes (8 under par), Seo entered a playoff tied with Kim Min-sol. In the first extra hole on the 18th (par 5), she secured a birdie while Kim settled for par, allowing Seo to lift the championship trophy.

Seo's final round was arduous after leading alone by three strokes through the third round. She faltered with critical bogeys on the 3rd (par 5), 5th, and 7th holes (all par 4), and lost another stroke on the 10th hole in the back nine. From there until the 15th hole, she recorded four consecutive bogeys without a single birdie, surrendering the lead and dropping to joint second place.

Her incredible resilience shone through in the crisis. Seo made her first birdie of the day on the 16th hole (par 3), igniting a comeback, and then matched Kim with a birdie on the final 18th hole (par 5) to force an extra hole, where she ultimately secured victory in the first playoff hole.

In her second season after going winless last year, Seo claimed her first regular tour title at the Celltrion Queens Masters in June and followed it up with a victory at the Inka Financial The Heaven Masters later that same month. Building on last week's Medihill·Korea Ilbo Championship win, she achieved back-to-back victories this week as well, accumulating four wins for the season.

With this victory, Seo moved ahead of Kim Min-sol (three wins) to take sole possession of the wins leader position. She also topped all major individual categories—prize money points (490), prize money (12 billion 867 million 60 thousand won), and average strokes per round—establishing a dominant lead in the tour standings.

Meanwhile, Kim Min-sol, who had recorded three wins this season, held sole possession of the lead by one stroke through the 15th hole but allowed a tie with a bogey on the 16th and ultimately fell short in the playoff, settling for runner-up after being blocked twice in a row by Seo.

In other news, Park Min-ji, who has accumulated 20 career wins on the KLPGA Tour, mounted a fierce charge by cutting three strokes but finished alone in third place with a total of 281 strokes (7 under par).

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*This content was translated by AI.