‘Rookie’ Yoo Hae-ran and Park Geum-gang tour… “I want to aim for the Rookie of the Year” 

This year, a great fun has been added to golf fans on the LPGA tour. It is because Yoo Hae-ran (22, Daol Financial Group), former rookie of the Korean Women’s Professional Golf (KLPGA) tour, landed in the United States. At the end of last year, he rose to first place in the LPGA Qualifying Series (Q Series) and won the right to participate in the LPGA Tour, immediately emerging as a candidate for the rookie of the year.

Korea did not miss the Rookie of the Year title for five consecutive years, including Kim Se-young in 2015, Jeon In-ji in 2016, Park Seong-hyun in 2017, Ko Jin-young in 2018, and Lee Jeong-eun in 2019, but Patty Tawatanagit (24) in 2021 and Ataya Tittikkun (2022) ) and other Thai players for the second year in a row, giving them the Rookie of the Year title. 메이저사이트

But this year is a bit different. Yu Hae-ran’s main weapon is an iron shot. Last year, the green hit rate was 78.51% (3rd place), and since his debut, he has not left the top 5 in this category. The problem is the distance of the drive shot. He stayed at an average drive shot distance of 244.6 yards (19th place) on the KLPGA tour last year. A 260-yard drive shot is essential to compete on the American stage, where long hitters are lined up. Yoo Hae-ran, who is well aware of this, is concentrating on training to increase flight distance in Thailand.

Park Geum-gang (21), who passed the Q series in a tie for ninth place, is not well known to domestic fans, but is Korea’s ‘secret weapon’ to keep an eye on this year. Park Geum-gang, who served as a national team member, grabbed a golf club in the 4th year of elementary school, and since 2019, when he was in the 3rd year of high school, he is an overseas player who has learned practical skills in overseas competitions such as the United States, Canada, and Australia. In particular, he is highly likely to emerge as a dark horse on the regular tour as he has improved his skills by winning twice in 2021 and 2022 on the Epson Tour, the second part of the LPGA tour. After his parents went on a trip to Mt. Geumgang, he became pregnant and named Park Geumgang.