Anna Lin tied for 6th place, Shin Ji-eun tied for 9th place Third longest championship drought since 1998 Ström, who lost 11 strokes on the last day, pulls off a miraculous comeback win
Shoprite Classic tied for 6th place Anna Lin
Korean players who advanced to the LPGA Tour returned without a trophy in the Shoprite LPGA Classic, the 14th tournament of the 2024 season.
In the third round on the last day of the tournament, which ended on the 10th (Korean time) at the Seaview Bay Course (par 71) in Galloway, New Jersey, USA, Anna Lin tied for 6th place with a total of 10 under par 203 strokes, the best performance among Korean players.
Shin Ji-eun, who was the sole leader until the second round, lost one stroke and finished the tournament tied for 9th place (9 under par, 204 strokes).
Jin-young Ko and Jeong-eun Lee tied for 12th place with 8 under par and 205 strokes.
The most recent season when Korean players had a long winning drought on the LPGA Tour was 2014. At the time, Inbee Park broke the drought by winning the Manulife Financial Classic, his 14th competition.
After Pak Se-ri’s first win in the 14th tournament of the season in 1998, the first win of the season by a Korean player came in the 19th tournament in 1999, the 16th tournament in 2000, and the 14th tournament in 2008.
In the 2024 season, there was no championship until the 14th competition, making Korean players have the third longest championship drought since 1998.
The championship trophy went to Linnea Ström (Sweden), who made a miraculous comeback by reducing a whopping 11 strokes on the last day.
Ström, who made the cut in the second round, recorded an eagle and nine birdies without a bogey in the third round, recording 60 strokes, the second lowest score in LPGA tour history.
This is the lowest final round score by an LPGA winner in history. The previous record was 61 strokes set by Korea’s Inbee Park in the final round of the 2014 Manulife Financial Tournament.
The lowest score in 18 holes of all time is 59, which Annika Sorenstam (Sweden) recorded in the second round of the Standard Register Ping Tournament in 2001.
Ström, who started the third round seven strokes behind second-round leader Shin Ji-eun, won her first win since her LPGA tour debut in 2019 and received $262,500 (about 360 million won) in prize money.
“I didn’t expect to win this morning,” said Ström. “This proves that you should never give up.”
Ström, who started the game at 8:20 a.m. local time, finished his game and waited almost four hours for the last group to enter.
Megan Kang (USA) chased until the end, but was unable to make a birdie on the 18th hole (par 5), and was tied for second place (13 under par, 200 strokes), one stroke behind Ayaka Furue (Japan). 스포츠토토