Australian expat Minjee Lee wins LPGA BMW Ladies Championship

Korean-American golfer Lee Min-ji won the BMW Ladies Championship ($2.2 million purse), the only event on the U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour in Korea, in an extended playoff.

Lee posted a 16-under-par 272 total through four rounds on the final day of the tournament at Seowon Hills Course (par 72-6369) at Seowon Valley Country Club in Paju, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

In a playoff with fellow Korean-American Alison Lee (USA), Lee birdied the 18th hole (par-4) to win the first hole of the extra session.

Korean-American golfer Lee Min-ji won the BMW Ladies Championship ($2.2 million purse), the only event on the U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour in Korea, in an extended playoff.

Lee posted a 16-under-par 272 total through four rounds on the final day of the tournament at Seowon Hills Course (par 72-6369) at Seowon Valley Country Club in Paju, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

In a playoff with fellow Korean-American Alison Lee (USA), Lee birdied the 18th hole (par-4) to win the first hole of the extra session.

Their relationship goes back 11 years to 2012. Lee, born in 1996, and Allison Lee, born in 1995, met in the final of the US Women’s Junior Championship. In the match-play final, Lee won by one hole to claim the title. Lee was all smiles at the LPGA Tour event extension on Korean soil for the first time in 11 years.

Notably, this was Lee’s 10th LPGA Tour victory, while Allison Lee, looking for her first win in her 177th LPGA Tour event, will have to wait until next time.

Lee’s previous best finish in an LPGA Tour event was a runner-up finish in 2016 at the KEB Hana Bank Championship, also in South Korea, where she lost in a playoff to Carlota Zaragoza (Spain).

In the extended playoff, Allison Lee missed a 2.5-meter birdie putt just wide left, while Lee calmly sank a shorter 1.8-meter birdie putt. Korean-Americans swept the top three spots, with defending champion Lydia Ko tied for third at 14-under 274.

Shin Ji-ae and Lee Jeong-jeong were the best Korean performers, tying for fifth at 12-under par 276. Seo Jin Park, a junior amateur, shot a 10-under 278 and tied for 13th.

Park Sung-hyun, the former world No. 1 through 2019, finished tied for 16th with a 9-under-par 279, her first “top 20” finish in an LPGA Tour event in a year and four months after a tie for 15th at the ShopRite Classic last June.

“I was tied for first through three rounds, so I wanted to start today with a birdie, but I couldn’t,” Lee said in her post-tournament interview. “You want to be in contention for the title every week, so I enjoyed being in that situation and had fun playing.”

“It was my fourth extra round this year, so there was some familiarity there, and I know my opponent, Allison Lee, from the 2012 U.S. Women’s Junior Amateur Championship final.”

Lee is now 2-2 in overtime this year. In September, she defeated Charley Hull (England) in a playoff at the LPGA Tour’s Kroger Queen City Championship. Lee also expressed his emotions about winning his first title in Korea.

“Korea is where I wanted to win the most, and it’s where my roots are because both my parents are Korean,” she said, adding that it was a special feeling to have my grandmother, family and relatives there when I went into overtime. Lee was born in Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, in 1996. She competed for Australia at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, becoming the first Australian woman to represent the sport since Carrie Webb.

Lee, who has won two of her last three LPGA Tour events, has been playing with longtime caddie 안전놀이터 Brad Beecher since this summer. “We’re both Australians, so we have a lot of common ground, and we work well together,” said Lee.

“I haven’t been ranked No. 1 in the world yet. Golf is an unpredictable sport, so I want to achieve it while I still can.”

Lee’s current world ranking is No. 7, and her highest personal ranking was No. 2 last year. He has won two major championships, the Evian Championship in 2021 and the US Open last year.