Sei Young Kim shot a final-round 67 to win the BMW Ladies Championship by four strokes in wire-to-wire fashion on Sunday in Haenam, South Korea.
Her victory at Pine Beach Golf Links was the 13th of her career and first since the 2020 ANNIKA. She is the 27th different woman to win on tour this season, an LPGA record.
It also was her maiden career win in her home country, and she was thrilled with her first trophy in five years.
“So there were many chances where I could have won, so I thought very hard why I couldn’t get the chances,” Kim, 32, said. “But in the past I was trying to set a particular way to resolve that, but I realize that that wasn’t really working.
“From the China event, I tried to reset the whole thing and not just stick with one method, just doing impromptu and just facing the challenge and trying to push it way through. I realize that that’s actually my style, and this is something that I have finally realized, and I think this is something more meaningful than the victory I made: that realization that I made.”
Kim finished with a 24-under 264. On Sunday, her round was marred by only a bogey at the par-3 third hole, which preceded six birdies.
Nasa Hataoka of Japan could not chip away at Kim’s lead, also finishing with a 67 and 268 for the tournament. Celine Boutier of France (67) and Kim A-lim of South Korea (66) were six shots off Kim’s pace and tied for third.
Both Hataoka and Boutier were encouraged by their results, despite not being atop the leaderboard.
“I had a great week. I played pretty solid week every single day, and yeah, I really enjoyed it, playing with Sei Young last group final round,” Hataoka said. “I’m very happy today.”
So was Boutier.
“Definitely some positives,” she said. “I definitely feel like I could have improved a few shots here and there, especially off the tee. But considering my form, I feel like I’m pretty satisfied with the result.
Defending champion Hannah Green fired a 66 to finish seven shots back, tied with American Yealimi Noh in fifth place.
“It was really nice,” Green, an Australian, said of her four rounds. “I think coming back to a place where I am defending, I put a bit more pressure on myself but I think — I felt like my game was good. It was nice to have some good results but I also had some good people to play with.”
–Field Level Media
