Shin joins the big time with Open win

BY Bruce Young | Ladies European Tour | 2008 Ricoh Women's British Open | Round Four | 04 Aug 2008

The golfing career of 20-year-old Korean golfer Ji Yai Shin is already a great story but today she added yet another chapter when she won not only her first LPGA Tour event but a major championship at that.

Shin’s three shot victory at the Ricoh Women’s British Open over Taiwan’s Yani Tseng confirmed her standing as one of the game’s best emerging stars despite the fact that she did not previously have any status on the LPGA Tour.

Shin plays mainly on the Korean LPGA Tour and occasionally on the Japan Ladies Golf Tour where she also won earlier this season, but in her few visits to the LPGA Tour she has shown she is more than capable of contending in significant events. In 2007 Shin finished 3rd at the Evian Masters and 6th at the US Open but in the main she has remained in Asia where in 2008 she has won four events on the Korean LPGA Tour and the one on the Japan LPGA Tour.

Shin turned professional in 2005 and has had remarkable success on the Korean LPGA Tour since.

As 17-year-old amateur, she won an event on the Korean LPGA Tour but it was in her formative golfing years that Shin suffered a terrible blow. While practising one day she was informed that family members had been in an accident. Her mother was killed and her siblings critically injured and much of her time since has been in the support of her family. That she has achieved what she has even before this week is a testament to a young golfer with an amazing constitution.

Shin’s ability to maintain a position inside the world’s top ten for some time despite not playing the LPGA Tour speaks volumes for her talent and after today’s win she will make a considerable move up in the Rolex Rankings.

Earlier this year, Shin nearly won the Australian Open at Kingston Heath before a whirlwind finish by Karrie Webb saw the Australian win in a playoff.

The early stages of today’s final round developed into a battle between Shin and Japan’s Yuri Fudoh and Ai Miyazato but by the turn Shin had the lead by one when her approach at the 9th finished 4 feet from the hole and the birdie moved her one ahead of fellow Korean Eun Hee Ji and two ahead of Fudoh and Miyazato.

Shin edged further ahead when she two putted for birdie at the par five 10th and put a seal of the tournament victory with birdies at the 14th and 15th holes to consolidate the winning break.

Tseng continued her brilliant rookie season when she produced a last round of 66 to finish alone in second while Ji, who actually joined the lead briefly when she birdied the 10th, birdied the final hole to grab a share of third with Fudoh. Fudoh had led into the final day but unable to pick up the momentum on day four when so many others were able to do so.

Completing a remarkable rout for Asian golfers, Ai Miyazato finished alone in 5th place. So dominant were the Asian golfers that 14 of the top twenty players were either from Korea, Japan or Taiwan.

Defending champion, Lorena Ochoa, moved within striking distance when she turned in three under but she was unable to build on that over the closing stages and finished in a share of 7th with Momoko Ueda.

Karrie Webb recovered from a slow start to the tournament to finish in a share of 9th. Of the other Australians, Joanne Mills and Katherine Hull finished 48th and Rachel Hetherington, who finished runner up at this venue four years ago, 69th. Hull had a poor last round of 76 after doing well through the first three rounds.

The LPGA now has a week off before they return to tournament play at the Canadian Open in Ottawa.