In-Kyung Kim (-24) shot a final round 66 and finished one-shot ahead of fellow South Korean Mi Jung Hur (-23) to win the Reignwood LPGA Classic at Reignwood Pine Valley in China, just three weeks after winning the ISPS HANDA Ladies European Masters in Germany.
“I’ve worked really hard,” Kim explained of her recent success. “I cannot really control the results, but I feel like the past three, four weeks that I have been scoring really well and I feel like I’m improving and growing.”
Her four-day total of 24-under par is the lowest of her career, besting her previous low by four strokes.
“I’m happy with how I played today,” Kim said. “I’ve made many — I mean, I had to make decisions. There was couple really difficult decisions, but I think kind of I wasn’t really thinking about three shots behind, or how many shots I was behind. I knew I had to play my best golf out here, and I just wanted to do that.”
Kim’s clutch eagle on the par-5 16th proved to be the difference as she went 4-under in her final four holes. She noted that in order to win, she needed to be aggressive and only worry about the things under her own control.
“I think I managed,” said Kim. “I played aggressively, which I had to on this golf course. And especially back nine I knew that everybody was going to score, so I wanted to do the same thing. But the thing is I can’t really control the result but I give my best.”
Mi Jung Hur mounted a late charge with birdies on five of her last six holes but was unable to catch her playing partner in the end. She picked up her second runner-up of the season in Beijing.
“The problem was I started today’s round with two bogeys on the first two holes, which is very frustrating,” Hur said. “But I made four birdies on the final five so I’m pretty satisfied with my round today.”
Defending champion Mirim Lee made the top-3 an all Korean affair and finished at 22-under par. China’s Shanshan Feng and Canada’s Brooke Henderson tied for fourth place at -21.
