Lim Hee-jeong defeats Kim Ji-hyun in playoff
Rookie Lim Hee-jeong birdied a second playoff hole to beat Kim Ji-hyun to win the All for You.Renoma Championship 2019, Sunday.
Lim and veteran Kim hit a 12-under 276 in regulation play at the 6,654-yard South Springs Country Club in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province.
In the heavy rain, Kim and Lim moved back to the par-4 18th for an extra hole to decide the winner. After both finishing the first with par, they saw the officials change the pin position.
On the second playoff round on the same hole, Kim pulled her tee shot left on the fairway, while Lim banged her shot farther than Kim. Torrential rain was battering the course, adding to the sense to the drama.
Kim hit her second shot just short of the green from 134 meters; Lim hit hers from 115 meters closer to the hole, setting up a possible chance of a birdie.
Just off the green, Kim exerted her utmost at a critical moment to collect a crucial birdie only to fail. Lim calmly rattled her ball into the hole to win the tournament. No sooner had the ball disappeared into the cup, than she raised her arms high with a wide smile on her face.
Asked about her birdie on the 17th and Kim’s on the 18th, the 19-year-old said, “I just tried to make a two-putt par, which left me free from pressure. I knew Kim would birdie the hole and told my caddie, ‘We should prepare for a playoff,’” she added. This is Lim’s second title of the season, secured after a rollercoaster final round, earning her 160 million won.
Entering the final round, Lim had a single stroke advantage over Kim, with Lee So-young and two others trailing three strokes behind. Many expected the last 18-holes to turn into a toe-to-toe race between those two, and so it was despite Cho A-yean and Choi Ye-rim threatened to catch them at one point. Defending champion Lee So-young also once pulled up even with Lim over the opening stretch.
Lim got off to a nervy start with a bogey on the second, dropping down into a three-way tie for the lead. However, she bounced back with a birdie on the fourth, getting back the sole lead.
When Lee So-young pulled even on the par-3 5th, Lim shook her off on the spot with a birdie on the same hole. She extended her onestroke lead to two with the help of Lee, who bogeyed the 6th.
Lim coughed up a stroke on the 7th before making the turn at 11-under, still leading the field.
She incurred her third bogey on the 10th, dropping down into a twoway tie with Kim, but got her sole lead back, rattling off a birdie on the par-5 11th. However, when she finished the 13th with a par, Kim birdied the same hole to pull even.
The dangerous 159-meter par-3 17th saw some drama when Lim pushed her tee shot way too far from the cup. She faced a difficult two-putt par, but stunningly converted the long shot into a birdie to push ahead of Kim, who hit par — her birdie attempt stopped on the edge of the cup.
Whacking her last tee shot safely onto the fairway, Lim gave a genuine smile, before sending her ball onto the green not far from the cup. She went first to par the hole, but Kim birdied to force a playoff.
Kim enjoyed a spotless 11-under 61 Friday, shooting her personal-best KLPGA Tour score and breaking the course record of 62 set by Bae Seon-woo in 2016.