“I didn’t catch a driver today at the 4th hole at a distance of 362m. The distance was too ambiguous to attack the green. I hit 230m with the 3-wood and hit the 9-iron with 130m left from the rough, and it turned out to be a shot eagle.” The second round of the group stage of the Korea Women’s Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour Doosan Match Play Championship was held at Ladena Golf Club (par 72) in Chuncheon, Gangwon-do on the 18th. Bang Shin-sil, who overpowered ‘defending champion’ Hong Jung-min the previous day, won two consecutive victories with one hole remaining against Lee Chae-eun that day.
Bang Shin-sil said, “Today, the shot was shaken overall, so I had a lot of difficulties, but I was able to win by blocking it well.” I was able to save it.”
From the distance to the course strategy, he was exceptional. The previous day, a tee shot hit with a driver in hole 4 (par 4) at a distance of 362m hit the cart road and landed right next to the green, surprising the players in the front group. As a so-called ‘road sponsorship’, it was about 330m in terms of distance. Even if you don’t hit the road, if Bang Shin-sil makes a driver’s tee shot, the remaining distance is only about 100m. However, on this day, Bang Shin-sil changed his strategy for a more perfect victory. It’s a 3-wood tee shot. However, it flew a whopping 230m. It is a distance that surpasses the driver shots of most KLPGA tour players. The 161m length 16th hole (par 3) also showed off the power of long hitters. Lee Chae-eun, who played together, caught a hybrid, but Bang Shin-sil made a birdie lightly after hitting a tee shot with a 7-iron. Bang Shin-sil explained, “I fly about 145 to 150m with a 7-iron.” As strong gusty winds and rain fell from 2 p.m. on that day, the long shots in the room shined even brighter. Bang Shin-sil’s tee shot through the head wind on the somewhat short hole 1 (par 4) of 313 yards flew near the bunker in front of the green and lightly caught a birdie. Not a single player hit the ball until Bang Shin-sil made the second shot.
On the other hand, there are also concerns. Rather, it is to the extent that it is difficult to formulate a course strategy due to the long hit. Like the 4th hole where the shot eagle was captured, it is because the driver shot flies too far and it is difficult to hit the green or fall into the rough. Bang Sin-sil said, “Before the game, you have to decide how to do the tee shot for each hole, including the driver, wood, and utility.”
Bang Shin-sil, who created the ‘long hit syndrome’ in just four competitions this season, was ranked 40th in last year’s seed ranking match and cannot appear in many competitions. However, they were able to compete in this competition on their own by recording a tie for 3rd and a tie for 4th in two of the previous three competitions. In the KLPGA Tour, which does not have a ‘re-ranking’ system that adjusts seeding rankings based on early season results, Bang Shin-sil has no choice but to ‘win’ in order to participate in all competitions this season.
On this day, when they were desperate for victory to advance to the finals, the joys and sorrows were mixed. Park Min-ji, who won 6 wins on the KLPGA Tour for 2 consecutive years, won 6 holes ahead of Kim Ji-young with 5 holes remaining, giving her hopes of advancing to the finals with 1 win and 1 loss. won Jo Ah-yeon was defeated the previous day, but after a close match that went up to 18 times against Cho Eun-hye, she won by 1 hole and had hopes of advancing to the finals.
In this tournament, 64 players are divided into 16 groups and only the first place in each group advances to the round of 16 to win the championship 스포츠토토.