South Korea’s golfing pedigree was on full display during the final round of the 44th Queen Sirikit Cup at Clearwater Golf Club in Christchurch as they captured their 23rd title in dominant fashion.
Soomin Oh, Hyosong Lee, and Shihyun Kim combined for a stunning 11-under on Saturday to seal an impressive victory, finishing 9-under for the championship, seven shots ahead of Japan, who played amazing golf to steal second place from Australia. Hosts New Zealand finished fourth.
Christchurch put on a stunner for the final day’s play ,of which the players took full advantage — 17 of the 36-strong field shot even par or better, highlighting the change in conditions from the first three days, where even-par rounds or better were unusually scarce for a field of this caliber.
With the individual win, Oh jumps from No 69 to No 50 in the women’s amateur rankings.
Oh shot a scintillating 7-under 65 to win the individual honours, combining with Shihyun Kim, who carded a 4-under 68.
Despite winning the individual trophy, the highest-ranked player in the field says it was more important to win as a team.
"I played really well alongside my team-mates, and we worked really well as a team, which is why we were able to produce a great result.
"We were encouraging each other, and we all believed that we could win.
"We tried really hard to enjoy the game today and not put pressure on ourselves. We trusted each other a lot."
The victory was South Korea’s 14th title in the past 16 years, an accomplishment of which team captain Seehoon Chang is extremely proud and highlights the depth South Korea has in the golfing landscape.
"I’ve been captain for more than 10 years now, and our team has managed to win about half of these events.
"I have a lot of confidence in these girls — this is their second time in the national team and they’ve been very good. I had a lot of confidence in them.
"Women’s golf in Korea is really strong. The other countries that are here are really great and it’s awesome that Korea keep producing great golfers to compete against the best players in the world.
"Lots of the girls have turned professional, but they all seem to meet at the LPGA events. That’s one of the reasons our girls practise hard so they’re able to compete with the best in the world."
The Japanese team combined well to finish their tournament strongly, finishing two-under-par after shooting 8-under on Saturday.
They will look to stop the Korean juggernaut at home in 2025.
