Seonghyun Park, 59th in seed rankings… Failure to secure KLPGA regular tour qualification

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Song-ah = Former world No. 1 Park Seong-hyun, who challenged the seed rankings of the Korea Ladies Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour, failed to return to the regular tour.

Seong-Hyun Park hit an even par 72 with two birdies and two bogeys in the final 4th round of the KLPGA 2027 regular tour seed ranking match held at Muan Country Club (par 72) in Jeollanam-do on the 13th.

Park Seong-hyun, who recorded a final total of 286 strokes under par, ranked 59th.

Park Seong-hyun, who achieved 10 wins on the KLPGA Tour, advanced to the LPGA Tour in 2017 and rose to No. 1 in the world rankings with 7 wins, including 2 wins in major tournaments, but has been struggling due to injuries in recent years.

This year, she was active in the LPGA 2nd division tour and attempted to return to the domestic tour by participating in the KLPGA Tour seed ranking preliminary round, but left behind disappointing results.

In the KLPGA regular tour seed rankings, you usually have to be ranked in the top 20 to be able to participate in competitions in next year's regular tour. Afterwards, the ranked players must wait for a vacancy in the previous order or try to participate in the competition through an invitation.

In this seed ranking match, Madasom ranked first with a final total of 19 under par and 269 strokes.

Madasom, who has 4 wins in the regular tour, was only ranked 65th in the 2026 season's prize money rankings (as of the end of the S-OIL Championship) and was unable to maintain his seed, so he participated in this seed ranking match, won first place, and will be active in the regular tour next year.

Madasom said, "Rather than feeling particularly nervous or pressured, I think preparing with the same mindset as usual led to good results," and added, "It's been quite a while since I won on the regular tour, so I want to enjoy the joy of winning once again in the 2027 season."

Following Madasom, Seungmin Lee (18 under par, 270 strokes) was in second place, and Nayoung Kim was in third place (17 under par, 271 strokes).

Choi Woon-jung, who was active on the LPGA tour, also attempted the seed ranking match, but only ranked 70th (1 under par, 287 strokes).