Yoon In-na, 21, whom she met last month at the Doosan E&C Weave Championship, the Korean opening game of the KLPGA tour, seemed to burst into tears whenever she had an interview. She shed tears at the first press conference. Amid the controversy over “play of five pitches,” Yoon was under pressure from her colleagues and industry insiders, as well as the burden of a return match for the first time in a year and nine months.
After a month, Yoon looked brighter. “I was so happy and happy to compete for the championship in the mixed zone,” Yoon said after finishing the Ladies Championship at NH Investment & Securities Co., which ended at Suwon CC (par 72) in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province on Wednesday.
She competed for the title in her first championship group after returning to Korea on the day, and finished second by three strokes with 10-under 206. She chased Lee Ye-won (21), who was the same age as Lee and made her debut in the tour, up to a two-stroke gap at one point, but failed to turn the game around. Despite this, Yoon was not disappointed. “I was a little disappointed with the result, but I did my best, so I had no regrets,” she said.
After debuting in the KLPGA tour in 2022, Yuna drew attention due to her outstanding beauty with her long hit that flew over 300 yards. However, a wrong judgment brought her to the ground. In June that year, she was found to have played five-ball in the Korean Women’s Open and her activities were suspended. The Korea Golf Association (KGA) and the KLPGA banned Yuna for three years.
As the KGA and KLPGA cut disciplinary action to one year and six months, Yoon returned to the domestic field through the opening match in Korea last month. Back then, Yoon had a dark face, but recovered her smile as she continued to participate in competitions. Slower reactions from her teammates helped her regain confidence. “I think I have improved a little mentally compared to when I first participated in competition,” Yoon said. “I am trying to concentrate on every game.”
Finding stability in his mind, he showed significant improvement in putting, where mental power intervenes the most, even in golf, which is called a “mental sport.” In his first competition after returning to Korea, he posted an average of 31.75 putts, which was below the 2022 average (31.02). However, he posted an average of 29.33 putts in this competition. Notably, he successfully putted a long-distance birdie putt of 15.4 meters at Hole 14 (par 4) in the final round, which created strong exclamation from Cloud Gallery. He made fierce efforts to boost his weak point of putting.
Yoon Na said, “I had a lot of regrets about my putting at the beginning of the season, so I took intensive lessons from professional Choi Jong-hwan.”
She is regaining her appearance from two years ago when she made a name for herself as the “long-shot queen” in driving distance. Yoon ranked first in driving distance (266.8 yards) in this competition on average. The figure exceeds the average driving distance of 263.4 yards in the first year of her debut.
“I still have a lot of shortcomings, but I’m glad that I feel like I’m improving every game,” said Yun, who has been in the top 10 for two consecutive tournaments in recent years. “If I continue to do this now, I think I’ll be able to show my continued growth.” Yun is poised to win the title soon, but she did not cling to the result.
“I want to be a player who shows good performance to the best of every game,” he said. “My biggest goal this season is to play in the tournament with a grateful heart.”안전 토토사이트