June 5, 2017: The victory at the Shoprite LPGA Classic is the fifth on the LPGA Tour for In-Kyung Kim, who most recently won the 2016 Reignwood LPGA Classic. She spent the better part of the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017 recovering from falling down the stairs. Her start in New Jersey was only her sixth of the year.
“I really didn’t expect (to win) right away, but I knew my game was better than last year,” said Kim. “My trainer, my coach, they had to change so many plans for me because so many things happened last winter. But I just feel so good and I feel all the support.”
Kim, who said Saturday she loved coming to this event because of her relationship with Special Olympics New Jersey, needed only 79 putts on the week. She admitted Sunday she wasn’t prepared for how windy it was going to be all week.
“It was just so windy,” she said. “Trying to keep it in play was tough.”
NORDQVIST COMES UP JUST SHY OF THREE-PEAT
Anna Nordqvist finished as the runner-up, two-shots back of I.K. Kim, in her bid to win three-consecutive ShopRite LPGA Classic titles.
“Just having the honor to back-to-back defend is quite amazing. I’ve had a lot of supporters cheering me on this week, and I really appreciate everyone’s support,” Nordqvist said. There is a little bit of pressure coming into it, but it’s just been fun. I’m trying to embrace it. I love this golf course, I love hitting the shots.”
Below are Nordqvist’s career finishes at this event.
2017: 2
2016: Win
2015: Win
2014: 3
2013: T13
2012: T5
2011: T5
2010: T12
RACE TO CME GLOBE UPDATE
With her win on Sunday, In-Kyung Kim earns 500 points in the LPGA’s season-long Race to CME Globe and moves from 71st to 24th in the standings with 650 points.
CME GROUP CARES WEEKENDS UPDATE
Players scored 10 eagles over the weekend at the 2017 ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer, raising $10,000 for charity. This brings the total to 127 eagles on the year, which translates to $127,000 dollars raised.
STILL NO REPEAT WINNERS IN 2017
With In-Kyung Kim’s win at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer, the LPGA Tour has now gone 13 events without having a repeat winner which marks the second-longest stretch to begin a season in LPGA history. In 1991, there was not a multiple tournament winner until the 16th event of the year.
Between 1991 and 2017, the Tour had its first repeat winner on the 10th try several times, but 1991 is the last time it went more than 10 events to have a player reach two wins on the year.
In 1985, the first repeat winner came in the 11th event, which is the only other time in history the Tour has gone this far without a repeat winner.
QUICK HITS
With the victory, In-Kyung Kim becomes the 13th different winner on the LPGA Tour in 2017 and the seventh from South Korea
With the $225,000 first-place check, Kim moves from 25th to 23rd on the LPGA Career Money List with $7,849,138 in career earnings
Kim made only seven starts on the LPGA between her last win (2016 Reignwood LPGA Classic) and Sunday’s victory
Kim now has five career top-25 finishes at Stockton Seaview
Michelle Wie tied her second-lowest career round on Sunday with a 6-under par 65, it’s her lowest round since she shot a 65 in the opening round of the 2017 Bank of Hope Founders Cup
The T3 finish is Wie’s best result since finishing T3 at the 2014 Blue Bay LPGA, it’s her sixth top-25 finish of the season, with just nine events left between now and the 2017 Solheim Cup
Jacqui Concolino fired all three rounds under par to finish T3 and match her career-best finish
Jenny Shin (T3), Michelle Wie (T3) and Brittany Lincicome (T12) were the only players in the top-15 to go bogey-free in the final round
LPGA Tour Release
