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OF THE MONDAY MORNING PLAY-OFF

Rebecca Coakley ties for fifth in Korean Ladies Masters;

South Koreans play-off for title on Monday morning

FROM THE LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR WEBISTE
South Koreans So-Yeon Ryu, Sarah Lee and Hyun-Ji Kim finished locked at one under par 215 after 54 holes at the Daishin Securities Korean Ladies Masters.
All three players birdied the 511yd par-5 18th hole at Cypress Golf & Resort, Jeju in South Korea, in regulation play to top the leader board and headed back to the tee for a sudden death play-off in gathering darkness.
London-born Lee missed a birdie putt from 12 feet to be eliminated at the first extra hole, while Ryu and Kim holed birdie putts from five and 10 feet respectively.
The players were unable to continue due to darkness and will resume the play-off at 8am on Monday morning, South Korean time. Both Kim and Ryu are second year players on the KLPGA but as the tournament is co-sanctioned, a victory will give them the chance to join the Ladies European Tour (LET). The 21-year-old Kim is targeting her first KLPGA win at the co-sanctioned tournament with the LET, although she has won three times on the Dream Tour, which is the feeder tour. Last year she lost a play-off to Jiyai Shin at the BC Card Classic, which was her career best finish.
Ryu, 19, is currently second on the KLPGA money list and has four wins this season. She joined the winner’s circle in May at the Doosan Match Play Championship and followed that with three straight victories from June to August. Claiming the $US60,000 winner’s prize would see her overtake Hee-Kyung Seo on the KLPGA money list, but the second prize would not be enough. There is one event left to be played on the 2009 KLPGA Tour schedule.
Hyun-Ji Kim from South Korea
Hee-Kyung Seo, the 2008 winner who is trying to hold off Ryu, finished with a 74 for fourth at level par overall. She was disappointed to have missed birdie putts at the final two holes. She watched in dismay as her 10 foot birdie putt on 18 edged past the hole and left her a stroke behind after enduring a day of extremely tough, windy conditions on Jeju Island.
Play was suspended twice on the final day due to thunderstorms: firstly for 40 minutes at 2.30pm and again for 30 minutes at 4.15pm.
Ryu defied the tough conditions, shooting 70, which the lowest score of the day. She set the target with birdies on three of her last five holes, before Kim (73) and Lee (74) rolled in short birdie putts on 18 to join her at one under.
Ireland’s Rebecca Coakley (73) and Australia’s Anna Rawson (74) finished in a tie for fifth at one-over with South Korean amateur Sea Young Kim (72).
Coakley held her nerve to roll in a 12 foot birdie putt after the second suspension of play, tying her season best finish with a share of fifth at the Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open in China the previous week.
After her final round she said: “I’m very happy because today was one of the toughest rounds condition wise that I’ve played. To just have two bogeys and a birdie: I was happy with that.
“It was very tough. I mean, the rain, you don’t mind, but the wind; it was a three-to four club wind out there at times when you get gusts. A lot of the time it’s across the course which makes it really hard to hit greens, even just to hit fairways. That was my goal for the day: to keep hitting fairways and giving myself a chance.”
It was also Rawson’s season best finish and like Coakley she was thrilled to be in the clubhouse.
“I’m so happy it’s over! It was good. I had a lot of chances. At 17 I left one short from about five feet. I definitely had some chances, so it feels bitter sweet. I feel happy because I think two over is good in those conditions. I can’t believe someone shot two under. I mean, that’s amazing. I’m getting closer.”
Jeong Eun Lee finished one stroke back in outright eighth place, with the next best LET player Frenchwoman Jade Schaeffer at four over.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72)
215 So yeon Ryu 76 69 70, Sarah Lee (USA) 69 72 74, Hyun-ji Kim 69 73 73 (Ryu and Kim will continue a sudden death play-off on Monday morning; Lee was eliminated at the first hole before it became too dark to continue). LATER: Kim won play-off (scroll down to end of page for news of the play-off)
216 Hee Kyung Seo 68 74 74
217 Rebecca Coakley (Irl) 72 72 73, Se-young Kim 73 72 72, Anna Rawson (Aus) 69 74 74
218 Jeong Eun Lee 74 70 74
219 Sung Ah Yim 75 69 75, Ae-ree Pyun 70 73 76, Hyeon-ju Lee 77 69 73, Jung-eun Han 71 71 77
220 Bo-Mee Lee 69 76 75, Jade Schaffer (Fra) 74 71 75, Ji-hae Jang 74 70 76, Bo kyung Kim 71 71 78, Hae-won Jeong 76 72 72, Soo-jin Yang 70 71 79
221 So-young Kim 70 74 77, Young-ran Jo 75 74 72, Stephanie Na (Aus) 72 75 74, Seul a Yoon 73 75 73
222 Hyun-hwa Shim 70 76 76, Shin-ae Ahn 71 76 75, Jin Joo Hong 73 75 74, Anna Knutsson (Swe) 72 77 73
223 Minea Blomqvist (Fin) 72 73 78, Frances Bondad (Aus) 72 74 77, Ju-mi Kim 74 75 74, Hyun-soo Kim 75 73 75
224 Il Mi Chung 74 74 76, Il-hee Lee 79 72 73, Lee-Anne Pace (Rsa) 79 73 72
225 Ran Hong 73 75 77, Chang-hee Lee 74 76 75, Becky Brewerton (Wal) 73 73 79
226 Lora Fairclough (Eng) 76 74 76, Yun-hee Cho (Pkr) 74 75 77, Vikki Laing (Sco) 78 73 75, Marianne Skarpnord (Nor) 74 72 80, Morgana Robbertze (Rsa) 73 76 77, Ji-na Lim 74 77 75, Hyun Hee Moon 70 76 80, Ha-neul Kim 73 76 77, Hye Jung Choi 75 74 77
227 Min gee Song 73 77 77, Young ae Ham 72 75 80, Bomi Suh (USA) 76 74 77, Julieta Granada (Par) 75 75 77, Sun-hwa Lee 77 73 77, Cecilie Lundgreen (Nor) 77 73 77, Aram Cho (USA) 71 78 78
228 Hae Jung Kim 75 77 76, He yong Choi 72 77 79
229 Iben Tinning (Den) 72 79 78, Da som Lee 75 75 79, Ji yeon Woo 74 74 81
230 Hye Jin Jung 77 75 78, You-na Park 73 78 79, Laurette Maritz (Rsa) 73 79 78, Sun Wook Lim 74 76 80
231 Hye in Lee 77 75 79, Martina Gillen (Irl) 74 75 82
232 Riikka Hakkarainen (Fin) 74 78 80, Hye youn Kim 79 73 80
234 Titiya Plucksataporn (Tha) 77 75 82

LATER NEWS OF PLAY-OFF FROM L E T WEBSITE:
The drama continued on Monday morning on Jeju Island as Kim Hyun-Ji and Ryu So-Yeon returned to Cypress Golf & Resort for the Daishin Securities Tomato Tour Korean Ladies Masters play-off.
A good sized crowd were present as both players found the fairway of the 511 yard par five 18th hole. Ryu So-Yeon had the tougher third short with 100 metres to the pin from the edge of the rough but a good wedge saw her ball land within 8 feet of the hole. The gauntlet was laid down and the taekwondo black belt Kim responded with a decisive blow which saw her ball land within 3 feet. Her ensuing smile lit up Jeju Island.
The pressure was now on Ryu and her putt slid agonisingly wide to leave Kim with a simple putt to take the title. She didn’t disappoint and in the process secured her first ever tournament win and $60,000.