Im Jin-hee, Lee So-mi team up for 1st LPGA title
SEOUL, June 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korean LPGA sophomores Im Jin-hee and Lee So-mi have teamed up for their maiden U.S. titles.
Im and Lee won the Dow Championship at the par-70 Midland Country Club in Midland, Michigan, on Sunday (local time), after beating the American team of Megan Khang and Lexi Thompson in a playoff.
At the team competition featuring two golfers per side, both teams finished 72 holes at 20-under 260. Im and Lee shot an eight-under 62 in their bogey-free final round with eight birdies, with both missing birdie attempts on the par-3 18th. Khang and Thompson put up a 60 in the final round, with Thompson draining a birdie putt on the finishing hole.
The first and the third rounds had the alternate shot, or foursomes, format, in which teammates took turns hitting the same ball. The second and the final rounds were played in the fourball format, where players each hit their own ball and the better score of the two became the team's score on each hole.
The playoff, which began at the 18th, was back to foursomes. Im drained a birdie putt set up by Lee's tee shot. Khang had a shorter birdie attempt but pulled her putt to hand the South Koreans their first wins.
Im, 27, and Lee, 26, are both former Korean tour players who joined the LPGA in 2024. They split US$799,020 in the winner's prize -- $399,510 each.
The two became the fourth and fifth South Korean players to win on the LPGA Tour in 2025, joining Kim A-lim, Kim Hyo-joo and Ryu Hae-ran. Im and Lee are also the first South Koreans to win the Dow Championship, which was first held in 2019.
This was the 17th tournament of the season on the LPGA Tour, which has now seen a different champion at every event so far in 2025.
Lee, in particular, had been playing well in the weeks leading up to the Dow Championship. This was her third consecutive top-10 finish and her fourth in the past five starts.
Im and Lee started the final round in second place at 12-under, one behind Sarah Schmelzel of the United States and Albane Valenzuela of Switzerland. The team of Manon De Roey (Belgium) and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard (France) also sat at 12-under through three rounds. Another South Korean team of Park Sung-hyun and Yoon Ina were tied for fourth at 11-under.
Im opened the final round with a birdie on the first hole and made four more birdies on the front nine. Lee drained some key putts on the back nine, including one for birdie on the 17th that pulled her team into a tie for the lead at 20-under with the Khang-Thompson team, who had finished their final round earlier with a 60.
On the 18th, both Im and Lee put their tee shots on the green. Im, the first to putt, had her birdie attempt graze the right lip of the cup.
Lee, with a chance to finish the deal from a few feet closer, didn't come close with her birdie putt, sending the tournament into the playoff.
Back on the 18th for the sudden death affair, Thompson put her tee shot to about five feet away, while Lee's tee shot ended up a little farther away from the cup.
But Im drained her birdie putt to put pressure on Khang, who missed hers badly.
jeeho@yna.co.kr
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