Ryu So-yeon

Ryu So-yeon
유소연
Ryu in 2017
Personal information
Born (1990-06-29) 29 June 1990
South Korea
Height 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Nationality  South Korea
Residence South Korea
Career
College Yonsei University[1]
(did not play college golf)
Turned professional 2007
Current tour(s) LPGA Tour (joined 2012)
LPGA of Korea Tour (joined 2008)
Professional wins 20
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour 6
Ladies European Tour 1
LPGA of Japan Tour 1
LPGA of Korea Tour 9
Other 3
Best results in LPGA major championships
(wins: 2)
ANA Inspiration Won: 2017
Women's PGA C'ship T2: 2018
U.S. Women's Open Won: 2011
Women's British Open 3rd/T3: 2015, 2018
Evian Championship T2: 2016
Achievements and awards
LPGA Rookie of the Year 2012
Rolex Annika Major Award 2017
LPGA Player of the Year 2017

Ryu So-yeon (Korean 유소연, RR Ryu So-yeon, MR Ryu Soyŏn, pronounced [ɾju sojʌn]; born 29 June 1990), also known as So Yeon Ryu, is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour and on the LPGA of Korea Tour. She is a two-time major winner having won the 2011 U.S. Women's Open and the 2017 ANA Inspiration. On 26 June 2017, she became just the 11th No. 1-ranked golfer in the Rolex Rankings by virtue of winning her 5th LPGA Tour title at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

Professional career

Ryu turned professional in 2007 at age 17. Her first win as a professional came in February 2008 on the American Cactus Tour, in which she won by six strokes.[2] She then joined the LPGA of Korea, winning the first event she played, the Sports Seoul Open.

On 11 July 2011, Ryu won the U.S. Women's Open. On the 18th hole of the final round, the toughest hole for the tournament, she trailed the clubhouse leader Hee Kyung Seo by one stroke, but hit her approach to 6 feet and made the birdie putt to force a playoff. Ryu won the three-hole playoff with a birdie on the last hole.

Ryu picked up her second career LPGA Tour win in 2012 at the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic. With one tournament still to play in the season, Ryu had a big enough lead in the LPGA Rookie of the Year points standings to clinch the award for the season.[3]

On 23 June 2013, Ryu lost in a sudden-death playoff at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship to fellow South Korean Inbee Park. Park made birdie on the first extra hole to take the victory after Ryu could only make par.

On 2 April 2017, Ryu won her second major championship at the ANA Inspiration with a sudden-death playoff victory over Lexi Thompson. The tournament was controversial though, after leader Thompson was handed a retrospective four stroke penalty midway through the final round, for an infringement reported by a TV viewer during the third round. Thompson was found to have incorrectly marked and replaced her ball on the 17th hole during the third round. At the time, Thompson had a two stroke advantage. Ryu went on to win with a birdie on the first extra hole of the playoff.

On 25 June 2017, Ryu won the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship and became the number one golfer in the Women's World Golf Rankings.[4][5]

Personal life

Ryu took classes at Yonsei University while also competing full-time on the LPGA Tour.[6] She graduated in February 2013 with a degree in sports business.[7]

Professional wins (20)

LPGA Tour wins (6)

Legend
Major championships (2)
Other LPGA Tour (4)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner-up Winner's
share ($)
1 11 Jul 2011 U.S. Women's Open 74-69-69-69=281 −3 Playoff South Korea Hee Kyung Seo 585,000
2 12 Aug 2012 Jamie Farr Toledo Classic 67-68-67-62=264 −20 7 strokes United States Angela Stanford 195,000
3 24 Aug 2014 Canadian Pacific Women's Open 63-66-67-69=265 −23 2 strokes South Korea Na Yeon Choi 337,000
4 2 Apr 2017 ANA Inspiration 68-69-69-68=274 −14 Playoff United States Lexi Thompson 405,000
5 25 Jun 2017 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship 65-61-69=195 −18 2 strokes Thailand Moriya Jutanugarn
South Korea Amy Yang
300,000
6 17 Jun 2018 Meijer LPGA Classic 64-67-69-67=267 −21 2 strokes Germany Caroline Masson 300,000

LPGA Tour playoff record (2–3)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 2011 U.S. Women's Open South Korea Hee-Kyung Seo Won three hole aggregate playoff:
Ryu: 3-4-3=10 (−2), Seo: 3-6-4=13 (+1)
2 2012 Women's Australian Open Paraguay Julieta Granada
United States Jessica Korda
United States Stacy Lewis
United States Brittany Lincicome
South Korea Hee-Kyung Seo
Korda won with birdie on second extra hole
3 2013 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship South Korea Inbee Park Lost to birdie on first extra hole
4 2017 ANA Inspiration United States Lexi Thompson Won with birdie on first extra hole
5 2018 KPMG Women's PGA Championship Japan Nasa Hataoka
South Korea Park Sung-hyun
Park won with birdie on second extra hole.
Hataoka was eliminated with par on first extra hole.

LPGA of Korea Tour wins (9)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 13 Apr 2008 Sports Seoul-KYJ Golf Open −5 (68-70-73=211) 4 strokes South Korea Hye Yong Choi
2 25 May 2009 Doosan Match Play Championship 27 holes South Korea Hye Yong Choi
3 7 Jun 2009 Woori Investment & Securities Ladies Championship −12 (70-66-68=204) 4 strokes South Korea Soo Jin Yang
4 19 Jun 2009 MBC Tour S-Oil Champions Invitational −6 (69-69-72=210) 1 stroke South Korea Hye Jung Kim
5 16 Aug 2009 SBS Charity Women’s Open −10 (69-70-67=206) 1 stroke South Korea Il Mi Chung
6 19 Dec 2009 Orient China Ladies Open −10 (70-71-70=211) Playoff South Korea Hee Kyung Seo
7 11 Jun 2011 SBS Tour Lotte Cantata Ladies Open −14 (69-69-74=212) 1 stroke South Korea Hye Youn Kim
8 9 Sep 2012 Hanwha Finance Classic −9 (70-70-71-68=279) 1 stroke South Korea Heo Yoon-kyung
9 30 Aug 2015 High1 Resort Ladies Open −11 (71-67-69-70=277) 2 strokes South Korea Jang Ha-na

LPGA of Japan Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 30 Sep 2018 Japan Women's Open Golf Championship 65-72-69-67=273 −15 3 strokes Japan Nasa Hataoka

Ladies European Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 15 Mar 2015 World Ladies Championship
(individual)
72-73-65-69=279 −13 1 stroke South Korea Inbee Park

Cactus Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 6 Feb 2008 Event #3 at Wigwam Red −8 (70-70-68=208) 6 strokes United States Marcy Hart

Other wins (2)

Major championships

Wins (2)

YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner-up
2011U.S. Women's OpenTied for lead−3 (74-69-69-69=281)Playoff1South Korea Hee Kyung Seo
2017ANA Inspiration 3-shot deficit−14 (68-69-69-68=274)Playoff2United States Lexi Thompson

1 Defeated Hee Kyung Seo in a three-hole playoff: Ryu (3-4-3=10) and Seo (3-6-4=13)
2 Defeated Lexi Thompson in a sudden death playoff with birdie on first extra hole

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order before 2018.

Tournament201020112012201320142015201620172018
ANA Inspiration T64 T41 T56 2 T46 T20 T10 1 T48
U.S. Women's Open DNP 1 T14 3 T5 T5 T11 T3 23
Women's PGA Championship DNP DNP T25 CUT T13 T13 T4 T14 T2
Women's British Open DNP DNP T5 T17 T17 T3 T8 T43 3
The Evian Championship ^ T4 DQ T46 T2 T40 T10

^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013.
DNP = did not play
DQ = disqualified
CUT = missed the half-way cut
T = tied
Green background for a win. Yellow background for a top-10 finish.

Summary

TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
ANA Inspiration11023499
U.S. Women's Open10255888
Women's PGA Championship01022676
Women's British Open00234677
The Evian Championship01023365
Totals2341417273735
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 20 (2015 ANA – 2018 Evian Championship, current)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (twice, current)

LPGA Tour career summary

YearTournaments
played
Cuts
made*
Wins2nd3rdTop 10sBest
finish
Earnings
($)
Money
list rank
Scoring
average
Scoring
rank
2008 1 1 0 0 0 0 T46 5,806 n/a 74.33 n/a
2009 2 1 0 0 0 0 T29 13,111 n/a 73.80 n/a
2010 3 3 0 0 0 0 T12 61,878 n/a 73.18 n/a
2011 4 4 1 0 0 1 1 624,477 n/a 71.80 n/a
2012 24 23 1 2 0 16 1 1,282,673 6 70.30 2
2013 24 23 0 2 3 10 2 1,278,864 5 70.29 4
2014 25 24 1 1 2 15 1 1,468,804 5 69.98 4
2015 25 25 0 2 2 10 2 1,292,395 8 70.32 7
2016 24 24 0 2 1 11 2 1,259,651 10 70.07 6
2017 23 21 2 2 2 12 1 1,981,593 2 69.68 6
  • official through the 2017 season[8]

* Includes matchplay and other events without a cut.
Ryu was not a member of the LPGA Tour until 2012. Money earned from 2008 to 2011 was not considered official by the LPGA Tour.

World ranking

Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

YearWorld
ranking
Source
2007554[9]
2008127[10]
200959[11]
201043[12]
201127[13]
20127[14]
20135[15]
20147[16]
20155[17]
20169[18]
20173[19]

Team appearances

Professional

References

  1. Crouse, Karen (11 July 2011). "New Open Winner Ponders Tough Choice: School or Tour?". New York Times. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  2. "Cactus Tour 2008 Results". Cactus Tour web site. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
  3. "Ryu Know It!". LPGA. 29 October 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  4. "So Yeon Ryu wins in Arkansas; first two-time winner this year". ESPN. Associated Press. 25 June 2017.
  5. "So Yeon Ryu Becomes No. 1 Player in Rolex Rankings". LPGA. 26 June 2017.
  6. Mell, Randall (27 April 2012). "College and pro golf? It's possible". Golf Channel. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  7. "Ryu So-yeon Graduates". Golfcourier.com. 25 February 2013. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  8. "So Yeon Ryu results". LPGA. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  9. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 25 December 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  10. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 30 December 2008. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  11. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 29 December 2009. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  12. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 28 December 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  13. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 27 December 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  14. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 31 December 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  15. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 30 December 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  16. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 29 December 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  17. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 28 December 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  18. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 26 December 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  19. "Women's World Golf Rankings". 25 December 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
Awards
Preceded by
Ariya Jutanugarn
World No. 1 Ranked Golfer
26 June 2017 – 5 November 2017
Succeeded by
Park Sung-hyun
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