There is a saying that a long shot is a show and a putt is money. It means that even if you hit a long shot in golf, you can’t get good results if your putt is not smooth.
However, things are different in the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour. It is no exaggeration to say that it is the heyday of long hitters at the Doosan E&C Weave Championship, the opening game of the 2024 season, which opened at Teddy Valley Golf & Resort in Seogwipo, Jeju Island on the 4th.
Yoon Na and Bang Shin-sil, who returned a year and nine months before the opening of the tournament, drew attention. The two players easily passed the cut with two under par in the second round of the tournament, which ended on the 5th.
Up until the second round, the main character is Hwang Yoo-min, another slugger. Feeling pressured as he teamed up with Yoon Sung-bin and Bang Shin-sil, he shot a total of 10 under par for the first and second rounds to lead the team to come-from-behind victory.
Here, another slugger captured fans’ attention. Moon proudly returned to the regular tour last year as the Dream Tour money king. Last year, he ranked third in the long distance category with an average driving distance of 257.1 yards.
Moon showed off his outstanding slugging ability with an average flying distance of 254.4 yards on the day. He tied for second with 9 under par overall in the first and second rounds, one stroke behind Hwang, and immediately emerged as the favorite.
The accuracy of Moon hitting the fairway in the second round was 50%, which was only half of the area he wanted. Considering that the average number of participants is 70.29%, the accuracy is very low.
However, Moon made seven birdies. He also recorded five consecutive birdies, so-called ‘Olympic Birdies,’ from the 8th to 12th holes. ‘Olympic Birdies’ is the first record this season.
Due to the long distance he gained through his long hit, the secret was shortening his iron distance. In other words, he did not feel pressured even when he entered the rough. Moon missed par twice at the par-4 hole (on-green situation where a two-shot shot on the green enables birdie putt at the par-5 hole), and also missed one at the par-5 hole.
Moon’s goal this year is to win two more than his first.