All About Sports: Jiyai Shin

Jiyai Shin (born 28 April 1988), also known as Ji-Yai Shin, is a South Korean professional golfer currently playing on the LPGA Tour and the LPGA of Korea Tour (KLPGA). She has broken all existing KLPGA records, winning 10 events in 19 starts on the KLPGA Tour in 2007. In 2008, playing only 10 tournaments on the LPGA Tour as a non-member, she won three events, including the Women's British Open and the ADT Championship. She has been ranked as number 1 in the Women's World Golf Rankings.In 2005, while she was still in high school, Shin was the only amateur to win a KLPGA event that season when she won the SK Enclean Invitational. She turned professional at the end of the 2005 season.Returning to the KLPGA as a rookie in 2006, she started her year with a pair of third place finishes in her first two events and went on to claim three wins on the season.2007 marked Shin's breakout year. She played 19 events on the KLPGA and won 10 of them, shattering all existing Tour records. She also ventured onto the LPGA Tour for the first time and played three of the four women's major championships. At the U.S. Women's Open she finished sixth after holding the tournament lead going into the final round. The next month at the Evian Masters, an event on the LPGA Tour an a major on the Ladies European Tour, she finished tied for third. Shin finished 2007 ranked 8th in the world, the highest ranked Korean of all, and the only non-LPGA member who ranked in the top ten.

Opening 2008 at the Women's World Cup of Golf, Shin and number two KLPGA player Eun-Hee Ji succumbed to the Philippines pair of Jennifer Rosales and Dorothy Delasin with a score of -16 after 3rd and final day of competition. Philippines scored -18 and received the $240,000 cheque. Shin then played at the Women's Australian Open where she finished 2nd, losing to Karrie Webb in a playoff. Shin won the Women's British Open in Berkshire, England for her first LPGA Tour and major win. This made her the first non-member of the LPGA to win a major since Laura Davies won the U.S. Women's Open in 1987. She won the 2008 Mizuno Classic in November, shooting scores of 68, 66 and 67. She was six shots ahead of the next competitor to win at -15 (201), to notch her second LPGA career win. Two weeks later she won the ADT Championship, the culminating event in the season-long LPGA playoff series, and claimed the $1 million prize. She became the first-ever non-LPGA member to win three LPGA tournaments. Shin was the first non-LPGA member to ever win three tournaments. Shin has endorsement deals with Mirae Asset & PRGR Golf. Shin's wins in LPGA Tour events in 2008 qualified her for LPGA membership in 2009 (one win would have been sufficient). She got off to a slow start as an LPGA member, missing her first cut ever in an LPGA tournament at the season-opening SBS Open at Turtle Bay. She rebounded and won the third event of the season, the limited field HSBC Women's Champions, scoring 66 in both the third and fourth rounds. She won again in June at the full-field Wegmans LPGA tournament and in September at the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship. By the first week of November she officially clinched the LPGA Rookie of the Year award. On 2 May, Shin won the Cyber Agent Ladies on the LPGA of Japan Tour. On 3 May, she became the World Number 1 ranked women's golfer, replacing Lorena Ochoa who finished in sixth place in an LPGA tournament the previous day. She held the position until it was taken over by Ai Miyazato on June 21, 2010 and regained it on July 26 after winning the Evian Masters. On 19 September, Shin won the MetLife-Korea Economics KLPGA Championship, one of the major championships on the LPGA of Korea Tour. With this victory, Shin is now qualified for the KLPGA Hall of Fame, although she has to fulfill her career as professional golfer for 10 years. She will be the third Hall of Famer in 2015, after Ok-Hee Ku and Se Ri Pak.