Ryu So-yeon

Ryu So-yeon (; ; born 29 June 1990), also known as So Yeon Ryu, is a South Korean professional golfer who played 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 only 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 LPGA of Korea In 2007, at the age of 17, Ryu turned professional. Her first win as a professional came in February 2008 on the American Cactus Tour, in which she won by six strokes. 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.

During this era, Ryu also took classes at Yonsei University while also competing full-time on the LPGA Tour. She graduated in February 2013 with a degree in sports business.

LPGA Tour 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.

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.

In March 2024, Ryu announced her intention to retire after the 2024 Chevron Championship.

Awards and honors In 2012, Ryu earned LPGA Rookie of the Year honors. In 2017, she won the Rolex Annika Major Award. In 2017, Ryu won the LPGA Player of the Year.

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(s)-up Winner's share ($) 1 11 Jul 2011 U.S. Women's Open 74-69-69-69=281 −3 Playoff Hee-kyung Seo 585,000 2 12 Aug 2012 Jamie Farr Toledo Classic 67-68-67-62=264 −20 7 strokes Angela Stanford 195,000 3 24 Aug 2014 Canadian Pacific Women's Open 63-66-67-69=265 −23 2 strokes Choi Na-yeon 337,000 4 2 Apr 2017 ANA Inspiration 68-69-69-68=274 −14 Playoff Lexi Thompson 405,000 5 25 Jun 2017 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship 65-61-69=195 −18 2 strokes Moriya Jutanugarn Amy Yang 300,000 6 17 Jun 2018 Meijer LPGA Classic 64-67-69-67=267 −21 2 strokes Caroline Masson 300,000

LPGA Tour playoff record (2–4) No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result 1 2011 U.S. Women's Open 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 Julieta Granada Jessica Korda Stacy Lewis Brittany Lincicome Hee-kyung Seo Korda won with birdie on second extra hole 3 2013 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Inbee Park Lost to birdie on first extra hole 4 2017 ANA Inspiration Lexi Thompson Won with birdie on first extra hole 5 2018 KPMG Women's PGA Championship Nasa Hataoka Park Sung-hyun Park won with birdie on second extra hole. Hataoka eliminated by par on first hole. 6 2020 ISPS Handa Vic Open Choi Hye-jin Park Hee-young Park won with par on fourth extra hole. Ryu eliminated by birdie on second hole.

LPGA of Korea Tour wins (10) 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 Hye-yong Choi 2 25 May 2009 Doosan Match Play Championship 27 holes Hye-yong Choi 3 7 Jun 2009 Woori Investment & Securities Ladies Championship −12 (70-66-68=204) 4 strokes Soo-jin Yang 4 19 Jun 2009 MBC Tour S-Oil Champions Invitational −6 (69-69-72=210) 1 stroke Hye-jung Kim 5 16 Aug 2009 SBS Charity Women’s Open −10 (69-70-67=206) 1 stroke Chung Il-mi 6 19 Dec 2009 Orient China Ladies Open −10 (70-71-70=211) Playoff Seo Hee-kyung 7 11 Jun 2011 SBS Tour Lotte Cantata Ladies Open −14 (69-69-74=212) 1 stroke Hye-youn Kim 8 9 Sep 2012 Hanwha Finance Classic −9 (70-70-71-68=279) 1 stroke Heo Yoon-kyung 9 30 Aug 2015 High1 Resort Ladies Open −11 (71-67-69-70=277) 2 strokes Jang Ha-na 10 21 Jun 2020 Kia Motors Korea Women's Open Championship −12 (66-67-71-72=276) 1 stroke Kim Hyo-joo

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 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 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 Marcy Hart

Other wins (2) 2014 Mission Hills World Ladies Championship - team (with Inbee Park) 2015 World Ladies Championship - team (with Inbee Park)

Major championships Wins (2)

1 Defeated Seo Hee-kyung 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.

Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Chevron Championship T64 T41 T56 2 T46 T20 T10 1 T48 T39 Women's PGA Championship T25 CUT T13 T13 T4 T14 T2 T10 U.S. Women's Open T25 1 T14 3 T5 T5 T11 T3 23 T2 The Evian Championship ^ T4 DQ T46 T2 T40 T10 T25 Women's British Open T5 T17 T17 T3 T8 T43 3 CUT

Tournament 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Chevron Championship T50 T71 CUT CUT U.S. Women's Open T20 22 CUT T53 Women's PGA Championship T33 49 The Evian Championship ^ NT T54 T8 CUT Women's British Open CUT T35

^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013.

DQ = disqualified CUT = missed the half-way cut NT = no tournament br> T = tied

Summary Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made Chevron Championship 1 1 0 2 3 4 14 12 U.S. Women's Open 1 1 2 6 6 12 14 13 Women's PGA Championship 0 1 0 2 3 7 10 9 The Evian Championship 0 1 0 2 4 5 10 8 Women's British Open 0 0 2 3 4 6 10 8 Totals 2 4 4 15 20 34 58 50

Most consecutive cuts made – 24 (2015 ANA – 2019 Evian) Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (twice)

LPGA Tour career summary Year Tournaments played Cuts made* Wins 2nd 3rd Top 10s Best 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 2018 23 23 1 0 3 7 1 1,438,850 6 70.10 9 2019 20 16 0 1 0 5 T2 815,768 23 70.81 32 2020 5 5 0 2 0 2 T2 320,626 35 71.00 n/a 2021 20 19 0 0 2 6 T3 687,086 29 70.01 14 2022 20 15 0 0 0 2 T7 332,195 72 71.09 54 2023 11 4 0 0 0 1 T7 78,668 137 72.70 134 2024 1 0 0 0 0 0 CUT 0 n/a 75.50 n/a

Official through the 2024 season 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.

Year World ranking Source 2007 554 2008 127 2009 59 2010 43 2011 27 2012 7 2013 5 2014 7 2015 5 2016 9 2017 3 2018 3 2019 18 2020 14 2021 25 2022 78 2023 218 2024 714

Team appearances Amateur Espirito Santo Trophy (representing South Korea): 2006

Professional International Crown (representing South Korea): 2014, 2016, 2018 (winners)