Kim Min-sun wins Hana Financial Group Championship by 4 strokes for 2nd title of season

'Winning with my grandmother in the gallery makes it extra special'

Park Min-ji becomes first player in tour history to surpass 7 billion won in career earnings

Kim Min-sun celebrates after clinching victory at the final round of the Hana Financial Group Championship on Sunday. [KLPGA]

Kim Min-sun claimed a dominant victory at the KLPGA Tour's Hana Financial Group Championship, which carried a purse of 1.5 billion won ($1.09 million), to secure her second title of the season.

Playing the West-South course at The Heaven Country Club in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province on Sunday, Kim carded five birdies and one bogey for a 4-under-par 68 in the final round. Her 72-hole total of 12-under-par 276 was enough to beat runner-up Jang Eun-su (8-under 280) by four strokes.

Kim claimed her first KLPGA Tour win at the Dukshin EPC Championship in April last year, then added a second at the Nexen-Saint Nine Masters Tournament in April this year. Sunday's victory, coming five months later, gave her three career titles. The winner's check of 270 million won lifted her season earnings to 926.55 million won, moving her to third on the money list, while her player-of-the-year points tally of 333 also placed her third.

Kim entered the final round as the sole leader by one stroke and extended her advantage with two birdies on the front nine. She then seized control with back-to-back birdies: a third shot to within 1.2 meters on the par-5 11th set up a tap-in birdie, and she drained a 7-meter putt for birdie on the par-3 12th. Jang briefly closed the gap with a birdie on the par-4 13th, but bogeys on the 14th and 16th holes allowed Kim to pull clear.

Kim leads the KLPGA Tour in greens in regulation this season at 78 percent, and she brought that precision to bear throughout the week. She hit 78 percent of greens in regulation in the final round and did not three-putt a single hole across all four rounds of the tournament.

Kim Min-sun kisses the winner's trophy after claiming the Hana Financial Group Championship title on Sunday. [KLPGA]

"Playing alongside Lee Mi-hyang at the AIG Women's Open taught me a great deal about putting," Kim said. "Ahead of this tournament I put more time into my putting practice than my ball-striking, and it paid off."

Kim said the win felt especially meaningful because her grandmother had come to watch. "I grew up living with my grandparents and they took great care of me," she said. "My grandmother is in her 80s and she made the trip out here — winning in front of her makes this victory truly special."

Jang Eun-su finished as runner-up at 8-under 280, while Lee Se-hee, who shot a final-round 66, took third at 7-under 281. Amateur national team member Yang Yun-seo, who is set to compete at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, tied for fourth with Park Min-ji at 6-under 282.

Park Min-ji, a 20-time KLPGA Tour winner, became the first player in tour history to surpass 7 billion won in career earnings, finishing the week with a cumulative total of 7.06 billion won. Japanese twin sisters Iwai Chichi and Iwai Aki rounded out the leaderboard, tying for sixth at 5-under 283 and finishing eighth at 4-under 284, respectively.

yjc@heraldcorp.com