Photo by Gabe Roux

On June 26, 2017, So-yeon Ryu won the championship at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship with an 18-under-par, 195 in total. It is her second win since the first major championship at the ANA Inflation Championship in April. After winning the LPGA event in Arkansas over the weekend, Ryu has risen to No.1 in the Women’s Golf World Rankings. She became the third player this year to rise to No.1 in the Women’s World Golf World Rankings after Jiyai Shin and Inbee Park.

So-yeon Ryu has always been a strong player on the tour, but she had no luck in the championship. However, she went a step closer to the championship last year with a swing correction. According to her interview, she said that she practiced the swing correction, and it is hard to change. She feels both fun and stress every day, but still enjoys golf very much. With such enthusiasm and efforts, Ryu finally won the LPGA Tour’s 2nd prize in 2017, the first place in the prize-list, and the first place in the world ranking. She had not received much attention in the past, but due to her winning the LPGA Tour in April, she received a lot of media attention. Unfortunately, some media have focused on her family history, and rumors about the champagne or water ceremony which were requested to be banned by the LPGA. I think the role of the media is to accurately assess and inform a lighting of So-yeon, Rye as a player itself rather than gossip.

Dean Lee
K-Herald Korea
(Los Angeles Times Advertising Supplement)