From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Ryu So-yeon

South Korean golfer (born 1990)

Summary

South Korean golfer (born 1990)

Field	Value
name	Ryu So-yeon
유소연
image	Ryu So-yeon LPGA 2017.jpg
imagesize
caption	Ryu in 2017
birth_date
birth_place	Seoul, South Korea
death_date
height	1.68 m
nationality
residence	South Korea
college	Yonsei University
(did not play college golf)
yearpro	2007
tour	LPGA Tour (joined 2012)
LPGA of Korea Tour (joined 2008)
extour
prowins	21
lpgawins	6
letwins	1
jlpgawins	1
klpgawins	10
lagtwins
alpgwins
futwins
otherwins	3
majorwins	2
nabisco	Won: 2017
lpga	T2: 2018
wusopen	Won: 2011
wbritopen	3rd/T3: 2015, 2018
evian	T2: 2016
wghofid
wghofyear
award1	LPGA Rookie of the Year
year1	2012
award2	Rolex Annika Major Award
year2	2017
award3	LPGA Player of the Year
year3	2017

유소연 (did not play college golf) LPGA of Korea Tour (joined 2008)

Ryu So-yeon (; ; born 29 June 1990), also known as So Yeon Ryu, is a South Korean professional golfer who plays 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

Ryu turned professional in 2007 at age 17. 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.

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.

Personal life

Ryu 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.

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

LPGA Tour playoff record (2–4)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	2011	U.S. Women's Open	KOR 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	PAR Julieta Granada
USA Jessica Korda
USA Stacy Lewis
USA Brittany Lincicome
KOR Hee-kyung Seo	Korda won with birdie on second extra hole
3	2013	Walmart NW Arkansas Championship	KOR Inbee Park	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
4	2017	ANA Inspiration	USA Lexi Thompson	Won with birdie on first extra hole
5	2018	KPMG Women's PGA Championship	JPN Nasa Hataoka
KOR Park Sung-hyun	Park won with birdie on second extra hole.
Hataoka eliminated by par on first hole.
6	2020	ISPS Handa Vic Open	KOR Choi Hye-jin
KOR 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	KOR Hye-yong Choi
2	25 May 2009	Doosan Match Play Championship	27 holes	KOR Hye-yong Choi
3	7 Jun 2009	Woori Investment & Securities Ladies Championship	−12 (70-66-68=204)	4 strokes	KOR Soo-jin Yang
4	19 Jun 2009	MBC Tour S-Oil Champions Invitational	−6 (69-69-72=210)	1 stroke	KOR Hye-jung Kim
5	16 Aug 2009	SBS Charity Women’s Open	−10 (69-70-67=206)	1 stroke	KOR Chung Il-mi
6	19 Dec 2009	Orient China Ladies Open	−10 (70-71-70=211)	Playoff	KOR Seo Hee-kyung
7	11 Jun 2011	SBS Tour Lotte Cantata Ladies Open	−14 (69-69-74=212)	1 stroke	KOR Hye-youn Kim
8	9 Sep 2012	Hanwha Finance Classic	−9 (70-70-71-68=279)	1 stroke	KOR Heo Yoon-kyung
9	30 Aug 2015	High1 Resort Ladies Open	−11 (71-67-69-70=277)	2 strokes	KOR Jang Ha-na
10	21 Jun 2020	Kia Motors Korea Women's Open Championship	−12 (66-67-71-72=276)	1 stroke	KOR 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	JPN Nasa Hataoka

Ladies European Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par
victory	Runner-up
1	15 Mar 2015	World Ladies Championship
(individual)	72-73-65-69=279	−13	1 stroke	KOR 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	USA 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)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
2011	U.S. Women's Open	Tied for lead	−3 (74-69-69-69=281)	Playoff1	KOR Seo Hee-kyung
2017	ANA Inspiration	3-shot deficit	−14 (68-69-69-68=274)	Playoff2	USA Lexi Thompson

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

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)

References

Crouse, Karen. (11 July 2011). "New Open Winner Ponders Tough Choice: School or Tour?". [[New York Times]].
"Cactus Tour 2008 Results". [[Cactus Tour]] web site.
(29 October 2012). "Ryu Know It!". LPGA.
(25 June 2017). "So Yeon Ryu wins in Arkansas; first two-time winner this year". ESPN.
(26 June 2017). "So Yeon Ryu Becomes No. 1 Player in Rolex Rankings". LPGA.
(21 March 2024). "Two-time major winner So Yeon Ryu retiring after 13 years on LPGA Tour". ESPN.
Mell, Randall. (27 April 2012). "College and pro golf? It's possible". Golf Channel.
(25 February 2013). "Ryu So-yeon Graduates".
"So Yeon Ryu results". LPGA.
(25 December 2007). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(30 December 2008). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(29 December 2009). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(28 December 2010). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(27 December 2011). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(31 December 2012). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(30 December 2013). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(29 December 2014). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(28 December 2015). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(26 December 2016). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(25 December 2017). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(31 December 2018). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(30 December 2019). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(28 December 2020). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(27 December 2021). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(26 December 2022). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(25 December 2023). "Women's World Golf Rankings".
(30 December 2024). "Women's World Golf Rankings".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

south-korean-female-golfers lpga-of-korea-tour-golfers lpga-tour-golfers winners-of-lpga-major-golf-championships asian-games-gold-medalists-in-golf asian-games-gold-medalists-for-south-korea golfers-at-the-2006-asian-games medalists-at-the-2006-asian-games golfers-from-seoul yonsei-university-alumni 1990-births living-people 21st-century-south-korean-sportswomen

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Ryu So-yeon — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report