Park Min-ji looks to defend title at Doosan Match Play

Park Min-ji will look to both defend her Doosan Match Play Championship title and pick up her second win ikn a row when the tournament kicks off at Ladena Golf Club in Chuncheon, Gangwon on Wednesday.

Park Min-ji reacts after birdying on the sixth hole on May 7 during the second round of the 8th Kyochon Honey Ladies Open at Kingsdale Golf Club in Chungju, North Chungcheong. [KLPGA]

Park Min-ji will look to both defend her Doosan Match Play Championship title and pick up her second win in a row when the tournament kicks off at Ladena Golf Club in Chuncheon, Gangwon on Wednesday.

Park picked up her first KLPGA Tour victory of the season last week at the NH Investment & Securities Ladies Championship, carding an 11-under-par, 205, one stroke ahead of Hwang Jeong-mee to defend her 2021 title.

While the NH Investment & Securities Ladies Championship was a three-day 54 hole stroke play event, the KLPGA Tour takes a different turn this week as the Doosan Match Play Championship will run from Wednesday through Sunday as a seven round match play event.

Park Min-ji holds up the NH Investment & Securities Ladies Championship trophy on Sunday after defending her 2021 title at Suwon Country Club in Yongin, Gyeonggi. [KLPGA]

The Doosan Match Play Championship is the only match-play event on the KLPGA Tour. Unlike the more common stroke play, where all golfers compete against each other in an attempt to achieve the fewest strokes at the end of all four rounds, in match play, golfers compete to win each hole.

Regardless of the difference in number of strokes, a player earns one point for a win. If the score is five holes to four, the winning golfer is up by one.

On Wednesday, a total of 64 golfers tee off in the first round of the Doosan Match Play as 16 groups of four, playing the second round on Thursday, and the third round on Friday.

On Saturday, the 16 winners of each group advance to the next round, where they play in eight groups of two. Later the same day, the eight winners play as four groups of two. On Sunday, the four winners of each group will play as two groups of two to determine the two golfers advancing to the finals.

Last year, Park picked up her third KLPGA Tour victory of the season at the event, after a dramatic playoff against Pak Ju-young.

Park finished the final round 3-and-1 against Pak, meaning Park won three more holes than Pak and achieved victory on the 17th hole, not having to play the last hole because she already had an insurmountable lead.

That form from the Doosan Match Play Championship and the NH Investment & Securities Ladies Championship carried on into the remainder of the season as Park won a total of six titles season and was named Player of the Year.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]