Jiyai Shin (Korean: 신지애; RR: Sin Jiae; [ɕindʑi.ɛː]; born 28 April 1988) is a former world No. 1 ranked South Korean professional golfer who primarily plays on the LPGA of Japan Tour. She previously played primarily on the LPGA Tour and the LPGA of Korea Tour (KLPGA). She has broken existing KLPGA records, winning 10 events in 19 starts on the KLPGA Tour in 2007. In 2008, playing only 10 tournaments on the LPGA Tour as a non-member, she won three events, including the Women's British Open and the ADT Championship. She has been ranked No. 1 in the Women's World Golf Rankings for 25 weeks and was the first Asian to be ranked No. 1. With 64 wins worldwide on six different tours, she is the winningest Korean golfer, male or female, of all time.
Amateur career
In 2005, while she was still in high school, Shin was the only amateur to win a KLPGA event that season when she won the SK Enclean Invitational. She turned professional at the end of the 2005 season.
Professional career
2006
Returning to the KLPGA as a rookie in 2006, she started her year with a pair of third-place finishes in her first two events and went on to claim three wins on the season.
2007
2007 marked Shin's breakout year. She played 19 events on the KLPGA and won 10 of them, shattering all existing Tour records. She also ventured onto the LPGA Tour for the first time and played three of the four women's major championships. At the U.S. Women's Open she finished sixth. The next month at the Evian Masters, an event on the LPGA Tour and a major on the Ladies European Tour, she finished tied for third. Shin finished 2007 ranked 8th in the world, the highest ranked Korean of all, and the only non-LPGA member who ranked in the top ten.
Shin won the Women's British Open in Berkshire, England for her first LPGA Tour and major win. This made her the first non-member of the LPGA to win a major since Laura Davies won the U.S. Women's Open in 1987. She won the 2008 Mizuno Classic in November, shooting scores of 68, 66 and 67. She was six shots ahead of the next competitor to win at −15 (201), to notch her second LPGA career win.[2] Two weeks later she won the ADT Championship, the culminating event in the season-long LPGA playoff series, and claimed the $1 million prize. She became the first-ever non-LPGA member to win three LPGA tournaments.
2009
Shin's wins in LPGA Tour events in 2008 qualified her for LPGA membership in 2009. She got off to a slow start as an LPGA member, missing her first cut ever in an LPGA tournament at the season-opening SBS Open at Turtle Bay. She rebounded and won the third event of the season, the limited field HSBC Women's Champions, scoring 66 in both the third and fourth rounds. She won again in June at the full-field Wegmans LPGA tournament[3] and in September at the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship. By the first week of November she officially clinched the LPGA Rookie of the Year award.
On 19 September, Shin won the MetLife-Korea Economics KLPGA Championship, one of the major championships on the LPGA of Korea Tour. With this victory, Shin qualified for the KLPGA Hall of Fame, although she has to fulfill her career as professional golfer for 10 years before membership can be official. If she continues her professional career, she will be the third Hall of Famer in 2015, after Ok-Hee Ku and Se Ri Pak.[7]
2014
Shin gave up her LPGA membership before the start of the season to be nearer to her family in Korea and played on the LPGA of Japan Tour, winning four times during the 2014 season.[8]
2015
Shin won the Cyber Agent Ladies in early May for the second time in her career. She birdied three of the final five holes on the back nine to win by one stroke over Erika Kikuchi of Japan. This victory is her 10th win on the JLPGA Tour.[9]
In 2004 at age 16, Shin's mother was killed in a car accident. Her younger brother and sister were seriously injured and spent nearly a year in a hospital. Her mother's life insurance money funded the beginning of her golf career.[10] Shin currently owns a home in Atlanta, Georgia, where she lives with her brother, stepmother, and father.[11]
Endorsements
Shin has endorsement deals with Three Bond Holdings, Jatco, M.U Sports & Ecco.
4 Co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour. 5 Co-sanctioned by the ALPG Tour and the LPGA Tour. 6 Co-sanctioned by the ALPG Tour.
Tournaments in bold denotes major tournaments in LET.
1 Shin's $24,349 earnings at the 2009 Honda LPGA Thailand were considered unofficial under LPGA rules and are not included in this total.
* Includes matchplay and other events without a cut.
