Kim Min-sol eyes early money title as rival Seo Gyo-rim sits out with injury

Kim Min-sol (20) is pushing for an early clinch of the KLPGA Tour money title after rival Seo Gyo-rim (20) withdrew from this week's tournament with a rib injury, opening the door for Kim to wrap up the season's top prize ahead of schedule.

Kim tees off Thursday at the 20th S-OIL Championship, a four-day event at Elysian Jeju Country Club in Jeju (par 72, 6,924 yards), with a purse of 1 billion won ($756,000). The tournament is one of only two remaining on the KLPGA Tour schedule this season.

Kim, who has three wins this season, leads the money list with 1.59 billion won. Seo, who has four wins, sits second with 1.41 billion won — a gap of 176.86 million won.

Seo pulled out of the tournament citing pain in her right rib. She had already withdrawn after the first round of the Iceberg Golf·Seoul Shinmun Open and was unable to play the final round of the LPGA Tour's BMW Ladies Championship.

Crowning, Seo's management agency, said Tuesday that she "decided not to participate in order to be in perfect condition for the season finale," adding that she plans "to focus on rest and recovery during the remaining period."

A win for Kim would add 180 million won to her season earnings, bringing her total to 1.77 billion won. Even if Seo wins the season finale, the Daebo Housedie Championship, and collects 300 million won in prize money, she would still be unable to catch Kim — securing the money title for Kim.

Kim has already broken the KLPGA Tour record for the most prize money earned in a single season. The previous record of 1.52 billion won was set by Park Min-ji in 2021. A solo 20th-place finish or better this week would make Kim the first player in tour history to surpass 1.6 billion won in a single season.

Kim also clinched the rookie of the year award well ahead of schedule. She leads the rookie points standings with 2,608 points, ahead of second-place Kim Ga-hee 2 (1,378 points) by a margin of 1,230 points. Rookie points are awarded on a sliding scale based on a tournament's total purse and final standings, with first-place finishes worth between 150 and 310 points depending on the purse size. Even if Kim Ga-hee 2 wins both remaining tournaments, she cannot close the gap.

Kim is also chasing Seo in the wins and player of the year standings. Seo leads in all three categories — four wins, 563 player-of-the-year points and a stroke average of 70.6405. Kim sits second in each: three wins, 525 points and a 70.7895 average.

A win this week would pull Kim level with Seo at four victories, push her player-of-the-year points to 595 to take the lead, and set a new KLPGA Tour record for the most wins by a rookie in a single season.

Kim is also in strong form. She finished tied for fourth at the BMW Ladies Championship, which ended Sunday, posting the best result among the 15 KLPGA Tour members in the field.

"I'm just grateful to still be competing for major titles this late in the season," Kim said. "Rather than thinking too much about records or titles, I want to focus on my own game."

Defending champion Ko Ji-won (22) is bidding for back-to-back titles and her second win of the season. A Jeju native, Ko won twice last year in tournaments held in her home province. Ma Seo-young (23), who claimed her first career victory at the previous event, the Iceberg Golf·Seoul Shinmun Open, is looking to win in consecutive weeks.