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In two languages, Hanule Sky Seo kept a singular concept in mind during Sunday’s Lotte Championship qualifier at Ko Olina Golf Club — patience.
“That’s the word I kept saying to myself walking down the fairway,” Seo said.
The repetitions in both English and Korean helped Seo maintain her focus in a round of 3-under-par 69 to earn medalist honors and a spot in her second LPGA Tour event.
Eun Jeong Seong, a decorated 17-year-old amateur from Korea, carded a 71 to finish second in the 24-player qualifier and also secured a tee time in the first round on Wednesday at Ko Olina.
Seo attempted to qualify for last year’s Lotte Championship, but finished well back with a 76. The 26-year-old returned to Hawaii with a calmer approach the second time around.
“Last year … it was my first year full-time just playing golf and I think I put a bit too much pressure on myself,” Seo said.
“I think just being more prepared and trying not to go for every birdie on every hole really helped.”
Still a Korean citizen, Seo played collegiate golf at Penn State and Oregon and is now based in Las Vegas, where she worked as a lighting designer for three years before deciding to give golf her full-time attention.
“They were very supportive of me turning pro and playing golf,” Seo said. “They said come back any time, but only if you’re done with golf.”
Working with coach Jerry Roberts, a Las Vegas Golf Hall of Famer, Seo qualified for the Yokohama Tire Classic last year and earned another opportunity in an LPGA event on Sunday.
She was 5 under through 14 holes then bogeyed the next two. She steadied herself with a par on No. 17 before leaving herself with a 190-yard second shot on the par-4 18th. She pulled her 3-wood a tad, but stayed out of the pond fronting the green.
“I had a really hard chip shot on the left side. I said, ‘up and down that’s all you need,’ ” said Seo, who credited caddie Alex Cromer, who once worked at Ko Olina, with helping her navigate the West Oahu winds.
The delicate chip across the green settled about 3 feet above the hole to set up a closing par. But she’d have to stay patient a while longer with three groups yet to finish and went to the driving range to stay loose in case of a playoff.
But none of the nine remaining players went under par, allowing Seo and Seong to being preparing in earnest for Wednesday’s opening round.
Seong won the U.S. Women’s Amateur and U.S. Girls’ Junior titles last year and will make her third start in an LPGA event this season after playing in the Kia Classic and ANA Inspiration, where she recorded a hole-in-one in the opening round of the year’s first major.
Alice Kim, a University High graduate, carded a 73 to lead the group of five players with local ties entered in the qualifier. For Karissa Kilby, a 14-year-old eighth grader at St. Andrew’s Priory, the experience of playing in the qualifier was its own reward.
“It’s really great just playing with a lot of people who have so much more experience than me,” Kilby said after her round of 85. “I know it’s good I was even in this. I couldn’t have expected much. I’m just happy I got to play here.”
Minjee Lee returns as the tournament’s defending champion in a field that features the top three players in the Rolex World Golf Rankings — Lydia Ko, So Yeon Ryu and Ariya Jutanugarn — and 2014 champion Michelle Wie.
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