Jiyai Shin is the most successful Korean golfer, male or female, of all time with over 60 professional wins and multiple Majors titles. Learn more about her life and career via these facts.
Jiyai Shin Facts
1. Shin was born in Yeonggwang-gun, South Korea on April 28, 1988.
2. She started playing golf at the age of 11.
3. In 2004, at the age of 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.
4. Her nickname is 'Final Round Queen' after proving her prodigious talent for closing out tournaments.
5. Shin is the most successful Korean golfer, male or female, ever as a result of 64 professional victories on six different tours worldwide.
6. Her first win arrived in 2005. While still in high school, Shin lifted the SK Enclean Invitational on the Korean LPGA Tour.
7. Shin turned professional at the end of the 2005 season.
8. In her debut campaign on the KLPGA Tour, she won three times.
9. In 2007, Shin won 10 tournaments from 19 starts on the KLPGA Tour. That year also saw Shin make her Major debut, where she finished sixth at the US Women's Open. She also finished third at the Evian to end the year as World No.8.
10. Shin attended Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. Yonsei is one of the three most prestigious universities in the country's capital.
11. As a 20-year-old in 2008, Shin won the first of her two Women's Open Championships. Her second arrived four years later in 2012 at Royal Liverpool, where she triumphed by a record nine strokes.
12. Shin belongs to an exclusive club as one of only five players to have won the AIG Women's Open more than once.
13. Following her debut year as a member of the LPGA Tour (2009) where Shin won three times, she was presented with a Talent Medal of Korea by the country's President.
14. Shin became World No.1 for the first time on May 3, 2010. In total, she was at the summit for 25 weeks of her career.
15. Shin qualified for the KLPGA Tour's Hall of Fame following her victory at the MetLife-Korea Economics KLPGA Championship - a KLPGA Tour Major - on September 19, 2010. Shin was the third golfer to enter the Hall of Fame after Ok-Hee Ku and Se Ri Pak.
16. Shin gave up her LPGA Tour membership before the start of the 2014 season to be nearer to her family in Korea. After returning to Asia, she won four times on the LPGA of Japan Tour that year.
17. In total, Shin has 11 LPGA Tour victories, 30 LPGA of Japan Tour wins, and 21 LPGA of Korea Tour triumphs.
18. Shin credits her father Jeseop Shin and her coach Hyunjee Chun (a LPGA T&CP Class A member) as the individuals who most influenced her career.
19. She has finished inside the top-five at each of the Majors, aside from the Evian Championship which she has only played twice and managed a best result of T44.
20. Her hobbies include listening to music, watching movies and reading.
