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| Updated: February, 2024 |
Q BAEK |
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The Facts |
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Korean
Name: Kyu Jung Baek |
| Capsule Bio |
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As a young teenager, Kyu Jung Baek was a member of the Korean National team, a contemporary of stars like Hyo Joo Kim, In Gee Chun and Min Sun Kim. She teamed with Hyo Joo Kim and Min Sun Kim to win the 2012 Espirito Santo World Women's Amateur Team Championship for Korea, and also notched a third place finish at the Queen Sirikit Cup that year. Baek turned pro in 2013 and played on the minor league Dream Tour. She won twice there, then won two more minor league events besides, to finish 4th on the Dream Tour money list and qualify herself for the KLPGA in 2014. Beak had several highlights in 2013 when playing on the big tour. Her best moment came at the 2013 Korean Women's Open. She led after three rounds and played in the final group with her old national teammates Chun and Hyo Joo Kim. In the end, Chun won the event, Kim won Rookie of the Year, but Baek came away with a third place finish, and established herself as a name to watch. Her other 2013 highlight came in her last event of the year, the Swinging Skirts. In a field packed with top players, Baek finished tied for 4th with Hyo Joo Kim. The only three players who beat her were all top five in the world rankings. Baek played brilliantly in her rookie season on the KLPGA. She won her first event in just her fourth start at the Nexen Saint Nine Ladies Masters, and won her second event not long after that at the Lotte Cantata Ladies Open. In the Autumn, Baek won her first Major at the KLPGA Championship. She was the first KLPGA rookie to win three times in her first season since Jiyai Shin in 2006. Despite three wins, however, she found herself embroiled in a fantastic battle for Rookie of the Year with fellow teenagers Jin Young Ko and Min Sun Kim. Even as late as the year's final Major, she was exactly tied with Ko and barely ahead of Kim. It took until the final two events of the season for Baek to finally put them away and secure the Rookie of the Year. She wound up making 610 million won in 2014, placing her fifth on the year ending money list. She had 13 top tens on the season. However, the undisputed highlight of her season came not on the KLPGA but the LPGA. At the LPGA's annual event in South Korea, the KEB Hana Bank Championship, Baek, playing her first ever LPGA tournament, grabbed a share of the third round lead. She struggled on the front nine on Sunday, but on the back made five straight birdies to climb back into a share of the lead. She missed a birdie chance to win on the final hole and seemed devastated; but she regrouped and striped her wedge to a few feet in the playoff, making the birdie to win the title and her LPGA card. Kyu Jung took the nickname 'Q' when she joined the LPGA in 2015. She managed to keep her tour card, but did not have quite the rookie season she was hoping to have. She had 7 top 20s, but also missed 6 cuts. She only once finished within the top ten, at the Marathon Classic, where she duked it out with fellow rookie Ha Na Jang on Sunday before fading to a tie for 5th. Jang lost the playoff to Korean star Chella Choi. In the end, Q Baek finished 57th on the money list, maintaining her tour card and gaining top status for 2016. She wound up 8th in the ultra-competitive Rookie of the Year race. 2016 started out well for Kyu Jung. She shot a 65 in her very first round at the Honda Thailand, and finished just outside the top ten in 11th place. Alas, that was also the best round and best tournament of the season for her. For much of the rest of the year, she struggled, only occasionally surfacing on a leaderboard. She only had one other top twenty, a 16th at the Meijier LPGA Ladies Classic. She finished 90th on the money list, dropping her priority to category 11 for 2017. Baek returned to the Korean tour in 2017, but had a terrible time of it. She finished 111th on the money list, and not only missed a lot of cuts, she frequently found herself near the bottom of the leaderboard. She had a 9th and 17th early in the year, but after that did not finish better than 54th and missed all but two cuts. Baek continued her horrendous struggles in 2018. She started the year missing five straight cuts and missed a depressing 22 total cuts all season. She showed a glimpse of life at the end, making three straight cuts, including a tie for 12th, but her money total was only 14 million won, 110th on the money list. Fortunately, she finished 34th at KLPGA Q School and maintained her tour card for 2019. Baek had a better 2019 season on the KLPGA, but still struggled to maintain her tour card. She finished 81st on the money list with 64 million won earned. Her best finish was a 9th at her sponsor's event, the SK Networks Classic. She missed 8 cuts, a decided improvement over 2018. Baek returned to the Dream Tour in 2020, and stayed there through 2023. In 2021, she played a few KLPGA events, but didn't make the cut in any of them. Q Baek appeared in a couple of events in 2023. She missed the cut at the Hana Bank. She also teamed with Shin Ae Ahn to play at the Simone Cup in December, finishing near the bottom on the leaderboard in the individual and team standings. |