| However,
in the second half of 2019, Lim caught fire, charging hard at
top rookie Ayean Cho. She achieved her first win at the High
Won Resorts Women's Open in August. Just a month later she won
again, achieving her second career win before Cho got hers.
However, Cho won her second time the very next week to hold
Lim off. It was clear that the two were staging an epic battle
for top rookie honors.
Lim kept on coming. She won her third event
and first Major at the KB Star Championship. She then surged
into contention at the LPGA's BMW Championship, one of three
rookies in the hunt for the title that week. She wound up
sixth. She finished the season with a second and third, but
despite amassing an incredible 2,532 rookie points, she still
only finished second to Cho for Rookie of the Year.
In all, Lim made more than 875 million won
for the year, good for 4th on the money list. She was sixth
in scoring average and 5th in the Player of the Year race.
She had 12 top tens, which included three wins, a second,
a third and a fourth.
Lim also played for the KLPGA team at the
OrangeLife KLPGA/LPGA tournament. She teamed with Hye Jin
Choi to beat Inbee Park and Danielle Kang 4 & 2, and with
Min Ji Park to crush Lydia Ko and Minjee Lee 5 & 4. She
beat Minjee in the singles 2 & 1. The KLPGA won the event
15 - 9.
Lee started the 2020 season decently, playing
in two LPGA events in Australia. Her best result was a tie
for 34th at the Women's Australian Open.
After that, the world was hit with the Covid19
pandemic. All sports leagues, including the LPGA and KLPGA,
were massively affected by it; many events were canceed or
shifted around the schedule, and fans were forbidden from
attending. The KLPGA resumed action in mid-May, and right
away, Lim made an impact. At the first event, the KLPGA Championship,
she had the lead going into the final round, but stumbled,
allowing her good friend Hyun Kyung Park to claim the title.
Interestingly, Park beat Lim again in a playoff a few months
later for her second career win.
Lim was not able to get a win in 2020, but
she still had a solid sophomore season. She finished 8th on
the money list with 526 million won earned. She earned nine
top tens, including two seconds and three thirds. She also
got a chance to play in her first career LPGA Major, the US
Women's Open, in December, but she missed the cut.
Lim also played at the annual KLPGA/LPGA team
competition, the OrangeLife Champions Trophy. She teamed with
So Young Lee to beat So Yeon Ryu and Seon Woo Bae 2 &
1. In singles, she beat Jeongeun Lee6 2 & 1. The KLPGA
won the event 10.5 - 7.5.
Lim had a fantastic 2021 season, elevating
herself to one of the very best players on tour. She finished
second on the tour money list, finishing just a hair under
a billion won at 991 million total. She finally broke through
with a win, her first since 2019, at the High One Resort Open.
What made her so formidable is that she contended over and
over besides that win. She had three additional runner up
results, plus three thirds and three more fourths. She had
15 total top tens. She was second in Player of the Year points
and third in scoring average; she even won the fan-selected
award for Most Poular Player!
Hee Jeong's most impressive achievement in
2021 came at the LPGA's BMW Championship in the Fall. Through
three rounds, against a field including a bunch of top stars
including Jin Young Ko, Lim had established a four stroke
lead. She had missed just one fairway to that point and had
made no bogies. Ko came hard at her in the final round and
caught her by the turn, but Lim fought back, recapturing the
lead and forcing Ko into her first career playoff on the LPGA.
On the first playoff hole, Ko striped an approach to three
feet and won, denying Lim her LPGA tour card. But in 73 holes,
Lim had gone bogey free, shot 22 under par, and missed just
two fairways. It was one of the greatest losing efforts in
LPGA history; it took the number one player in the world playing
at her best to prevent Lim from earning her LPGA membership.
Lim had another superlative season on the
KLPGA in 2022. She earned about 750 million won, fifth on
the money list. She only had one win all year, but it came
at the tour's most important event, the Korea Women's Open.
There she was unstoppable, gaining a six-shot lead heading
into the final day and cruising to an easy six-shot victory.
She had eight other top tens. In addition, she was again chosen
as the Most Popular player on tour by the fans.
Hee Jeong has been talking about going over
to the LPGA, and so she played a few events to see how she
stacked up. In March of 2022, Lim finished 32nd at the JTBC
Classic on the LPGA; but she missed the cut at the Chevron
Championship, the tour's first Major of the year, the following
week. In February of 2023, she played at the LET's Saudi Ladies
International, where she finished tied for 14th.
Lim had had a car accident in April, 2022
that had affected her season that year. In 2023, she struggled
to return to form. She did not win that year and earned 383
million won, 28th on the money list. This was her weakest
year since turning pro, with 7 total top tens and a sole second
place with no thirds. But she does seem on the path back,
and hopefully 2024 will be a better year for her.
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