Since the rise of Se-ri Pak in the late 1990’s, there has been a steady stream of LPGA superstars from The Republic of Korea. Greats like Inbee Park, In Gee Chun, Sung Hyun Park, Jin Young Ko and many more have defined the LPGA Tour for almost 30 years. It feels safe to now say that Haeran Ryu is next in line.
Ryu is already so accomplished at 23-years-old. She is a five-time winner on the LPGA of Korea Tour. She won the 2023 LPGA Rookie of the Year and has two wins in two seasons. When you dig deeper into Ryu’s play though, the story gets a lot more interesting.
In 2024 Ryu made 26 starts, making the cut in 23 of those and finishing top 10 in a startling 13 events. Ryu finished top five nine times and top three seven times. Ryu was second in greens in regulation percentage, fourth in scoring average, first in birdies, third in sub-par rounds and third in birdie percentage.
So why didn’t she win more? Like with Ayaka Furue, round four was a bit of a struggle at times for Ryu, especially on the greens. Ryu averaged over 31 putts per fourth round, which is startlingly higher than in her other rounds. While Ryu is a below average putter in all rounds, it goes to the next level over the weekends.
Despite her less than stellar putting, Ryu still plays fantastic golf because she is really good everywhere else. Ryu led the LPGA Tour in strokes gained tee-to-green, was second in strokes gained approach and eighth in strokes gained driving. Ryu isn’t just an elite ball striker, she may be the standard on tour now.
Ryu will obviously have to take the next step and win more in 2025 if she wants a shot at winning Player of the Year, but the talent is clearly there.
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