An official at Next Creative, Park's management agency, said on the 21st, "Park Hyun-kyung applied for JLPGA Tour membership and recently received approval. Next year, she plans to play on both the Korean and Japanese tours. After this season, we will set out detailed plans for next year's schedule following in-depth discussions with her sponsor."
Park, an eight-time winner on the Korea LPGA (KLPGA) Tour, was invited to and won the JLPGA Tour's Earth Mondamin Cup this June, collecting more than 600 million won in prize money. Because the one-year tour card she received as a winner's benefit would have expired if she did not apply by the membership deadline, Park's application was a natural next step. Japanese media reported that the JLPGA board approved Park's membership application on the 18th of this month.
The JLPGA Tour this season features 37 events with a total purse of about 42.6 billion won. It is a larger market than the KLPGA Tour, which has 29 events and about 33 billion won.
Park plans to play about two more JLPGA Tour events this fall, but her official debut will be next year. Japan operates a re-ranking system that adjusts entry priority for later events based on early-season results. To play in more events, early-season results matter. However, since Park will debut on the JLPGA with a winner's card, she is not subject to the re-ranking system, so she does not need to focus on Japanese events early in the season. She can set her schedule by weighing KLPGA Tour and JLPGA event dates.
The Next Creative official said, "Her main sponsorship contract with the domestic sponsor runs through the end of next year, and above all, for the sake of the domestic fans who give her generous support on and off the course, she plans to play KLPGA Tour events as often as possible," adding, "Her father, Park Se-su, is expected to continue as her caddie even when she plays on the Japanese tour."
Meanwhile, Japanese media are calling Park "the second Lee Bo-mi." Lee, a 21-time JLPGA Tour winner, sparked the "Bomi-chan syndrome" with her skill and bright smile. The local reaction is that Park too has high marketability. In fact, a Japanese company has reportedly proposed a sub-sponsorship deal, with an official contract expected as early as this fall.
