Lee Jeong-min, 34, a winner of 11 titles on the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour, has left the course for good. Lee held a retirement press conference at the H1 Club in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, bringing her professional playing career to a close. Since making her KLPGA Tour debut in 2010, she earned the nickname "the seeker of the fairways" for her habit of studying the fundamentals of golf rather than fixating on beating her rivals. That persistent inquiry translated into substantial records. Viewed through the data, her 17-year professional career was a run of consistency and milestone marks.
According to the KLPGA on the 22nd, the 11 trophies Lee collected after her 2010 debut traced a significant arc through tour history. She won her first title in her rookie year at the 2010 Doosan Match Play Championship, then enjoyed her peak with one win in 2012, two in 2014 and three in 2015. She added titles in 2016, 2021 and 2022, and in 2024 lifted her 11th and final trophy at the major Chris F&C 46th KLPGA Championship. Her 11 career wins put her in a tie for eighth on the all-time victory list, alongside Korean women's golf legends such as Kim Mi-hyun, Seo Hee-kyung and Ko Jin-young.
Her 2024 KLPGA Championship victory at Lakewood Country Club was particularly notable: she finished at 23-under-par 265, tying the KLPGA Tour record at the time for the lowest 72-hole score. Lee also showed an unusual affinity for the Lakewood course at the 2015 YTN-Volvik Women's Open there, where she made birdies on six consecutive holes, tied for eighth on the tour's all-time list.
Lee's consistency also shows up in her prize money and appearances. Her career earnings totaled 4.59987 billion won ($3.2 million), eighth all time. Including the Dream Tour, she played 400 tournaments on Korea's professional circuits, and her more than 380 starts on the regular tour alone rank second all time in career appearances, behind An Song-yi's 414. She also made more than 260 cuts, tied for seventh on the all-time list for most cuts made.
Another signature feature of Lee's career was the hole-in-one. Tied for second on the all-time list for career hole-in-ones with four, she delivered the decisive shot at some of the tour's biggest events. At the 2018 Hanwha Classic she won a Range Rover Velar, and at the 2024 KLPGA Championship a Mercedes-Benz EQB, as hole-in-one prizes. She recorded her fourth career ace at the 2025 Nexen-Saintnine Masters, leaving a lasting impression on fans.
Even for a player as consistent as Lee, the moment to retire arrived. She decided to step away after injuring the cartilage in her left wrist in the second half of 2024, the year of her final victory. Last year she played 24 tournaments, making the cut in nine without a top-10 finish, and this season she entered 17 events and made six cuts. Her regular tour card runs through next year, but Lee chose to leave the course she loved to the applause of fans, without regret, and prepare for the second act of her life.
At her retirement press conference, Lee reflected on her career. "As a player, I'd give my career a score of 1,000 out of 100," she said. "For a while I want to live like someone without a job and empty myself out. If I keep emptying, I think I'll be filled up again." She has no golf-related plans for now, but having earned a ski instructor's certificate earlier this year, she offered her characteristically calm smile and said, "I'm waiting for it to get cold so I can head to the slopes."
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