Shin Ji-ae secured a permanent exemption on the JLPGA Tour after recording her 30th career victory. She also became the first player in Japanese women's golf history to complete a career Grand Slam across the tour's four major championships.
Shin shot a 4-under-par final-round 66 with five birdies and one bogey at the Japan Women's Open Golf Championship at Takarazuka Golf Club in Hyogo Prefecture on Sunday. The tournament carried a total purse of about $951,000.
Shin finished at 11-under 269 to force a playoff with Shiho Kuwaki of Japan, this year's AIG Women's Open champion on the LPGA Tour. Shin made birdie on the third playoff hole to beat Kuwaki, who made par, and collected about $190,000 in prize money.
The victory, her first in one year and five months, came in Shin's 336th JLPGA Tour event and gave her the 30 career wins required for a permanent exemption. She became the seventh player in JLPGA history to reach the mark and the second foreign player after Taiwan's Tu Ai-yu, who recorded 58 victories.
Shin also completed the JLPGA career Grand Slam by adding the Japan Women's Open to her victories at the World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup in 2018 and 2025, the JLPGA Championship in 2018 and the JLPGA Tour Championship Ricoh Cup in 2015 and 2018.
Shin, who reached No. 1 in the world rankings in 2010, competed on the LPGA Tour before moving to Japan, where she has played for more than a decade. She is the JLPGA Tour's career prize-money leader with about $9.76 million.
"I'm happy to prove that I'm still a player capable of winning," Shin said. "It's thanks to the experience I've built up and all the practice I've put in."
(This article was produced with the assistance of AI. — Ed.)
