Ku Ok-hee, a first-generation Korean female golfer, died in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, Wednesday. She was 57.
A local news media reported that she had died of a sudden heart attack while playing at a country club in the prefecture.
Ku turned pro in 1978 and moved to Japan in 1983. She won 23 times on the LPGA of Japan Tour between 1985 and 2005.
On the LPGA Tour, she won once in 1988 at the Standard Register Classic. It was the first win on the LPGA Tour for a Korean.
She was also the first golfer inducted to the Korea LPGA Hall of Fame in 2004.
She served as vice president of the KLPGA from 1994 to 2011 and then president from 2011 to 2012.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
