Cho Jeong-min (born 26 November 1994) is a South Korean

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

. As an amateur, she represented New Zealand as Cecilia Cho, and in 2011 became women's world number one in the

World Amateur Golf Ranking The World Amateur Golf Ranking for men was introduced by The R&A, the governing body of the sport of golf outside the United States and Mexico, on 23 January 2007. It is based on the results of over 2,600 amateur tournaments per year (and amateurs ...

. She has won five events on the

LPGA of Korea Tour The LPGA of Korea Tour is a South Korean professional golf tour for Women's sports, women. LPGA stands for Ladies Professional Golf Association. LPGA of Korea runs this tour, not the American LPGA. It is one of the world's five leading women's golf ...

and in 2019 spent 10 weeks in the top 50 of the

Women's World Golf Rankings The Women's World Golf Rankings, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Rolex Rankings, were introduced in February 2006. They are sanctioned by 12 women's golf tours and the organisations behind them: Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPG ...

Early life and amateur career

Cho was born in

Daegu Daegu (; ), formerly spelled Taegu and officially Daegu Metropolitan City (), is a city in southeastern South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; the fourth-largest List of provincial-level ci ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, and moved to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

with her parents and her older brother Taeyoung Cho when she was 8 years old. Within a few years, she became one of the top junior golfers in New Zealand. She won the 2009 New Zealand Women's Amateur, beating the even younger Korean New Zealander

Lydia Ko Dame Lydia Ko (born 24 April 1997) is a New Zealand professional golfer, member of the LPGA Hall of Fame, and the reigning Olympic champion. She first reached number one in the Women's World Golf Rankings on 2 February 2015 at of age, makin ...

in the final. In 2010, Cho lost in the final of the Australian Women's Amateur to Stacey Keating, but won the Australian Women's Amateur Stroke Play Championship, becoming the youngest to ever accomplish that feat. On 9 March 2011 Cho briefly ascended to women's world number one in the

. Her rivalry with Lydia Ko intensified, and Ko claimed the 2011 Australian Stroke Play title by beating Cho on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff. Ko then also beat Cho into second at the New Zealand Stroke Play Championship. Cho and Ko met in the final of the New Zealand Match Play Championship, where once again, Ko triumphed, beating Cho 4 and 3 in the final despite the fact Cho had won the event the two previous years. This allowed Ko to rise to number one in the amateur rankings, knocking Cho down to number two. Cho also appeared in some professional events. She made the cut at the New Zealand Women's Open in 2010 and 2011, and finished 35th at the

Women's Australian Open The Women's Australian Open is a women's professional golf tournament played in Australia, operated by Golf Australia and the WPGA Tour of Australasia, long co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET). Beginning with the 2012 event, it is ...

and tied fifth at the ANZ RACV Ladies Masters in 2011. She was the top finisher of Korean heritage in that year's field. She ended 2011 third in the world amateur rankings, missing out on the Mark H. McCormack Medal to

. Cho played her final event as an amateur in February 2012, finishing tied for 12th at the New Zealand Women's Open.

Professional career

On turning professional, Cho reverted to using her Korean name and sporting nationality and joined the

. She played mostly on the developmental Dream Tour in 2012, where she recorded one win and finished 6th on the money list. Cho played on the KLPGA in 2013. She finished 66th on the money list and played on the Dream Tour again in 2014, but finished 8th at KLPGA Q-School and returned to the KLPGA full time in 2015. On the 2015 KLPGA, she finished 30th on the money list and had one runner-up finish. In 2016, Cho had a breakthrough year on the KLPGA. She registered a surprise victory at the limited field Dalat Championship in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

in March, and followed that up with a full field win at the Caido-MBC Plus Women's Open in July. She also had runner-up finishes at the Nexen-Saintnine Masters and the Hite Jinro Championship, a KLPGA major. She finished 9th on the money list with over 550 million won earned. In 2016, Cho also represented the KLPGA at The Queens team event. She won her singles match against Yukari Nishiyama and a team match against Europe when teamed with

Ko Jin-young Ko Jin-young (;, born 7 July 1995), also known as Jin Young Ko, is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. By age 22 years, she had won 10 times on the LPGA of Korea Tour, was second at the 2015 Ricoh Women's British Ope ...

. On the 2018 KLPGA, she had one win and two runner-up finishes and nearly 500 million won in earnings, for a 9th place on the money list. She also played in two

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

events, with her best finish a tie for 21st at the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship. 2019 was an even stronger season, with two wins and three runner-ups. She earned almost 700 million won for a 7th place on the money list. In 2020, she started to struggle, with a best finish all year of 19th place. She was able to hold on to her KLPGA tour card, but in 2021 she only made 38 million won for a 96th on the money list, and was left without a card for 2022.

Amateur wins

*2009 New Zealand Women's Amateur *2010 New Zealand Women's Amateur, Australian Women's Amateur Stroke Play Championship *2011

Riversdale Cup The Riversdale Cup is the second oldest amateur golf tournament in Australia. It is a Golf Australia national ranking event. The event has been played since 1896 and is organised by and played at the Riversdale Golf Club in Mount Waverley, Victoria. ...

, New Zealand Under 19, Grange Classic Source:

Professional wins (6)

LPGA of Korea Tour wins (5)

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

The Dalat at 1200 Ladies Championship, Caido-MBC Plus Women's Open *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

The 8th Lotte Cantata Ladies Open *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Celltrion Queens Masters, BC Card Hankyung Ladies Cup

WPGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Navigate Advisors Wagga Wagga Women's Pro-Am

Team appearances

Amateur *

Espirito Santo Trophy The Espirito Santo Trophy (World Women's Amateur Team Championships) is a biennial world amateur team golf championship for women organised by the International Golf Federation. The inaugural event was held in 1964. It was instituted by the Fren ...

(representing New Zealand):

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

* Astor Trophy (representing New Zealand): 2011 * Queen Sirikit Cup (representing New Zealand): 2011 Professional * The Queens (representing Korea): 2016 (winners)

References

External links

Cho Jeong-min
at the

KLPGA Tour The LPGA of Korea Tour is a South Korean professional golf tour for women. LPGA stands for Ladies Professional Golf Association. LPGA of Korea runs this tour, not the American LPGA. It is one of the world's five leading women's golf tours. Based o ...

official site *
Profile on Seoul Sisters site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cho, Jeong-min South Korean female golfers New Zealand female golfers LPGA of Korea Tour golfers Sportspeople from Daegu Golfers from Auckland 1994 births Living people 21st-century South Korean sportswomen 21st-century New Zealand sportswomen