THE WOODLANDS, Texas – Lurking on a stacked leaderboard just outside the top 10 at the 2025 Chevron Championship sits three-time major winner In Gee Chun.
As golf fans continue to revel in Rory McIlroy’s career grand slam achievement, South Korea’s Chun could follow in his footsteps this Sunday in steamy Texas and is surprisingly well under the radar.
“After I won the KPMG, it was my goal,” said Chun of her 2022 Women’s PGA triumph at Congressional Country Club. The thoughtful Chun then added, “I always believe it means a lot for me, but at the same time, it can’t change anything at the end of my life.”
Chun, 30, broke through with her first major championship before she even joined the tour with her 2015 U.S. Women’s Open victory at Lancaster Country Club. She followed it with a second major title at the Amundi Evian one year later. Incredibly, three of her four LPGA titles are major championships.
Chun, who is currently three back at the Chevron, was on a plane when McIlroy won the Masters Tournament but her manager sent her a video clip.
LPGA has five majors but four major wins equals grand slam
While the LPGA has five major championships, the tour recognizes a player as having achieved the career grand slam after winning four different titles.
“They said if you make four out of five, it’s still the career grand slam,” said Chun, “but, always, if you make more, it’s even more happier.”
Chun has battled a number of health issues over the years and has taken breaks to heal both body and mind.
Last year she took extended time off after missing the cut at U.S. Women’s Open at her beloved Lancaster and didn’t play on the LPGA for the remainder of the season.
While home in South Korea, Chun reached out to former LPGA player Song-Hee Kim, who opened her own teaching studio last year in Seoul.
“Before we started winter training,” said Chun, “we talked a lot and we agreed that good rest is first before we start together.”
Kim, 36, won five times on what’s now the Epson Tour before joining the LPGA in 2007. A neck injury and the driver yips kept her from fulfilling her potential, but the hardships drove her to want to learn more as an instructor. In 2020, Kim was working with Mirim Lee when she won the ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage, California. In addition to Chun, currently working with longtime LPGA player Jennifer Song and several other KLPGA players.
Chun had a two-way miss when she came to Kim last year, and they endeavored to make things simpler.
“She gave me a lot of confidence,” said Chun, who’d worked with Won Park since the age of 16. Park, a longtime mentor, is still part of her team, but it’s Kim who’s on the ground this week in Texas.
There are seven players with the LPGA grand slam
The LPGA recognizes seven players as having won the career grand slam, with Louise Suggs (1957) becoming the first and Inbee Park (2015) the most recent. Mickey Wright (962), Pat Bradley (1986), Juli Inkster (1999), Karrie Webb (2001) and Annika Sorenstam (2003) round out the impressive group.
Chun is one of four active players still chasing the slam, along with Lydia Ko, Anna Nordqvist and Yani Tseng.
The ever-elegant Chun is taking the chase in stride.
“I always believe if I think too much,” she said, “then it’s not good.”
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