Minji Kang is a late-blooming golfer who gave up the KLPGA to pursue a challenge on the American LPGA stage.
After earning her LPGA Tour card through the Epson Tour in 2023 and making her debut in 2024, she failed to adapt to the tour and suffered the pain of dropping back to the second-tier tour again in 2025.
After regrouping on the 2025 Epson Tour, Minji Kang returned and is on an upward trajectory, recording her first career top-10 finish with a tie for 9th at the 2026 season’s Riviera Maya Open.
She is an LPGA golfer who made a surprise showing at the major stage of the US Women’s Open, making a strong impression on golf fans.
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Golf Minji Kang Bio
She was born in 1999 in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do, and began playing golf in the first year of middle school. Around the age of 10, she briefly tried golf but quit because she did not find it interesting, then picked up the clubs again at the end of her first year of middle school and began serious training.
Her development lagged behind her peers because she started late, but while attending Yongin University, she was selected for the national representative reserve team, earning recognition for her skills. During her high school years she decided to become a tour professional, and while balancing academics and golf at Yongin University, she gradually made a name for herself on the amateur stage, including winning the National University Golf Championships.
At a time when her peers were knocking on the door of the professional stage, in late 2020 her coach Jo Byeong-cheol — who had guided her since her junior days — decided to emigrate to the United States, and she impulsively followed her mentor abroad to begin her LPGA challenge. Having attended an international school in elementary school, she had no fear of English, but continuing both her studies and her athletic career in an unfamiliar country was by no means easy.
Thinking that gaining diverse experience on American courses would make her LPGA Tour challenge smoother, she moved from hotel to hotel, eating meals she bought at Korean grocery stores as she pursued her dream on the American women’s golf stage. After enrolling in 2021 at Truett McConnell University in the state of Georgia, she rose to NAIA ranking No. 1, proving her potential on the college golf scene.
In the spring of 2022 she won the NAIA Women’s Golf National Championship, and in June of the same year she also won the 93rd Georgia Women’s Amateur Championship. She came from 2 strokes behind in the final round to achieve a remarkable come-from-behind victory. Immediately after winning, she shared her thoughts: “Honestly I was very nervous today, but I tried to play my own game.”
Having proven herself on the college stage, she challenged the LPGA second-tier tour Qualifying School (QT) in 2022, finishing 33rd to secure her 2023 Epson Tour card. On the 2023 Epson Tour, she competed in 22 events, made 20 cuts, recorded a runner-up finish at the Hartford HealthCare Women’s Championship after a 7-hole playoff, and made 8 top-10 finishes.
She ranked 2nd on tour in number of birdies and under-par rounds, 4th in scoring average, and 4th in driving accuracy, finishing 5th on the money list ($112,342) to earn full LPGA Tour membership for the 2024 season. In the 2024 LPGA Tour season she had entered ambitiously, she competed in 19 events with 8 cuts made, and her best result was a tie for 19th at the CPKC Women’s Open, failing to keep her card.
She then competed on the 2025 Epson Tour in 20 events, making 19 cuts, recording 9 top-10 finishes, and finishing 9th on the money list ($111,548) to reclaim her 2026 LPGA Tour card. After a slow start to the 2026 season, at the Riviera Maya Open she just made the cut, then in the third round made 3 birdies with no bogeys to rise to a tie for 21st, and in the final round carded a bogey-free 4-under-par 68 to achieve her first top-10 on the LPGA Tour, finishing tied for 9th.
After the Riviera Maya Open, she climbed to 295th in the Women’s World Golf Rankings, marking her first entry into the world top 300. The momentum continued through the US Women’s Open, where she maintained under-par scoring as many players were posting over par in strong winds, proving her ability while competing for the lead.
Her driver distance is around 260 yards, which places her outside the top 100 in driving distance on an LPGA stage filled with big hitters, but her fairway hit rate is in the upper tier of the tour. Her greens in regulation and putting are in the lower-middle tier of the tour, making it a struggle to reduce her score, but as she gains experience her course management continues to improve, and she is gradually making her mark on the leaderboard by not letting eagle opportunities slip by.
Her low round is the 65 she recorded at the 2024 Mizuho Americas Open. On a side note, her hobbies are watching baseball and singing, and she has said that if she were not a golfer, she would have become a physical education teacher or a pianist.
Minji Kang’s Awards and Career
※ Amateur Victory History
- 2019 — Hwaseong Mayor’s Cup victory
- 2020 — National University Golf Championships victory
- 2020 — President’s Cup University Golf Club victory
- 2021 — NAIA Women’s Individual Championship victory
- 2022 — NAIA Women’s Golf National Championship victory
- 2022 — Georgia Women’s Amateur Championship (93rd edition) victory
※ Awards History
- 2021–2022 — NAIA Freshman of the Year
- 2021–2022 — NAIA WGCA National Freshman of the Year
- 2021–2022 — NAIA PING WGCA National Player of the Year
- 2021–2022 — NAIA Player of the Year
- 2022 — AAC (All-American Conference) Player of the Year
- 2022 — AAC All-First Team selection
- 2022 — First women’s golf All-American in Truett McConnell University history
※ Career
- 2022 — Earned 2023 Epson Tour card by finishing 33rd at LPGA 2nd-tier Epson Tour QT
- 2023 — Epson Tour: 22 events, 20 cuts made, 8 top-10 finishes, 5th on season money list ($112,342)
- 2023 — Epson Tour Hartford HealthCare Women’s Championship runner-up (lost in 7-hole playoff)
- 2024 — Competed in 2024 LPGA Tour season (19 events, 8 cuts made, season prize money $93,388)
- 2025 — Epson Tour: 20 events, 19 cuts made, 9 top-10 finishes, 9th on money list ($111,548)
- 2025 — Epson Tour IOA Golf Classic runner-up
- 2025 — Regained 2026 LPGA Tour card by finishing 9th on Epson Tour money list
- 2026 — LPGA Tour Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba tied for 9th (first LPGA top-10 of career)
- 2026 — Women’s World Golf Ranking 295th (first entry into world top 300, as of May 2026)
- LPGA Tour career victories: 0
- LPGA Tour all-time best result:
- 2026 — Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba tied for 9th
Minji Kang WITB
- Driver — Callaway Elyte (10.5°) / Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana WB 53 R
- 3-Wood — Callaway Elyte HL (16.5°) / Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 6 R
- 7-Wood — Callaway Elyte (21°) / Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 6 R
- Utility Iron — Srixon ZX Utility (23°) / Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue HB 7 R
- Irons — Callaway X Forged (5–PW) / Shaft: AeroTech SteelFiber i80
- Wedges — Callaway Opus (52-10S, 56-10C, 60-06T) / Shaft: Nippon N.S. Pro 950 GH
- Putter — Odyssey Ai-One Cruiser Square 2 Square #7
- Grip — Golf Pride MCC
※ Club setup may vary by tournament; she also alternates with PXG clubs.
LPGA Minji Kang’s Schedule
- 2026 US Women’s Open winner’s prize money: $2,400,000 — Total purse: $12,000,000
At 27 years of age, her cumulative Epson Tour earnings exceed her LPGA earnings, and she is still very much a prospect. Because her putting and iron play remain inconsistent, she has been struggling to reduce her scores and has not been posting strong results. However, she is a player who challenges the LPGA stage with her own brand of golf — slow but steady in protecting her score.
Golf Minji Kang Profile
- English : Minji Kang / Korean 강민지
- Date of birth: 1999 (Age 27)
- Hometown: Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do / Nationality: South Korea
- Education: Yongin University (graduated), Truett McConnell University (Georgia, USA)
- Height: 165 cm / Weight: — / Blood type: — / MBTI: ESFJ
- Agency: PXG
- Debut year: 2023 (Epson Tour), 2024 (LPGA Tour)
- Family: Father —, Mother —, Marital status: Single
- SNS: Instagram
- References: Wikipedia —
