Ji Yain Shin: First Time LPGA Winner?

Ji Yai Shin won for the fourth time on the LPGA Tour yesterday with her two-stroke triumph at the HSBC Women's Champions.  She won three times last season - the Women's British Open, Mizuno Classic, and ADT Championship.  But, since she was not an official member of the LPGA Tour until she was given membership rights this season, the LPGA Tour considers this her maiden victory.

This is a goofy distinction.  If you win on the Tour, then you win on the Tour.  It doesn't matter if you're a member or not.  I drank a whole heck of a lot of beer this weekend at a bar crawl in the nation's capital.  No one can take that away from me because I'm not in some kind of gross binge-drinking league.

Luckily, there is precedent for Shin's wins counting toward the World Golf Hall of Fame.  Hound Dog explains:

Laura Davies' bio page shows 20 career victories, which includes her 1987 U.S. Open title won before she became a member.  Add in the bonus points for that U.S. Open win, her 1994 and '96 LPGA Championships, the 1996 du Maurier and her 1996 Rolex Player of the Year award.  That makes the 25 points that leave Laura two shy of HOF induction, which we've heard about many, many times over the last few years.  Obviously Davies' 1987 Open title counts in her point total and in her career victory total.  That's why Ji-Yai Shin now has five HOF points and four career wins, no matter how "unofficial" those 2008 victories are to somebody in the Tour office.

So, Shin has 27 wins worldwide.  Four count for the Hall of Fame.  Yikes.