So Yeon Ryu Prepares To Wave Goodbye To Her Pro Career At This Week's Chevron Championship

Two-time Major winner So Yeon Ryu is preparing for her final tournament as a professional golfer at this week's Chevron Championship.

After turning professional as a 17-year-old in 2007 following a gold medal in the individual and team events at the 2006 Asian Games, the now 33-year-old revealed on social media last month that she would be retiring, describing it as "one of the most significant decisions" of her life.

"I am so grateful that I could do what I loved to do, day in and day out, and even make a career out of it," she said. "I am not going to lie; I had some hard patches, but despite some of the challenges, I truly enjoyed it all."

The first Major of the season will mark the last chapter of a remarkable 17-year career in which the South Korean has claimed 20 professional wins - including four regular LPGA Tour titles and 10 LPGA of Korea Tour victories.

Ryu is set to tee off in a group of former Chevron champions which includes Patty Tavatanakit - the 2021 winner - and Jin Young Ko - the 2019 victor - at 8:10am CDT (2:10pm GMT) in the first round on Thursday.

The 2017 Chevron winner is not expected to bow out with a final success, however - at least according to bookmakers. While Nelly Korda is the heavy favorite to land a fifth successive LPGA Tour title and a second Major success of her career at +500, Ryu is out at between +25000 and +40000.

Ryu - who spent 19 weeks atop the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings between June and November 2017 - has struggled at this tournament since 2017, missing the cut last season and managing a best result of T39 otherwise, which arrived in 2019.

Should she pull off a memorable finale, Ryu could be the latest player to jump into the body of water next to the 18th green - formerly known as Poppie's Pond at the Mission Hills site - with anti-alligator netting and an extended dock having been added since the competition moved to The Club at Carlton Woods in 2023.

Lilia Vu is the current holder of the Chevron Championship and will be hoping to add a third Major to the two that she picked up last year.