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Luggage-Gate behind her, golf is fun for In Gee Chun again

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As Ron Montesano detailed in Tour Mash, In Gee Chun won the Evian Championship in record-breaking fashion. A wire-to-wire victor at 21-under par, Chun broke the previous major scoring record by two strokes.

Of course, for those not attuned to the weekly events on the LPGA Tour, Chun was best know this season for her involvement with Luggage-Gate earlier this year, when Ha Na Jang’s father lost control of a suitcase at the top of an airport escalator and the luggage wiped out Chun, who was near the bottom of the moving stairs.

Na and Chun are both South Koreans, and the in-country media had a field day with the story. Chun, for her part, dealt with a back injury following the incident, and there didn’t seem to be any love lost between the competitors.

Fast-forward to Chun’s post-win press conference, and it’s no surprise Luggage-Gate came up. Chun had some interesting things to say about the resultant injury, indicating it wasn’t something she felt she could talk about much because she didn’t want to stoke the fires of a media firestorm by discussing the suitcase-induced injury.

“Due to all the fan support and fans’ also criticism about that issue, too much criticism of it, I just couldn’t even think about my injury at all because it’s just going to flare up more and more. So I just had to keep it quiet inside, but I had to go through all those hard times, not being able to mention anything about my injury and my hurt and pain.”

She also indicated that it was particularly troubling to be expected to play well (which she didn’t in the wake of the accident), and not be able to fully let on the extent of her injury. Chun said further that cold weather still aggravates her back.

“So when the weather situation is not good, especially when it’s very chilly, the pain seemed to come back…When I went to the cold places, I didn’t feel very well, and my game seemed to disappear real quick. But that’s also what happened at the U.S. Women’s Open.”

Interestingly, Chun said the Olympics, where she finished 30th competing for South Korea, were a turning point in her post-Luggage-Gate career.

I got my passion back at the Olympics. Golf had become fun.”

With two top-10 finishes and a major victory since Rio, it’s no surprise the game is again enjoyable for the two-time LPGA Tour winner.

Ben Alberstadt is the Editor-in-Chief at GolfWRX, where he’s led editorial direction and gear coverage since 2018. He first joined the site as a freelance writer in 2012 after years spent working in pro shops and bag rooms at both public and private golf courses, experiences that laid the foundation for his deep knowledge of equipment and all facets of this maddening game. Based in Philadelphia, Ben’s byline has also appeared on PGATour.com, Bleacher Report...and across numerous PGA DFS and fantasy golf platforms. Off the course, Ben is a committed cat rescuer and, of course, a passionate Philadelphia sports fan. Follow him on Instagram @benalberstadt.

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Ron

    Sep 20, 2016 at 9:13 pm

    Men’s major are still the most fun to watch, Masters and The Open anyway, but week in and week out the LPGA is more fun for me to follow along with because all of their star players show up for almost every event.
    Having attended some of both in person, the LPGA events are awesome if you like watching ball striking. Not because they swing 118 mph, but because they swing 95 100, and hit it pure TEN FEET from where you’re standing. It’s malpractice not to take junior and high school golfers to watch how they play.

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