HALF MOON BAY, Calif. -- The trend in the LPGA major championships this year has been one of youth prevailing. And once again, it prevailed in the Ricoh Women’s British Open, which Ji-Yai Shin captured to earn the fourth berth in the 2008 Samsung World Championship.

Shin’s stellar 6-under-par 66 Sunday in the final round of the final LPGA major championship of 2008 gave her a three-shot victory and brought her the fourth invitation to the elite, 20-player event Oct. 1-5 at the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links.

“I’m happy now. I’ve really wanted to play in the Samsung World Championship, just in my dreams, but now it’s a dream come true, now,” Shin said.

The 20-year-old Shin joins 19-year-olds Yani Tseng (LPGA Championship) and Inbee Park (U.S. Women’s Open), along with two-time, defending champion Lorena Ochoa in the exclusive field. All but Ochoa will make their debuts this year in one of the hardest LPGA events to qualify for every year.

Ochoa earned her spot under five qualification criteria: defending champion, Rolex Player of the Year, the leading money winner from 2007, Vare Trophy winner (emblematic of low scoring average) and Kraft Nabisco Championship winner.

Further spots will go to the money leaders from the Ladies European Tour (LET) and this year’s leading LPGA money winners who have not already qualified.

To date, the qualification criteria has been youth, one in which Shin is serving rather well. Four months after turning 20, Shin became the youngest winner of the Ricoh Women’s British Open, following in the spike marks of Park, who a month ago, became the youngest U.S. Women’s Open winner in history.

Shin is the first non-LPGA member to win a major championship since 1987, the 13th non-LPGA member to win an LPGA tournament and the fifth-youngest winner of an LPGA major.

Like Park, Shin found golf through the iconic Se Ri Pak and her momentous 1998 U.S. Women’s Open victory at Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin. Shin, however, didn’t take up the game for three more years, concentrating at another discipline that requires feel, timing and heavy concentration – archery.

Within three years after Shin shelved the bow and arrow for clubs and balls, she was a scratch golfer. By the time she was 17, Shin was good enough to play on the KLPGA, where she made an immediate impact by being named the KLPGA’s Best Amateur in 2005.

One year later, Shin was the KLPGA Rookie of the Year. Two years later, she was the KLPGA Player of the Year, after winning 10 events in 19 starts. She won 14 events in 18 months and owns 22 titles worldwide – despite the fact she hasn’t completed her third year as a professional.

Shin may not yet be an LPGA member, but she’s familiar with the territory. In nine LPGA events, Shin has yet to miss a cut. Her victory at Sunningdale Golf Club was her second consecutive top-10 in a major. She finished sixth at the U.S. Women’s Open.

At the Ricoh Women’s British Open, Shin displayed the precocious qualities that have allowed her to dominate the KLPGA. Her rounds of 66-68-70-66—270 (-18) was one shot shy of the tournament record. The final-round 66 was a six-birdie, 12-par clinical dissection of not only Sunningdale, but closest pursuers Tseng, three-time Samsung World Championship winner Juli Inkster, third-round leader Yuri Fudoh, Paula Creamer and Ochoa.

Along with qualifying for the Samsung World Championship, capturing her first major and first LPGA title, Shin earned £160,000 ($314,464) and is sure to move up from her No. 10 spot on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.

Known for being held on some of the world’s finest courses, the Samsung World Championship has been played on five continents in 27 years. Half Moon Bay Golf Links becomes the 15th course to host the elite event, which began in 1980 at The Country Club in suburban Cleveland, Ohio.

An Arthur Hills design that opened in 1997, the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links is a links course set on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. There are ocean views on every hole, but the course’s signature holes are the final three: a 384-yard (from the tips) par 4, a 184-yard par 3 and the finishing 533-yard par 5 18th. All three play along the ocean bluffs and all three combine stellar shot making demands with stunning views.

Past winners of the Championship include some of the finest players in the world: Beth Daniel (1980, ‘81 and ‘94), JoAnne Carner (1982, ‘83), Nancy Lopez (1984), Amy Alcott (1985), Pat Bradley (1986), Ayako Okamoto (1987), Rosie Jones (1988), Betsy King (1989), Cathy Gerring (1990), Meg Mallon (1991), Dottie Pepper (1993), Se Ri Pak (1999), Juli Inkster (1997, ’98 and 2000), Dorothy Delasin (2001), Annika Sorenstam (1995, ’96, 2002, ’04, ‘05), Sophie Gustafson (2003) and Ochoa (2006, ‘07).

About Samsung
Samsung is a world leader in electronics, finance, and trade and services. Headquartered in Korea, Samsung operates 337 offices and facilities in 58 different countries. The company employs approximately 254,000 people worldwide, with 2006 net sales of US $158.9 billion.

Samsung believes that sports play a unique role in unifying people regardless of age, race, or gender. Samsung is a passionate supporter and active corporate sponsor of amateur and professional sporting events, training programs, teams and individual athletes in Korea and around the world.

The company extended its commitment to sports by becoming a worldwide Olympic Partner of the International Olympic Committee in 1997. Samsung’s official Olympic Games partnership will continue with the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

For more information, please visit our website: www.samsung.com.

About Half Moon Bay Golf Links Set against dramatic cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Half Moon Bay Golf Links features 36 holes of championship golf. For over 30 years, avid golfers have been returning to this incomparable setting, enjoying the variety of play offered by our two award winning courses, The Ocean and The Old. In 1997, Golf Digest ranked the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links has been ranked as one of the top new courses for that year, and since 2005 has been ranked as one of the top 50 by Golf for Women. It earned a No. 38 ranking among top Resorts for Golf Digest and a Silver Award Winner for Golf Magazine’s top resorts issue.

Half Moon Bay has been home to Costanoan Indians, Spanish explorers, and Canadian rumrunners from the days of Prohibition. Modern-day Half Moon Bay is known for fields of pumpkins and artichokes, but it keeps the spirit alive with the legendary Mavericks and the idyllic natural beauty that makes today's explorers want to stay.

Contact:
Toby Zwikel/Brian Robin/Damian Secore
Brener Zwikel & Associates, Inc., (818) 462-5599, 462-5610, 462-5614