ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – No one in the AIG Women’s Open field has won more than Jiyai Shin.

And surely some of these young players chasing the 36-year-old Shin until Sunday at St. Andrews have no idea what she has achieved.

“I don’t know much,” said Lilia Vu, who is one stroke behind Shin and will play alongside her in the final. “But I know she’s in the top 10 at every major tournament.”

Vu isn’t far behind. Before this week, Shin had competed in 38 major tournaments, earning 13 top-10 finishes, two of which were wins at the 2008 and 2012 Women’s Open. They add up to not only 11 career LPGA titles, but also a whopping 68 worldwide victories, mostly on LPGA tours in Japan (30) and her native South Korea (27).

“I know that for a fact,” said Lydia Ko, who played with Shin in the final round when Ko won the 2012 CPKC Women’s Open as a 15-year-old amateur. “… I don’t know if there’s a single place on earth where she hasn’t dominated.”

Shin first reached the No. 1 ranking in 2010, a year after her first full season in the LPGA major leagues, and spent a total of 25 weeks at the top of the world rankings in three appearances. But she says she eventually lost motivation, achieving her 10-year goals in just a few seasons.

“I couldn’t find the next step,” Shin said Saturday after shooting a 5-under-par 67 on the Old Course to move to 7 under par. “I needed a change, so I moved.”

Shin, who lost her mother in a car accident at age 16, also wanted to be closer to her family in Korea and settled in Japan. Before the 2014 LPGA season, she gave up her membership and joined the JLPGA, where she won four times that year. She has won at least once on that tour every year since then, with the exception of 2014 and this year, despite playing in only seven majors between 2014 and 2022.

“It’s not an easy step for her to go to Japan because you’re almost going back to where you started,” Ko said. “I think that’s just very brave. … She made the decision that she thought was right for her and I mean, look what she did.”

Shin added, “I was afraid of losing fans, but I met new fans. Even more new fans. I made a great decision.”

With 22 wins in Japan since leaving the LPGA altogether, Shin recently resumed her play on the world’s most popular women’s golf tour. Trying to qualify for the Paris Olympics, Shin competed on the LPGA nine times in the last two years before the qualifying deadline – more than she had in the eight years prior. Six of those were majors, and she competed in two of them, finishing T-2 at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open and third at this championship later that year. She also finished fifth at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship in Los Angeles, her first non-major start in the U.S. in over a decade.

Although Shin ultimately missed out on the Olympics, she proved that she still has what it takes, no matter what tour she’s on, as she was ranked 30th in the Rolex rankings earlier this week.

“It was a good attempt,” Shin said of her quest for Paris. “A good challenge for me. I got a lot of motivation for myself. I work really hard and train hard. I didn’t make it, but I’m playing well this week.”

Playing in blustery conditions at St. Andrews, Shin only had six bogeys in three rounds. She played in the first two Women’s Opens on the Old Course, but after two finishes just outside the top 25 in 2007 and 2013, she is finally in the running.

Korda was three holes ahead of the rest of the field on Saturday but struggled on the back nine holes at St. Andrews.

While current world No. 1 Nelly Korda lost control of that title with a sloppy 4-over 40 on the back nine, slipping to third place, two shots behind, Shin shined down the stretch on Saturday. Sure, she made bogey on the par-5 14th hole, but otherwise she was composed, especially when she hit a 20-degree hybrid shot from 205 yards out on the par-4 17th. Her ball landed on the front of the green, about 25 yards from the hole, before rolling down the slope and spinning a few feet.

“Because of my height, I couldn’t see where the ball landed,” Shin joked. “I couldn’t see it, but I could hear a lot of clapping… and then when I got to 17 (the green), the hole, I thought, ‘Wow, so close!'”

Ko said she considers Shin a mentor and admires her greatly. When Ko was in the gym this week, Shin was usually there, too. While Ko began her practice rounds later in the day, Shin was one of the first off the 18th green after waking up early, including at 6:30 a.m. on Monday.

“I think that takes not only a lot of work ethic, but also passion for the game that she plays,” Ko said. “I think she’s one of the players that I really respect, just as a person and not just for what she’s done and accomplished as a golfer.”

Shin is poised to achieve even more as a golfer. A third Women’s Open title would see her join Karrie Webb and Sherri Steinhauer in breaking records. It would also close a 12-year gap between major titles, the longest since Steinhauer won the 2006 Women’s Open, 14 years after her first, when that championship was not yet considered a major. And for the young players who don’t know Shin, it would show just how dominant she can be.

But regardless of what happens on Sunday, it may be a while before they see her again.

She will go to Japan to win even more.