Only LPGA tournament in the country features a top-five start tomorrow
78 players vying for $3 billion in prize money
19 of the 22 winners from this season participated
‘Defending champion’ 13th-ranked Lydia Ko played 1R with Ko Jin-young-Korda
Shin Ji-ae, domestic appearance for the first time in 3 years
Who owns the trophy?
Two days before the start of the BMW Ladies Championship, the only event on the U.S. Women’s
Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour in Korea, a photo call was held at the tournament venue, Seowon Hills
Country Club in Gyeonggi Paju, South Korea. Kim Hyo-joo, Shin Ji-ae, Lydia Ko, Ko Jin-young, Yoon Da-bin
and Hae-ran Lee, who are competing in the tournament, pose for a photo in front of the trophy.
The only U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA)
Tour event to be held in South Korea is back. The BMW Ladies Championship will be held at the par-72
Seowon Hills Country Club in Gyeonggi from Sept. 19. It’s part of the LPGA’s “Asian Swing,” a four-week
run of events in Asia that concluded with the LPGA Buick Shanghai in China on Friday.
The tournament will feature a top-five field, including world No. 1 Lilia Boo (USA), 26. Boo has three wins
this season. Second-ranked Yin Lunying (21-China) and third-ranked Ko Jin-young (28) are tied with two
wins apiece. Nineteen of the 22 winners on the LPGA Tour this year are in the field. Also competing for
the Rookie of the Year title will be 22-year-old Hae Ran Lee and 23-year-old Australian Grace Kim. With a
total prize pool of US$2.2 million, including US$350,000 for the winner, the BMW Ladies Championshi
p will feature 78 players with no cuts.
Ko will be paired with world No. 4 Nelly Corda (25-USA) and 13th-ranked New Zealander Lydia Ko (26) in
the first round. The three players were ranked 1-3 in the world until July. Go reigned supreme at the
event in 2021. Lydia Ko is the defending champion.
“I’m not going to put any pressure on myself just because it’s a domestic event, but I’m going to prepare
and play the same as any other event,” Ko said at a press conference at the venue on Sunday, two days before the start of the tournament.
Korda
is returning to the BMW Ladies’ Championship after a four-year absence in 2019. Korda, who played for
the Q CELLS Golf Team for six years until earlier this year, has a special place in her heart for Korea. “When
you play in Korea, you can feel the passion for the game. I’m looking forward to playing in front of the Korean fans.”
Korean fans will be especially pleased to see a familiar face. Shin Ji-ae, 35, who plays on the Japan Ladies
Professional Golf (JLPGA) Tour, will be competing in the event. It’s been three years and two months since
she last competed in a Korean event, at the Daewoo Women’s MBN Women’s Open on the Korean Ladies
Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour in August 2020. With two wins on the Japan Tour this year,
Shin is ranked 16th in the world, behind only Ko Jin-young and sixth-ranked Kim Hyo-joo (28). This year,
Shin finished tied for second at the U.S. Women’s Open and tied for third at the AIG Women’s Open,
both LPGA Tour majors. “I played in Japan for a long time and got too used to the atmosphere. I needed a
new stimulus. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt that kind of excitement and nervousness, so I had a lot
of fun preparing for this tournament,” she said. As the most senior participant in the press conference,
Shin also gave advice to her junior, Ko Jin-young, saying, “It’s natural for a golfer to care about golf, but
sometimes it’s important to relax.” Shin will play in the first round with Kim Hyo-ju and Eunjul In (25-USA).
“It’s nice to be able to play in front of my fans for four days without missing a cut,” said Hae Ran Lee,
who won her first LPGA Tour title at the Wal-Mart NW Arkansas Championship two days ago.
The LPGA Tour’s BMW Ladies Championship,
Which began in 2019, is in its fourth year. It was held in Busan in 2019 and 2021 and in Wonju, Gangwon