Reporter Kwon Hyeok-joon = Although it was not able to resolve the longing of not being involved in consecutive tournaments, Korean women’s golf showed its potential. With hope, the ‘Taegeuk Women’s Corps’ move to Singapore and once again go on a ‘military affair’.
The LPGA Tour’s HSBC Women’s World Championship (total prize money of $1.8 million) will be held at the Tanjong Course (par 72, 6749 yards) at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore for four days from March 3 (Korean time).
South Korea has not been able to announce the victory for eight months since Jeon In-ji (29, KB Financial Group) won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June of last year.
After 16 consecutive unrelated matches last year, two competitions were held after the opening of the 2023 season, but the consecutive unrelated record was extended to ’18’.
But it’s not all that bleak. This is because clues that could reveal signs of a revival were captured at Honda Thailand held in Thailand last week.
In Korea, Ko Jin-young (28, Solaire) tied for 6th place and Kim Hyo-joo (28, Lotte) tied for 10th place, making it into the top 10.
Among them, Ko Jin-young’s performance is encouraging. Ko Jin-young is a player who commanded the LPGA stage by winning the money prize for three consecutive years from 2019 to 2021 and the Player of the Year award in 2019 and 2021.
However, last year, her colon was lengthened due to the recurrence of pain in her left wrist, a chronic injury since August. After a two-month hiatus, even on his return stage, he was unable to find his skills and continued to perform poorly. 메이저놀이터
In the meantime, he showed a good appearance after a long time at Honda Thailand, which was his first competition this year. He continued to play under par throughout the four days, and in the last 4 rounds, he showed off his old sense by driving 8 under par in ‘no-bogie’.
It was a tournament where Ko Jin-young himself showed a meaningful performance to the extent that he said, “I feel like I’m going to cry.”
That’s why the anticipation for this HSBC Championship is even higher. Ko Jin-young is the ‘defending champion’ who won this competition last year. It is worth aiming for a second consecutive victory in the tournament because he recovered in condition comparable to last year when he won the championship.
Kim Hyo-joo also played a positive role. She also recorded under par for 4 days in a row and showed a good shot feeling by entering the top 5 at one point in the 3rd round. Kim Hyo-joo also struggled with an injury at the end of last year, but in this competition, she showed good condition and raised expectations.
Hyo-Joo Kim also has a good memory of winning this event in 2021.
In addition, Jeon In-ji, the last Korean player to win the championship, Choi Hye-jin (24, Lotte), who took second place in the Rookie of the Year race last year, and Ji Eun-hee (37, Hanwha Q Cells), the “eldest sister” of the Taegeuk Nangja Corps, will also be competing in the Singapore event.
Top rankers such as world No. 1 Lydia Ko (New Zealand), No. 2 Nellie Korda (USA), No. 3 Lee Min-ji (Australia), No. 4 Ataya Titikkun (Thailand), and No. 7 Brooke Henderson (Canada) also participated in the tournament. Most of them are scrambled to anticipate a shot showdown with Korean players.