Last year, Korean golf received a lot of spotlight on male players. This was thanks to Kim Joo-hyeong (21, Nike Golf), Lim Seong-jae (25), Lee Gyeong-hoon (32, CJ Korea Express), and others who played an active part in the American Professional Golf (PGA) Tour.
On the other hand, women’s golf has stagnated. Jeon In-ji (29, KB Financial Group) won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, a major tournament in June, but suffered from ‘no relation’ in 16 tournaments for the next 5 months, and Ko Jin-young (28, Solaire) kept the No. 1 spot in the world rankings. also gave away
In 2023, men’s golf is ahead of the start. This is because while Kim Si-woo (28, CJ Logistics) won the second PGA Tour event of the new year, no Korean player appeared before the opening game of the new season of the LPGA Tour.
The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions (total prize money of $1.5 million), the opening game of the LPGA Tour, will be held at Lake Nona GC (par 72, 6617 yards) in Orlando, Florida, USA for four days from the 13th (Korean time).
This tournament has the characteristics of a ‘King of Kings’, where only those who have won the LPGA Tour in the last two years can participate, so there are not many participants.
In the case of Korean players, Eunhee Ji (37, Hanwha Q Cells), Inji Jeon, Jinyoung Ko, Inbi Park (35, KB Financial Group), and Hyoju Kim (28, Lotte) were eligible, and all of them decided not to participate in this year’s tournament.
In the case of Park In-bi, it was difficult to participate in the tournament because she was about to give birth, and Ko Jin-young expressed her intention to participate ahead of the deadline. Since last year, Ko Jin-young has had frequent absences due to a wrist injury, but until recently, he was in poor condition, so he decided to take a little more rest. 슬롯사이트
Ji Eun-hee, Jeon In-ji, and Kim Hyo-joo have no reasons for injury. However, it seems that the decision was made considering the competition schedule and travel distance.
After holding this event in the US, the LPGA Tour will continue its schedule with Honda Thailand (Thailand) in February, HSBC Women’s World Championship (Singapore) in March, and Blue Bay LPGA (China) in March. The plan is to start the season with a competition in an Asian country or to start the season with a drive-on championship held in Arizona, USA at the end of March.
In fact, not only Korean players but also top-ranked players such as world No. 1 Lydia Ko (New Zealand), Attaya Tikkun (Thailand), and Lee Min-ji (Australia) will also be absent from this tournament.
As Korean players did not participate, the record of consecutive competitions of the ‘Taegeuk Nangja Corps’ continued to ’17’. This is the same record as the one held from October 2013 to June 2014.
Instead of Korean players, Daniel Kang and Andrea Lee, Korean-Americans, came forward to fill the vacant positions.
World No. 2 Nellie Koda (USA), No. 7 Brooke Henderson (Canada), and No. 10 Hataoka Nasa (Japan) are considered candidates for the championship, and a total of 29 players compete for the title.
Not only professional players, but also celebrities from each field participate in this competition. Pros and celebrities play in one group, but the winner is determined separately. As for the game method, the pros use the stroke, and the celebrities use the modified Stableford method.
Celebrities participating this year include Vince Carter, a former NBA star player, Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and singer Lee Brice, who were active in major league baseball. Women’s golf ‘legend’ Annika Sorenstam (Sweden) also participates as a celebrity.