Ko Jin-young (28) will participate in the Hilton Grand Tournament of Champions (total prize money of 1.5 million dollars), the opening match of the LPGA Tour, to be held next week.

Ko Jin-young will start the 2023 season with this opening game held at Lake Nona CC (par 72) in Orlando, Florida, USA for four days from the 20th (Korean time). Ko Jin-young, who suffered from a wrist injury last year, competes against defending champions Daniel Kang, Nellie Corda, Jennifer Kupcho (USA), Brook Henderson (Canada), and Ashley Buhai (South Africa). Only players who have won the championship in the last two years can participate in this competition.

Ko Jin-young, who fell to fifth in the world rankings, is the only Korean player to participate in this tournament as the winner of the HSBC Women’s World Championship in March last year. It is Jin-young Ko’s first appearance in two months since he tied for 33rd at the CME Group Tour Championship, the final match of the season last November. Domestic fans are interested in how much Ko Jin-young will be able to recover his performance after recovering from a wrist injury.

Last year’s Lotte Championship winner Kim Hyo-joo (28), KPMG Women’s PGA Championship winner Jeon In-ji (30), and Bank of Hope Match Play winner Ji Eun-hee (37) are eligible to participate, but they do not appear. Six out of the top 10 girls in the world rankings are absent from this opening game.

First of all, the total prize money is small at 1.5 million dollars. It is 1.2 million dollars less than the prize money (2.7 million dollars) received by John Rahm (Spain), who won the PGA Tour Sentry Tournament of Champions last week. Also, after taking a break for about a month after the tournament, the Asian Swing tours Thailand, Singapore and China. Therefore, it is not easy for Asian and Australian players to come to the US to play in one match. 슬롯사이트

Perhaps for that reason, world number 1 Lydia Ko (New Zealand), as well as 3rd place Ataya Titikun (Thailand), 4th place Lee Min-ji (Australia), 6th place Lexi Thompson (USA), 8th place Jeon In-ji, and 9th place Kim Hyo-joo appear. don’t Lydia Ko, who is currently enjoying her honeymoon, is scheduled to participate in the Saudi Ladies International, a European Women’s Tour (LET) to be held in Saudi Arabia next month.

This tournament is a pro-am tournament in which 50 famous celebrities such as John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Vince Carter, and Derek Law compete together with 30 LPGA pros. The pros determine the winner in 72-hole stroke play, and the celebrities rank in a modified Stableford method.

Ji Eun-hee, who became the first champion in 2019, is the only Korean player to win this tournament. Inbi Park had a chance to win in 2020, but lost in overtime to Hataoka Nasa (Japan) and Gaby Lopez (Mexico) and tied for second place.