The Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour’s E1 Charity Open, with a total prize fund of 900 million won, will be held at Seongmunan Country Club (Par 72, 6,522 yards) in Wonju, Gangwon Province, for three days starting on Sept. 26.
The 11th edition of the tournament will feature U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour players Choi Hye-jin and Yoo So-yeon, as well as this year’s KLPGA Tour money and points leader Park Ji-young, the winner of the event for the past two years, Park Min-ji, and last year’s winner Jung Yoon-ji.
Also challenging for the title are Bang Shin-sil, who made waves in April with a fourth-place finish at the KLPGA Championship and a third-place finish at the NH Investment & Securities Ladies Championship, and Kim Min-byul and Hwang Yoo-min, who are currently first and second on the rookie points list.
Choi will play in two consecutive KLPGA Tour events before the Lotte Open in the first week of June, while Yoo will be back in front of her Korean fans a month after the Mediheal-Korea Times Championship in April.
There has yet to be a two-time winner of the event, and Jung will be looking to make it two in a row.
It will be interesting to see how the rookies perform this season.
In particular, Bang Shin-sil has been making a strong impression on fans with her ‘long hit’ average of 264.6 yards. This is farther than Kim Soo-ji’s 259 yards on the season, but he is not ranked due to his low number of tournaments.
At the Doosan Match Play Championship last week, Kim won two straight group matches but lost in the third round before falling in a tiebreaker to Hong Jeong-min in the round of 16.
Kim Min-byul and Hwang Yoo-min are also winless this year, but are ranked first and second in the Rookie of the Year standings, boosting their chances of winning their first rookie title of the season.
This is the 10th event on the KLPGA Tour this season and there has yet to be a winner.
Six of the previous winners – Park Ji-young, Lee Jung-min, Lee Ye-won, Lee Ju-mi, Choi Eun-woo, Lee Da-yeon, Park Bo-gyeom, Lim Jin-hee, and Sung Yoo-jin – will be looking for their second win of the season.
Sung Yoo-jin, who won the Doosan Match Play Championship last week, will go into next week’s Lotte Open as the defending champion.스포츠토토
Among the players recommended for the tournament, Sung Eun-jung is a fan favorite.
The 1985-born player, who retired in 2014 and returned to active play in 2021, will return to regular competition seven months after the Hite Jinro Championship last October.
Sung Eun-jeong, who was highly touted as an amateur, will be playing in her first regular tour event since the Nexen-Saint Nine Masters in April last year.