8 LPGA players, 2 amateurs receive special invitations to S. Korea tournament

SEOUL– Eight LPGA players, including a retiring veteran and a pair of former world No. 1s, have received special invitations to play at the only LPGA tournament held in South Korea later this month, the event’s organizers said Friday.

Choi Na-yeon, who will wrap up her 18-year professional career this year, will make her final LPGA appearance at the BMW Ladies Championship, set to tee off on Oct. 20 at Oak Valley Country Club in Wonju, some 85 kilometers east of Seoul.
Choi, a nine-time LPGA winner, announced her retirement on Wednesday.

Ryu So-yeon, a six-time winner who reached No. 1 in the world rankings in 2017, has also been invited to the 72-hole tournament. Park Sung-hyun, who shared the LPGA Player of the Year award with Ryu in 2017 and rose to world No. 1 that same year, will also play as an invitee.

Others with invitations are: Kim In-kyung, a South Korean veteran with seven LPGA titles; Lee Mi-hyang, a two-time LPGA winner from South Korea; Hong Ye-eun, a South Korean LPGA rookie; Jennifer Song, an American golfer of Korean descent; and Su Oh, a Korean-born Australian player.

The tournament organizers also invited two amateurs to the tournament, as recommended by the Korea Golf Association. Kim Min-sol, a high school freshman and the reigning Korea Junior Golf Championship winner, and Yoo Hyun-jo, a second-year high school student who won the Women’s Amateur Golf Championship, will make their first LPGA appearance.

The rest of the 78-player field will be filled with LPGA players.

A total purse of US$2 million will be up for grabs at Oak Valley, with $300,000 going to the champion. South Korean star and current world No. 1, Ko Jin-young, is the defending champion.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

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