Not only Korean players, but also many of the world’s top ranking players were absent.
The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions is the opening match of the LPGA Tour and is a tournament in the nature of a king among kings. However, there is not much prize money for a tournament that is the nature of the King of Kings. For players who need to race for a long time, the January competition may do more harm than good.
The players are in an atmosphere that focuses on the ‘LPGA Thailand’ to be held in Chonburi, Thailand from the 23rd of next month rather than the opening game.
World No. 1 바카라사이트 Lydia Ko (New Zealand) also did not participate in the opening match. Lydia Ko got married on December 30 last year.
World-class players such as Lee Min-ji (Australia), who is ranked 3rd in the world rankings, Ataya Titikkun (Thailand), who is 4th, and Lexi Thompson (USA), who are 6th, did not participate in the opening match.
Meanwhile, in the first round of the tournament, Brooke Henderson (Canada) recorded a 5-under-par 67 and rose to the top spot alone.
There was not a single Korean player’s name on the leaderboard for the opening game of the LPGA tour.
On the 20th (Korean time), the first round of the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions (total prize money 1.5 million dollars, winner prize money 225,000 dollars) was held at the Lake Nona Golf & Country Club (par 72) in Orlando, Florida, USA.
It is not common for all Korean players to be absent from the LPGA Tour.
This tournament is only open to players who have won the championship in the last two years.
Korean players, who had been sluggish in the recent LPGA tour, had only five candidates to participate in the opening match.
Ko Jin-young (28), Park In-bi (35), Ji Eun-hee (37), Jeon In-ji (29), and Kim Hyo-joo (28), who are ranked 5th in the women’s golf world rankings, are the targets, but none of them applied to participate this time.
Ko Jin-young struggled until the end of the game, but decided not to participate because his injured wrist did not improve. Jinyoung Ko, who dropped from No. 1 to No. 5 in the world rankings last year, aims to restore her honor this year.
Inbi Park, who is due to give birth in April this year, will not be able to participate in golf tournaments for the time being. The LPGA Tour suspends tour cards for two years after giving birth. There is a possibility that Park In-bi will return after giving birth.
Other players, including Kim Hyo-joo, did not participate in terms of conditioning. This is because January is usually a period for players to supplement their shots and do physical training such as weights.
In the case of Kim Hyo-joo, every year in Chiang Rai, Thailand, she undergoes intensive training such as swing practice and posture correction. She is sweating in Thailand again this year.