Tour Gears Up For Final Stretch
The world’s top-ranked players return to action at the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship, the first of a five-event swing through Asia. This week, 18 of the 20 in the Rolex Rankings are competing, including world No. 1 So Yeon Ryu, No. 2 Sung Hyun Park and No. 3 Lexi Thompson.
Ryu, Park and Thompson are each multiple winners this year and positioned to pick up some of the season’s biggest honors. The trio makes up the top-3 on the money list as well as the season-long Race to the CME Globe point standings. Thompson and Park also lead the Tour in scoring average. They’re all up for grabs as the Tour moves into the final stretch of the year.
Also in the field is world No. 4 Anna Nordqvist, a two-time winner in 2017 who is making her first start since winning the season’s final major at the Evian Championship. Rounding out the top-10 are No. 5 Shanshan Feng, No. 6 Ariya Jutanugarn, No. 7 In Gee Chun, No. 8 In-Kyung Kim and No. 9 Lydia Ko. Brooke Henderson, the No. 11 ranked player in the world and winner of the Tour’s last stop in New Zealand, is also in the field.
Carlota Ciganda Defends
In an epic battle, Carlota Ciganda came from five strokes back on Sunday at the 2016 LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship to defeat Alison Lee in a playoff. It was the first time Ciganda won on the LPGA Tour and she won again in Mexico later that year. If the Spaniard can successfully defend this week, she’ll pick up her first win of the season. She has five top-10s in 2017. Alison Lee is in the field this week with a sponsor invite. Click here to hear from both players talking about last season’s playoff.
Best of the Best
Each of the season’s five major champions, So Yeon Ryu, Danielle Kang, Sung Hyun Park, In-Kyung Kim and Anna Nordqvist, will tee it up this week in Korea. They are among the 18 players who have won this season that are in the field.
Michelle Wie Returns
In August, Michelle Wie withdrew ahead of the final round of the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open to undergo emergency surgery to have her appendix removed. This week in Korea, Wie makes her first start since that surgery and is making her first appearance at the KEB Hana Bank Championship since 2015 when she finished tied for 52nd.
The surgery was the second set back for Wie, who had a healthy start to the season after enduring a string of illnesses and injuries, which have hampered her career in recent years. With seven top-10s, including a string of three straight top-4s, Wie was on track for another career season on Tour. But in July, she was forced to withdraw from the U.S. Women’s Open with a neck injury. Given the ups and downs endured this season, it will be interesting to see how the remaining stretch plays out.
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