UL International Crown players tee it up this week
Twenty-one players who competed in the UL International Crown last week, including two from the winning South Korean squad, will be in action this week at the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship
Sung Hyun Park, No.1 on the Rolex Rankings, leads the Korean contingent this week. She’s won three times on the LPGA Tour in 2018. In Gee Chun, who hasn’t won on the LPGA Tour since 2016 but was a perfect 4-0 at last week’s International Crown, joins her teammate Park in the field this week in Incheon.
Park finished runner-up here a year ago and Chun finished third.
All four players from the United States (Lexi Thompson, Cristie Kerr, Michelle Wie, Jessica Korda) are in the field along with all four from Australia (Minjee Lee, Katherine Kirk, Sarah Jane Smith, Su Oh).
Three from Thailand, three from England, and two each from Japan and Sweden will also tee it up along with one from Chinese Taipei.
Twelve players were selected by the KLPGA to participate this week. Twenty-seven of the 78 golfers in the field are natives of South Korea.
Ko leads the group of past champions
Last year’s winner Jin Young Ko leads a group of four past champions in the field this week.
Ko, who has a commanding lead on the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race (up by nearly 300 points over Georgia Hall) won this event by two shots over Sung Hyun Park – last year’s Rookie of the Year.
She overcame two bogeys on No’s 2 and 3 during Sunday’s final round to make six holes over her final 14 holes.
Ko has 10 top-10’s this year including a win at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open.
Other past champions who are in the field this week include Carlota Ciganda (2016), Amy Yang (2013), and Lexi Thompson (2015), who is looking for her first victory of the season.
Race to the CME Globe nearing its conclusion
With just four events left before the CME Group Tour Championship, the Race to the CME Globe is heating up despite Ariya Jutanugarn holding a solid lead in the season-long points race.
Jutanugarn, who has won three times this year, has 3,512 points to lead by 1,000 points over Minjee Lee.
Eight of the top-10 on the Race to the CME Globe are in the field in Incheon this week including Sung Hyun Park, Brooke Henderson, Jin Young Ko, Moriya Jutanugarn, Nasa Hataoka, and Sei Young Kim.
17 winners from 2018 in the field
Seventeen winners from 2018 will battle it out this week for the $2 million purse in Incheon.
Defending champion Jin Young Ko leads the 2018 champion’s contingent followed by three-time winners Sung Hyun Park and Ariya Jutanguarn.
Both Park and Jutanguarn captured major titles amongst their trio of victories this year. Brooke Henderson is the lone two-time winner in the field. The highlight of her year came in August when she captured the CP Women’s Open, the first Canadian to win on the LPGA on her home soil in 45 years.
Eight first-time winners are the field this week including Pernilla Lindberg who won her first title – and her first major – at the ANA Inspiration earlier this year.
Veteran Angela Stanford, who won The Evian Championship – the last LPGA Tour event played prior to a break in the schedule that included the UL International Crown –will tee it up for the first time since her major triumph.
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