Park Headlines The Field
This week, the Tour moves into the third of a five-week stretch in Asia at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship presented by CTBC. Sung Hyun Park, the Rolex Rankings’ world No. 1 player, headlines the field in Chinese Taipei where she is making just her second appearance. Last week, Park nearly lost the top spot in the rankings after finishing T26 in Shanghai, where world No. 2 Ariya Jutanugarn finished in a seven-way share of runner to come up just shy of eclipsing Park. A solo finish by Jutanugarn would have got the job done. This week, Jutanugarn is taking the week off after back-to-back top-3 finishes on Tour.
“I always have so much fun when I play in Asia,” Jutanugarn said last week. “Really looking forward to come back here again. The key, I think, just not expect anything. Just go out have fun and enjoy everything.”
Also in the field in Chinese Taipei is world No. 3 So Yeon Ryu, who finished T3 in 2017 and T2 in 2015. World No. 5 Minjee lee, No. 8 Brooke Henderson, No. 9 Shanshan Feng, and No. 10 Sei Young Kim round out the world’s top 10 players in the field.
Ji Returns to Site of Career-Changing Win
One year ago, Eun-Hee Ji’s victory in Chinese Taipei became the turning point of her career. Ji hadn’t won in eight years, her last victory came at the 2009 U.S. Women’s Open. Her six-stroke victory, punctuated by a bogey-free, 65 on Sunday, announced the return of Ji to the top of the golfing world.
“I haven't had a win in eight years, so I was waiting for this moment for so long,” Ji said.
Ji followed her win with a top-5 finish at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship and carried that momentum into the 2018 season. In March, she won the Kia Classic with a thrilling ace on the final day to capture her fourth career victory on the LPGA Tour. She added three more top 10 finishes in 2018.
Keep Coming Back For More
In 2015, Lydia Ko picked up her third win of the season in Chinese Taipei. And this year, she’s trending towards another win. Ko is coming off a runner-up finish last week in Shanghai and hasn’t finished outside the top 20 since July. She’s consistently played well in Chinese Taipei, where in addition to her win, she also finished runner-up last season.
“I'm just going out there and try to play the best I can and make myself more opportunities to be in contention, be at the top of the leaderboard,” Ko said last week.
Ko is joined this week by several other players who have repeatedly found success in Chinese Taipei. Lizette Salas finished in the top 10 twice in the last three years, including a T3 finish in 2017. Shanshan Feng, who finished in the top 3 in Taiwan the last two years, is hoping to again find success late in the year. In 2017, she won back-to-back weeks in Asia but remains in search of her first win of 2018.
Top-Ranked Amateur Returns to LPGA
The 81-player field in Chinese Taipei is made up of not only members of the LPGA Tour, but also members of the Taiwan LPGA and several amateurs. This week, 10 members of the TLPGA will compete, including Teresa Lu, who at No. 46 in the Rolex Rankings is the top-ranked player from Chinese Taipei. Nine amateurs also received sponsor invites, including Attaya Thitikul of Thailand who is building a reputation as one of the world’s top-ranked young players. The Thai made the cut at both the ANA Inspiration and Ricoh Women’s British Open in 2018.
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