DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., and SEOUL, Republic of Korea (April 27, 2023) – The LPGA Tour and BMW Korea announced today that Seowon Hills at Seowon Valley Country Club in Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea will host the 2023 BMW Ladies Championship. The tournament is set for October 19-22 and will feature a field of 78 players competing for a $2.2 million purse in a 72-hole, no-cut event.
“I am thrilled to share that Seowon Hills, which is located within Seowon Valley Country Club and owned by Daebo Group, has been selected as the host venue of 2023 BMW Ladies Championship,” said Sean Pyun, CBO, LPGA Asia. “With this partnership, Seowon Hills is currently going through an impressive championship re-design of 18 holes with a world-renowned golf course architect David Dale. We are very appreciative of Seowon Valley Country Club's commitment to providing the toughest challenges and look forward to showcasing the world’s best players at the brand new Seowon Hills.”
Seowon Valley Country Club is located in the northern part of Gyeonggi-do and is within an hour of Seoul. Seowon Hills first opened in 2004 with a nine-hole course and added 18 holes in 2012. For the BMW Ladies Championship, the West and South courses in Seowon Hills have been undergoing course renovation by David Dale, a world-renowned architect, to create a dynamic and strategic tournament experience for players and galleries in October. Seowon Hills includes 86 newly-built bunkers through remodeling work that have a three-dimensional shape, a new type of bunker style that has never been seen in Korea. The bunker will have an exquisite blend of the surrounding Kentucky Blue Fairway and the bentgrass green.
"Dung-Kyu Choi, the Chairman of the parent company Daebo Group, requested that we prepare the course setup to the best of our ability, suitable for the LPGA Tour," said Seok Ho Lee, CEO of Seowon Valley Country Club. “To host a successful LPGA Official Tournament, it is necessary to renovate the course to make it more strategic and three-dimensional. The current course in Seowon Hills is popular and visited by 180,000 golfers a year.
“We are currently undergoing three months of course remodeling to transform it into a course that can awaken the competitive spirit of every golfer. Through this process, the course will be established as a place where world-class players can compete with their full abilities in the upcoming competition in October. We will also continue to provide all golfers who play on our course with a challenging opportunity, which is the dream of golf, to experience an LPGA Tour-style course.”
"The BMW Ladies Championship has been touring luxury courses in various regions of Korea since last year to promote the country’s beauty to the world, and I am very happy to hold this year’s tournament at Seowon Hills, a luxury course in Paju, Gyeonggi Province," said Sangyun Han, Representative Director and President of BMW Group Korea. "Being held in the Seoul metropolitan area for the first time since the LPGA Tour’s running of the BMW Ladies Championship, this will increase the world's highest level of sustainability through various win-win programs linked to communities in the northwest of Gyeonggi Province."
The BMW Ladies Championship became an official LPGA Tour event in 2019, and was played at LPGA International Busan (2019, 2021) and Oak Valley Country Club (2022). In 2022, Lydia Ko was crowned champion not far from her birthplace of Seoul in exciting fashion after a final-round 65, capturing the 18th title of her LPGA Tour career.
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