Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic Presented by CTBC
Lake Merced Golf Club
Daly City, Calif.
April 22, 2015

Sei Young Kim is competing in her first event since holing out for eagle on the first playoff hole to capture her second LPGA victory of her rookie campaign at the LOTTE Championship.

“It was a really warm welcome from a lot of people,” Kim said through a translator. “Every player that I’ve come across on my way here congratulated me and gave me a hug and said, How did you do that? You’re crazy. You’re nuts. How did you make that happen?”

The hole-out, and the prior chip-in to force a playoff , went viral as it was No. 1 on SportsCenter Top-10 and for two days was the most trending topic on the Korean search engine Naver.com, the South Korean equivalent of Google.

“Nothing different for me except that every time I go online or Internet I’m just reminded what I’ve done,” Kim said with a smile. “I just ask myself, Have I really done this much to deserve this kind of story? But then when I’m back in my room I forget all about it. When I’m back on the computer I’m reminded by it again. It’s actually pretty cool.”

People everywhere took notice including Kim’s fellow LPGA competitors.

“I saw it after the fact, the fi nish there. It’s just unbelievable, because I know how hard that 18th hole is,” said Rolex Rankings No. 3 Stacy Lewis. “To pull off those two shots was pretty amazing.”

While Kim is obviously happy with the outcome last week, she doesn’t want to be a one-shot wonder and is looking to moving on to this week’s event.

“Very tough,” Kim said when asked about Lake Merced. “I think it’ll give me a great challenge this week. I look forward to it.”

LEWIS LIKES THE CHALLENGE OF LAKE MERCED
Stacy Lewis enters this week’s Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic looking to improve upon her runner-up fi nish to Lydia Ko a season ago.

“I feel like I’ve done some good preparation the last week or so. I love this golf course. I’ve been in contention a lot, so I see myself hopefully there again on Sunday.”

As Lewis mentioned she is a huge fan of Lake Merced and golf in the Bay Area.

“I like the challenge of the place. It’s a hard golf course. It’s one you really have to kind of play smart and miss it in the right places. So I like the challenge of it. I think it’s one of the best golf courses we play all year. I think the field and everybody here shows that.”

THOMPSON TAKES NOLA PRIOR TO SAN FRAN
Lexi Thompson played a Pro-Am Wednesday nearly 2,000 miles from where she’ll tee it up on Thursday at 12:49 PM PST at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic.

Lexi was in New Orleans for the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic to play in the Pro-Am at the event her two older brothers – Curtis Thompson and Nicholas Thompson – will tee it up at this week at the Zurich Classic.

Zurich is also Lexi’s newest sponsor and she played with two of Zurich’s top executives in the PGA Tour’s Pro-Am Wednesday before hopping on a flight Wednesday afternoon to San Francisco to get in town in time for Thursday’s fi rst round.

“It’s kind of crazy that I’m sitting here with both my brothers, and I’m actually going to San Francisco tomorrow night to play in my own tournament,” Lexi said on Tuesday. “But it’s great to be here today, and I’m quite honored to represent Zurich.”

Although her brothers were the two in the fi eld for the event the media was covering, many of the questions in the media center for the three siblings went to Lexi.

She did not play this event last year so when she headed to the ANA Inspiration’s media day a couple months ago in Rancho Mirage, she swung up to San Francisco to play Lake Merced. She’s also had her caddie on the grounds for the last two days so the course won’t be totally sight unseen before she tees it up Thursday.

“Who knows, it might be better not to stress out the fi rst few days that I’m there at the tournament,” Lexi said. “So we’ll see. But I feel really good about my game right now. I’ve been practicing a lot, and I’m happy with the few finishes that I’ve had so far, playing pretty consistent. So we’ll see where it goes.”

ROLEX RANKINGS PROJECTIONS
Based on how the chips fall at this week’s Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic, three different players - Lydia Ko, Inbee Park or Stacy Lewis - could occupy the No. 1 ranking in the world with a win.

Ko would retain the top spot with a victory, while Park and Lewis need to win and get some help from Ko. More detailed projections will be available entering the weekend.

PETTERSEN WDS
Suzann Pettersen has withdrawn from Swinging Skirts due to injury. This will put Kelly Shon into the field. Pettersen took her to Instagram to voice her disappointment:

“After consulting with my team of doctors and physical therapist I’ve been recommended to take another week off . As much as it saddens me to miss this week, I need to get healthy so I can compete at the highest level.”

LPGA CONTINUES OFF-COURSE MOMENTUM WITH SIGNING OF AMOREPACIFIC
The LPGA today announced a new partnership with AMOREPACIFIC that names the cosmetic brand the “Official CC Cushion of the LPGA.” Based in Korea, AMOREPACIFIC will start its activation at this week’s Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic Presented by CTBC where they will showcase their product to players and fans. The brand’s Color Control Cushion Compact contains foundation with Broad Spectrum SPF 50+ protection and provides weightless and buildable skin coverage that protects and evens skin tones.

The deal continues a trend of business momentum off the course and correlates with the recent on-course success of Korean players in 2015. Just last month, the LPGA was announced as one of the five finalists for the Sports Business Journal/Daily Sports League of the Year award category for the Sports Business Awards. The Sports Business Awards were established to recognize excellence, innovation and outstanding achievements in the business of sports.

The new partnership also highlights the Tour’s global reach, specifi cally in Korea. South Koreans have won six of the first nine events on the LPGA’s schedule this season and have a crop of talented rookies who have seen fast success on Tour already. Sei Young Kim and Hyo Joo Kim already have two career victories to their names, Sei Young’s both coming this season while Hyo Joo claimed her fi rst major as a non-member last year at the Evian Championship and earned a title at the JTBC Founders Cup in March. The LPGA currently has sponsorships with companies from 12 different countries including seven different countries in Asia.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
”I would almost say the difficulty of the course is nearest that of U.S. Women’s Open. Very tough. I think it’ll give me a great challenge this week. I look forward to it.”- Sei Young Kim

Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic Presented by CTBC Pre-tournament Notes Wednesday

Related Articles