Inbee Park, Ariya Jutanugarn, Ho Yu An (a)
9:51 a.m. – 1st Tee
At this week’s Taiwan Swinging Skirts LPGA presented by CTBC, Inbee Park makes her return to the LPGA Tour and her first start since the Volunteers of America Classic, where she finished T8. The LPGA Tour Hall of Fame member has played a limited schedule in 2019, with 15 starts this season, six of which resulted in top 10 finishes. She’ll look to add a victory to that resume over the closing stretch of the season as she tries to keep her winning streak alive, having won six of the last seven seasons on the LPGA Tour. The 7-time major champion will play Thursday’s round alongside another major champion in Ariya Jutanugarn and Ho Yu An, an amateur from Chinese Taipei. Jutanugarn, like Park, is in search of her first win of the season. She’s making her third start in Chinese Taipei where she’ll look to crack the top 25 for the first time. Thursday, An will enjoy the opportunity of a lifetime in getting to play alongside two of the best players in the women’s game. An received a sponsor’s invite and is currently the No. 264 ranked amateur in the world.
Sung Hyun Park, Brooke Henderson, Teresa Lu
10:13 a.m. – 1st Tee
This week, Sung Hyun Park makes her return to the LPGA Tour for the first time since the Volunteers of America Classic, where she finished T21. The No. 2 ranked player in the Rolex Rankings is making her third appearance in Chinese Taipei where she finished T12 in 2018. Thursday, Park will play alongside Brooke Henderson and Teresa Lu. Henderson is coming off a T38 at the inaugural BMW Ladies Championship and making her fourth appearance at the Taiwan Swinging Skirts LPGA, where she finished T3 in 2016. Lu will enjoy playing at home in Chinese Taipei, where she’s making her fourth start of the year on the LPGA Tour. Lu, who plays primarily on the JLPGA, is familiar to LPGA fans as a three-time member representing Chinese Taipei at the UL International Crown.
Jeongeun Lee6, Hannah Green, Hinako Shibuno
10:24 a.m. – 1st Tee
Three of the major champions in 2019 will play together during the opening round in Chinese Taipei. Jeongeun Lee6, the reigning U.S. Women’s Open champion, will play alongside KPMG Women’s PGA champion Hannah Green and AIG Women’s British Open champion Hinako Shibuno. Lee6, the 2019 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year, came up short of also securing
Player of the Year when Jin Young Ko secured the honor at the end of last week. But Lee6 still has a lot to play for in the closing stretch of the season as she sits at No. 2 on the Tour’s money list and will look to eclipse Ko in the No. 1 spot. Green, who won for a second time this season in Portland, is coming off a T38 finish last week in Korea and is making just her second start in Chinese Taipei where she finished T48 in 2018. Shibuno is making just her second start on the LPGA Tour. She played her first event in August at the AIG Women’s British Open, where she also won her first major title. With her victory, Shibuno is eligible to take up membership on the LPGA Tour. Click here for more about her decision. https://www.lpga.com/news/2019-shibuno-membership-decision
Nelly Korda, Jin Young Ko, Wei-Ling Hsu
10:35 a.m. – 1st Tee
Defending champion Nelly Korda returns to Chinese Taipei, the site of her maiden victory on the LPGA Tour. Korda added a second win on the LPGA Tour and a victory on the Ladies European Tour to her resume in 2019. She’ll look to become the second American to successfully defend her title during the Tour’s swing through Asia, as Danielle Kang became the first to do so at the Buick LPGA Shanghai. Korda will play the opening round alongside Rolex Rankings No. 1 Jin Young Ko and Chinese Taipei’s very own, Wei-Ling Hsu. Sunday, Ko secured Player of the Year honors and she will look to continue her season-long dominance with a fifth victory in the closing stretch of the season. She has the game to pull it off as she’s finished T9 in her last two starts and T8 in Chinese Taipei in 2018. Hsu, who grew up in Chinese Taipei, is making her seventh appearance in this event. She finished inside the top 10 the last two years, including T6 in 2018.
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