The two best players in women’s golf will clash in South Korea this week, as the LPGA Tour makes its annual stop in the country.
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World No. 1 Park In-bee of South Korea and No. 2 Lydia Ko of New Zealand will headline the star-studded field in the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship at the Ocean Course of Sky 72 Golf and Resort in Incheon, west of Seoul. The 72-hole event will feature the top 59 players from the LPGA Tour, along with a dozen players from the Korea LPGA Tour.
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On the current world rankings, Park is on top with 12.78 points, barely ahead of Ko, who has 12.52 points.
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Park has won four times this season, including two majors, while Ko has captured one major as part of her four-win season. The teenage sensation has posted two wins and a runner-up finish in her last three appearances.
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They’re also neck-and-neck in major LPGA statistical categories. Park has a slight edge over Ko on the money list ($2.31 million to $2.19 million), in scoring average (69.442 to 69.534) and in the Player of the Year points race (243 to 224).
There will be five tournaments left in 2015 after this week.
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With $300,000 in the winner’s check this week, Ko, a South Korean native competing here for the second straight year, could overtake Park for the money lead.
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LPGA rookie Baek Kyu-jung is the defending champion. She won last year’s event as a non-LPGA member, and the victory granted her LPGA playing privileges for 2015.
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South Koreans have won 12 out of 26 LPGA tournaments in 2015. The LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship was first played in 2002 under a different corporate sponsor, and South Koreans have won nine out of 13 events. (Yonhap)
