The Mediheal-Hankook Ilbo Championship, the second KLPGA Tour event of the second half of the season, tees off Thursday with a purse of 1.2 billion won ($848,000).
Now in its fifth edition, the tournament runs four days at Montvert Country Club (par 72) in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, with 123 players competing for the title.
Leading the field is Kim Min-sol, who has already claimed three wins this season and sits atop both the money list with 989.62 million won in earnings and the points standings with 313 points. Close behind are Seo Gyo-rim, Kim Min-sun and Yoo Hyun-jo, among other top names on the KLPGA Tour.
Kim finished tied for 53rd at last week's Jeju Samdasoo Masters and will look to secure her first win of the second half — and her fourth of the season.
She finished tied for third at last year's edition of this tournament. "This is a tournament I have good memories of, so I really want to play well," she said. "My ball-striking isn't perfect, but it tends to improve as the round goes on. Right now I'm focusing less on results and more on hitting the shots I want."
Last season's money leader Hong Jeong-min enters as the defending champion. Hong had her best season last year, winning three times including this event, but has struggled this season after dealing with a back injury.
"It's an honor and a privilege to be back as the defending champion," Hong said. "This is the tournament where I set the KLPGA Tour record for lowest score at 259 strokes, so I have wonderful memories here and I'm even more excited. I want to defend the title, but my form hasn't been great lately, so I'll focus first on getting my game back."
Lee Da-yeon, who won the Aurora World Championship earlier this month — the final event of the first half — is also in the field, along with fellow Mediheal-sponsored players Lee Ye-won, Park Hyun-kyung and Bae So-hyun, all chasing the title.
Jang Eun-su, who claimed her first win in 10 years on the regular tour at last week's Jeju Samdasoo Masters, will look to carry that momentum into back-to-back victories.
Among the invited players, LPGA Tour major champions Kim A-lim and Park Sung-hyun draw particular attention. For Kim, it will be her first KLPGA Tour appearance since this same event last year, while Park returns to the domestic circuit for the first time in about four months since the season opener, The Siena Open, in April.
yjc@heraldcorp.com
