This year, Kim Hyo-joo, who has a clear upward trend, will challenge her first title defense on the LPGA Tour.
Kim Hyo-joo will participate in the LPGA Tour Lotte Championship (total prize money of 2 million dollars) held at Ohakalei Country Club (par 72) in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, USA for four days from the 13th (Korean time).
For last year’s champion, Kim Hyo-joo, it’s a title defense.
Kim Hyo-joo has won five times on the LPGA Tour, but has never successfully defended her title and won two consecutive victories.
She also won 14 times on the Korean Women’s Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour, winning three events more than once, but not winning two consecutive years.
This time, Kim Hyo-joo had a good opportunity to successfully defend her first title in her life.
Above all, her performance of Kim Hyo-joo has been very stable this year.
Kim Hyo-joo, who tied for 10th in the LPGA Tour tournament LPGA Thailand in 2023 and tied for 8th at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in March, tied for 3rd at the Dio Implant LA Open, which ended on the 4th.
The top 10 entry rate is 100%. Among players who have played more than two games, only Kim Hyo-joo has a 100% entry rate into the top 10.
It is thanks to her skill, Iron Shot, that she exerted her power.
Kim Hyo-joo is currently fourth in the green hit rate (79.2%). Thanks to such sophisticated iron shots, she is ranked 6th in average at-bats (68.5).
With the win last year, I am more confident about the course than any other player. The tournament was held at Ko Olina Golf Club for 8 consecutive years from 2012 to 2019, then at Kapolei Golf Club in 2021, but moved to Ohakalay Country Club last year.
It is also a good thing that several competitive players who are burdensome did not participate.
Six players within the top 10 in the world rankings, including Lydia Ko (New Zealand), Nellie Corda (USA), Ko Jin-young, Ataya Tittikkun (Thailand), Lee Min-ji (Australia), and Lexi Thompson (USA), will not appear in the tournament.
They will not participate in this tournament in preparation for the season’s first major tournament, the Chevron Championship, which opens on the 21st.
The Lotte Championship starts on Wednesday and ends on Saturday so as not to interfere with participating in the Chevron Championship in Texas, USA, but they chose not to attend, refusing to travel to and from Hawaii.
Kim Hyo-joo said, “It feels good to come back to a tournament with good memories. I won last year, so many people are expecting to do it again. So, I want to show a better image than expected.” 메이저놀이터
Brooke Henderson (Canada), winner of the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in the opening game of this year and Celine Boutier (France), who won the Lotte Championship for two consecutive years (2018, 2019), and Celine Boutier (France), who reached the top in the Drive-On Championship, are expected to compete for the title. see.
Jeon In-ji, Choi Hye-jin, and newcomer Yoo Hae-ran, who succeeded in delay, are also aiming for their first championship this season.
Choi Hye-jin said, “I feel that it will be better if I become more sophisticated than now in the short game.
Sung Yu-jin and Hwang Yu-min, who play in the Korean Women’s Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) tour, participated, and a total of 16 Korean players submitted their tickets.
Seong Yu-jin earned the right to participate in the tournament by winning the KLPGA Tour Lotte Open last year, and Hwang Yu-min was invited by Lotte, which hosts the tournament. Hwang Yoo-min, who debuted on the KLPGA tour this year, is a player sponsored by Lotte along with Kim Hyo-joo.