Who will be the first ‘Major Queen’ of the season?
The US Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour, which entered the 3rd month of the 2023 season, started on the 21st (Korean time) for four days at The Club at Carleton Woods Jack Nicklaus Signature Course (par 72) in The Woodlands, Texas, USA for the first time of the season. The major tournament Chevron Championship (total prize money of 5.1 million dollars) will be held. Until last year, it was held in the first week of April at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, near Palm Springs, California, USA, but this year the date and venue have been changed.
Like a major tournament, Lydia Ko (New Zealand), Nellie Koda (USA), and Ko Jin-young (28), who are ranked 1st to 3rd in the world, will all participate, and the top 20 will all appear.
16 Korean players, including Ko Jin-young, Yu So-yeon, Kim A-lim, Lee Jeong-eun, Jeon In-ji, Kim Se-young, Park Seong-hyeon, Kim Hyo-joo, Ji Eun-hee, Choi Hye-jin, Annarin, Choi Un-jung, Yang Hee-young, Shin Ji-eun, Yoo Hae-ran, and Mi-hyang Lee will participate and challenge for the championship.
Attention is focused on the revival of Ko Jin-young’s ‘Major Queen’.
In 2019, by winning this event (then called ANA Inspiration), there was a relationship that led to the first place in the world rankings. After that, it was pushed to second place for a while, and then won the Evian Championship held in July to become first again.
She made a big success, winning two major tournaments in 2019 alone, but news of major championships was cut off after that.
Ko Jin-young, who is looking forward to returning as a major queen after 4 years, prepared for this tournament without participating in the Lotte Championship held in Hawaii last week.
In the first and second rounds of the tournament, Jinyoung Ko will play against last year’s winner Jennifer Cupcho (USA) and Patty Tawatanagit (Thailand).
Jeon In-ji, who has won 3 out of 4 LPGA Tour wins in major tournaments, will achieve the “Career Grand Slam” if she wins this tournament.
Inji Jeon won the 2015 US Open, the 2016 Evian Championship, and last year’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
There are five major LPGA tour events (Chevron Championship, KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, US Women’s Open, AIG Women’s Open, and Evian Championship), and winning four of them is recognized as a career grand slam.
Park In-bi is the only Korean player to have achieved the Career Grand Slam. He won the remaining four majors except for the Evian Championship.
Kim Hyo-joo, who has won five LPGA tour victories, is challenging to win a major title for the first time in nine years since the 2014 Evian Championship.
The unfamiliar course is expected to become a variable in the championship competition.
The Jack Nicklaus-designed course features bunkers and watery, fast greens. The Carleton Woods course has 59 bunkers and 9 water hazards. The battlefield is scheduled to be longer than 6800 yards,메이저사이트 so elaborate shots and a fight against the distance are expected to unfold at the same time.
The LPGA Tour predicted that the weather could also be a variable. So far, the competition has been held in Rancho Mirage, California, in hot weather of over 30 degrees. Rain and thunderstorm warnings were in effect for the Woodlands area during the tournament.
In this tournament with 132 participants, the top 65 (including joint rankings) after 36 holes will advance to the finals.