Korea is aiming for the throne in the women’s golf national competition held for the first time in five years.
The Korean team, consisting of Ko Jin-young (28), Kim Hyo-joo (28), Jeon In-ji (29), and Choi Hye-jin (24), will hold the Hanwha Life Plus International Crown at TPC Harding Park (par 72) in San Francisco, California, USA from the 5th (Korean time). (total prize money of 2 million dollars).
Korea will be the defending champion in this tournament, which will be held for the first time since 2018. That year, Jeon In-ji, Ryu So-yeon (33), Kim In-kyung (35) and Park Seong-hyeon (30) joined forces to represent Korea and won the championship.
Korea ranked second in the tournament power rankings selected by the US Golf Digest. This is in the sense that players who are better than any other team are evenly selected. Ko Jin-young and Kim Hyo-joo are in the world’s top 10, while Jeon In-ji is 12th and Choi Hye-jin is 25th. The only team that was consistently selected like Korea is the United States. All four of the Americans are in the top 20, with Nellie Korda, Lilia Vu and Lexi Thompson in the top 10.
First of all, in order for Korea to successfully defend their title, they must advance to the semifinals by placing first and second in their group. Korea, as the second seed, belonged to Pool B. Japan, Thailand, and Australia have to compete in the top two.
Our first opponent is Australia. On the 5th, Choi Hye-jin and Jeon In-ji, Kim Hyo-joo and Ko Jin-young teamed up to face Lee Min-ji, Steph Kiriaku, and Hannah Green and Sarah Kemp, respectively. The first game is a four-ball match.
Golf Digest placed Australia at number 5 in its power rankings. Although the expectations are somewhat low, the role of Hannah Green, who won the LPGA Tour in four years with Lee Min-ji, is expected to be important. The media said, “The timing of the team selection was not very good for Australia. However, major champion Lee Min-ji and Green, who recently won the JM Eagle LA Championship, will lead the team.”
Lee Min-ji is ranked 6th in the world and Green is 14th. Kiriaku and Kemp are outside the top 100 at 118th and 161st, respectively. However, Kiriaku recently passed the cut in four consecutive games, and Kemp tied for 13th at the LA Championship. These are players who should not let their guard down.
In the first match against Australia, Jeon In-ji is the one to look forward to. Jeon In-ji, who is participating in this tournament for the third time, has an overall record of 6 wins and 2 losses. In particular, the four-ball match record is formidable with 5 wins and 1 loss. In the 2018 competition, she won 4 wins, including 3 wins in collaboration with Ryu So-yeon. Ko Jin-young, Kim Hyo-joo and Choi Hye-jin are their first appearances, but their performance on the recent LPGA tour is not bad.크크크벳
Jeon In-ji said, “During the 2018 tournament, I tried to follow other players. My position has changed since then. I will listen carefully to what other players think and work hard to create good teamwork. All of them are already great players, so I don’t need any advice. seems to be,” he said.
Ko Jin-young said, “I think I can definitely win again.” “He promised.
Hyejin Choi said, “More than anything else, I’m really looking forward to playing with the older sisters. I’m grateful that Inji unnie took care of me because I was the youngest. In the case of Hyojoo unnie and Jinyoung unnie, they also seem to take good care of me because I’m the youngest. Overall, I’m looking forward to it. “he said.