The oldest South Korean player on the U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour, Ji-hee Lee, 37, will attempt to win back-to-back titles in the tour’s only match play event.
Ji-hee will compete in the Bank of Hope Match Play ($1.5 million purse) at Shadow Creek Golf Club (par-72) in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, starting today (Sept. 24).
The only event on the LPGA Tour to be played in a match-play format, Ji-hee defeated Ayaka Furue (JPN) in the final last year to win her sixth career LPGA Tour title. It was her first win in more than three years since the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in January 2019.먹튀검증
Notably, Ji-hee became the oldest South Korean player to win an LPGA Tour event at 36 years and 17 days during match play last year.
Since then, she hasn’t had many top-10 finishes in LPGA Tour events.
Outside of her win last season, she has one top-10 finish and has made the cut in five of her seven events this season, with her best finish being a tie for 11th at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in March. He missed the cut at the Cognizant Founders Cup last week.
With fond memories of match play, Ji-hee could use this as a springboard to rebound.
In addition to Ji-hee, other Korean players competing in the tournament include Hae-ran Ha, Se-young Kim, Arim Kim, Anna Rin An, and Jeong-eun Lee.
Ko Jin-young, who regained the top spot in the world rankings released on Wednesday, and the world’s second- and third-ranked players, Nelly Coda (USA) and Lydia Ko (NZL), will be absent.
The highest-ranked player in the field is No. 4 Lilia Boo (USA).
Boo finished third at this event last year, beating Andrea Lee (USA) in the semifinals before falling to Furue in a 3-4 playoff.
Boo, who had yet to win on the LPGA Tour, has won two majors this year, including the Chevron Championship, to lead the Player of the Year in points (94) and money ($1,133,878) and is second in the CME Globe Race (1,346.643 points) behind Jin Young Ko (1,366.973 points).
Andrea Lee (USA) will also be competing in the event, along with Danielle Kang and Allison Lee (USA).
Brooke Henderson (Canada) and Céline Boutier (France) are also in contention for the title.
The 64-player field will be divided into 16 groups of four, with the winner of each group advancing to the round of 16, followed by single-elimination matches from the round of 16 to the final.