Ochoa, Petteresen head LPGA field in Korea
BY Bruce Young | Ladies Korean PGA Tour | 2007 KOLON-Hana Bank Championship | Preview | 17 Oct 2007
The LPGA Tour takes its show on the road for the next three weeks when its Asian swing begins in South Korea this week. The Kolon-Hana Bank Championship is a co-sanctioned event between the Korean LPGA and the LPGA Tours and brings together 69 players, 21 of whom are from the Korean LPGA.
This week’s event is followed by the Honda LPGA event in Thailand next week and then the Mizuno Classic in Japan before returning to the US for the ADT Tour Championship.
Koreans have won the event in each of the five years it has been staged, three of them non-LPGA Tour members with the defending champion being Jin Joo Hong, who defeated Jeong Jang by three shots in 2006. As a result of her win, Hong gained access to the LPGA Tour and has played 18 events in the US this season with a best finish of 14th at the Wegmans LPGA event.
The event has attracted both Lorena Ochoa and Suzann Pettersen, the number one and two money earners on the LPGA Tour this season although Ochoa is nearly $US2 million ahead. They will be joined by last week’s runner up at the Samsung World Championship, Mi Hyun Kim, Jeong Jang and a host of other players many of them unknown to the golfing world at large but many of whom are capable of a surprise win.
Most of the Korean LPGA hopes will be on Shin, Ji-Yai and Ahn Shi Hyun both of whom have played well internationally this year in addition to their good seasons locally.
The Australians are represented by Rachel Hetherington, Wendy Doolan and Lindsey Wright.
The tournament has prizemoney of US$1.5 million.
