World No. 1 Ko Jin-young to make LPGA return from injury on home soil

▲ In this file photo from June 23, 2022, Ko Jin-young of South Korea stands under an umbrella on the fourth tee during the first round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland. (Yonhap)

▲ In this Getty Images photo, Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand tees off on the 15th hole during the first round of the LPGA Mediheal Championship at the Saticoy Club in Somis, California, on Oct. 6, 2022. (Yonhap)

▲ In this Getty Images file photo from Oct. 2, 2022, Lydia Ko of New Zealand reacts to a missed birdie putt on the 18th green during the final round of The Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America at Old American Golf Club in The Colony, Texas. (Yonhap)

LPGA-S Korea

World No. 1 Ko Jin-young to make LPGA return from injury on home soil

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Yonhap) -- Ko Jin-young, the world No. 1 in women's golf from South Korea, will mark her LPGA comeback from an injury layoff on home soil next week.

Organizers of the BMW Ladies Championship announced Thursday that Ko will be in the 78-player field for the lone LPGA tournament in South Korea. The 72-hole competition starts next Thursday at Oak Valley Country Club in Wonju, some 85 kilometers east of Seoul in Gangwon Province.

Ko, the defending champion of the South Korea tournament, has not played since late August while nursing a wrist injury. She has still stayed at the top of the world rankings. Ko won her first tournament of the 2022 season at the HSBC Women's World Championship in March and has recorded four more top-10 finishes.

Ko missed the cut in her two most recent events before hitting the sidelines.

World No. 2 Atthaya Thitikul, the rookie sensation from Thailand, will also play, joined by a couple of other top-five players of Korean descent: No. 3 Minjee Lee of Australia, who leads the Player of the Year points standings, and No. 5 Lydia Ko of New Zealand.

Thitikul is leading the Rookie of the Year points race with 1,425 points on the strength of two victories, 243 points ahead of South Korean Choi Hye-jin. A tournament victory is worth 150 points, and Choi will look to narrow the gap at home next week.

Also at Oak Valley, nine-time winner Choi Na-yeon will make her final LPGA appearance on a special invitation. The 34-year-old South Korean announced her retirement on Oct. 5.

South Korea has not had a champion at the past 12 LPGA tournaments, the longest such drought in eight years.

The BMW Ladies Championship will have a US$2 million purse, with $300,000 going to the winner.

This is the third edition of the tournament. Before Ko, Jang Hana of South Korea won the inaugural event in 2019. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved