On October 10th Beijing time, 21 players who participated in the UL International Crown Cup last week, including two members of the South Korean winning team, will participate in this week's Hana Bank LPGA Championship.
Park Cheng hyun, currently ranked first in the world, will lead a strong Korean army this week. In 2018, she won three LPGA races. Tian Renzhi has not won the LPGA Tour since 2016, but last week he achieved a record of 4 wins and 0 losses in the team event at Jack Nicholas Golf Club. Both will continue to compete in Incheon.
Park Cheng hyun won the runner up here a year ago, while Tian Renzhi won third place.
Four American team members [Lexi Thompson, Cristie Kerr, Wei Shengmei, Jessica Koda] and four Australian team members [Li Minzhi, Katherine Kirk, Sarah Jane Smith, and Su Hyun Oh] will all participate in the competition.
In addition, three players from the Thai team, three players from the England team, two players from the Japanese team, two players from the Swedish team, and one player from the Chinese Taipei team will also participate in the competition.
This week's 78 person lineup includes 12 players sent by the women's Han Xun, forming a powerful local army of 27 people.
Of course, China also has representatives. Feng Shanshan and Liu Yu entered based on LPGA rankings, while Sui Xiang participated with a wild card.
Gao Zhenrong will return to defend her title, and in addition to her, there are three former champions here: Carlota Ciganda (2016), Amy Yang (2013), and Lexi Thompson (2015). These three players will all seek the first championship of this season.
Gao Zhenrong won the Australian Women's Open at the beginning of the year and finished in the top 10, currently leading the rookie rankings. Interestingly, last year, she happened to be leading by 2 strokes here, defeating a newcomer of the year award winner, Park Cheng hyun.
The total prize money for the Hana Bank LPGA Championship is 2 million US dollars, with no elimination line set, attracting 17 championship winners in 2018, including Park Seung hyun and Arya, who have won multiple championships (3 times). In addition, Brooke Henderson, who won two championships, will also play. American veteran Angela Stanford finally achieved a Grand Slam breakthrough at the Evian Championships, marking her first performance since winning the championship.