Choi Hye-jin, who is in her second year on the U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour, will make her first appearance on the Korean Ladies Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour in a year and a half.
Choi will compete in the 11th E1 Charity Open (KRW 900 million in prize money¤ KRW 162 million in winner’s purse) at Seongmunan CC (Par 72) in Wonju, Gangwon Province, starting on Sept. 26. Although she competed in the Hana Financial Group Singapore Women’s Open last December, the opening event of the 2023 season on the KLPGA Tour, it will be the first time since the SK Shields SK Telecom Championship in November 2021 that Choi will compete on the KLPGA Tour in Korea. After the SK Shields SK Telecom Championship, she played a qualifying tournament before making her LPGA Tour debut in 2022.
With Choi’s entry into the field, much attention will be focused on how she fares against the likes of Park Min-ji, Park Ji-young, Park Hyun-kyung, Lim Hee-jung, Lee Ye-won, and Hong Jung-min, as well as “big rookies” Bang Shin-sil and Kim Min-byul.
Choi, who has 10 career victories on the KLPGA Tour, including two as an amateur, has been the reigning champion since 2018, when she won the title for the third consecutive year, but has been on a two-and-a-half-year winless streak since winning the 2020 season finale at the SK Telecom ADT Caps. Last year, her rookie year on the LPGA, she had 10 top-10 finishes, including a tie for second at the CP Women’s Open in August and a tie for third at the BMW Ladies Championship in Korea in October, but this year she hasn’t had a single top-10 finish in eight events.
Following the E1 Charity Open, it will be interesting to see if Choi, who also competes in the Lotte Championship with her main sponsor, can quench her thirst for victory on her home turf.
Meanwhile, the E1 Charity Open, the KLPGA Tour’s signature charity tournament, which continues to make a positive impact by raising funds for charity and other social contributions, has increased its total prize fund by 100 million won from last year.메이저사이트
As the only charity tournament in Korea, players have been donating 10% of their total prize money to realize one of E1’s core values, “Go Together,” and the organizer, E1, has shared the same amount with those in need. From this year, the program will change to allow players to make voluntary donations, leading to a new culture of giving.
The organizer, E1, has been engaged in various social contribution activities. Since 2012, it has jointly funded the LPG Hope Charge Fund with SK gas to support the energy underprivileged, and since 2011, it has been running the ‘Hope Charge Campaign’ with Orange Card customers to collect donations and deliver them to welfare facilities for the disabled. In addition, the ‘E1 Hope Charge Volunteer Group’, composed of E1 employees, regularly visits welfare facilities for the disabled and conducts volunteer activities.