LPGA's BMW Championship moves to Oak Valley in Wonju

The LPGA Tour is headed to Oak Valley Country Club in Wonju, Gangwon in October for the 2022 BMW Ladies Championship.

Ko Jin-young reacts after making a putt on the ninth hole during the final round of the BMW Ladies Championship at LPGA International Busan in Busan, on Oct. 24, 2021. [AP/YONHAP]

Ko Jin-young is congratulated by her caddie and other players after winning the BMW Ladies Championship at LPGA International Busan in Busan on Oct. 24, 2021. [NEWS1]

The LPGA Tour is headed to Oak Valley Country Club in Wonju, Gangwon in October for the 2022 BMW Ladies Championship.

The BMW Ladies Championship is the only co-sanctioned event between the LPGA and KLPGA Tours. The tournament is set to be played from Oct. 20 to Oct. 23 with a field of 78 players competing for a $2 million purse and $300,000 winner's check.

This will be the first time that Oak Valley has hosted an international competition. There are four nine-hole courses in Oak Valley – Oak, Maple, Pine and Cherry – and the BMW Ladies Championship will be contested on a combination of the Oak, Maple and Cherry courses.

After the BMW Ladies Championship became an official LPGA Tour event in 2019, the first two editions were played at LPGA International Busan in Busan. Both previous BMW Championship titles were won only after a grueling playoff.

Jang Ha-na won the inaugural BMW Ladies Championship title in 2019, beating Danielle Kang of the United States in a playoff. The event was canceled due to Covid-19 in 2020.

Last year, it was world No. 1 Ko who won the event after a sizzling competition against KLPGA favorite Lim Hee-jeong in the final round that saw the match stretch into a sudden-death playoff.

Prevailing in the playoff against Lim, Ko took the 200th LPGA title won by a Korean golfer since Ku Ok-hee won the Standard Register Turquoise Classic on March 27, 1988.

Four weeks after winning that BMW Ladies Championship last year, Ko won the ultimate trophy on the LPGA Tour at the CME Group Tour Championship.

Out of the total 33 LPGA events scheduled this year, 20 are already out of the way. The BMW Championship in October will be the fifth-to-last event of the season and the fourth-to-last chance for golfers to add points to their Race to the CME Globe points standings.

The Race to the CME Globe is a season-long points competition where LPGA golfers accumulate points at every official event to enter the season-ending championship, the CME Group Tour Championship. Following the penultimate Pelican Women's Championship in November, the CME Championship field will be set for the top 60 players in the Race to the CME Globe points standings.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]