Kim Sei-young looks to ride momentum at Portland Classic

The Portland Classic tees off Thursday at Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland, Oregon as Kim Sei-young looks to ride her momentum from last week to win her 13th LPGA title.

Kim Sei-young tees off on the second hole during the second round of the CPKC Women's Open at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club in Vancouver, Canada on Friday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

The Portland Classic tees off Thursday at Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland, Oregon as Kim Sei-young looks to ride her momentum from last week to win her 13th LPGA title.

First founded in 1972, the Portland Classic is the longest-running non-major LPGA event on the Tour. A total of five Korean golfers have won it, including Ko Jin-young in 2021.

Kim, a former Player of the Year and at one point the No. 2 golfer in the world, has seemed to struggle this season despite having 12 LPGA titles to her name. The 30-year-old even failed to make the cut at the AIG Women’s Open in July and the Amundi Evian Championship earlier this month.

She had not managed a single top-10 finish this season until she tied for fourth at the CPKC Women’s Open on Sunday.

The Portland Classic may be a chance for Kim to return to her glory days and secure her first victory since the Pelican Women’s Championship in November 2020.

She has never won the Portland Classic, but holds the lowest score in a round with an 11-under-par, 61, in the second round of the 2019 event, during which she managed 11 birdies.

If Kim wins the Portland Classic, she will be the first Korean golfer to secure an LPGA title this season after Ko.

Ko, the 2021 champion, is skipping the Portland Classic this year. She has won two titles this season at the HSBC Women’s World Championships in March and the Cognizant Founders Cup in May and finished as runner-up at the CPKC Women’s Open last week.

A number of other prominent golfers will join the field, including Lilia Vu, ranked at No. 1 on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.

Vu has won the most titles this season at three, alongside No. 3 Celine Boutier. Two of Vu’s titles come from majors — the Chevron Championship in April and AIG Women’s Open on Aug. 13.

Boutier is not competing in the Portland Classic, while No. 2 Nelly Korda, No. 5 Ruoning Yin, No. 6 Lydia Ko, No. 7 Kim Hyo-joo, No. 8 Allisen Corpuz and No. 9 Charley Hull and No. 10 Brooke Henderson will all be in the field.

Kim Hyo-joo has shown a remarkable performance this season, having managed eight top-10 finishes, but has yet to secure a title.

Henderson has seen the best success at the Portland Classic among the 144 competitors in the field, taking back-to-back wins in 2015 and 2016.

The 25-year-old Canadian is one of the few golfers to have won the event more than once, with former golfer Nancy Lopez of the United States remaining the winningest golfer with three wins at the tournament.

To make the tournament even more competitive, Megan Khang of the United States also takes part in the event after winning her first-ever LPGA title at the CPWK Women’s Open last week alongside countrywoman and defending champion Andrea Lee.

Alongside Kim Sei-young and Kim Hyo-joo, 13 other Korean golfers will be in the field: An Na-rin, Chun In-gee, Ryu Hae-ran, Choi Hye-jin, Jang Hyo-joon, Joo Soo-bin, Kim In-kyung, Lee Mi-hyang, Lee Jeong-eun5, Lee Jeong-eun6, Park Sung-hyun, Jenny Shin and Hong Yae-eun.

The golfers will compete for a total purse of $1.5 million, with the winner taking the prize money of $225,000.

The LPGA tour will take place in the United States through September with an Asian swing starting with the Buick LPGA Shanghai teeing off on Oct. 12.

The tour will also visit Korea the following week, as the country hosts the BMW Ladies Championship in Paju, Gyeonggi.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]