Amy Yang, Ryu Hae-ran, Chun In-gee to open LPGA season in Orlando

Three Korean golfers will open the 2024 LPGA season at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, which tees off Thursday in Orlando, Florida. They are set to join a tight 35-player field for the four-day, no-cut tournament.

Chun In-gee watches her tee shot on the 17th hole during the first round of the Chevron Championship on April 20, 2023, in The Woodlands, Texas. [AP/YONHAP]

Three Korean golfers will be on the green to open the 2024 LPGA season at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, which tees off Thursday in Orlando, Florida.

Amy Yang, Ryu Hae-ran and Chun In-gee are set to join a tight 35-player field packed with players with titles over the past two seasons for the four-day, no-cut tournament.

There were no golfers from Korea among the 29-player pool at last year’s kickoff tournament, also held at the Lake Nona Golf & Country Club, and the most recent Korean golfers to play at the opener were Park In-bee, 2020 U.S. Open champion Kim A-lim, Park Hee-young and Lee Mi-rim in 2022.

Five Korean golfers qualified for the HGV opener last year but all opted out. This year, Ko Jin-young, Kim Hyo-joo and Ji Eun-hee also qualified for the tournament but will miss the action.

Golfers with titles from the two previous seasons are eligible to compete, according to tournament rules.

All three Korean golfers set to compete this weekend recorded big wins in 2023. Yang, 34, won the season-closing CME Group Tour Championship last November to clinch her fifth career victory and a huge $2 million check.

Amy Yang watches her tee shot on the seventh hole during the final round of an LPGA golf tournament on Nov. 12, 2023, in Belleair, Florida. [AP/YONHAP]

She broke the tournament’s 72-hole record by four strokes, according to the LPGA, carding a 27-under-par, 261, to finish a comfortable three strokes ahead of runners-up Alison Lee of the United States and Nasa Hataoka of Japan.

Ryu, who earned her first LPGA title six months after making her official Tour debut, was named Rookie of the Year — the award given to the first-year with the highest number of points accumulated over the season.

Ryu Hae-ran putts on the 18th green during the final round of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship on Oct. 1, 2023 in Rogers, Arkansas. [AFP/YONHAP]

The 22-year-old finished in the top seven at her first tournament of the season and went on to nab four more top-10 finishes before winning the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship in October with a 19-under-par, 194, over three rounds in the 54-hole stroke play tournament.

Chun, 29, failed to add to her career victories last season but recorded two holes-in-one, the most of any LPGA athlete.

Both were memorable par-3 eagles. Her first came at the Chevron Championship in April, winning a $1 million donation to charity, and the second just a couple months later at the U.S. Women’s Open, in July.

Yang, Ryu and Chun join three former tournament champions, along with 2023 Player of the Year Lilia Vu of the United States, in a stacked competition field.

The 72-hole stroke play tournament will carry a $1.5 million purse, and dozens of celebrities and amateur golfers are also set to compete in a separate contest.

It’s set to be a cloudy weekend in Orlando, with temperatures hovering around the low-70s (Fahrenheit) for the first two days of the tournament before dropping to the high-50s and low-60s on Saturday and Sunday.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]