Korean golfers look to lock Olympic spots at KPMG Women's PGA Championship

A total of 21 Korean golfers are set to tee off at Sahalee Country Club on Thursday where they’ll vie for the biggest slice of a $10.4 million purse — the third largest bag on Tour this year.

Korea's Ko Jin-young plays her shot from the eighth tee during the second round of the ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer at Seaview Bay Course on June 8 in Galloway, New Jersey. [AFP/YONHAP]

Korea’s women’s golfers will have another shot to bank their first LPGA win of the 2024 season at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in Sammamish, Washington this weekend, which will also finalize the list of qualifiers for the Paris Olympics.

A total of 21 Korean golfers are set to tee off at Sahalee Country Club on Thursday where they’ll vie for the biggest slice of a $10.4 million purse — the third largest bag on Tour this year.

Kim Sei-young, who won the 2020 Women’s PGA Championship with a five-shot lead over hall-of-famer Park In-bee, will be among those in the 156-player field alongside seven other previous champions — including world No. 1 Nelly Korda and defending champion Yin Ruoning.

Korea's Kim Sei-young reacts after winning the 2020 KPMG Women's PGA Championship at the Aronimink Golf Club on Oct. 11, 2020 in Newtown Square, Pa. [AP/YONHAP]

A win by a Korean golfer this weekend would snap a two-year major drought, one of the longest spells without a Korean winner of a major tournament since Pak Se-ri’s 1998 Women’s PGA Championship and U.S. Women’s Open wins.

Korea banked at least one major victory for 10 straight seasons, from 2011 to 2020, but Chun In-gee’s June 2022 Women’s PGA Championship win was the last time a Korean golfer took home a major title. Chun will not be in Washington this weekend.

No Korean golfer won a major LPGA tournament in 2021 or in 2023 — although Korea did see wins at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, which carries the biggest individual purse, in both those years, with Ko Jin-young taking the title in 2021 and Amy Yang in 2023.

The weekend is also the final tournament before the qualifying cutoff date for women’s golf at the Paris Olympics.

Each country can qualify a maximum of four players — but only if all of them sit within the top 15. Ko, at No. 7, and Kim Hyo-joo, at No. 12 on the International Golf Federation’s Olympic Golf Ranking ahead of the Women’s Championship, are the only ones with a chance to secure a spot. Both will be in the field this weekend.

Korea's Kim Hyo-joo plays her shot from the 17th tee during the second round of the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give at Blythefield Country Club on June 14 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. [AFP/YONHAP]

Korea’s Shin Ji-yai and Yang, at No. 24 and No. 25 on the Rolex Rankings respectively, are the next highest-ranked Korean golfers.

It will be the first Olympics since golf’s return to the Games in 2016 that Korea does not send the maximum four entries in the women’s tournament. Both Ko and Kim Hyo-joo were at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics alongside Kim Sei-young and Park In-bee. Ko and Kim Sei-young tied for ninth place in Tokyo in 2021.

Korea’s Tom Kim and An Byeong-hun locked in their spots as Korea’s sole representatives in the men’s golf tournament after the PGA Championship last weekend.

Korean golfers have overall struggled to break through on the LPGA Tour this season, with none managing above a third-place finish.

While there were three Korean golfers within the top 10 at the Chevron Championship, the first major of the year, a fifth-place finish by 2023 Rookie of the Year Ryu Hae-ran was the best result by the Korean contingent.

There were no top-10 finishes at the U.S. Women’s Open, with Kim Hyo-joo and rookie Im Jin-hee earning the highest marks in tied 12th.

Im has had a relatively strong debut, sitting in second place in the race for the 2024 Rookie of the Year as of press time, but has yet to outperform her tied fourth finish at the JM Eagle LA Championship in April.

Other rookies in the field include Kang Min-ji, Lee So-mi and Sung Yu-jin, all of whom will play at the Women’s PGA Championship for the first time.

And the other previous major winners who will be in Washington are Ji Eun-hee, Kim A-lim, Lee Mi-hyang, Lee Jeong-eun6, Park Hee-young, Ryu, Jenny Shin, Shin Ji-yai and Amy Yang.

Cardholders An Na-rin, Choi Hye-jin, Jang Hyo-joon, Jeon Ji-won and Kang Hae-ji will round out the group of Korean golfers in the field this weekend.

It’s set to be a sunny weekend in Sammamish, Washington over the weekend, with temperatures reaching 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit) and light wind on Day 1.

Rookie Sung will be the first Korean golfer to tee off on Thursday, at 7 a.m. on the back nine, and Kim Hyo-joo will start at 8:16 a.m. on the first hole while Korda and Yin begin at the 10th.

Ko will tee off alongside the United States’ Lexi Thompson and Japan’s Yuka Saso at the first hole at 1:34 p.m.

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