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SOUTH KOREAN golfers will be aiming to complete a decade-long period of dominance when Mission Hills Haikou plays host to the 10th anniversary edition of the Hyundai China Ladies Open this weekend.
To be staged from Friday to Sunday, the event carries a prize purse of US$550,000 and is sanctioned by the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association [KLPGA], the China Ladies Professional Golf Association [CLPGA] and the China Golf Association.
In its sixth year of Hyundai’s title sponsorship, the 54-hole tournament will take place over the award-winning Blackstone Course.
Mission Hills hosted the event for the first time last year, at the club’s historic World Cup Course in Shenzhen.
South Korean players have won each of the nine previous versions of the tournament.
Two of those successes belong to Kim Hyo-joo. A Major winner and currently 10th in the world ranking, the 20-year-old now has her sights firmly set on completing a hat trick of China triumphs. She can expect stiff competition from a strong Korean contingent that includes no fewer than 11 players from the top-100 in the world rankings, including red-hot Chun In-gee.
Winner of the U.S. Women’s Open in July, Chun has captured a total of eight wins this year on three different Tours and has risen to ninth in the world ranking.
For China, attention will be focused on two talented teenagers — Yan Jing and Shi Yuting.
Shi and Yan, both aged 17, are at the forefront of the new generation of Chinese players, determined to usurp Feng Shanshan as China’s No. 1 and fly the flag for their country on the biggest golfing stages around the globe.
Tenniel Chu, Mission Hills Group Vice Chairman, said: “Mission Hills is a natural fit for this tournament given our proud record of achievement in women’s golf, including our innovative World Ladies Championship, the Annika Invitational junior girls’ tournament and the Ladies European Tour’s Lalla Aicha Tour School 2016 — Pre-Qualifier Asia, which we held in Haikou for the first time last month.”(SD-Agencies)
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