Choi Hye-jin of South Korea tees off on the 16th hole during the second round of the Hana Financial Group Singapore Women's Open at Tanah Merah Country Club in Singapore on Dec. 10, 2022, (Singapore tournament organizing committee)
South Korea has made a roster change ahead of an eight-country match play competition in women's golf scheduled for May.
The LPGA announced Tuesday that South Korea is one of three nations to bring in new players, along with Japan and China, for the 2023 International Crown, which will run from May 4 to 7 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
Each of the eight countries will be represented by its top four players on the world rankings. And the countries' seedings and their four qualified players were determined based on their ranking positions as of April 3.
Initially, South Korea was set to roll out the quartet of Ko Jin-young (No. 3), Kim Hyo-joo (No. 9), Chun In-gee (No. 11) and Park Min-ji (No. 21).
However, Park, the only Korea LPGA player in the group, pulled out, citing a scheduling conflict on the domestic tour.
Choi Hye-jin, a second-year LPGA player at No. 25 and the next-highest South Korean on the world rankings, will replace Park. This will be Choi's first International Crown appearance.
The country seedings were locked in as of April 3 and did not change despite lineup changes.
Ko, Kim and Chun have combined for 23 LPGA wins, including six majors. Chun is the only South Korean player this year with prior International Crown experience, having won the 2018 event and finished second in 2016.
This year's competition is the fourth edition. The 2020 event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The United States, which had the lowest total of ranking positions for its four players, earned the top seed. It had 34 points from a quartet of top-15 players: Nelly Korda (No. 2), Lexi Thompson (No. 6), Lilia Vu (No. 12) and Danielle Kang (No. 14). They have 26 combined LPGA titles, including three majors.
The six other competing nations are: Japan, Sweden, England, Thailand, Australia and China.
The field will feature a few major champions, such as Yuka Saso of Japan, Anna Nordqvist of Sweden, Georgia Hall of England, Patty Tavatanakit of Thailand and Minjee Lee of Australia.
The first three days of the International Crown will feature four-ball competition. The top two countries from each pool will advance to the semifinals on May 7.
The two semifinal matches will be played on the morning of the final day, with each consisting of two singles matches and one foursome match. The championship final will be in the afternoon the same day, along with a third-place match. They will both have the same format as the semifinals.
Hanwha, one of South Korea's largest conglomerates, will serve as the title sponsor under the name Lifeplus. It's a joint brand of Hanwha's financial affiliates, including Hanwha Life and Hanwha Investment & Securities. (Yonhap)
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