Inkster stresses area’s importance

Juli Inkster heartily endorsed the LPGA’s return to the Bay Area — and not only because it’s a 35-minute drive from her Los Altos home to Lake Merced.

Inkster, a Hall of Famer and 31-time LPGA winner (including seven majors), recognized the region’s affinity for golf makes it a logical candidate to host a tour event.

“I think it’s important,” she said Tuesday. “We had something really going with Swinging Skirts. I just saw in those three years how the fan base developed and all the young kids came out. We’ve got a huge fan base here, so I think it’s important to have the LPGA here.”

Previous tournaments in the Bay Area ran into title-sponsor issues. The event at Blackhawk Country Club in Danville had a five-year run (2006-10), and then the original incarnation at Lake Merced — sponsored by Swinging Skirts, a nonprofit organization based in Taiwan and intent on growing the game worldwide — lasted three years (2014-16).

Mediheal, a Korean skincare company, signed a threeyear agreement to serve as title sponsor of this tournament. The inaugural LPGA Mediheal Championship begins Thursday.

“Hopefully, it stays,” Inkster

said. “The whole thing with a golf tournament is developing a base and getting the community behind it. It’s tough to do that when you keep changing venues.

“In NorCal, we’ve had a lot of great champions and great golf. It’s got a big history of golf. I like to see us come back here and represent that history.”

Tough track: Much like previous LPGA events at Lake Merced, this week’s version is unlikely to produce crazy-low scores.

The course, which measures 6,541 yards, usually holds its own, thanks to twisting, treelined fairways and small greens. The winning scores at Lake Merced were 12-underpar in 2014, 8-under in ’15 and 9-under in ’16.

“This is like an Open course,” Inkster said. “It’s not a birdie-fest out here. Pars are your friend.”

Wind watch: The forecast calls for cool, dry weather during the tournament, according to weather.com, with temperatures in the mid-to-high 50s. The wind, the bane of a golfer’s existence, could reach 20 mph.

Ron Kroichick is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.