Three of women’s top 10 to star as golf returns in S. Korea
Leading professional golfers will return to competitive action for the first time in months after the coronavirus shutdown when three of the world's top 10 women tee off in South Korea on Thursday.
The KLPGA Championship will follow the country's football and baseball leagues in starting behind closed doors at the Lakewood Country Club in Yangju, northeast of Seoul.
World No. 3 Park Sung-hyun, sixth-ranked Kim Sei-young and No. 10 Lee Jeong-eun will be in a 150-strong field chasing a $180,000 winner's check from a record tournament purse of $2.5 million, the highest in the event's 42-year history.
South Korea — which endured one of the worst early outbreaks of the disease outside mainland China — has brought COVID-19 under control with a widespread "trace, test and treat" model and has begun to resume professional sport.
South Korean players dominate women's golf and the US-based LPGA tour with three golfers ranked in the world's top six and eight players in the top 20. Two-time major winner Park, nine-time winner on the LPGA Tour Kim and current US Open champion Lee were already back home in the country.
They had returned after the LPGA season was suspended in February because of the pandemic following the Australian Open, which was
BACK GROUND
won by another Korean, the world No. 11 Park In-bee.
No spectators will be allowed inside Lakewood Country Club and strict protocols will be in place to guard against the risk of infection. All players and staff will have their temperature checked before entering the venue and all support personnel must wear face masks at all times. Players will be required to wear masks before and after play and can opt to don one during their round, where they will have to keep a minimum of two meters from their competitors.
Media covering the tournament will be restricted to two designated areas on the course at the first and 10th tees.