LPGA stars buddy up for Dow Great Lakes Bay stroke play

Golf

Published: 13 Jul. 2021, 18:41

LPGA stars buddy up for Dow Great Lakes Bay stroke play

Kim Hyo-joo plays her shot from the first tee during the second round of the LPGA Volunteers of America Classic golf tournament in The Colony, Texas on July 2, 2021. [AP/ YONHAP]

The LPGA Tour moves to Midland Country Club in Midland, Michigan this week for the second edition of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, running from Wednesday to Saturday.

This tournament, unlike other LPGA tournaments, will be played as a 72-hole, stroke-play team event with teams comprising of two players.

The first and third rounds will be played with the two golfers on each team using the same ball to take alternate shots, and the second and final rounds will be played in a best-ball format where the two players on each team play their own ball, with the better score becoming the team's score.

After 36 holes, the field will be cut to 35 teams, and if there is a tie after 72 holes, the match will be pushed to a sudden-death playoff played by the tied top teams.

There will be a total of 144 players, so 72 teams of two. The top 70 players on the LPGA Priority were able to choose their partners, picking any eligible golfer who already has an LPGA Tour card, with four sponsor exemptions.

Park In-bee putts on the fourth hole during the third round of the Marathon LPGA Classic at the Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio on July 10, 2021. [EPA/ YONHAP]

A total of 17 Koreans will be competing in 11 teams at Midland Country Club.

Lee Jeong-eun6 has partnered with Hur Mi-jung, Chun In-gee with Brooke Henderson of Canada, Kim Hyo-joo with Ji Eun-hee, Amy Yang with Kang Hae-ji, Ryu So-yeon with Park In-bee, Lee Mi-hyang with Choi Woon-jung also known as Chella Choi, Lee Jeong-eun with Choi Na-yeon, Park Hee-young with Jennifer Song of the United States, Kim A-lim with Yealimi Noh of the United States, Kwak Min-seo with Esther Lee of the United States and Son Yu-jeong with Suzuka Yamaguchi of Japan.

Of the four Korean women's golf Olympians, Park and Kim Hyo-joo will be the only ones competing at the invitational, as Kim Sei-young and Ko Jin-young are out to rest.

After the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, the LPGA Tour moves to Europe to play The Amundi Evian Championship in Evian-les-Bains, France and then the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Galgorm, Northern Ireland before the start of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]