JTBC to host new Arizona Championship on LPGA Tour

Seville Golf and Country Club [LPGA]

Seville Golf and Country Club in Gilbert, Arizona will host the LPGA Tour’s 2024 Arizona Championship presented by JTBC, the Tour announced Monday.

The golf course opened in 2000 will host an LPGA Tour competition for the first time, which runs from March 28 to 31 next year. The event will feature a total of 144 golfers competing for a $2 million purse, with $300,000 awarded to the winner.

“Seville Golf and Country Club is looking forward to hosting its first LPGA Tour event and making the athletes and tournament staff, as well as golf’s global fans, feel at home at our spectacular venue,” General Manager of Seville Golf and Country Club Patrick Brophy said in a press release Monday. “This will be a unique opportunity for our members to experience and be a part of a top professional golf event.”

The course, surrounded by the Sonoran Desert, offers views of the San Tan Mountains and the Gila River.

Tickets for the Arizona Championship presented by JTBC will go on sale early next year. Korean broadcaster JTBC is an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily.

Multiple Korean golfers competing on the LPGA Tour will likely head to the course as well, including those who won titles during the 2023 season.

A total of four Korean golfers Ko Jin-young, Ryu Hae-ran, Kim Hyo-joo and Amy Yang claimed victory last season, and Ko was the only multi Korean winner with two titles, having won the HSBC Women’s World Championship in March and Cognizant Founders Cup in May.

In addition to those Korean golfers already competing on the Tour, the upcoming 2024 season will see six other Korean golfers who qualified for the Tour through the annual qualifying Q-Series: Lee So-mi, Sung Yu-jin, Jang Hyo-joon, Im Jin-hee, Lee Jeong-eun5 and Hong Jung-min.

The 2024 LPGA Tour will tee off in January next year.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]