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Amy Yang looks for No. 4 at Honda LPGA Thailand

Published: 21 Feb. 2024, 15:20 Updated: 21 Feb. 2024, 16:13

PAIK JI-HWAN
[email protected]

Amy Yang plays an approach shot on the third hole during the final round of the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida on Nov. 19, 2023. [AFP/YONHAP]

Amy Yang will be back in action at the Honda LPGA Thailand teeing off Thursday at Siam Country Club in Thailand as she looks to extend her dominance at the tournament.

First started in 2006, only two golfers have won the tournament more than once: Yang in 2015, 2017 and 2019 and Yani Tseng of Taiwan in 2011 and 2012.

Tseng is not participating in this year’s competition, but four other past winners — defending champion and world No. 1 Lilia Vu, 2022 champion Nanna Koerstz Madsen, 2021 champion Ariya Jutanugarn and 2014 champion Anna Nordqvist — will be competing alongside Yang.

The Honda LPGA is Yang’s third tournament of the 2024 season. If she manages to win again at Siam Country Club, she will be the first Korean golfer to win a trophy this season.

Countrywoman Ko Jin-young, ranked at No. 6 on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, will also be in the field alongside No. 9 Kim Hyo-joo.

Yang, Ko and Kim all secured victory on the Tour last season. Yang and Kim lifted one trophy apiece, while Ko ended the season as the only multi Korean winner with two titles: First at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in March 2023 and second at the Cognizant Founders Cup two months later.

Ryu Hae-ran — champion of last year's Walmart NW Arkansas Championship — will also be in action alongside seven countrywomen: Choi Hye-jin, Ji Eun-hee, Kim A-lim, Jenny Shin, An Na-rin, Kim Sei-young and Li Mi-hyang.

A total of 72 golfers will be competing at the 72-hole stroke play no cut tournament for a total purse of $1.7 million and $255,000 prize money for the winner on the line.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]