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Lee Ye-won aims to retain Blue Canyon title as KLPGA Tour tees off

Published: 12 Mar. 2025, 15:13 Updated: 12 Mar. 2025, 16:23

PAIK JI-HWAN
[email protected]

Lee Ye-won hits a shot during the Sangsangin-Hankyung TV Open in Icheon, Gyeonggi on Oct. 17, 2024. [YONHAP]

A four-month break for the KLPGA Tour ends on Thursday with the 2025 season opener, the Blue Canyon Ladies Championship, teeing off at Blue Canyon Country Club in Thailand.

Defending champion Lee Ye-won joins the competitive 120-golfer field for the winning prize money of $144,000 from an $800,000 purse.

Lee is the inaugural and only winner at the Blue Canyon Ladies Championship that began last year. This year’s edition will expand from last year’s three-day, 54-hole stroke play event to a four-day, 72-stroke play competition.

The inaugural champion will compete alongside 79 other KLPGA contenders and 40 golfers from across Asia who also entered the tournament as sponsor invitees.

Lee heads to the green on the back of her successful stint on the Tour last year, during which she clinched three wins.

“I have a good memory of recording three wins after becoming the inaugural champion at this competition and getting through the first half [of the campaign] well,” Lee said in a press release shared on Tuesday. “I will do my best to defend my title with good memories from last year.

“My goal is to win many titles without getting injured. I think that declaring my first win of the season with this tournament, like last year, would be the right step in achieving my goal.”

This week’s tournament is the first competition of the 2025 campaign, but Hwang You-min already clinched a title at the Foxconn TLPGA Players Championship on the Taiwanese Tour last week.

Hwang was one of the best-performing contenders at the inaugural Blue Canyon Ladies Championship last year, tying for fourth.

Hwang You-min hits a shot during the Dongbu Construction-Koreit Championship in Iksan, North Jeolla on Oct. 10, 2024. [YONHAP]

“I recorded my first win of the season in Taiwan, and I feel like my shots and performance are not so bad,” Hwang said on Tuesday. “I am really excited as this is the real beginning.”

A victory for Hwang would mark her first title on the KLPGA Tour since the Doosan E&C We've Championship last April and her third KLPGA trophy.

Fellow KLPGA star Ma Da-som will also compete this week after securing three titles on the Tour last year.

Her performance at the end of the 2024 season stood out, as she clinched back-to-back wins in the Tour’s final two competitions.

Bang Shin-sil, who also tied for fourth at the Blue Canyon Ladies Championship last year, will be back in action.

“It feels different to be competing in the season opener in my third year on the Tour,” Bang said. “Since this is the first tournament of the season, I will not push things hard but try to focus on aspects I prepared in the winter to elevate my performance.”

Bang Shin-sil hits a shot during the Sangsangin-Hankyung TV Open in Icheon, Gyeonggi on Oct. 19, 2024. [NEWS1]

Bang has delivered a strong performance since her Tour debut in 2022, lifting two trophies in 2023 and recording nine top-10 finishes across 28 competitions during the 2024 season.

This week’s competition will lack the presence of Yoon Ina, who now competes on the LPGA Tour after showcasing a stellar performance on the KLPGA Tour last season, during which she led in prize money, held the lowest average strokes and accumulated the most Wemade points — awarded to golfers with top-10 finishes in KLPGA events.

But the field will see Sung Yu-jin returning to the KLPGA after participating in the LPGA until last season, making the cut 15 times in 20 LPGA events and recording two top-10 finishes.

Golfers flying in from elsewhere add more competition to a field that includes world No. 14 Miyu Yamashita of Japan, the highest-ranked Japanese player in this week’s tournament.

“I am really excited and looking forward to my first KLPGA appearance,” Yamashita said. “I need to adjust to a course and tour that I am experiencing for the first time, but my goal is to win the competition.”

The 2025 KLPGA season will return to Korea after this week’s competition, as the Doosan We've Championship is set to declare the start of the campaign in Korea on April 3.

The season will last through November, during which the Tour will have four majors instead of five like previous seasons due to the discontinuation of the Hanwha Classic.

The first major of the season will be the CreaS F&C KLPGA Championship, which tees off in May.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]