Home

The Korea Herald

Latest news

Most Popular

  1. 1

    Trump picks ex-N. Korea policy official as his principal deputy national security adviser

    Trump picks ex-N. Korea policy official as his principal deputy national security adviser
  2. 2

    S. Korea not to attend Sado mine memorial: foreign ministry

    S. Korea not to attend Sado mine memorial: foreign ministry
  3. 3

    First snow to fall in Seoul on Wednesday

    First snow to fall in Seoul on Wednesday
  4. 4

    Man convicted after binge eating to avoid military service

    Man convicted after binge eating to avoid military service
  5. 5

    Wealthy parents ditch Korean passports to get kids into international school

    Wealthy parents ditch Korean passports to get kids into international school
  1. 6

    Toxins at 622 times legal limit found in kids' clothes from Chinese platforms

    Toxins at 622 times legal limit found in kids' clothes from Chinese platforms
  2. 7

    Actor Jung Woo-sung admits to being father of model Moon Ga-bi’s child

    Actor Jung Woo-sung admits to being father of model Moon Ga-bi’s child
  3. 8

    [Weekender] Korea's traditional sauce culture gains global recognition

    [Weekender] Korea's traditional sauce culture gains global recognition
  4. 9

    BLACKPINK's Rose stays at No. 3 on British Official Singles chart with 'APT.'

    BLACKPINK's Rose stays at No. 3 on British Official Singles chart with 'APT.'
  5. 10

    Korea to hold own memorial for forced labor victims, boycotting Japan’s

    Korea to hold own memorial for forced labor victims, boycotting Japan’s
소아쌤

Host S. Korea seeded No. 1 in LPGA int'l competition

By Yonhap

Published : July 3, 2018 - 09:24

    • Link copied

Host Korea has earned the No. 1 seed for an LPGA international team competition to take place this fall.

Korea locked down the top seed for the UL International Crown when the final field of 32 players -- four players each from eight participating nations -- was set based on the latest world rankings released Tuesday following the latest LPGA major, the KPMG Women's PGA Championship.

The 2018 UL International Crown will be the third edition of the biennial event and will take place from Oct. 4 to 7 at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul -- the first time it'll be played outside the United States.

(Yonhap) (Yonhap)

The US, the 2016 International Crown champion, was seeded No. 2. The remaining six nations are, in order of their seeds, Japan, England, Australia, Thailand, Sweden and Taiwan.

The field was determined by the world ranking positions of the top four players from each country. Korea boasts four top-10 players -- world No. 1 Park In-bee, No. 2 Park Sung-hyun, No. 4 Ryu So-yeon and No. 7 Kim In-kyung.

They have won a combined 36 LPGA tournaments, including 12 major championships, with Park Sung-hyun having claimed the most recent major last weekend.

Of those four, Ryu played in both of the first two International Crowns, and Park In-bee and Kim were Ryu's teammates in the 2016 event. Park Sung-hyun, who shared the LPGA Player of the Year award with Ryu in 2017, made her first International Crown team.

Korea tied Japan for third place at the inaugural International Crown in 2014 and then finished runner-up to the US two years later.

The US team will have Lexi Thompson (No. 5 in the world rankings), Jessica Korda (No. 8), Cristie Kerr (No. 13) and Michelle Wie (No. 19). They have 39 LPGA titles among them, including four majors.

Among other notables, Thailand will feature top-10 ranked sisters, Ariya (No. 3) and Moriya Jutanugarn (No. 9). The Japanese team will be led by teenage sensation Nasa Hataoka, who won the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship two weeks ago and lost in a playoff to Park Sung-hyun at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship last weekend. The 19-year-old has soared from No. 44 at the start of the year to No. 12 in the rankings this week.

Australia has two players of Korean descent in Minjee Lee, a Perth native, and Su Oh, who was born in Busan and moved to Down Under at age 8.

If a player ranked in the top four of a pre-qualified country is unable to compete in Korea, or chooses not to compete, that spot will be filled by the next highest-ranked available player from this week's world rankings. But player substitutions will not be allowed once pairings are published for the first round of matches on Oct. 4. (Yonhap)

More from Headlines