A large number of world top players and Korean women’s golf players flocked to the European Women’s Professional Golf (LET) tournament to be held in Saudi Arabia. The 2023 world women’s golf will stretch in the Middle East ahead of the Asian Swing of the LPGA Tour, which opens in Thailand next week.
The 2023 LET Aramco Saudi Ladies International, which will be held for four days from the 16th at the Royal Greens GCC (par 72, 6295 yards) in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia, is a special tournament boasting a total prize money of 5 million dollars (approximately 6.35 billion won). The size of the prize money was increased five times from last year ($1 million) to match the size of the prize money with the PIF Saudi International Asian Tour Men’s Tournament held two weeks ago. Saudi Arabia, which has been criticized by the international community for domestic political repression and human rights violations, is sending a message that it is ahead of the US and European tours in terms of gender equality. World No. 1 Lydia Ko (New Zealand), the winner of this competition in 2020, Lexi Thompson (7th, USA), Hataoka Nasa (10th, Japan), Daniel Kang (17th, USA), Hannah Green (18th) Australia), 2022 AIG Women’s Open champion Ashley Buhai (South Africa), 3-time major Anna Nordqvist and Korean LPGA members Jeon In-ji (8th), Kim Hyo-joo (9th), Lee Jung-eun 6 (38th), Kim A-lim (48th), Yoo Hae-ran (52nd), Ji Eun-hee (54th), and Shin Ji-eun (98th) will participate.
The prize money was also raised to 750,000 dollars (approximately 950 million won), and the world’s top rankers flocked en masse as it was decorated as a special tournament comparable to major LPGA tour tournaments. 60 LET members, 10 invited players, and 120 players from 30 countries competed for the title by opening the door to the world’s top 300 women’s golf players. Among Korean players, 17 players active on the LPGA and KLPGA tours were listed.
Top-ranked domestic players also chose to go to Saudi Arabia as a mid-term inspection of the battery training they sweated during the off-season. Lee So-mi (42nd), 2022 Korea Women’s Open Champion Lim Hee-jeong (58th), who won 2 wins last season and 5 career wins, as well as Jung Yoon-ji (76th), Hong Jeong-min (77th), Lim Jin-hee (93rd), and Song Ga-eun (109th) ), Jo Ah-yeon (110th), Seong Yu-jin (120th), Ha Min-song (136th), and Hwang Jung-mi (140th). 메이저놀이터
With a large number of KLPGA strong players participating in the LET and LPGA top players, the entire field was equipped with the same lineup as the LPGA Tour’s special tournament. Last month, the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, the season opener of the LPGA Tour, was a tournament in which only the winners of the past two years participated, so this Saudi tournament is drawing more attention from fans who have been thirsty for women’s golf players to play all winter.