One week before the women’s golf competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Ladies Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour returns to Portland, Oregon, this week.
The Portland Classic ($1.75 million purse), which begins on Aug. 1 at Columbia Edgewater Country Club (Par 72, 6,478 yards), will feature a number of top-ranked players as they prepare for the women’s competition at the Paris Olympics, which begins on Aug. 7.
Aditi Ashok, who is competing for India at the Olympics, will be the only player competing at the Portland Classic.
But South Koreans Ko Jin-young, Kim Hyo-joo, and Yang Hee-young, as well as world No. 1 Nellie Korda (USA) and No. 2 Lilia Vu (USA), are skipping this week’s event to head to Paris.
For those in the middle of the pack, it’s a golden opportunity to win a title.
The Koreans, who have yet to win a tournament this season other than Yang Hee-young’s victory at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, will be led by Shin Ji-eun, Kim Arim, Kim Se-young and Sung Yoo-jin.
Shin is coming off a tie for third at the CPKC Women’s Open, which concluded on Monday, where she raised her game on the final day, and has been in fine form of late, finishing tied for 12th at the Evian Championship and tied for ninth at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.
Kim Se-young, who has 12 career LPGA Tour wins, is also in the field, while Sung Yoo-jin, who made her debut this year, will be looking for her first win.
One of the favorites is Thailand’s Jannetee Wannasen, who was the surprise winner of last year’s event.
Wannasen stormed through Monday qualifying last year to win the title. Two weeks ago at the Dana Open, she fought off a late charge from Hae-ran Hwang to win her second career title.
After falling just short of victory for the second week in a row, she will not compete this week.
Ashok, who is working on her shot ahead of the Paris Olympics, was the youngest woman to compete in women’s golf at the Rio 2016 Olympics and finished fourth at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
After the Portland Classic, the LPGA Tour will take a break during the week of the Olympic women’s games before continuing its European schedule with the Women’s Scottish Open in Ayrshire, Scotland, on Aug. 15, followed by the AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews Old Course on Aug. 22. 사설 토토사이트