2016 LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship

[AKL Kiwi]

Venue: Sky 72 Golf Club Ocean Course, Incheon, South Korea.

Date: Oct 13 - Oct 16

Course stats: par 72 6,364 yards

Format: 72 holes

Purse: $2,000,000

Defending Champion: Lexi Thompson (-15)

 

The field for this tournament (78) with no cut.

 

Sponsor Invites: Yoon Kyung Hoe, Yu-Sang Hou (a) , Min Lee, Ju Young Pak, Se Ri Pak, Chae Yoon Park, Eun Jeong Seong (a).

 

Official Website:http://kebhanabankgolf.com/cmm/main/eng/goMain.do

[AKL Kiwi]

This will be the strongest field for the Asia swing and looks pretty good. All top 10 in the RR are here except for the injured Inbee Park, who also as expected takes over the consecutive weeks in the top 10 at 217 from Stacy Lewis.

[Argonne69]

Let's hope they get some decent weather for this event.

 

I forgot that this was the event last year in which Amy Yang made 9 straight birdies on the back nine. 'Pretty impressive feat.

[ClairefromClare]

It will be quite something, with Se Ri Pak finishing up her farewell tour.

[Leftagain]

It will be quite something, with Se Ri Pak finishing up her farewell tour.

 

The only downside for Se Ri is she doesn't get to gracefully bow out on Friday, hopefully her game holds up for the four days. It's a fitting farewell event for her anyway..

[Leftagain]

Let's hope they get some decent weather for this event.

 

I forgot that this was the event last year in which Amy Yang made 9 straight birdies on the back nine. 'Pretty impressive feat.

 

Forecast looks a lot friendlier than last week..

 

 

 

Pretty perfect golfing conditions, nice temps, very little wind. Could see some low scores if the setup is friendly.

 

Great field this week, 3rd best field outside a Major by my reckoning, only bettered by the HSBC in Singapore and the Swinging Skirts outing. 9 of the Top 10 and 39 of the Top 50, very solid.

 

The locals have two strong contenders in Sung Hyun Park and Jin Young Ko. This event has only been won by a KLPGA'er once in the last eight tries (Q Baek in '2014) but those two should be able to give it a good shake. That said in my Top 10 ranked events of the year there have only been two winners from outside the Top 10 on the Rolex so the odds are against Jin Young Ko a bit (23 on the RR), when you bring together most of the Top 10 it's highly likely one of them will win..

 

Looks like we're getting 4 hours live every afternoon, nice.. :)

 

I'll back Lydia this week, she played well here last year and if she can figure out how to hit a few more greens than she has of late she should be right in it.

 

If not Lydia I'll still run with a Non-Korean to take the trophy, oddly enough 3 of the last 5 and 5 of the last 10 winners have been non-Koreans so it's 50-50 bet! :lol:

[Leftagain]

Ariya in full practice mode a couple of days ago, that girl's a crack up.. :lol:

 

 

 

vid here,

 

[Leftagain]

Na Yeon is listed in the field, hope she has a better week!

[IcemanYVR]

I've played this course a couple of times. Always in nice shape and a great layout. Typical Jack Nicklaus design, lots of room the drive the ball. Good 2nd shot golf course.

 

Weather was quite cold this morning, but looks like it will warm up though the week.

[Argonne69]

Jin Young won yesterday on the KLPGA, so I wouldn't count her out. She's actually ahead of Sung Hyun on the tour.

[Leftagain]

Jin Young won yesterday on the KLPGA, so I wouldn't count her out. She's actually ahead of Sung Hyun on the tour.

 

That she did but the field wasn't anything like this week, IGC was the only Top 10 player there and there were 4 of the Top 50 playing. This week is vastly different, she's still a chance though.

 

The KLPGA must have an odd system for their POY ranking, Sung Hyun has 7 wins to Jin Young's 3, Jin Young has about 3 more top 10's but I don't know how they get Jin Young ahead of Sung Hyun.

[ausgolfgirl]

It will be quite something, with Se Ri Pak finishing up her farewell tour.

 

Yes, sure to be an emotional one and no doubt massive crowds to farewell her

[Argonne69]

Jin Young won yesterday on the KLPGA, so I wouldn't count her out. She's actually ahead of Sung Hyun on the tour.

 

That she did but the field wasn't anything like this week, IGC was the only Top 10 player there and there were 4 of the Top 50 playing. This week is vastly different, she's still a chance though.

 

The KLPGA must have an odd system for their POY ranking, Sung Hyun has 7 wins to Jin Young's 3, Jin Young has about 3 more top 10's but I don't know how they get Jin Young ahead of Sung Hyun.

 

I assume they weigh the majors more heavily, and/or account for strength of field, similar to the Rolex rankings.

[ingeeisgod]

No one picking Ha Na? I am secretly hoping for a In Gee vs Ha Na battle. But if Sung Hyun wins which is what I except I wont be disappointed.

 

 

Who is Ju Young Pak? Never heard a golfer named that.

 

There is Jin-Young Pak and Ju Young Park.

[ingeeisgod]

Jin-Young Pak is ranked outside of the top 1000 so I doubt its her. Must be Ju Young Park. I guess she goes by pak on the klpga and park on lpga like her sister.

[Argonne69]

 

Who is Ju Young Pak? Never heard a golfer named that.

 

There is Jin-Young Pak and Ju Young Park.

 

 

Ju Young Pak is Ju Young Park, Hee Young Park's younger sister. When the sisters are playing in Korea, they use the name 'Pak', which I believe is closer to the actual pronunciation than the Americanized "Park".

[AKL Kiwi]

Lydia will want to have her "A" game to start in her marquee grouping with In Gee Chun and Sung Hyun Park. I know MW played here last year but does not qualify now but looks like no one on the Asia swing is going to hand her a sponsor exemption. So much for her stardom outside the USA?

[Argonne69]

Lydia will want to have her "A" game to start in her marquee grouping with In Gee Chun and Sung Hyun Park. I know MW played here last year but does not qualify now but looks like no one on the Asia swing is going to hand her a sponsor exemption. So much for her stardom outside the USA?

 

Doesn't stardom require making a cut now and again? Who wants to hand out an invite to someone who's going to be DFL, or close to it? There are enough upcoming players that are more deserving of a chance to showcase their talent.

[ingeeisgod]

Thats pretty cool. Pak is the Korean Park. I wonder why Amy and Chella dont enter under their real names in Korea. I know Amy did that in the Olympics.

 

Woon-jung is a cool name.

[pmcuk]

Pretty hard to call this one - Ariya, In Gee and Ha Na are recent winners and Shanshan is in hot form. Then there's Sung Hyun.....

 

Looks Asian at any rate. Hard to see Lydia winning - she seems a bit off the boil at the moment. Brooke is finishing higher then her lately.

 

Could be a good one. Hope it's tight at the top.

[Leftagain]

At least they seem to have a more aesthetically pleasing trophy this year.. :)

 

 

[pmcuk]

 

At least they seem to have a more aesthetically pleasing trophy this year.. :)

 

 

Are these the "contenders"?

[Leftagain]

At least they seem to have a more aesthetically pleasing trophy this year.. :)

 

 

Are these the "contenders"?

 

They were the crew at the press conference..

[Leftagain]

This picture confuses me, all four of these ladies are due to tee off tomorrow in Korea, they went to Korea via Vietnam??

 

 

[IcemanYVR]

This picture confuses me, all four of these ladies are due to tee off tomorrow in Korea, they went to Korea via Vietnam??

 

 

The Lexus Cup (a glorified pro-am for Lexus owners) is a two day event (Oct 10-11) in Vietnam. It's only a 5 hour flight from Vietnam to Korea, so no problem to be back in time for a practice round then play. Most players know the SKY 72 Golf Club already as it has been in the LPGA/KLPGA rotation for some time. Time change between the two countries is negligible.

[Leftagain]

This picture confuses me, all four of these ladies are due to tee off tomorrow in Korea, they went to Korea via Vietnam??

 

 

The Lexus Cup (a glorified pro-am for Lexus owners) is a two day event (Oct 10-11) in Vietnam. It's only a 5 hour flight from Vietnam to Korea, so no problem to be back in time for a practice round then play. Most players know the SKY 72 Golf Club already as it has been in the LPGA/KLPGA rotation for some time. Time change between the two countries is negligible.

 

I guess it's not a huge deal but seems a less than ideal preparation for a tourney though as you say they've been to Sky 72 before..

[Leftagain]

Jin Young won yesterday on the KLPGA, so I wouldn't count her out. She's actually ahead of Sung Hyun on the tour.

 

That she did but the field wasn't anything like this week, IGC was the only Top 10 player there and there were 4 of the Top 50 playing. This week is vastly different, she's still a chance though.

 

The KLPGA must have an odd system for their POY ranking, Sung Hyun has 7 wins to Jin Young's 3, Jin Young has about 3 more top 10's but I don't know how they get Jin Young ahead of Sung Hyun.

 

I assume they weigh the majors more heavily, and/or account for strength of field, similar to the Rolex rankings.

 

A bit of digging around the KLPGA site shows at least 3 different levels of point allocation. The top level gets you 70 points for a win then some events give you 60 and most give 40. The big difference is the points for bottom end Top 10 finishes. In the LPGA you get 10% of 1st place points for an 8th place finish, the KLPGA percentages vary depending on the first place points but top line events you'll get 43 points for an 8th which is 61% of 1st, the lesser events seem to give 33% for an 8th.

 

That would explain how Jin Young is able to be ahead of Sung Hyun, you don't lose that much as long as you finish Top 10 and Jin Young's 3 extra top 10's keep her in the game.

 

I certainly think the LPGA system is better, I don't care how many Top 10's someone has had, if they are 3 to 7 down in wins no way they should be leading the POY race.. :)

[ingeeisgod]

This picture confuses me, all four of these ladies are due to tee off tomorrow in Korea, they went to Korea via Vietnam??

 

 

 

Thanks for info. I was thinking about betting against a few in this picture. Now that I know they're flying around that cant help them in head 2 heads with ladies not flying about.

[AKL Kiwi]

Thats pretty cool. Pak is the Korean Park. I wonder why Amy and Chella dont enter under their real names in Korea. I know Amy did that in the Olympics.

 

Woon-jung is a cool name.

 

You would almost be sure that part of the submission to compete at the Olympics would be a birth certificate especially for age verification. So competing under a different name would not be allowed. The rules would be universal regardless of the sport.

[Argonne69]

Thats pretty cool. Pak is the Korean Park. I wonder why Amy and Chella dont enter under their real names in Korea. I know Amy did that in the Olympics.

 

Woon-jung is a cool name.

 

You would almost be sure that part of the submission to compete at the Olympics would be a birth certificate especially for age verification. So competing under a different name would not be allowed. The rules would be universal regardless of the sport.

 

I assume a legal name change would be allowed provided that the supporting documentation was submitted. I also assume that "Amy" is not her legal name.