A couple of South Korea’s top stars are hoping to get back to playing next month with plans underway to resume tournament golf in their homeland.
Ten-time LPGA winner Sei Young Kim and reigning U.S. Women’s Open champion Jeongeun Lee6 are planning to tee it up at the Korean LPGA Championship with the KLPGA Tour looking to resume play May 14-17, according to a Yonhap News report Tuesday.
The news agency cited sources saying Lee6 and Kim were both planning to donate their winnings to COVID-19 relief efforts. The KLPGA Championship will feature 144 players with $1.8 million in prize money.
The report also cited sources saying Rolex world No. 3 Sung Hyun Park and No. 13 Hyo Joo Kim are considering playing the event.
Park and Kim are still waiting to make their first starts of 2020. Neither teed it up on the American-based LPGA tour before the coronavirus pandemic began shutting down play. Fourteen LPGA events have so far been canceled, postponed or rescheduled. The American-based tour is scheduled to resume June 19-21 at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.
The KLPGA Tour is still considering whether to allow spectators for the event, according to the AFP news organization. The tour issued a statement saying it is putting “the utmost priority on the safety of athletes and fans.” South Korea has made progress amid the pandemic with a “trace, test and treat” strategy. The country reported just eight new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the first time in two months the daily figure was in the single digits.