Four-tournament run spans Shanghai, South Korea, Malaysia and Japan; Kim Se-young seeks back-to-back BMW title, Kim Hyo-joo chases third win of season
The LPGA Tour's fall Asia Swing gets underway Thursday in Shanghai, China.
Attention will center on whether Ryu Hae-ran and Kim Hyo-joo — each with two wins this season — can add to their tallies, and on Kim Se-young's bid for her first victory of the year, as Korean players look to make their mark across the swing.
The tour opens with the Buick LPGA Shanghai before moving to the BMW Ladies Championship (Oct. 22–25, South Korea), the Maybank Championship (Oct. 29–Nov. 1, Malaysia) and the Toto Japan Classic (Nov. 5–8, Japan).
World No. 1 Nelly Korda of the United States will skip all four events, a boost for the field. Several other top-10 players — including Lottie Woad and Charley Hull of England and Hannah Green of Australia — will also sit out the Shanghai opener, adding further uncertainty to the title race there.
The Buick LPGA Shanghai is held at Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai. The tournament moved to a new course this year and raised its purse to $3.2 million, making it the richest of the four Asia Swing events.
No Korean player has won the Shanghai event. Lee Mi-hyang, who claimed the Blue Bay LPGA in China earlier this year, will lead the Korean charge, joined by Kim Se-young — the 2024 runner-up — and Choi Hye-jin, who finished tied for fifth last year.
Korean players are expected to mount an even stronger challenge at the BMW Ladies Championship, which runs four days starting Wednesday at Pine Beach Golf Links in Haenam, South Jeolla Province.
Kim Se-young, who won last year with a wire-to-wire 24-under-par performance, will defend her title. Ryu Hae-ran, a two-time LPGA major winner this season, and Kim Hyo-joo, who also has two wins this season, are among the leading championship candidates.
This year's field also features 15 KLPGA Tour players for the first time in five years, with top domestic names including Seo Gyo-rim, Kim Min-sol, Park Min-ji, Lee Ye-won and Yoo Hyun-jo squaring off against LPGA regulars.
In Malaysia, Korean players will look to claim their first title at the Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur. They came close last year — Choi Hye-jin finished tied for second, while Kim A-rim and Kim Se-young tied for fourth.
The swing concludes with the Toto Japan Classic at the Minori Course of Taiheiyo Club in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.
Among Korean players, Shin Ji-yai won the event three times — in 2008, 2010 and 2020 — and Lee Mi-hyang claimed her first LPGA Tour victory there in 2014.
yjc@heraldcorp.com
