The $100,000 The Country Club Ladies Invitational will not only feature world No. 2 Sung Hyun Park but also a slew of Korean aces ready to stamp their mark on the richest-ever tournament on the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour.
Hwang Ye-nah, who held off then amateur Princess Superal to win the ICTSI Ladies Open at Southlinks, the first LPGA of Taiwan co-sanctioned event in 2015, then cruised to a wire-to-wire triumph at the ICTSI Champion Tour at Mt. Malarayat in 2017, is back in the hunt, together with former Philippine Ladies Amateur Open titlist Lee Jeong Hwa, who put on a pair of stirring comebacks to sweep the two Champion Tour events at Splendido and Southwoods in 2016.
Focus will also on the young Hwang Min-jeong, who marked her pro debut in grand fashion, beating a host of Thailand top guns and Superal to clinch the ICTSI Splendido Ladies Classic title last January.
That should make the South Koreans the marked players in the March 6-8 event at the challenging The Country Club in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, which serves as the fifth leg of the 2018-19 LPGT season and third stop of the LPGA of Taiwan.
Meanwhile, for details and reservations for tickets to the TCC Ladies, contact Jocelyn Duque at 09157974751 or email lpgtinvitational@gmail.com.
But Park, 26, remains the prime target of a stellar international field eager to earn a crack at the coveted crown and the top $17,500 aside from the bragging rights as the winner of the inaugural championship put up by ICTSI and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.
Park, who recently signed a two-year sponsorship deal with Solaire Resort & Casino, is expected to come into the event in top form, having primed up in the Honda LPGA in Thailand last week and in the on-ongoing World Women’s Championship in Singapore where is among the leaders.
But she will be as much tested as the rest of the field, which includes Taiwanese aces Babe Liu, Hsin Lee, Tzu-Chi Lin, Chia-Pei Lee and Ching Huang, who won the Champion Tour leg at Midlands last year, along with Thai stalwarts and former LPGT winners and TLPGA campaigners Yupaporn Kawinpakorn, Renuka Suksukont, Wannasiri Sirisampant and Supakchaya Pattaranakrueang.
Other foreign players out to spring a surprise in the 54-hole championship backed by Custom Clubmakers, Meralco, K&G Golf Apparel, BDO, Sharp, KZG, PLDT, Empire Golf and Sports and M.Y. Shokai Technology, Inc. are Indonesian Tatiana Wijaya, Valerie Tan of Brunei, Diane Luke of Malaysia, and Japanese Rino Kotake, Shino Miyata, Eri Joma, Ayaka Morimitsu, Natsuki Kishikawa and Saya Aono.
Meanwhile, the par-72 Tom Weiskoph-designed layout, spruced up to championship condition, is expected to play longer than its 6461 yardage with the elite field testing it one last time on March 5 for the tradition pro-am tournament.