IT GLORIES within the title of a world championship. And, although this 12 months’s winner will not be universally recognised because the world’s finest, because the winner would if it have been, say, boxing or swimming, this 12 months’s HSBC Girls’s World Championship is for certain to supply a champion of uncommon high quality.
The occasion, of which Inside Golf is a proud media accomplice, is an early spotlight of this 12 months’s LPGA Tour. It has been performed 16 occasions and on 14 of these events has been taken out by a serious champion.
Performed on the Tanjong course at Singapore’s Sentosa Golf Membership, one in all Asia’s most acclaimed and iconic venues, this 12 months’s occasion has attracted a top-class subject, together with world No 2 Ruoning Yin and 9 of the world’s high 10 gamers, together with Australia’s Hannah Inexperienced, the defending champion.
The HSBC Girls’s World Championship, which presents prize cash of US$2.5 million and is sometimes called ‘Asia’s Main,’ shall be performed from February 27 to March 2.
Inexperienced, 27, the world No 6, gained final 12 months’s version by a stroke from France’s Celine Boutier, after making birdies on the ultimate three holes to shoot 67. It was her fourth LPGA title and made her the second Australian winner of the occasion, after Karrie Webb in 2011.
“Even earlier than my win, this occasion was at all times one in all my favourites on tour,” Inexperienced stated. “HSBC does a superb job internet hosting us, and Sentosa Golf Membership does the identical making ready the course.
“Coming again because the defending champion makes it much more particular. Final 12 months was a powerful 12 months for me, and I’m hoping to hold the momentum into the present season.”
After her win in Singapore, Inexperienced added two extra LPGA Tour titles to her identify, efficiently defending her title on the JM Eagle LA Championship in April and successful the BMW Girls Championship in October to cement her standing as one of many recreation’s real stars.
She shall be joined in Singapore by fellow Australians Minjee Lee, Gabi Ruffels, Grace Kim and Steph Kyriacou.
Lee, who has spent a lot of her break in Perth, working with coach Ritchie Smith, is coming off a winless 2024 and shall be in search of a greater 12 months in 2025.
Already the winner of 10 LPGA occasions, together with two majors, she shall be utilizing a broomstick putter, hoping to beat an unwelcome tendency to overlook putts of 4 ft and fewer.
Ruffels, the Epson Tour Participant of the Yr in 2023, had 4 high 10 finishes final 12 months and is making her first look within the HSBC Girls’s World Championship.
Kim, who gained the 2023 Lotte Championship in her first 12 months on the LPGA Tour, had three high 10 finishes final 12 months; whereas Kyriacou completed runner-up in final 12 months’s Evian Championship. Each gamers are making their second look at Sentosa.
They are going to be up towards a high quality subject, together with New Zealand champion Lydia Ko, the world No 3, who has already claimed 22 LPGA Tour wins, together with three majors, and is making her tenth look within the occasion.
In addition to Inexperienced and Yin, the sector boasts world high 10 gamers Jeeno Thitikul, of Thailand, American Lilia Vu, Haeran Ryu of Korea, Ayaka Furue of Japan, Celine Boutier, and Charley Hull of England.
Final 12 months alone, these stars secured 15 victories, with Thitikul contributing two wins, together with the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in November. She returns to the occasion after lacking final 12 months as a consequence of a thumb damage.
Two-time winner Jin Younger Ko shall be seeking to get again into the winner’s circle for the primary time since Might 2023, whereas Lila Vu shall be in search of her first top-10 end in Singapore. China’s top-ranked participant, 22-year-old Ruoning Yin, is hoping so as to add to her tally of LPGA titles, having already gained 5 occasions.
Main champion American Danielle Kang will return for her eleventh look after receiving a sponsors’ invitation. Additionally gaining an invite was Singapore’s Shannon Tan, a member of the Girls European Tour, who gained the Kenya Girls Open final 12 months in her first 12 months on tour.
Sentosa Golf Membership is likely one of the world’s premier golf amenities, having gained titles for ‘Asia’s Finest Golf Course’, ‘Asia’s Finest Eco-Pleasant Golf Facility’ and ‘Singapore’s Finest Golf Course’ within the 2024 World Golf Awards.
Golf followers can look ahead to an exhilarating four-day spectacle, that includes world-class competitors and an array of leisure and actions on and off the course.
The occasion shall be televised by Fox Sports activities.
