“I believe we can win again this year.”
Ko Jin-young, who is participating in the Hanwha Life Plus International Crown (total prize money of 2 million dollars), a women’s national golf competition, pledged her victory.
At the official press conference for Hanwha Life Plus International Crown, which opens at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, California, USA on the 4th (local time), Ko Jin-young said, “I believe we can win again.” As it is a competition where many players participate, we will be able to challenge for the championship only if we do our best.”
Established in 2014,안전놀이터 this competition is in its 4th year. The 2014 and 2016 competitions were held in the United States, with Spain and the United States coming out on top in turn. In 2018, it was held in Incheon, and at the time, Korea, with Kim In-kyung, Ryu So-yeon, Park Seong-hyun, and Jeon In-ji, won the championship. After that, the 4th competition was scheduled to be held in London, England in 2020, but it could not be held due to Corona 19, and resumed after 5 years this year.
In this tournament with 8 countries participating, Korea was placed in Group B along with Japan, Thailand and Australia. Group A consists of USA, Sweden, England and China. This year, Korea’s national team consists of Ko Jin-young, Jeon In-ji, Kim Hyo-joo, and Choi Hye-jin, and is aiming for a second consecutive victory.
Ko Jin-young said, “When Korea won the championship in 2018, I couldn’t go out because I was participating in another competition.” “I remember that a lot of fans came to the 2018 Korean tournament. Women’s golf is more popular in Korea than in the United States, so I hope that many fans will come to this tournament, which will serve as an opportunity for women’s golf to increase in popularity in the United States as well.”
Jeon In-ji, who competed with a stick in 2018 and lifted the championship cup, is now entering the competition as the oldest. Jeon In-ji laughed, saying, “Actually, I was more comfortable when I was the youngest,” and said, “They are juniors, but they are all great players. She continued, “At that time, it was a Korean tournament, so the pressure on grades was great.”
Kim Hyo-joo, who is participating in the tournament for the first time, expressed her determination, saying, “I got a chance to appear in the national competition because I worked hard in every tournament.” I am happy to be in this competition,” he said.
Players entered the competition and each chose a uniform number that had meaning. Jeon In-ji said, “I was born in August, and I won 8 majors (in Korea, the U.S. and Japan) and picked number 8.” Michael Jordan’s uniform number is also number 23.”
Kim Hyo-joo explained, “I was going to play number 7, but Ko Jin-young chose Lionel Messi’s uniform number 10 first,” and Ko Jin-young said, “I wanted to play number 7 because I was born on July 7.”
Korea faces Australia on the first day of the tournament, Thailand on the 5th, and Japan on the 6th to decide whether to advance to the semifinals.