This week marks the fifth edition of the BMW Ladies Championship. The only tournament on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour held in South Korea has become a fixed highlight in the season calendar and offers a prize fund of 2.2 million US dollars. The event features a compact field of 78 players, all of whom will compete across all four days, as there is no cut in this tournament making the quality of the field even higher. 68 world-class golfers will tee off, along with eight high-profile tournament invites and two Korean amateurs.

The defending champion is Minjee Lee from Australia, who claimed the title last year in a playoff against Alison Lee (USA) at the Seowon Valley Country Club. This year’s BMW Ladies Championship will again be held at the same venue, one of the most spectacular golf courses in the country, located about an hour’s drive from the capital, Seoul. South Korean golf fans can look forward to not only the unique BMW tournament experience, for which the premium car manufacturer is known at its golf events worldwide, but also an impressive line-up of stars.

Amongst them are the two athletes who made a major impact at the Olympic golf competition in August: New Zealander Lydia Ko, winner of the 2022 BMW Ladies Championship, who completed her Olympic medal collection in Paris, and Esther Henseleit, who secured silver with a brilliant final round and became the first-ever golf medalist for Germany. Additionally, almost the entire top ten of the women’s world golf rankings will be present, with the only absentees being Nelly Korda (USA), who had to withdraw due to injury, and 2021 BMW Ladies Champion, Jin Young Ko (KOR). Aside from Korda, all major champions of the year will be competing: Ko (The Women’s Open), Yuka Saso (JPN, U.S. Women’s Open), Amy Yang (KOR, Women’s PGA Championship), and Ayaka Furue (JPN, The Evian Championship).

Among the eight tournament invites are four additional major champions: Danielle Kang (USA) and Korean players Jeongeun Lee, Eun-Hee Ji, and Jiyai Shin, the most successful golfer from Korea. The 36-year-old has won a total of 64 professional tournaments across six different tours, including the Women’s Open twice (2008, 2012), and will surely be celebrated by fans at her home tournament.

The BMW Ladies Championship made its debut in 2019 at the LPGA International Busan, where the second edition was also held two years later, before moving to the Oak Valley Country Club in 2022. The Seowon Valley Country Club was, and remains, the venue for the 2023 and 2024 tournaments. The competition will be played on the Seowon Hills Course, a par-72 course, playing 6,666 yards (6,095 metres) this week.