The prize money alone is 900 million won… Female golfers heading to Saudi Arabia for ‘Oil Money’
Korean female golfers are heading to Saudi Arabia in large numbers following the ‘Oil Money’. This is to participate in the Ladies European Tour (LET) competition, where the prize money alone is over 900 million won.
LET Aramco Saudi Ladies International will be held at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in Saudi Arabia for four days starting February 16th. About 10 Korean players, including Kim Hyo-joo, Lee Jeong-eun, Kim A-rim, Ji Eun-hee, and Shin Ji-eun of the LPGA Tour, and Lim Hee-jeong, Lee Jung-min, Lee Seung-yeon, and Sung Yu-jin of the Korea Women’s Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour, were on the roster. . Since it is a European Tour event, they were originally not eligible to participate in the LET, but the tournament side invited players ranked 300th in the world to participate.
The biggest reason why Korean players are flocking to Saudi Arabia is the huge prize money. Sponsored by Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil company, the tournament has a total prize pool of 5 million dollars (approximately 6.16 billion won). Except for the five major LPGA tours and the CME Group Tour, it has the largest prize pool.
The winning prize amounts to 750,000 dollars (approximately 924 million won). If the KLPGA players win, they can win more prize money than the total prize money they earned during last year. Last season, only Park Min-ji (1.47 billion won) and Kim Su-ji (1.08 billion won) earned more prize money than the prize money won in this tournament. Among the KLPGA players participating in this tournament, the player who earned the most money last year was Lim Hee-jung, who earned 750 million won. 바카라
This tournament, which has been held since 2020, attracted a large number of LPGA stars as a large prize money was taken from the first tournament. In the first tournament, Emily Christine (Denmark) of the European Tour won the championship, but in the second and third tournaments, Lydia Ko (New Zealand) and Georgia Hall (England) of the LPGA rose to the top.
This year, many of the top LPGA Tour players will participate, including World No. 1 Lydia Ko and No. 7 Lexi Thompson (USA), Yuka Sasso (Japan), Gaby Lopez (Mexico), and Patty Tawatanagit (Thailand). In the case of women’s golf, the relationship between the LPGA Tour and the capital of Saudi Arabia is not as bad as in men’s golf (PGA Tour – LIV Series). On the contrary, women players, who have had smaller prize money than men’s competitions, are welcoming the sponsorship of Saudi Arabia’s capital.
Since the tournament is held in mid-February, it also has the nature of a mid-term and final inspection. The LPGA Tour held its opening game in January, but there is no tournament schedule until the end of February, and the LPGA Tour Honda Thailand Tournament will be held in Thailand for four days from February 23, the week after this tournament. For Korean players who are training in Southeast Asia, it is an opportunity for a final check ahead of the new season. For KLPGA tour players whose season starts in April, it is perfect for a mid-season checkup of winter training.