The Lotte Championship has a new home and will be without Hawaii’s Michelle Wie West for the first time in the tournament’s history.
Wie West, the event’s 2014 champion, will skip the LPGA Tour stop at Kapolei Golf Club this week,
announcing her absence
in a social media post on Sunday.
“I’m sad to say that I won’t be coming home this year to play in the @lottechampionship,” Wie West said in an Instagram post. “Wishing all the girls next week the best of luck.”
Wie West, a Punahou graduate, had played in the Lotte Championship each year since its inaugural tournament in 2012. She picked up the third of her five LPGA Tour victories at Ko Olina Golf Club in 2014 and went on to win the
U.S. Women’s Open later that year.
She tied for 11th in 2015 and ’18 and missed the cut in 2019. She shut down her season two months later as she dealt with a wrist injury. In the interim, she got married to Jonnie West in August 2019 and the couple welcomed a daughter, Makenna, last June. She also worked as an analyst for Golf Channel during her break from competition.
Wie West returned to LPGA Tour play last month and missed the cut at the Kia Classic. She opened the ANA Inspiration with a round of 2-under 70 but followed with a 79 to finish below the cut line.
The Lotte Championship was canceled last year due to the pandemic and returns Wednesday at Kapolei after eight years at Ko Olina.
While Wie West is not entered, this week’s field includes four past champions, nine of the top 10 players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and 17 of the top 20.
Second-ranked Inbee Park is the highest ranked player in the field followed by No. 3 and 2015 champion Sei Young Kim. Brooke Henderson, the two-time defending Lotte champion, is ranked seventh with 2016 winner Minjee Lee at No. 9. Cristie Kerr, the 2017 champion, also returns to the event.
The 144-player field was finalized on Sunday with Paula Reto of South Africa and Kim Metraux of Switzerland earning the final two spots in a 15-player qualifier. Reto carded a bogey-free round of 7 under 65 to finish atop the rain-soaked qualifier. Metraux finished at 2 under and earned the final berth in a playoff with Jaime Jacob.
Brittany Fan, who played her high school golf at Kamehameha, shot an even-par 72 to finish two shots out the playoff.