Some of the early talk as the LPGA Lotte Championship approached was about who isn’t here this week. Most notable is Allisen Corpuz, the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open champion from Hawaii.
But the most important people did show up at Hoakalei Country Club in Ewa Beach.
Some are sponsors pitching in for a bigger payout this year: $3 million instead of $2 million in total prize money. And the winning golfer gets $450,000 instead of the $300,000 of last year.
The other VIPs are those putting in a lot of extra work prepping for the 72-hole tournament that runs through Saturday.
“The weather is keeping the groundskeepers busy,” tournament director Danny Zane said Tuesday, on the eve of the first round. “There’s a lot of standing water, bunkers that need draining. They’ll be working late.”
Like much of the state, the Ewa plain was hit by heavy rain Monday night, disrupting things with enough flooding to cut Tuesday’s pro-am in half to nine holes.
“It’s important we do whatever we can to keep the course safe and in good shape for the tournament,” Zane said.
There is around a 10% chance of rain each day of the tournament, according to projections Tuesday afternoon from weather.com.
The tour hopes to avoid a repeat of last week’s Toto Japan Classic, where the third round of the Asia swing’s last event was suspended because of Tropical Storm Kong-rey. The final round was played the next day, but the tournament was shortened to 54 holes — or 60 for Rio Takeda and Marina Alex, with Takeda finally winning a sudden-death playoff on the sixth hole.
Any delay this week could cause incomplete rounds since sunset Wednesday is expected a few minutes before 6 p.m.
The lone player in the field from Hawaii should have no problem completing her 18 first-round holes. Three-time OIA champion Malia Nam tees off from No. 1 at 7:07 a.m. with Lindy Duncan and Jeongeun Lee6 .
Nam is a rookie who has made the cut in eight of her 15 starts, with her best finish a T14 at the Portland Classic in August. This is the Kaiser alumna’s first tournament since late September, and her first Lotte.
No reason was disclosed for the absence of Corpuz, who tied for 18th in the 2022 Lotte as a rookie and missed the cut here last year.
This is the first year the Lotte is in November instead of April. Some players are scrambling for points while others take a break before a stretch run with just two tournaments after this week before the end of the season.
Ayaka Furue is the highest-rated player here — she’s ninth in the Rolex world rankings, and fourth in CME Globe points. Furue tees off at No. 1 at 12:04 p.m. with Jin Young Ko and Alex.
“I just want to keep my momentum going through the end of the year,” said Furue, who was T10 at Toto, and captured her second tour victory in July at the Amundi Evian Championship. She tied for 23rd at Lotte as a rookie in 2023.
Grace Kim won here as a rookie last year, in just her third event on the LPGA Tour.
She tees off in today’s first round at 7:07 with the other two former Lotte champions entered this year: Brooke Henderson (2018 and 2019), and Hyo Joo Kim (2022).
LPGA LOTTE CHAMPIONSHIP
At Hoakalei Country Club
Wednesday-Saturday
>> Tee times: 6:45 a.m. start first two rounds
>> TV: 2-5 p.m. (Golf Channel; NBC Sports Digital)
>> Tickets: $25 (daily), $75 (weeklong)
