Park Sung-hyun of South Korea during the fourth round of LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship in Incheon, South Korea, in this file photo taken on September 16,2016.
SEOUL: The road to US LPGA Tour riches is one well travelled by South Korean golfers but the domestic KLPGA circuit is looking to stem the annual exodus by boosting prize money and world ranking points on its increasingly lucrative schedule.
A host of major winners, not to mention Park In-bee’s Rio Olympic triumph, have cemented Korea’s status as the gold standard of women’s golf, but there is no doubt the local tour loses a little sparkle when top players set off for the LPGA.
The last couple of seasons have been particularly rough on the KLPGA with the loss of several top drawcards including Chun In-gee, the most popular player on the tour for years.
Should current Korean number one Park Sung-hyun decide to switch at the end of the season, it would be another huge blow.
Park’s popularity has rocketed this year, much like her world ranking -- to ninth from 54th a year ago -- and her fans make up the lion’s share of the galleries at KLPGA events.
Kang Choon-ja, KLPGA senior vice president, told Reporters the Korean tour had increased the number of tournaments to 33 and boosted prize money to some $20m for 2016, the third biggest purse fund behind the US and Japanese tours.
“And we are going to keep increasing prize money and rankings points on the KLPGA Tour so that local athletes are happy just playing at home,” she added.
“A lot of people were worried when Kim Hyo-joo decided to go to the LPGA after 2014, but the following year another star emerged by the name of Chun In-gee, who had huge crowds following her at each event.
Playing on the Korean tour is already a viable option. Park has amassed prize money of around $1.1m this season from Korea alone, a figure that would put her in the top 10 earners on the US circuit.
Caddie Dean Herden, who carries the bag for Ko Jin-young, the KLPGA’s second-ranked money earner for 2016 on almost $900,000, told reporters the local tour’s strengthening finances, coupled with the hardships of playing abroad, could make players think twice about leaving Korea.
