The BMW Ladies Championship is a relatively young event, but each year it generates high expectations. The reason for this is the reduced field, which concentrates most of the best players of the moment.
There have only been six editions of the BMW Ladies Championship and only the last three have been co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour. South Korea's Jin-young Ko is the leading winner with three titles.
Ko won two of the first three editions of the BMW Ladies Championship as part of the LPGA Tour of Korea's schedule. After 2019, when the event became part of the LPGA Tour schedule, Ko won it again in 2021.
Jin-young Ko herself holds the aggregate (266) and to par (-22) records for the tournament. She set both when she won in 2021. The single round record is 63, set by Atthaya Thitikul in the first round of the 2022 edition.
The list of tournament winners is completed by Yoon-ji Cho, who triumphed in the inaugural edition (2015). Ha-na Jang won in 2019 and Lydia Ko in 2022.
As a curious fact, all of the players who have won are closely related to the country where the tournament is held (South Korea). Jin-young Ko, Yoon-ji Cho and Ha-na Jang are all citizens of the country.
Lydia Ko was born in Seoul, although she has held Australian citizenship since childhood, and Australia is the country she represents in the sport.
Who will be playing in the BMW Ladies Championship?
The BMW Ladies Championship is designed to bring together the best of the best in women's golf. For this reason, the tournament is limited to a field of 78 players.
For the 2023 edition, this goal has been more than achieved. The field will be led by world number one, Lilia Vu, while eight members of the top 10 and 17 of the top 20 will be present.
Among them are stars such as defending champion Lydia Ko (13th) and multi-time champion Yin-young Ko (3rd). Also playing at Seowon Valley Country Club will be the current season's four Major winners: Lilia Vu (1st), Ruoning Yin (2nd), Allisen Corpuz (9th) and Céline Boutier (5th).
Other top women's players in the world include Nelly Korda (4th), Minjee Lee (7th) and Brooke Henderson (11th).
Seven other players who retained the Solheim Cup last month will join Boutier in South Korea. They are Georgia Hall (17th), Linn Grant (15th), Carlota Ciganda (32nd), Maja Stark (41st), Anna Nordqvist (42nd), Gemma Dryburgh (62nd) and Madelene Sagstrom (46th).
The American team that competed at Finca Cortesin will also be near full strength in Seowon. Joining Vu, Corpuz and Korda will be Megan Khang (14th), Angel Yin (25th), Rose Zhang (33rd), Jennifer Kupcho (34th), Danielle Kang (37th) and Andrea Lee (40th).