Ko Jin-young got her first LPGA Tour win at the KEB-Hana Bank Championship with a two-stroke win last week, and now the Tour heads to Taiwan for the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship. With five tournaments left in the season, every single swing is important.
Details
Event: Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship
Category: LPGA
Date: October 19th – 22nd
Location: Miramar Golf Country Club, Taipei, Taiwan
Jin-young scored a two-stroke win over Sung Hyun Park, while In Gee Chun, Lizette Salas and Marina Alex all rounded out the top five in South Korea. There was a six-stroke spread between the winner and fifth place as you needed four rounds in the 60s to compete with them.
Past Five Winners
2016: Jang Ha-na -17
2015: Lydio Ko -20
2014: Inbee Park -22
2013: Suzann Petterson -9
2012: Suzann Petterson -19
The Field
It’ll be a very competitive field on tap for this weekend with 17 of the world’s Top 25 golfers in action. Obviously, most of the field will be chasing So Yeon Ryu, who is the top player in the world. No. 2 Sung Hyun Park is in the field as well and is looking to try to close the gap on Ryu, who has held that top spot since June. Keep an eye on Shanshan Feng, who is the No. 6 player in the world. She finished in second at this event last year. We’ll also see Lydia Ko in the mix but she’s tumbled a little bit. She’s now the No. 9 player in the world but won in Taiwan in 2015. Brooke Henderson will be in the mix too after finishing third last year.
What To Know About The Course
Miramar Golf Country Club opened in 1994 and it is one of the top five courses in Taiwan. It is a par-72 course that is 6,425 yards where players can be quite aggressive. Jang Ha-na won last year with a -17, which included a 62 in the third round, but it has some tricky holes. The par-5s can be especially tough and if players can score well there, they have a good chance to compete on Sunday. Sometimes, all you need to do to win a tournament is be steady: Ha-na won last year by making par on every hole on the back nine, both par-5s included.
A Good Matchup To Bet: Shanshan Feng over Brooke Henderson
Feng finished second here last year, coming up just a stroke short of Ha-na with a final-round 66. Henderson was T-3, but she was six strokes back of Feng, who was rolling with three top-10 results in a row before a T-46 at the KEB-Hana Bank Championship. Henderson finished T-8 in South Korea and prior to that, she had won in New Zealand, so picking her in this matchup wouldn’t be a bad pick at all. However, it feels like Feng is on the verge of coming up big down the stretch and she should at least give Henderson, who is one of the most consistent players on the LPGA Tour, a run for her money.
Top-Five Pick: Sung Hyun Park
This pick shouldn’t a surprise as Park leads the LPGA Tour in money earned and she is second to Lexi Thompson in the Race To CME Globe season standings. She came up just short in South Korea as a couple of poor swings led to bogeys on the back nine, but she did rebound with a birdie on the 72nd hole. Look for Park to bounce back as she tries to chase down Thompson, who isn’t playing this week. She certainly doesn’t play like a rookie should and she should be able to put her mistakes from last week behind her and make a run for a victory.
Odds To Win 2017 Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship
Sung Hyun Park +550
Stacy Lewis +905
Brooke M Henderson +1050
Shanshan Feng +1215
So Yeon Ryu +1215
Lydia Ko +1550
Cristie Kerr +1550
Minjee Lee +1850
Carlota Ciganda +1850
Sei Young Kim +2250
Charley Hull +2850
Marina Alex +3250
Amy Yang +3250
Michelle Wie +3250
Lizette Sales +3250
Chella Choi +3550
Mirim Lee +3550
Ha Na Jang +4050
Angel Yin +4550
Brittany Lincicome +5500
Brittany Altomare +6550
Ariya Jutanugarn +6550
Mi Jung Hur +6550
Jodi Ewart Shadoff +6550
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