KLPGA-LPGA Tournament Co-Sanctioning Talks Collapse Over Player Quotas

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, July 2 (Yonhap) -- Negotiations on having South Korean tour players compete at an LPGA tournament on their home soil have fallen through, officials said Thursday.

The Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) said in a statement that the upcoming BMW Ladies Championship, the lone U.S. LPGA event held in South Korea each fall, will not be co-sanctioned with the South Korean circuit, after the LPGA declined to accept the South Korean proposal of having at least 30 homegrown players in the field of 78 players.

The BMW Ladies Championship is scheduled to take place from Oct. 22 to 25 at Pine Beach Golf Links in Haenam, some 330 kilometers south of Seoul in South Jeolla Province.

The KLPGA said it had met with its LPGA counterpart on 16 occasions over the past eight months and insisted that there would have to be a minimum 30 KLPGA players teeing off in order for the tournament to be co-sanctioned with the domestic tour.

However, the LPGA countered that it could only accept up to 10 KLPGA players and the two sides were not able to come to a compromise.

The KLPGA said it was willing to make concessions on other aspects of the tournament, including the schedule, operations and broadcasting, as long as it could send 30 players to the BMW Ladies Championship.

The 2019 and 2021 editions of the BMW Ladies Championship featured 30 KLPGA players, with the 2020 event wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Considering the improved quality and competitiveness of the KLPGA Tour, having at least 30 players at the LPGA event is the bare minimum for us, not something to be negotiated," the KLPGA said in a statement. "We will continue to act on behalf of the rights and interests of our members and try to ensure the continued development of Korean women's golf."

Should KLPGA players still choose to compete at the BMW Ladies Championship, any money earned from the U.S. tour event will not count toward their KLPGA total. The KLPGA said it will have its own tournament played during the same week.

The KLPGA noted that LPGA tournaments held elsewhere in Asia had or will have a larger number of domestic players. It said the Blue Bay LPGA, held in China in May, featured 37 homegrown players in the field of 108, while the Toto Japan Classic in November will have 35 Japanese tour players out of 78.

In its own statement, the LPGA said it felt offering a spot for 10 KLPGA players was "a meaningful opportunity."

"We remain actively engaged with the KLPGA on longer-term opportunities," the LPGA said. "Korea is incredibly important to the LPGA, and Korean fans have played a huge role in the growth of our Tour and the women's game globally. Our focus now is delivering a world-class BMW Ladies Championship this October for players, partners and fans, while continuing to work constructively with the KLPGA on the future of this event and women's golf in Korea."

South Korean veteran Kim Sei-young is the defending champion of the BMW Ladies Championship.