Tag: Seowon Hills at Seowon Valley Country Club

This small change to Lydia Ko’s setup led to big wins in 2024 and a place in the LPGA Hall of Fame

Ko’s recent surge in form can be credited at least in part to a change off the tee.

Lydia Ko hit 17 greens and didn’t miss a fairway in an opening 5-under 67 at the 2024 BMW Ladies Championship in her native South Korea. The 27-year-old carded yet another bogey-free round, her 135th dating back to the 2014 season, which is 51 more than anyone else in that span.

Ko’s recent surge in form – she hasn’t finished outside the top 10 in her last six starts worldwide, including three victories – can be credited at least in part to a change, quite literally, off the tee.

Put simply: She now tees the ball lower with her driver.

“I think there was a time when I started not hitting my drivers well,” said Ko, “but then I don’t know if it’s a subconscious thing, but like my 3-wood, I was hitting it really well, and I feel pretty comfortable hitting driver off the deck, anyway, when the lie is decent.

“I combined all of the things that I was doing well and something that I felt comfortable. Sometimes when I know for a fact that I want to almost guarantee that the ball is going to go from left to right, I always do that.”

2024 BMW Ladies Championship: Leaderboard | Photos

When Ko won the Kroger Queen City Championship last month, she missed only five fairways in the entire tournament, hitting 91 percent. In her last three starts on the LPGA going into the BMW, she hit 88 percent of her fairways, according to KPMG Performance Insights. In the previous six starts, however, she’d hit only 53 percent of the fairways.

The dip in fairways hit began at the Cognizant Founders Cup in May (61 percent) and extended through the CPKC Women’s Open (48 percent). The low point came at the U.S. Women’s Open when she hit only 35 percent of the fairways.

The shift began at the Paris Olympics.

Lydia Ko tees off on the 18th hole at the AIG Women’s Open in St. Andrews, Scotland. (Luke Walker/Getty Images)

“When she tees it down, we all know that this is the shot that she needs to find the fairways,” said Golf Channel analyst Karen Stupples. “We know that it’s her fairway finder.”

After Round 1 in South Korea, Ko trails leaders Hannah Green, Ashleigh Buhai and Jenny Shin, who all opened with a 64, by three strokes. The winningest active player on the LPGA with 22 titles, Ko won the 2022 BMW by four strokes.

“It’s kind of become, you know, part of my, like, strategy,” said Ko of teeing the ball lower, “and sometimes when it’s firm, like in Cincinnati, it goes further than my normal drives. It might not carry as far, but runs out there.

“So it’s definitely like a good 15th club, kind of, that I’ve had in the bag. For sure it’s not really a club at all golf courses, but I think I’ve been able to be smart and utilize it well to my advantage.”

Ashleigh Buhai, Minjee Lee atop crowded leaderboard at LPGA’s BMW Ladies Championship

Lee is looking for her second win in three starts.

After Saturday’s third round, Ashleigh Buhai and Minjee Lee are tied for the 54-hole lead at 12 under at the LPGA’s BMW Ladies Championship at Seowon Hills at Seowon Valley Country Club in Korea.

Buhai, who shot rounds of 62-73 over the first two days, signed for a bogey-free 3-under 69 on Saturday. The 20th-ranked player in the Rolex Rankings, who has missed the cut in four of her last five starts, is looking for her second win of the year (ShopRite LPGA Classic).

BMW Ladies: Full leaderboard

Lee mixed three birdies with two bogeys in round three, good enough for a 1-under effort. The Aussie, who is seventh in the world, won the Kroger Queen City Championship last month.

Lydia Ko and Alison Lee are tied for third at 11 under, one back. Lauren Coughlin and Céline Boutier are two back at 10 under. Atthaya Thitikul and Jiyai Shin sit T-7, three back. And rounding the top 10 are Hannah Green and Angel Yin at T-9, four back.

Minjee Lee overcomes difficult conditions, takes lead at LPGA’s BMW Ladies Championship

Crazy winds were the story of the second round in Korea.

Scoring conditions were completely different Friday at Seowon Hills at Seowon Valley Country Club.

Ashleigh Buhai, the first-round leader, was 11 shots worse in the second round than on her opening day. She only shot 1 over.

Swirling winds were the story of the second round at the LPGA’s BMW Ladies Championship in Korea, but it’s Minjee Lee who fired a 3-under 69 to move into the lead heading to the weekend. After a day where there were more 66s than scores over par, the script flipped Friday.

“It was really hard conditions out there,” Lee said. “A lot of wind swirling around the valley. So sometimes we had really strong gusts, and I had to back off. But overall I had a really good finish.”

Lee sits at 11 under, two shots in front of American Alison Lee, who shot even-par 72 after an opening 9-under performance. Buhai is also T-2 at 9 under.

“It was definitely really frustrating,” Alison said of her even-par round, “but tried to stay patient. I definitely feel like I missed a few really good birdie opportunities out there. Like I feel like I could have played so much better than even.”

Lydia Ko, the event’s defending champion, sits T-4 at 8 under.

Ashleigh Buhai cards 10 birdies to take lead at LPGA’s BMW Ladies Championship in Korea

“My goal for this week was to play with no expectations.”

On a day when scores were low at Seowon Hills at Seowon Valley Country Club in Korea, Ashleigh Buhai took advantage.

After taking five weeks off because an old back injury flared up, Buhai returned in fashion to the LPGA, carding a bogey-free 10-under 62 to hold the first-round lead at the 2023 BMW Ladies Championship. Buhai had 10 birdies and eight pars and leads Alison Lee by a shot after Thursday.

“I think it was almost a blessing in disguise after a very busy summer,” Buhai said of her time off. “I’ve had one week of practice coming into here. And my goal for this week was to play with no expectations, and that’s often when you try to play well in a game.”

The 62 is a career-best round for Buhai, the 2022 AIG Women’s Open champion.

Of the 78 players in the field, only 10 shot over par, one of those being young phenom Rose Zhang, who shot 2-over 74.

Meanwhile, Lee’s 9-under performance was also bogey-free, including two stretches of three consecutive birdies. Ayaka Furue and Minjee Lee are tied for third at 8 under.

“Overall, I hit the ball really well,” Alison Lee said. “I gave myself a lot of putts inside 15 feet and was able to make almost all of them. I may have one putt that was a little longer, like 25, 30 feet. But other than that, I gave myself a lot of good birdie opportunities today.”

Lydia Ko, the defending champion, shot 5-under 67.

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