The CJ Nine Bridge Classic Will Open Tomorrow

The `Korean Female Troops` of the US LPGA Tour are seeking to win at `home.`

The stage for that is the US LPGA Tour Sports Today CJ Nine Bridge Classic (1.5 million dollars for total prize money), which will be held at the Nine Bridge Golf Course (Par 72) for three days starting on the 25th.

This is an invitational event that players with in the top 60 in the money ranking of the US LPGA Tour this season. There is a heated match-up predicted like the leader of the money ranking Anika Sorenstam (Sweden) and the runner-up Pak, Se-Ri (Taylormade) are playing toe-to-toe from the first round.

Other than them, Korean players, who are playing in the US LPGA Tour including Kim, Mi-Hyun (KTF), Park, Hui-Jung (CJ), Park, Ji-Eun (Ewha Woman`s University), Han, Hui-Won (Fila Korea), Jang, Jung (Genus), and Lee, Jung-Yon (Hankook Tires), will appear in front of the home fans in long time.

Especially, this event is a good opportunity for the Korean LPGA players within top 20 in the money ranking to compete with the US LPGA Tour players for 225,000 dollars since a Korean enterprise (CJ) becomes the official sponsor of the event.

Jung, Il-Me (Hansol Cham Maru) and the `Super Rookie` Lee, Mi-Na (Lee, Dong-Soo Fashion), who are competing for the top in the money ranking, participate on the event staking the pride of `local players.`

It has been 5 years to host a regular US LPGA event in Korea since the 97 Samsung World Championship.

And there has been only 6 LPGA events outside of America including the Evian Masters (France), the British Women`s Open (UK), the Canadian Women`s Open (Canada), Cisco Lady World Match Play Championship, and Mizuno Classic (Japan).

The hosting Nine Bridge Golf Course built up all holes with the bent grass and induced the event through a rigid inspection of the US LPGA with a goal to be in the top 100 golf courses in the world.

The SBS TV will telecast the event between 2pm to 4pm everyday from the 25th to 27th.

Young-Sik Ahn ysahn@donga.com