The LPGA is running a virtual match-play event between four of its top players next Monday.
Korean players Park In-bee and Ryu So-yeon will play against New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and Sweden’s Pernilla Lindberg in the GOLFZON LPGA Match Play Challenge.
The event will use GOLFZON’s golf simulator technology. Park and Ryu will compete from Daejeon, South Korea, while Ko and Lindberg will play at the World Golf Hall of Fame in St Augustine, Florida. The match will be streamed live on GOLFZON’s official YouTube channel and on Korean digital platform Naver TV Live. It will also be replayed on US television, on Korean pay-television channel JTBC Golf, and on Screen GOLFZON channels in Korea.
The competition will take place over 36 holes, with an 18-hole foursomes match followed by an 18-hole four-ball match. The winning team will receive $10,000 (€9,000), to be donated to a Covid-19 charity of their choice.
In the press release announcing the event, Park In-bee said: “Since the LPGA Tour stopped due to Covid-19, it’s amazing that real-time match play is possible with our fellow players in other parts of the world. I can’t wait to entertain golf fans all over the globe through this match.”
GOLFZON chief business officer for Asia, Sean Pyun, said: “This concept …is an exciting new development for the long-term relationship between the LPGA and GOLFZON. Through our partnership, we’ve witnessed firsthand the type of impact they have had in the Korean golf industry, from the standpoint of growing the game of golf in Korea.”
