Talks on having Korean tour players at LPGA tournament fall through - The Korea Times

Kim Sei-young of Korea plays her shot from the third tee during the final round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship 2026 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota, Sunday (local time), in this Getty Images photo. AFP-Yonhap

Negotiations on having 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 Korea each fall, will not be co-sanctioned with the Korean circuit, after the LPGA declined to accept the 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.