Brooke Henderson has won the LPGA Lotte Championship twice. But never at Hoakalei, and never in November.
“My previous two victories are at Ko Olina,” said Henderson, a 13-time LPGA Tour winner who won here in 2018 and 2019, and tied for 11th when the tournament was played at Hoakalei last year.
This is the first time after 11 years in April that the tournament is being contested in the fall.
“Really interested to see if it’ll play any differently in November compared to spring time,” Henderson said. “This golf course gets very windy, so I’ll try to channel some of my inner Grace and play really well in the winds out here this year.”
That’s Grace with a capital G, as Henderson was referring to defending champion Grace Kim, who won Lotte as a rookie last year and appeared at a pre-tournament press conference with Henderson and Kaiser High graduate Malia Nam on Monday.
Kim said it’s surreal as she recalled winning for the first time on the LPGA Tour last year.
She won with a birdie on the first hole of a three-way playoff with Yu Liu and Sung Yu-jin. It’s Kim’s only LPGA victory; she came close in June, this time falling on the third hole of a playoff against Lilia Vu.
Kim said she had “very low expectations” last year at Lotte, her third start as an LPGA Tour rookie.
“So no pressure, no additional pressure was added,” she said. “I think I had more pressure this year when I was … contending (in the final round and in the playoff). Yeah, that’s just a learning experience itself. I probably got a little bit too ahead of myself or getting to the golf course a little bit too early or little things like that that can affect maybe not so good of a weekend.”
Playing in this tournament is something Nam said she dreamed of as a junior golfer.
“It’s definitely a little nerve-wracking,” said Nam, a rookie looking for her first LPGA victory. “I want to obviously play as well as I can in front of my friends and family. They’ve all said to me, we are all so proud of you and just looking forward to this being a fun week watching you play.”
LPGA Lotte Championship
At Hoakalei Country Club
>> Wednesday through Saturday
