Perhaps there was some symbolism in the seating arrangement at Tuesday’s press conference leading into the LPGA Lotte Championship.

Inbee Park took her position to the right of the tournament trophy. On the other side, four of the golfers now chasing her in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.

Park moved into the role of the hunted when the rankings were updated this week, ascending to No. 1 for the first time in her career. But the margin between Park and Stacy Lewis is tighter than even the few feet that separated them at the head table on Tuesday.

"That’s been the place that I always wanted to be," Park said.

"I think it’s still for everybody. There are so many players that’s really close and they have a lot of potential to be there. They’re all great players and it could change every week."

Park will take her first swing as the world’s top-ranked golfer when she reports for her 12:40 p.m. tee time in today’s opening round at Ko Olina. She’s joined in the field by 19 of the top 25 players in the Rolex Rankings and 45 of the top 50 on the LPGA Tour money list.

That roster includes Lewis, last year’s Rolex Player of the Year; Yani Tseng, who spent 109 weeks at No. 1 and is third entering this week’s tournament; and Ai Miyazato, the defending champion who is ranked ninth in the world.

Lewis leads the money list with $573,304 in earnings this year and also topped the Rolex rankings for four weeks before falling to No. 2 during an off week. The rankings are calculated based on an rolling 104-week period. Lewis’ points average over that span is 9.24 to Park’s 9.28.

"I was surprised," said Lewis, who made a stop at the Masters last week on her way to Hawaii. "I expected it to probably happen at some point, but I definitely didn’t expect it in an off week. It’s tough because … I didn’t do anything wrong and I lost it.

"But it is what it is. My goal was never to stay at the rankings for ‘X’ number of weeks, it was to get there. I got there and now I just want to win golf tournaments."

Lewis won four events last year and has two more already this season. Park, who was awarded last year’s Vare Trophy for the tour’s lowest scoring average (70.21), has also won twice this year, including the Kraft Nabisco Championship in her last start.

For Lewis to catch Park, she’ll have to improve on her performance in the inaugural Lotte Championship last year. Her stay at Ko Olina represented one of her few down weeks of 2012, shooting rounds of 77 and 73 and missing the cut.

Park’s four-round total of 3-under 285 was good for the tie for 12th, nine strokes behind Miyazato.

Miyazato has won once since and finds some familiarity in playing the winds that typically blow through Ko Olina.

"I like to play in the wind because I’m from Okinawa, which is really similar to Hawaii," Miyazato said. "I grew up in windy play …But it’s going to be tough though. I’m sure it is."

Along with her comfort in the wind, replicating her putting performance of last year’s tournament would go a long way toward a repeat and again claiming the $255,000 first prize. She needed 24 putts in the final round and birdied three of the final six holes to pull away from Meena Lee and Azahara Munoz.

Even Park, who led the tour in putting average last year, said she looks to Miyazato when refining the facet of her game.

"I always try to look at her stroke and look at her rhythm," Park said.

Lewis and Miyazato will be part of today’s 12:30 p.m. group off the first tee along with Moriya Jutanugarn. Park will be partnered with Munoz and Paula Creamer 10 minutes later.

Michelle Wie starts her opening round at 12:20 in a group that includes Natalie Gulbis and Sandra Gal. Fellow Punahou graduate Stephanie Kono, who qualified for the tournament on Sunday, tees off at 1:10.