Ko and Kim to headline inaugural Simone Asia Pacific Cup

South Korea's Hyojoo Kim

◾ The star-studded field will battle for both personal and nation’s glory at Pondok Indah Golf Course in Jakarta, Indonesia this August.

◾ 20 teams and 40 players from 15 Asia Pacific countries will compete for a lucrative prize purse of USD $750,000.00

Major winners Lydia Ko of New Zealand and South Korea’s Hyojoo Kim are set to lend their star credentials to the inaugural Simone Asia Pacific Cup from August 18-20.

Currently ranked fifth and eighth on the Women’s World Golf Rankings, Ko and Kim are the highest-ranked players in the USD $750,000 showdown scheduled to take place at the Pondok Indah Golf Course in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Pondok Indah Golf Course (Par-72) is considered the most reputable course in Indonesia. It has also hosted the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang.

The 40-woman field also boasts several established names such as Soyeon Ryu, who has six LPGA Tour and 10 KLPGA wins to her name, Bomee Lee, a 21-time JLPGA winner, as well as up-and-coming young guns Yealimi Noh of the United States, who finished an impressive third at the Evian Championship last year. 

Youmin Hwang, the current world number three amateur, New Zealand’s rookie professional Momoka Kobori together with Tiffany Chan, Hong Kong’s sole representative on the LPGA Tour, have also confirmed their participation.

Expect a pulsating battle between these players as they will not only be playing for personal glory but also their country’s honour with the Simone Asia Pacific Cup bringing together teams from 15 APAC golf associations, including Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand to Indonesia.

The tournament features a 54-hole stroke play format, offering a prize purse of USD $500,000 for the individual contest and USD $250,000 for team competition. The winner will also receive a specially designed unique Boston bag by Simone.

Title sponsor Simone, which has a 10% global market share in the world luxury bag industry, has been the number one Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) in the world and a sponsor of the ‘Hana Financial Group Championship’ for the last decade.

President Eungwan Park, in becoming one of the AGLF founders has led to Simone creating this tournament.

South Korea, represented by Ryu and Lee, and Kim and Hwang, will be the teams to watch. But they can expect a stiff challenge from New Zealand with Ko looking forward to teaming up with Kobori, who was a recipient of her Lydia Ko scholarship back in 2016.

Kobori, who is in her second year as a professional, has already made an impact in the play-for-pay ranks by winning four titles, including two on the LET Access Series, the second-tier circuit in Europe.

APGP President, Kang Hyungmo, former Vice-President of the Korean Professional Golf 

Association (KPGA), said: “We are looking forward to hosting our first ever competition in Indonesia and we’re already putting in our best efforts to stage a quality event. We are also confident this competition will contribute to the development of women’s golf in this region.”

Simone Asia Pacific Cup is part of the series of tournaments on the Ladies Asian Tour (LAT) Series, which teed off with its season-opening DB Group 36th Korea Women’s Open in June.

Other tournaments on the schedule include the KRW 1,500,000,000 Hana Bank Group Championship, which will take place in September and the Hana Financial Group Singapore Women’s Open in December.

The LAT series is projected to host existing tournaments from Thailand and the Philippines. Seven tournaments are expected to be organized by the Asia Pacific Golf Platform (APGP) in 2023, expanding to 10 tournaments in 2024.

During the tournament week, presidents from 15 APAC golf associations will attend the APAC Golf Summit as well as the APAC Women’s Golf Conference, which R&A will be joint-hosting with the AGLF. These conferences will bring together industry leaders where there will be deep discussions on developing and energising women’s golf in the Asia Pacific.

About Ladies Asian Tour Series

Ladies Asian Tour (LAT) Series is a group of ladies' professional golf tournaments in Asia for Asian ladies’ golfers created by a coalition among sanctioning bodies in the region of Asia. The purpose of Ladies Asian Tour (LAT) Series is to create Asia's own series by not interfering with sanctioning bodies in this region, but by promoting women's golf at a more competitive level in order to secure more fans for Ladies Asian Tour (LAT) series. 

About Asia Golf Leaders Forum

Asia Golf Leaders Forum (AGLF) is a non-profit corporation, led by four founders Mr. Jung-Tai Kim of Hana Financial Group, Mr. Gwang-Soo Hur of Korea Golf Association (KGA), Mr. Sang-Yeol Kim of Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA), and Mr. Kenny Park of Simone. With a mutual understanding with the R&A and golf associations in Asia such as Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, AGLF's mission is to unite all the Asian golf associations and create synergies to boost Asian golf to a global arena. Together with corporate partners, the AGLF is working to establish and grow Asia's own series of women’s golf by co-developing with existing tournaments or establishing new tournaments in countries across Asia. R&A has put its support behind AGLF and LAT for this new milestone in Asian Golf.

About Korea Golf Association

Korea Golf Association (KGA) is a governing body of golf in Korea that organises three (3) national open championships such as the Korea Open, the Korea Women's Open and the Korea Senior Open as well as approximately 20 amateur events annually. The KGA was established in 1965, and supported by a few golf clubs here in Korea. The KGA was affiliated with a member of the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) in 1965 and the International Golf Federation (IGF) in 1968. The KGA is consist of seventeen (17) regional golf associations, four (4) affiliated golf associations and ninety-three (93) member golf clubs. The KGA has achieved proud results by winning the 2016 Rio Olympic Women's individual, World Amateur Team Championships and other international events and also produced proud players such as K.J Choi, Seri Pak, Inbee Park and Sungjae Im who was the Rookie of the year for the 2018-19 PGA tour.

About Asia Pacific Golf Platform

The Asia Pacific Golf Platform (APGP) is a corporate subsidiary of the Asia Golf Leaders Forum (AGLF), founded to execute business opportunities coinciding with the operations of the AGLF. Led by President Kang Hyungmo, a board director of the AGLF and the former vice-chairman of the Korea Golf Association, and Secretary-General Paul Park, also the secretary-general of the AGLF and director of Hana Financial Group Sports, the APGP is currently organising the Asia Pacific Golf Platform 2022 to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia from Aug. 15th to the 20th. The Asia Pacific Golf Platform 2022 will be a monumental week signifying the grand start of the AGLF’s and APGP’s mission: to unify the players and national associations of the Asia Pacific and create a platform where they can further promote and develop women’s golf in the region. To further emphasise this goal and mission, the APGP has promised to donate USD$250,000 of the total prize purse from the Simone Asia Pacific Cup (set to be held during the Asia Pacific Golf Platform 2022) and distribute it evenly to each participating APAC national golf association for them to invest and further develop the game in their own countries. The APGP plans to be involved in future AGLF Ladies Asia Tour (LAT) Series events and will help stimulate more business opportunities to then reinvest back and help grow women’s golf in Asia-Pacific.