Andy DevaneySouth Korea’s Major champions return to home soil as the Aramco Korea Championship adopts a tougher 72-hole format and assembles a field with considerable pedigree.
There are easier places to arrive looking for a quiet week than South Korea with Sung Hyun Park and Jeongeun Lee6 waiting on the first tee.
The Aramco Korea Championship 2026, staged at New Korea Country Club from 8–11 October, has assembled a field led by two of the country’s most decorated Major winners, backed by established international names and a format that leaves rather less room for a bad afternoon.
Former Rolex World No. 1 Park and 2019 U.S. Women’s Open champion Lee6 headline the Korean contingent, while Dongeun Lee arrives after a breakout KLPGA Tour season that included a victory against established global opposition.
For the home galleries, that makes this considerably more interesting than simply another international tournament passing through town.
Park and Lee6 bring the heavyweight appeal
Park remains an obvious focal point whenever she tees it up in South Korea. Home advantage in golf is an imprecise science — the ball remains stubbornly uninterested in passports — but the galleries certainly alter the atmosphere.
“Competing on home soil in South Korea always brings an extra level of focus,” Park said. “Playing in front of Korean galleries adds excitement and intensity and makes me even more focused on my game.”
She also expects the revised format to sharpen matters.
“With this year’s Aramco Korea Championship adopting the new 72-hole stroke play format, I expect the competition to be even more intense and closely contested over all four days.”
Lee6, meanwhile, gives the championship another proven Major winner with considerable local pulling power.
“There is a distinctive energy at the Aramco Korea Championship, and having it staged right here at New Korea Country Club gives Korean golf another massive international platform,” she said.
Four rounds leave fewer hiding places
The most significant competitive change is straightforward: the championship is now a classical four-day, 72-hole individual stroke play event.
That matters.
Four rounds give class rather more time to assert itself and fleeting brilliance rather less opportunity to disguise inconsistency. New Korea Country Club is also described by Park as demanding precision from the tee, which should make patience and positioning valuable commodities across the week.
The tournament carries a US$2 million purse and Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings points under its Ladies European Tour sanctioning and PIF Global Series billing.
Five-time LET winner and Golf Saudi Ambassador Marianne Skarpnord sees the switch as an important step for the event.
“Moving to a 72-hole tournament at New Korea Country Club sets the ultimate standard for professional golf.”
Yamashita adds another serious threat
The Korean favourites will hardly have the place to themselves.
Japan’s Miyu Yamashita brings further quality to the field, while France’s Vanessa Bouvet adds another LET presence.
The Golf Saudi ambassador contingent has plenty of experience of its own. Skarpnord is joined by Alison Lee, Danielle Kang, Carlota Ciganda, Anne Van Dam and Olivia Cowan.
Kang supplies another Major champion. Ciganda brings Solheim Cup pedigree, while Van Dam has long been one of the more recognisable European players in the women’s game.
It is the sort of field in which familiar names are plentiful enough that reputation alone will achieve precisely nothing once somebody puts a scorecard in your hand.
Korea gets another international stage
The event is being staged with KOLON Group as official host partner, with tournament week also incorporating executive networking, bilateral commerce activity and cultural tourism initiatives involving Saudi Arabia and South Korea.
Golf, however, will remain the bit visible between the ropes.
That is where the 72-hole move becomes especially useful. The championship now asks its field to negotiate four complete rounds at New Korea Country Club, rather than merely producing a burst of form over a shorter distance.
For Park, that challenge begins with the tee shot.
“New Korea Country Club is a course that demands precision from the tee, so I’ll need to stay focused and execute my shots carefully throughout the tournament.”
Quite right. Four days, US$2 million at stake, Major champions everywhere and a home crowd examining the evidence. There are worse ways to spend an October weekend.
Tickets for the Aramco Korea Championship can be reserved online through HERE.
