No Lunar New Year Break... "Practice and More Practice Before the Season"

Overseas training camps focused on fitness and shoring up weaknesses
Intensive work on greenside approach shots and putting
Yoo Hyunjo in Dubai, Park Hyunkyung and Bae Sohyun in Portugal

There is no time to rest during the Lunar New Year holiday.

This is the story of Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) tour players preparing for the 2016 season. Their training camp locations are diverse. The United States, Australia, and Southeast Asia, which have traditionally been popular destinations, are not the only options. Some players have headed to the United Arab Emirates and Portugal.

Yoo Hyunjo, winner of the 2025 Player of the Year award, is training in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. She is focusing on fitness and short game practice. Yoo said, "This year I plan to play not only on the KLPGA Tour but also in overseas tournaments. I think physical fitness will be even more important." She added, "I won the Rookie of the Year award and then the Player of the Year award, but if there is one thing I am a bit disappointed about, it is the number of victories. This year I want to become the player with the most wins."

Hong Jungmin, Park Hyunkyung, and Bae Sohyun, who all shone on the KLPGA Tour last year, have set up a training camp in Portugal. Hong topped the money list last year and shared the most-wins title. She has begun her fifth consecutive year of preseason training in Portugal. To improve the fairway-hit rate that she was not fully satisfied with last season, she is also concentrating on driver practice. Hong, who said, "I want to carry over the good momentum from last season," added, "In this training camp, I have increased the share of fitness training to 80% in order to maintain good results through to the end of the season."

Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour players are undergoing training abroad in destinations such as Dubai and Portugal even during the Lunar New Year holiday. Provided by Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association

Park Hyunkyung and Bae Sohyun also chose Portugal as their training base. Park is a powerhouse with eight career wins on the KLPGA Tour, including two major championships. Together they have set up a training camp in Portugal, which offers a pleasant environment. Park explained, "I plan to focus on improving my iron shots to maximize my strengths. I am also doing a lot of work to increase my putting success rate."

Park said, "My goal for the 2026 season is the KLPGA Player of the Year award. I consider myself a consistent player, and this year as well I want to perform steadily and climb to the very top," adding, "I have been challenging myself every year, but this year I really want to reach 10 career wins and secure the Player of the Year title as well."

Bae Sohyun has four career victories on the KLPGA Tour. She is conducting an overseas training camp in Europe for the first time. Reflecting on last season, she said, "I felt that I lacked decisiveness in the final rounds. My putting was inconsistent, and there were quite a few unstable tee shots," and added, "I want to address these areas in this training camp."

Bae is also focusing on short game practice so that she can respond well to a variety of situations. She said, "My goal this year is to win a major tournament, and this season I also want to contend again for multiple victories."

The KLPGA Tour will stage the Rejuran Championship (total prize money of 1.2 billion won) on March 12 at Amata Spring Country Club in Chonburi, Thailand. It is a new season-opening event established this year. The winner will be decided over four days of 72-hole stroke play.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.