Three of women's top 10 to star as golf returns in S Korea

Leading professional golfers will return to competitive action for the first time in months after the coronavirus shutdown when three of the world's top 10 women tee off in South Korea on Thursday.

The KLPGA Championship will follow the country's football and baseball leagues in starting behind closed doors at the Lakewood Country Club in Yangju, northeast of Seoul.

World number three Park Sung-hyun, sixth-ranked Kim Sei-young and number 10 Lee Jeong-eun will be in a 150-strong field chasing a $180,000 winner's cheque from a record tournament purse of USD 2.5 million, the highest in the event's 42-year history.

South Korea -- which endured one of the worst early outbreaks of the disease outside mainland China -- has brought COVID-19 under control with a widespread "trace, test and treat" model and has begun to resume professional sport.

South Korean players dominate women's golf and the US-based LPGA tour with three golfers ranked in the world's top six and eight players in the top 20.

Two-time major winner Park, nine-time winner on the LPGA Tour Kim and current US Open champion Lee were already back home in the country.

They had returned after the LPGA season was suspended in February because of the pandemic following the Australian Open, which was won by another Korean, the world number 11 Park In-bee.

- 'Centre of attention' -
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