The world’s best players will return to Lake Merced Golf Club to compete for a share of the US$2 million purse at the 2016 Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic presented by CTBC. Nine out of the top-10 in the Rolex Rankings are in the 150-player list, headlined by women’s World No.1 golfer Lydia Ko, who is hoping to complete the San Francisco trifecta, as well as twenty-one top TLPGA players. The 72-hole tournament will run through Friday, April 21st to Sunday.

If the 19-year-old from New Zealand would defend her title yet again, she’ll become just the eleventh player in LPGA Tour history complete a “three-peat” in a single event. It will be Ko’s thirteenth Tour victory after back-to-back wins this season at the Kia Classic and the ANA Inspiration.

The Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic is the first tournament of Taiwanese roots held on the United States soil. It is also the first co-sanction partnership between the LPGA and the LPGA of Taiwan. The event was founded in 2014. CTBC Bank has been this year’s main sponsor.

World number two Inbee Park withdrew from this week but her fellow top tenners in the Rolex Rankings are all teeing it up including no.3 Lexi Thompson, no.4 Stacey Lewis, no.5 Sei Young Kim, no.6 In Gee Chun, no.7 Brooke Henderson, no.8 Ha Na Jang, no.9 Amy Yang, and no.10 Shanshan Feng.

18-year-old Henderson made her first appearance at Lake Merced last year as a sponsor invitation and actually surprised by leading the pack after 54 holes. She ended the 2015 tournament with a third place finish and build on the momentum to notch her first LPGA Tour win at the Cambia Portland Classic in August, earning herself official LPGA status.

She is coming off a T10 at the LOTTE Championships this past week, which has been her seventh top-10 finish consecutively. Henderson was ranked 207th in the world at the same time last year but now she’s as high as no.7 already.

Other than LPGA members from Taiwan, Yani Tseng (曾雅妮), Candie Kung (龔怡萍), Hsu Wei-Lin (徐薇凌), and Lee Min (李旻), TLPGA members Chen Meng-Chu (陳孟竺), Chien Pei-Yun (錢珮芸), Chen I-Wen (陳依妏), Liang Yi-Lin (梁宜羚), Chang Hsuan-Ping (張瑄屏), Shih Huei-Ju (石惠如), Chen Yu-Ju (陳宇茹), who are all among top-10 on the TLPGA Tour Money List, and CTBC sponsor invitations Cheng Ssu-Chia (程思嘉), Kuo Ai-Chen (郭艾榛), Lin Tzu-Chi (林子麒), Yeh Hsin-Ning (葉欣寧) are also ready to steal the show. There are six amateurs in the list including Chang Ya-Chun (張雅淳), who finished T2 at Lake Wales at the Symetra Tour’s Florida’s Natural Charity Classic, Yu Han-Hsuan (俞涵軒), Lin Tze-Han (林子涵), Hung Jo-Hua (洪若華), and the Hou sisters Yu Chiang (侯雨薔) and Yu Sang (侯雨桑).

CTBC ambassador Hsu Wei-Lin posted the best scorecards by Taiwanese challengers at T35 and T45 in the previous two years. Kung was the only other player to advance to the final rounds. In each of the past two seasons, seven Taiwanese players successfully made the cut.

It will be a first experience on LPGA stage for TLPGA players Chang Hsuan Ping, Chen I-Wen, and Liang Yi-Lin. “I’m so honored to have this chance to be playing at the Swinging Skirts. I hope I get to complete all four rounds,” said Chang. “There are some narrow fairways so it will be crucial whether we can maintain precision on this course. The greens are hard and fast and the rough is so high up. It could be challenging but hopefully I’m ready!”

A Pro-Am event will be held on Wednesday and the official play begins on Thursday at 7:00 in the morning.