TEMECULA, Calif. – (April 3, 2018) — Pechanga Resort Casino hosted the 12th Annual Kore Pro-am Golf Tournament at Journey at Pechanga on April 2 and 3, 2018. This marks the 6th year for Pechanga to host the tournament as the proud official sponsor. This year, 29 talented LPGA golfers were invited to participate in this highly anticipated tournament with the Pro-Am’s tee sponsors. Joining the LPGA players for the second year were 22 golfers from the Great Oak High School (GOHS) Girls Golf team in Temecula, Calif. The students got an opportunity to meet and greet pro players, receive advice on their game and future endeavors as well as experience the overall tournament. The Girls Golf team acted as volunteers helping with various areas of the event. In return, the Kore Pro-Am will donated $3,000 to the GOHS team for their support. GOHS Girls Golf team became the league champion last year and made it to postseason of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF).
“Our team did this last year and it was such an invaluable experience for them. The pros really took the time to talk golf, life experience and how to get to the next level – our players talked about it all year,” said Coach Rachel Reif. “Being local, the event is in our backyard and we wanted to offer this experience to other high schools and involve as many high school girl golfers as we could with other schools joining us.”
“It’s a one of a kind event to be able to volunteer and speak to the pro players because at the official PGA tournaments they are focused solely on their own games. I think this is such a good experience inspiring me to want to play more golf because when you see them play it makes you want to jump in and play too,” said Yuri Schutter, sophomore Great Oak High School Girls Golf team player.
Kore 2018 Pro-Am features many outstanding LPGA professional golfers including Chella Choi, Megan Khang, Jenny Shin, Sarah Jane Smith, and Angel Yin. Chella Choi, Rolex ranking 49, posted a season-best third place result at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, which was her best career finish in major. Megan Khang who started playing golf at age 5 and just turned 21 debuted in 2016 and recorded a career-best T3 at the Blue Bay LPGA. Jenny Shin became Rolex First-Time winner with her victory at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout in 2016 after 5 years since her debut and crossed $3M mark in career earnings last year. Shin is also famous for her stylish fashion on the green. Sarah Jane Smith, a veteran golfer from Australia, recorded a season-best T3 at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open. The super rookie Angel Yin entered LPGA only last year and ranked second in the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year standings. She was also selected by Team USA Captain as a captain’s pick for the Solheim Cup and posted a 1-1-1 record.
The following popular LPGA superstars also joined the game: Tiffany Chan, Brianna Do, Jennifer Ha, Muni He, Vicky Hurst, Tiffany Joh, Lauren Kim, Erynne Lee, Rebecca Lee-Bentham, Lee Lopez, Sydnee Michaels, Annie park, Hee Young Park, Robynn Ree, Melissa Reid, Demi Runas, Hanule Sky Seo, Kelly Shon, Kelly Tan, Kassidy Teare, Gabriella Then, Andrea Wong, Jing Yang, Julie Yang. This elite group of 29 pro golfers challenged each other on the stimulating and demanding course, along with their fans and golf partners.