Started in 2012, the Lotte Championship’s 13th edition is currently underway at Hoakalei Country Club in Oahu, Hawaii. It is a 72-par course, spanning 6,566 yards. Many of the LPGA Tour’s best have turned up to participate in the 13th edition of the event. Fans could see 3x LPGA Tour winner Charley Hull, World No.2 Nelly Korda, 2x Lotte Championship winner Brooke Henderson, and 2024 winner A Lim Kim.

There are also many who won on the LPGA Tour in 2025. Jin Hee Im, Akie Iwai, Chisato Iwai, Hyo Joo Kimm, and others. And there’s also hometown favorite Mariel Galdiano, who is a native of Pearl City, Oahu. But despite all these big names, there are a lot of others fighting right at the top for the $3 million purse pool. The leaderboard topper will be getting $450,000 of this.

Currently, the game is three rounds down, and Akie Iwai, winner of the 2025 Standard Portland Classic, is on top of the leaderboard. She is 13-under par with 64-68-71. On her toes are a bunch of golfers tied at second with a score of 12 under par. This includes Minami Katsu, Hyo Joo Kim, Megan Khang, Peiyun Chien, Brooke Matthews, Pornanong Phatlum, Jessica Porvasnik, and Youmin Hwang. World No. 2 is tied at third with Nasa Hataoka.

Surprisingly, many popular names are falling behind at the Lotte Championship. 2024 winner, A Lim Kim, is tied at 12, and 2x Lotte champion, Brooke Henderson, is tied at 21 alongside Charley Hull. Alison Lee, who was looking in great form to possibly win the 2025 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, but couldn’t, didn’t even make the cut here.

All golfers on the field are looking to rise high on the leaderboard to get the biggest share of the $3 million prize pool. The winner’s payout is $450,000, and here’s what the others will get:

The finances aren’t the only thing these golfers are fighting for. There’s also 500 CME points to be distributed. It’s a season-long points competition that can get LPGA stars entry to the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. Entering and winning the CME Group Tour Championship opens doors for further earnings from the $11 million prize pool and $4 million winner’s payout.

Many women golfers are excited to play at the venue. Let’s see what Nelly Korda and Brooke Henderson have to say about it.

Both Nelly and Brooke have played in the Lotte Championship in Hawaii previously. During the pre-event press conference, Brooke was asked how she felt playing here. To which she said, “I love coming to Hawaii. It’s so beautiful. I find it very relaxing here. Very peaceful and all the people are so nice, the beautiful flowers, beautiful views of the ocean. So Brit (Brittany Henderson) and I, we always enjoy coming back here every year, and being a two-time winner definitely is an extra bonus.”

Brooke has won the Lotte Championship twice, in 2018 and then in 2019. She is the only LPGA star to have won the tournament twice in its 12-year history. In 2018, she won by four strokes over Azahara Muñoz. She scored 68, 66, 73, 69 to finish with 12-under par. Later in 2019, she again won by four strokes by defeating Ji Eun-hee this time. Nelly also played in 2019 and finished at 8 with a score of 9-under par.

Nelly, who is playing in Hawaii for the first time since 2021, had similar thoughts on the environment. She added to it by reflecting on what makes it fun to play here. “The thing about Hawaii is you kind of never know what kind of weather you’re going to get with the wind. So, it’s always fun to play in that to kind of test out your imagination, your skills, different kinds of shots. So, I think it’ll be a fun week.”

The World No.2 has played the Lotte Championship in Hawaii twice before this, in 2019 and 2021. In 2019, she finished 8th with 63-68-71-77 to complete the course at 9 under par. When she was in Hawaii for the second time, she completed the course with a whopping 21 under par to finish tied in second.

The star-studded Lotte Championship is turning out to be one of the most exciting stops on the LPGA tour this season. With $3 million in prize money and 500 CME points to grab, everyone on the field is trying their best to claim the top spot.