Park to assume honorary chair of next year’s Presidents Cup

South Korean President Park Geun-hye plans to accept an invitation to be honorary chairman of next year’s Presidents Cup, Park’s office said Tuesday.

Park plans to accept the invitation during her meeting with PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem at the presidential office later in the day, the office said.

Park will be the second woman to serve as honorary chairman next fall when the Presidents Cup is set to take place in Incheon, a port city just west of Seoul, in the biennial event’s first venture into Asia.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard became the first woman to serve in the role for the 2011 event in Australia. The golf competition is held alternately between the U.S. and a non-European nation. Canada and South Africa have also been hosts of the Presidents Cup.

The Presidents Cup pits a team of 12 Americans against a squad of the same number of international players representing non-European nations in matches played over four days.

The U.S. has dominated the international team, with eight wins, one loss and one tie, since the event’s inauguration in 1994.

In June, Choi Kyung-ju, an eight-time PGA Tour winner better known as K.J. Choi in the U.S., was named as vice captain for a team of non-European international stars at next year’s Presidents Cup. (Yonhap)