HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. – The LPGA Tour will return to Howey-in-the-Hills for the second annual Mission Inn Championship. 

​Following two pro-am days, 144 female golfers will be teeing off this weekend at Mission Inn Resort. 

“I’m really excited and have worry if I can do well or not,” said June Jang, one of the golfers invited to play.

Golfers from 30 different countries are happy tournaments have returned to form, including this week’s Mission Inn Championship. 

“Since that happened, all the tournaments, invitationals got canceled,” Jang said. “So I lost a little motivation, but still kept practicing and waiting for next year to get better.”

Lake County interim tourism director Steven Clenney said the event is estimated to bring in $590,000 to the area. 

One of the changes to this year’s event is that fans will be able to come out and watch this weekend. 

“We can tell the energy is out there, people are inquiring. We would expect good size galleries starting tomorrow through Sunday,” said Michael Bowery, director of golf at Mission Inn.

The road to get an LPGA tour card goes through Symetra events like the Mission Inn Championship.

“The golf course is tough, but they love it,” Bowery said. “That’s why the LPGA Symetra folks chose us because they want a venue that separates the really good players from the good players.”

“We’re very happy to rebook them for this year and as you can see it’s a big deal to us, we love to showcase Mission Inn,” said Roy Schindele, executive director of sales & marketing at Mission Inn.

And the county and the players hope this weekend is a hole in one.

“I will just enjoy and then learn from here. And for sure I will have a good experience here,” Yang said.

Play begins at 7:30 a.m. Friday at the Mission Inn Resort, and admission to watch the tournament is free.