Park, 34, last competed on the LPGA in August at the AIG Women’s British Open, where she tied for 22nd.
Inbee Park took to Instagram early this week to announce that she and her husband Gi Hyeob Nam are expecting. Park, 34, last competed on the LPGA in August at the AIG Women’s British Open at Muirfield, where she tied for 22nd.
“We are thrilled to announce that we will be welcoming new member of our family,” Park wrote on Instagram. “Thank you all for so much support and love.”
A seven-time major winner, Olympic gold medalist and member of the LPGA World Golf Hall of Fame, Park first joined the tour in 2007 and has amassed 21 career LPGA titles.
In 2019, the LPGA updated its maternity policy to give moms two years from the date of the baby’s birth to return to competition. Once moms return, they have the same status they had entering the season of maternity and have 12 months (i.e. same number of tournaments) to compete at that status.
In addition to the LPGA’s updated maternity policy, all five majors on the LPGA schedule now have maternity clauses that exempt a player into the championship who qualified for the previous year but did not compete due to maternity.
Earlier this season, Paula Creamer and Azahara Munoz returned to the LPGA after giving birth in 2022. Brittany Lincicome returned to action at the Pelican Women’s Championship after welcoming her second child.
Caroline Masson and Hee Young Park are expecting their first children in 2023.
The 2022 edition of the event features golfers who have claimed 73 major titles.
It seems like it’s getting bigger every year.
The PNC Championship started in 1995 with ten major championship winners teaming up with their sons.
Now, the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando, Grande Lakes will host 20 teams. Eligibility qualifications are steep: Players must have a major championship or a Players Championship title on their resume, while their partner must not hold a PGA or LPGA Tour card.
The 2022 edition of the event has golfers who have won a major dating back to 1959. In all, the field has golfers who claimed 73 major titles.
How to watch
All times listed are ET.
TV
Friday, Dec. 16
PNC Championship Pro-Am, noon, Golf Channel
Saturday, Dec. 17
First round, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., Peacock
First round, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., NBC
Sunday, Dec. 18
Final round, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Peacock
Final round, 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., Golf Channel
Meet the players who played their way onto the LPGA for 2023.
After a fortnight of pressure-packed golf, 46 players representing 21 different countries earned LPGA status for 2023 through Q-Series. A total of 23 of the 46 players will be LPGA rookies.
Hae Ran Ryu earned medalist honors, finishing at 29 under. The KLPGA player came into the event ranked 50th in the world. Ryu broke 70 in six of the eight rounds.
“I didn’t think that I could earn the LPGA tour card so soon,” said Ryu. “It’s still unreal to me that I could play on the LPGA tour.”
Three teenagers earned LPGA status for the first time, including former Netflix star Alexa Pano. Two players who are 30 and over are LPGA members for the first time.
Former Wake Forest player Ines Laklalech made history by becoming the first LPGA member from Morocco as well as North Africa and the Arab region.
Six players turned professional at the start of Q-Series. Two of those players earned LPGA status: Valery Plata and Natthakritta Vongtaveelap.
Plata, a fifth-year senior at Michigan State, prepped for final exams all throughout the tournament.
“I think it was good for me to just go home, stop thinking about what happened on the golf course and just think about school,” said Plata, who was 4 over in her first nine holes on Day 1 and finished the tournament 25 under.
Players who finished in positions 1-20 earned category 14 LPGA status, while those in positions 21-45 will be in category 15. Players in category 14 will be ranked higher on the priority status list that fills tournament fields. Players are listed in the order of their finish at Q-Series.
To wit: Of the 17 Q Series grads last year who kept their LPGA card in 2022, only 4 were below 20th. The lowest were a pair at T35: Linn Grant (who despite only playing the non-US events incredibly was 56th in CME points) and Caroline Inglis who got the final card at No. 100.
The first full-field LPGA event of the season is in March in Arizona.
Charlotte Thomas described this week as a “do or die” chapter of her professional career. Six years into the play-for-pay ranks, Thomas felt that whatever happened at Q-Series over the last eight rounds could be a sign.
In the end, the sign read: Back to the LPGA.
“I’m exhausted and ready for a drink,” said Thomas, who tied for 28th to earn back her tour card for 2023. A total of 46 players earned LPGA cards at Q-Series, a 144-hole grind that takes places over a fortnight in Alabama.
“I think when I look back on last year, I initially was disappointed that I lost my card and had to come back here,” said Thomas, “but I think the fact that I didn’t play golf for 16 months was – I kind of don’t give myself enough credit sometimes I don’t think.”
Thomas missed the 2021 LPGA season while struggling to find a treatment for chronic eczema.
Everyone in the field in Dothan has a story. Some have been toiling in the professional ranks for years, while others, like Michigan State’s Valery Plata, turned pro just before Q-Series. Plata tied for third with recent Stanford grad Aline Krauter.
Tournament winner Hae Ran Ryu, a KLPGA veteran, is ranked 50th in the world. (Epson Tour photo)
South Korea’s Hae Ran Ryu, currently No. 50 in the Rolex Rankings, topped the field at 29 under, clipping Bailey Tardy by two strokes.
Two years ago, Tardy missed out on earning her LPGA card through the Epson Tour by $343. Once again, Tardy finished 11th on the money list this year, missing the 10th spot by $1,765.
“I actually told my caddie just walking down, I think 15, and really anybody close to me knows that I wasn’t even going to sign up for QII,” said Tardy. “I think I signed up 15 minutes before the deadline, and that was because my coach told me to and was like, this is your opportunity, you can’t give that up.
“And I didn’t want to come to Q-School at all. Even at the beginning of the year I told everyone, I’m not going to Q-School. I’m not doing it. That’s not what I want to do.
“And I’m so happy I did.”
The top 20 players and ties earn category 14 status on the LPGA, while those who finished 21-45 and ties earned category 15 status. Players who finished outside the top 45 and completed all four rounds before the cut earned Epson Tour status for 2023.
“Feels good, especially since our first event of the year would be my home course in Phoenix,” said Dana Finkelstein, who tied for 15th.
“Superstition Mountain is kind of where golf started for me. The Safeway Open out there, I was like 12 or 13 and I went to go watch Annika [Sorenstam] and Morgan [Pressel] and all them. I have pictures of my awkward 12-year-old self at the golf course, and now it’s cool that I’m going to be playing and some other 12-year-old is going to be watching me. It’s pretty cool.”
The first full-field LPGA event of the season, the LPGA Drive On Championship, will take place March 23-26, 2023, in Gold Canyon, Arizona.
Finkelstein, an LPGA veteran, shared 15th with 2022 Alabama grad Polly Mack, who held on despite a closing 76. Mack played the first 72 holes without a caddie but employed a good friend for the second week.
Alexa Pano, the 18-year-old who starred in the Netflix series “The Short Game,” shot 68-67 over the weekend yet missed the top 20 by one stroke. Pano turned professional in the spring and finished 13th on the Epson Tour money list this season.
Jaravee Boonchant was one of three former Duke players who finished in the top 45. Boonchant had former Blue Devil teammate Gina Kim on her bag for Q-Series. The pair, along with Ana Belac (T-38), helped Duke win the 2019 NCAA title. (Kim earned her LPGA card earlier this year via the Epson Tour.)
Lindy Duncan, a former NCAA Player of the Year at Duke, shot three consecutive 73s to also take a share of 38th.
“I keep asking Gina questions that probably shouldn’t be asked on the course, but she was really helpful and very supportive,” said Boonchant, who tied for 21. “And she honestly was like the one who kind of put me in place and shape my thought and my mental game.
A total 75 players made the 72-hole Q-Series cut, including four former Duke players.
On the eve of the start of Week 2 of LPGA Q-Series, former Duke teammates Jaravee Boonchant and Gina Kim planned to eat steak at their rental house. Kim thought she might bake brownies for dessert.
During the heavy fortnight that is LPGA Qualifying School, talk of food isn’t just practical, it’s a welcome distraction. After Boonchant won the Epson Tour Championship in early October to finish 12th on the money list, Kim offered to caddie in the final stage. Kim finished eighth on the money list, which secured her LPGA card for the 2023 season. The top 10 players earn cards; Boonchant finished $1,765 behind 10th place.
A total of 100 players began the two-week grind of Q-Series last week and 75 made the 72-hole cut. Four Duke players were among them, including Ana Belac, Lindy Duncan, Miranda Wang and Boonchant. They’ll tee it up again Dec. 8-11 at the Highland Oakes Golf Course in Dothan, Alabama. The scores carry over from Week 1.
Boonchant, Wang, Belac and Kim were on the 2019 Blue Devils team that won the NCAA Championship. Both Kim and Boonchant were rookies on the Epson Tour this season. Kim decided to forgo her final semester of college golf after finishing T-36 at last year’s LPGA Q-Series. She graduated with a degree in psychology this May. Boonchant drove to Durham for the ceremony.
“I’ve been telling Gina every day, I think she has more confidence in me than I have in myself,” said Boonchant, who describes herself as an indecisive golfer.
The Thai native carried a 71.99 stroke average in college, which ranks as the third-best career stroke average in Duke history.
Jaravee Boonchant and Gina Kim and celebrate a shot at Q-Series. (Epson Tour photo)
When Boonchant came back to college at the start of 2021 during the covid-19 pandemic, Kim would stop by her room at the Duke hotel where the athletes stayed, and they’d walk down together for practice. They asked each other the same question that they ask every day this week: “What’s for dinner?”
While the pair worked independently at practice, building a routine together helped them to push each other.
Kim praised her friend’s consistent ball-striking, noting that the stability in her game perfectly suits a pressure-packed marathon like Q-Series.
“I think that’s why she’s in a good position now,” said Kim of Boonchant’s share of 11th through 72 holes. “She played smart.”
Boonchant was a freshman the when Leona Maguire was a senior at Duke. Boonchant, who’d never been part of a team before college golf, was motivated by Maguire’s work ethic. Maguire owns the lowest stroke average in NCAA history among golfers with 100 or more rounds (70.97). She broke through earlier this year to become the first Irish player to win on the LPGA.
“Hopefully one day we get to experience that,” said Boonchant.
The top 45 players and ties this week will earn LPGA cards for 2023. Those who finish in the top 20 earn Category 14 status, and those from 12-45 earn Category 15. Everyone outside the top 45 earns Epson Tour status.
Kim said being back at Q-Series in a different role is a humbling experience.
“The No. 1 thing that came to mind,” said Kim, “was why was I so stressed about this last year? When I look at the course, it seems like a pretty straightforward course.”
Now it’s just a matter of helping a more than capable Boonchant across the finish line.
Ten of the 12 teams at Tiburon Golf Course this week will be together for the first time.
Lexi Thompson is back for a sixth time at the QBE Shootout while her partner, Maverick McNealy, is a rookie at the event. The former Stanford star got his first look at Tiburon Golf Course on Wednesday. Thompson, however, competed there just last month at the LPGA season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. She won the CME at Tiburon in 2018.
“I know he’s good,” said Thompson, when the pair of 27-year-olds were asked what they knew about each other. McNealy commented on their shared competitive drive.
“We’re not showing up here as an exhibition,” he said. “I want to give us as many good looks from the fairway as possible and just hit it right at the flag. Really excited.”
This year marks the first time that two women are in the field as World No. 2 Nelly Korda will partner with Denny McCarthy. The winning team earns $950,000.
Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported that the QBE would become a mixed-team event between the PGA Tour and LPGA beginning in 2023. The two tours haven’t had a mixed-team event on the schedule for more than two decades.
“Golf being such an individual sport,” said Thompson, “we want more team events but definitely mixed women’s and men’s. I think it will be great for the game of golf. I think team events bring a lot bigger fan base. I think people absolutely love watching us play and fist pump and just be there for each other.”
Added McNealy: “I totally agree, I think any chance you can get the best golfers in the world period together and competing, that’s a great thing on both sides. I think it would be awesome.”
Maverick McNealy at the 2022 CJ Cup in South Carolina. (Photo: David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports)
Ten of the 12 teams on hand this week will be together for the first time. The event, which is celebrating its 34th year, will feature a scramble format on Friday, modified alternate shot on Saturday and four-ball on Sunday.
Growing up with two older brothers, Thompson, an 11-time winner on the LPGA, relished the opportunity to play the back tees. It will feel like old times for her this week as the yardage at Tiburon is 7,382. The LPGA’s official yardage at CME was 6,556.
Lexi Thompson talks with her caddie while waiting to tee off on the ninth hole during the first round of the 2022 LPGA Pelican Women’s Championship at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida. (Photo: Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press)
“I wanted to play from all the way back with the guys,” said Thompson. “I was like, ‘I don’t want to play forward, let’s just give myself a challenge’. I get to hit driver on every single hole, which I absolutely love. I don’t get that opportunity very much when I play, so I love bombing it off the tee and hitting mid- to longer irons.”
The last mixed-team event sponsored by the LPGA and PGA Tour was held in 1999.
At long last, a mixed-team event will return to the LPGA and PGA Tour schedules, with the QBE Shootout adopting the format beginning in 2023, the Associated Press has reported. The AP ‘s Doug Ferguson notes that players were informed of the change at a meeting last week in the Bahamas during the Hero World Challenge.
John Daly and Laura Davies won the final staging of the JCPenney Classic at Innisbrook in 1999, the most recent mixed-team event that was sponsored by the LPGA and PGA Tour. Brittany Lincicome remembers it well. She grew up not far from Palm Harbor, Florida, and worked as a standard-bearer at the event from ages 12 to 16.
This year, both Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson are participating in the QBE at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida, site of the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. The purse this week is $3.8 million, with each team splitting the $950,000 winner’s check. There are 24 players in the field.
This marks the first year two LPGA players are in the field. Korda will make her first appearance at the event and will be paired with Denny McCarthy. Thompson will team up with Maverick McNealy.
Laura Davies (right) and John Daly (left) in action during the JCPenney Classic at Westin Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida in 1998. (Photo: Vincent Laforet /Allsport)
The history of the mixed-team event dates back to 1960 with the Haig & Haig Scotch Foursome. The great Mickey Wright won it with Dave Ragan in both ’61 and ’63. Notable winners of the JCPenney include Curtis Strange/Nancy Lopez (1980), Tom Kite/Beth Daniel (1981) and Fred Couples/Jan Stephenson (1983). Daniel also won it twice with Davis Love III (1990 and 1995).
Kelli Kuehne made a memorable pro debut at the 1996 version at Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course when she paired with Tiger Woods (in matching red and black Nike outfits).
A $425,000 winner’s check is strong money for the women’s game, with so many LPGA purses falling below $2 million. It will be interesting to see if more A-list PGA Tour players sign on to team up with the women at the unofficial event. As it currently stands, Max Homa, No. 16, is the highest-ranked player in the field this year.
LPGA Q-Series was especially brutal for Alana Uriell.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to reflect the LPGA’s clarification that Alana Uriell signed for a birdie when it should have been a par.
Few things in golf are tougher than the grind of Qualifying School. Particularly the LPGA’s eight-round marathon that started this week. But Friday at LPGA Q-Series in Mobile, Alabama, was especially brutal for Alana Uriell.
The 26-year-old signed for a wrong score in the second round – signing for a birdie that should’ve been a par – and was disqualified. An LPGA media official relayed that Uriell came into the tournament office after the fact and self-reported the error.
Uriell opened with an even-par 72. She would’ve been 4 under for the tournament and in a share of 18th. The top 45 players this week earn LPGA status for 2023. The field is cut to top 70 and ties after the first four rounds, played at Magnolia Grove over the Crossings and Falls courses.
The former Arkansas player from Carlsbad, California, competed in 21 events on the LPGA this season and finished 130th on the Race to CME Globe points list. She earned $66,506 this season.
Riley Rennell and Manon De Roey pace the field at 10 under.
Anne van Dam is hoping to finish a half ironman race in less than six hours
Last week, Anne van Dam placed 10th in the LET’s season-ending Andalucia Open de Espana. This week: She’s hoping to finish a half Ironman race in less than six hours.
Players last week in Spain told her she’s crazy. The triathlon’s total distance is 70.3 miles, and it begins with a 1.2-mile swim, followed by 56 miles of biking and a 13.1-mile run.
Players, however, also believe the inspiration behind van Dam’s decision is pretty amazing. She’s racing for Grace Godfrey, the 2-year-old daughter of LPGA player Jane Park and husband Pete, a long-time caddie on tour.
In the summer of 2021, during the Volunteers of America Classic in Dallas, Grace was hospitalized with seizures and brain swelling.
As van Dam noted in her social media post last month, Grace is still having seizures and undiagnosed epilepsy. Some of the needed equipment, hospital treatments, specialized therapies and accessibility features in the family’s home are not covered by insurance.
The Dutch player set a goal of raising $50,000 and many in the golf community have already stepped up to donate. Even players who aren’t in van Dam’s close circle have done what they can.
“That’s special,” she said.
A five-time winner on the LET and a member of the victorious 2019 European Solheim Cup team, 27-year-old van Dam first began competing on the LPGA in 2019. While she often runs during the season and takes long bike rides to clear her head, swimming, she said, messes up the feel that she needs for golf. She got back in the pool this week to train.
The race is slated for Dec. 4 in Indian Wells and La Quinta, California.
“So far this week I’ve done two 1,500 meter swims,” she said, “which were a little tougher than I expected.”
One of the longest players in women’s golf, the ultra-athletic van Dam said she got into racing triathlons when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the tour for several months in 2020. Nothing quite like this though.
Certainly nothing that carried so much meaning.
“She called me and told me her plans and, of course, I burst into tears,” Park told lpga.com. “I can’t imagine doing any of those things (in a triathlon) but to do them all in a row is just mind-boggling. And to do them in California when you played in a tournament in Spain last week, it’s insane. But we are so grateful. For her and for everyone.”
Meet 12 of the players set for the 144-hole grind.
One hundred players will tee it up this week at LPGA Q-Series, an eight-round grind that begins on Dec. 1 and ends Dec. 11. The first week will be contested at the RTJ Trail at Magnolia Grove in Mobile, Alabama, at the Crossings and Falls courses.
The field will be cut to top 70 and ties after the first week of competition. The second week of competition will take place at Highland Oaks Golf Course in Dothan, Alabama.
A total of 45 players will receive LPGA status in 2023. This is the first year that players were required to turn professional before entering Q-Series. A total of six players turned pro for this week: Nataliya Guseva, Minji Kang, Ashley Lau, Heather Lin, Valery Plata and Natthakritta Vongtaveelap.
Players in the top 75 of the Rolex Rankings automatically advanced to the final stage. Those players include: Yuna Nishimura (44), Hae Ran Ryu (51) and Minami Katsu (56).
Players who finish in the top 20 of Q-Series will fall under Category 14 of the LPGA Priority List. Those who finish 21-45 and ties earn Category 15 and Epson Tour status Category C.
Those who complete all four rounds before the cut earn Epson Tour status.
This year’s field features an eclectic group of players, including former college hotshots, up-and-comers and a former Netflix star.
“No one really wants to be here,” said Dewi Weber, who finished 101st on the CME points list this year, one position shy of a full card.
“The vibes are always really, really weird at Q-school. But I was a rookie on the LPGA, but I feel like I’m kind of a vet when it comes to Q-school because I’ve done this now four times, even though I don’t want to but I have.”
