Tag: 2021 Pelican LPGA Championship

Two-tee start costs Lexi Thompson the chance to embrace fans on 18th green in what could be final CME

Thompson claimed the CME title in 2018.

NAPLES, Fla. – After three days of playing in twosomes off the first tee at the CME Group Tour Championship, the field of 60 will play the final round in threesomes off Nos. 1 and 10.

That means Lexi Thompson, who currently sits in a share of 29th at 4 under, will be going off No. 10 at 8:50 a.m in what could be her final appearance at the CME. Thompson announced at the U.S. Women’s Open that 2024 would be her final full season on the LPGA and it will be difficult to qualify on limited starts.

“Pretty sad when you’re at -4 in the season-ending event, which could easily be the last CME of your career and you won’t even finish on #18 because they decide to double the tee on the final day due to TV coverage window,” Thompson wrote in an Instagram story.

“Bummed I won’t be able to embrace all the incredible fans on 18 tomorrow as I finish. Hopefully some will be out there on #9.”

Thompson, 29, is an 11-time winner on the LPGA and claimed the CME title in 2018. Live TV coverage of the final round is scheduled from 1-4 p.m. ET on NBC.

Thompson will return to Tiburon Golf Club next month for the Grant Thornton Invitational, where she’ll play alongside Rickie Fowler.

Three-time major winner Anna Nordqvist still pinching herself that biggest childhood dream came true at Carnoustie in AIG Women’s British Open

“I’ve had a lot of special memories playing the British Open over the years starting in 2007.”

At the end of a 10-week stretch on the road last summer, Anna Nordqvist met Max, the family’s new English Cream Retriever. Fluffy Max got to drink out of the shiny hardware mom brought home from the AIG Women’s British Open at Carnoustie, her third major title.

This week, Nordqvist returned the trophy, which she jokingly called Max’s “water bowl,” on Instagram, at historic Muirfield, where the women will compete for a major title for the first time. There have been 16 British Opens staged at Muirfield, dating back to 1892.

“I’ve been looking forward to this week for a long time,” said Nordqvist. “It’s one of my favorite weeks out of the year. I’ve had a lot of special memories playing the British Open over the years starting in 2007 when I qualified, Monday-qualified as an amateur into St. Andrews.”

This was the championship the Swede grew up wanting most, and after marrying Kevin McAlpine, a Scot from Dundee, winning at nearby Carnoustie made it all the more special. Nordqvist says she’s still pinching herself that her biggest childhood dream came true.

Soon after this year’s British, Nordqvist will have a long-awaited wedding celebration that was postponed for two years due to COVID-19.

Nordqvist, 35, recently returned to Carnoustie to tee it up and played 15 holes.

“It was a two-ball wait on 16,” she said, “and it was already 9:30 at night and we kind of gave up.”

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Nordqvist is one of only two players who have won the British Girls’ (2005), British Amateur (2008) and British Open (2021), joining England’s Georgia Hall. Her Amateur victory came at nearby North Berwick, and earlier this week, she was reunited with all three trophies. Both Hall and Nordqvist also earned low-amateur honors at the Open.

A nine-time winner on the LPGA, Nordqvist has won three different majors dating back to her breakthrough title at the 2009 KPMG Women’s PGA as a rookie. She has four top-10 finishes at the British, including last year’s victory.

Last month, Nordqvist won the Big Green Egg Open on the Ladies European Tour.

“I don’t feel like I have any pressure on me this week,” she said. “I’m not trying to prove anything. I’m just trying to enjoy myself.”

Also among the favorites this week is Australia’s Minjee Lee, who hasn’t finished outside the top 11 in her last four appearances at the British Open. She said she loves links-style golf, particularly having grown up in windy Perth.

Earlier this year, Lee won the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles for her second title in four major starts. She tied for second at the Women’s PGA and took a share of 43rd at the Evian.

“I just really love like the hard conditions that we get and just how much creativity we have to sort of think about around these types of courses,” said Lee. “It could be really cool, and it would be a great honor to be able to win the British.”

Top American Nelly Korda, who was distracted early on in her Tuesday news conference by an unwelcome spider, said she also appreciates the creativity links golf demands. She felt the par 3s at Muirfield seemed particularly tough.

“I think the greens are a bit more undulated for British-style golf courses I’ve played,” said Korda. “If it gets windy, the greens are going to be really tricky. The par 3s are long. There’s definitely a lot of fall-offs on the front of the greens.

“Overall, I think the entire golf course, you have to strike it well. The fairways are not really too wide, either. Sometimes you just have to be aggressive and just take the shot in the fescue to be closer to the green. But yeah, I think the golf course is going to be a great test depending on the weather, too.”

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Nelly Korda fights back with clutch putts to win again on LPGA, while Lexi Thompson crashes

It was set up to a be a dramatic Sunday and the stars delivered.

BELLEAIR, Florida – It was set up to a be a dramatic Sunday at the Pelican Women’s Championship, and the stars delivered. Though it was as shockingly good as it was bad.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda collected her fourth LPGA title of the season, making her the most decorated American player since Stacy Lewis in 2012. Lexi Thompson, on the other hand, reminded us that no amount of living room sessions on the Perfect Practice Putting Mat can simulate the pressure of needing to make a putt with everything on the line. For all the talk of Thompson’s improved putting this week, it’s three short misses down the stretch that will likely haunt her for some time.

After a back-and-forth battle that saw Korda, 23, and Lexi Thompson, 26, tied for the lead at 19 under with two holes to play, a session of ugly golf broke out on the short par-4 17th, with Korda making a triple from the fairway and Thompson missing a 4-footer for par.

“Honestly, I lost hope,” said Korda, who said curse words were flying as she walked down the 18th fairway.

Caddie Jason McDede told Korda to give herself a one-minute reset and think nothing but positive thoughts. Korda took the time to think about all the putts she’d made.

Being fired up though, has always been a benefit to her game.

“When I used to play against my dad when I was younger,” said Korda, “he would always try to piss me off because he always says that I step it up a notch when I’m pissed.”

Thompson held a one-stroke lead heading into the 72nd hole but, after Korda knocked in a birdie, missed yet another 4-foot putt for par, sending the foursome of Sei Young Kim, Lydia Ko, Korda and Thompson back to the 18th tee for a sudden-death playoff. Kim, the 2020 Pelican champion, had drained a 25-foot putt for birdie in regulation play to join them at 17 under.

In the playoff, Kim found the left fairway bunker off the tee and went long with her approach, as did Ko from the fairway. Korda, meanwhile, put herself on a similar line from before: This time 18 feet below the hole. Thompson, who was last to hit, left herself in a similar spot to what she faced in regulation as well, this time 6 feet left of the hole.

When Kim and Ko could do no better than par, Korda showed her moxie with a second straight birdie on the 18th hole pour the pressure back on Thompson.

As Korda stood off the side of the green with her hands behind her back, Thompson approached yet another short putt to decide her fate. Once again, the ball slid to the right, leaving an uncomfortable-looking Thompson heartbroken and Korda triumphant.

As Jessica rushed over to hug her little sister, an emotional Thompson stood off to the side with her caddie. This was supposed to be a redemptive moment for Thompson, with her mom watching in person for the time in nearly two years. The sting of the meltdown at The Olympic Club certainly still fresh in the minds of many watching from outside the ropes.

Thompson took one question after the round from an LPGA media official, who asked her to assess the week.

“Played a lot of good golf, made a lot of good putts, and just wasn’t meant for me in the end,” she said.

While Thompson hasn’t won on the LPGA since June of 2019, Korda has won five tournaments in that time. She now has a total of seven career victories.

With her victory in Belleair, Korda joins Jin Young Ko as the only players on tour with four victories this season. She also jumps 10 points ahead of Ko in the LPGA Player of the Year race with 191. A victory at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship is worth 30 points and second place is worth 12. Ko won last year’s edition.

“It doesn’t even feel like a season,” said Korda. “If feels like it’s two seasons. I feel like Lake Nona was a couple years ago.”

When asked to rank her accomplishments so far, Korda put the major on top of the heap, saying it was the hardest to win because it came on the heels of another title and it’s what she had dreamed about as a kid. Lewis, Korda’s pod leader during the Solheim Cup, sent a “great fighting” text to Korda when it was done. Korda loves the way Lewis never backs down.

“Even though I say I think I lost hope,” said Korda, “I will never give up. I’ll go down fighting every single time.”

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Su Oh becomes third player to win two-year lease on a Lamborghini at LPGA’s Pelican Women’s Championship

You get a Lambo! You get a Lambo! You get a Lambo!

BELLEAIR, Florida – Su Oh doesn’t have a car in the U.S. or back home in Australia. She shares an Audi Q5 rental with Hannah Green when she’s in America and borrows her parents’ Volkswagen CC when she’s in Melbourne.

On Sunday at the Pelican Women’s Championship, Oh was the first player of the day to take a swing at the par-3 12th hole, and she recorded her second ace of the season. Oh hit a smooth 7-iron from 157 yards, becoming the third player this week to win a two-year lease on a Lamborghini.

“I would actually love it if I could take it to Australia,” she said, “but I don’t think that’s going to work.”

Austin Ernst was the first player to ace No. 12 during Monday’s pro-am. She took a test drive around the parking lot on Friday but, as of Sunday, said she hadn’t yet talked to the dealership about the details of insurance or a cash-out option.

Pavarisa Yoktuan was the second player to ace the 12th, and her fantastic reaction was caught on camera as this week marks the first time the LPGA has had a “Feature Hole” live stream on Peacock. Every players’ shot into the 12th is being streamed live.

Thailand’s Yoktuan took a test drive herself on Sunday, but said given how much she travels, it didn’t make sense to pay the insurance on it. She didn’t get an official quote, but heard at least $30,000 for two years.

“But I don’t think it’s that cheap,” she said. “I think it’s probably more.”

Coming into this week, Yoktuan had made $23,991 for the entire 2021 season.

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LPGA Pelican Women’s Championship extends partnership through 2025, with purse increase to $2 million

The Pelican is here to stay for a few more years.

BELLEAIR, Florida – The Pelican Women’s Championship – and its sensational leaderboard – is here to stay through 2025, the tournament has announced. Next year’s event will be held Nov. 10-13 and the purse will increase to $2 million.

After making its debut in 2020 where Sei Young Kim walked away victorious, the event returned this week with spectators. Fans on Sunday are being treated to a star-studded top 10 led by Lexi Thompson and Nelly Korda that includes Jennifer Kupcho, Lydia Ko, Patty Tavatanakit, Christina Kim, Sei Young Kim, Leona Maguire and Jin Young Ko.

This week’s field of 108 players are competing for a $1.75 million purse at the newly renovated Pelican Golf Club.

“We are excited to extend our partnership with the LPGA Tour in bringing the world’s best female professional golfers to Tampa Bay for the Pelican Women’s Championship,” said Dan Doyle Jr., who co-founded the club with his father.

“We are committed to providing a best-in-class experience for the players and fans alike, and we are thankful for the tremendous support from the Belleair community in helping to build this new championship as a premier event on the LPGA Tour.”

This week the tour also debuted Feature Hole coverage for the first time tour history. Fans can watch live streaming on Peacock of the par-3 12th hole, where both Austin Ernst and Pavarisa Yoktuan have made aces to win two-year leases on a flashy Lamborghini.

Final-round coverage of the tournament takes place from 1-4 p.m. ET on the NBC Sports app and NBCSports.com. The event will be tape-delayed on Golf Channel from 7:30-10:30 p.m. ET.

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How No Laying Up and a three-club challenge helped put Lauren Coughlin in position to secure her tour card at the Pelican LPGA

“Golf can be really difficult mentally more than anything,” she said, “and it can really beat you down.”

BELLEAIR, Florida – Lauren Coughlin’s husband John Pond, a former offensive lineman at Virginia and current 10 handicap, convinced her not long ago to take him on in a three-club challenge at their home course just north of Charlottesville, Virginia. Pond got to use a full set of clubs, and Coughlin chose a 7-iron, driver and 56-degree wedge for the exericse.

“I putted unbelievable,” said Coughlin, who shot 3 over using a 7-iron on the greens.

That’s especially noteworthy given that Coughlin had hit rock bottom with her putting at the KPMG Women’s PGA, where she averaged 35 putts per round. The 7-iron, coupled with advice from fellow Virginian Bob Rotella about letting the athlete within take over, freed her up on the putting surface.

Now, after Monday-qualifying to get into the penultimate event of the year on the LPGA season, Coughlin, 29, finds herself in a share of 11th through three rounds of the Pelican LPGA Championship, and in good shape to shore up her LPGA card for the 2022 season.

Coughlin entered the Pelican No. 106 on the CME Race to the Globe standings, which determine status for next season. She would need to finish inside the top 30 at the Pelican to jump into the top 100 and avoid going to Q-Series in the coming weeks.

“My husband has said it the best,” said Coughlin. “I had nothing to lose.”

Coughlin actually came into the Pelican straight off of a win at No Laying Up’s Nest Invitational Tournament, aka the NIT. The handicap and flighted field was made up of NLU members who qualified at over 40 events across the country that were organized by folks on the message boards.

When No Laying Up announced a couple years ago that they’d be sponsoring up-and-coming players as part of their new Young Hitters program, Coughlin sent a direct message to Todd “Tron Carter” Schuster and, six months later, received a green-light reply. One coffee shop meeting later, Coughlin suddenly had a nationwide network of support.

“Our diehard core fanbase is all in on Lauren,” said Phil “Big Randy” Landes.

There’s a financial component to the sponsorship, of course, but it’s the intangibles that mean the most to Coughlin. Her social media accounts have quadrupled since becoming part of the NLU program. At this week’s event near Tampa, Florida, Landes points out an NLU member, DrJ, who went to his first professional golf tournament this weekend to watch Coughlin. That happens most weeks now for Coughlin.

There’s even a thread on the message board about Coughlin setting off the alarm on the Lamborghini that’s up for grabs on the par-3 12th at Pelican.

The weather in Jacksonville for the NIT last weekend was the absolute worst possible, and Coughlin, after winning her flight, swept the tournament by going birdie-birdie-par in the ensuing three-hole shootout. Other Young Hitters in the field included Justin Huber of the Korn Ferry Tour and Andrew Alligood, who plays on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica.

Coughlin said time spent with the No Laying Up crew recharges her batteries. NLU’s D.J. Piehowski has even caddied for Coughlin on the Symetra Tour.

“Golf can be really difficult mentally more than anything,” she said, “and it can really beat you down.

“When I hang out with them, I always come back loving golf a lot more than I did.”

The feeling runs both ways, of course, and the popular podcast crew – and their followers – will surely be impatiently refreshing all Sunday afternoon. Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson might lead the field, but Coughlin is one of their own.

“It’s as close as I’ll get to knowing what parents feel like watching their kids play,” said Landes. “Obviously not to that level, but we are totally invested.”

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Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson co-lead a holy-smokes kind of leaderboard at Pelican LPGA

The leaderboard heading into the final round at the Pelican LPGA Championship is setting up for a can’t-miss kind of Sunday.

BELLEAIR, Florida – The leaderboard at the Pelican LPGA Championship is an absolute dream. World No. 1 Nelly Korda, tied with 11-time winner Lexi Thompson at 16 under, headlines a holy-smokes kind of board in the penultimate event of the LPGA season.

Jennifer Kupcho, the first woman to hoist a trophy at Augusta National, trails by one and rounds out the all-American final group. While Kupcho looks for her first victory on tour, Thompson looks to win for the first time since June 2019, and Korda looks to claim her fourth LPGA victory to overtake Jin Young Ko in the Player of the Year race. No American has won four times in one season since Stacy Lewis in 2012.

Add in the always-entertaining Christina Kim, who is two back at 14 under and looking to save her card, 2020 Pelican champ Sei Young Kim (-14), 2021 Rookie of the Year Patty Tavatanakit (-13), former No. 1 Lydia Ko (-13), Solheim sensation Leona Maguire (-12) and fan favorite Maria Fassi (-10), and it’s a can’t-miss kind of Sunday.

Also on the line: berths in the CME Group Tour Championship for a chance to win $1.5 million and, for players like Lauren Coughlin and Kim, a chance to avoid LPGA Q-Series.

Sunday will mark the first time that Korda and Thompson will compete in the final group together, but don’t look for Nelly to come out of her shoes trying to rip one past Thompson.

“I mean, I feel like in distance, we’re pretty close,” said Korda, who is averaging 308 yards off the tee this week. “I do definitely have another gear, and I don’t like to whip that out because that gear, I never know if it’s going to go right or left. That’s why I like to keep it level, pretty much. But I mean, she’s playing well. I heard she’s putting really well, too.”

Thompson, who is playing in front of her mother Judy for the first time since the 2019 CME, is averaging 26 putts this week and said she has frequently put in three-hour sessions on her stroke of late. That includes evening sessions on the Perfect Practice Putting Mat.

“Oh, it’s right in my living room,” said Thompson, with a laugh. “Just stares at me. So I’m like, I guess I should putt.”

Kim, who is playing this week on a sponsor exemption, played her first competitive round with Korda on Saturday and said she might be her new biggest fan.

“Like in terms of as a human,” she said. “Obviously her golf, you can hand her a frying pan and she’ll be able to do anything with any club.

“But as a human being, like the grace that she has, she was super patient with me because I was like, ‘Let’s talk.’ And she was just totally open to it.”

Maguire, the undisputed “Woman of the Match” at Inverness in September, opened the week with a 62 and thinks she might need another one to contend on Sunday.

“I suppose this golf course sort of demands your attention,” said Maguire, who like Kupcho and Fassi, is looking for her first win on the LPGA.

Ko arrived on the west coast of Florirda on Monday, fresh off a victory on the Ladies European Tour in Saudi Arabia. She went to bed at 1:30 a.m. and woke up at 5:30 a.m. ready to go. It was a rough practice round.

“Kind of didn’t know who I was at that point,” said Ko, who noted that she often sleeps so soundly on long-haul trips that flight attendants sometimes ask if she’s OK.

When she doesn’t have a tournament the next week, Ko often pulls an all-nighter before leaving so that she can sleep through entire international flights.

“To all the flight attendants out there,” she said, “I’m the most probably low-key, hands-off, hands-free passenger onboard.”

Should Ko win on Sunday, she can simply pack up the trophy in the car and head on down to Naples, Florida.

The all-nighter, of course, is optional.