Players returned at 7 a.m. Saturday morning to wrap up play, with 68 players making the cut, which fell at 1 over.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — World No. 1 Lydia Ko came out early to the Chevron Championship and said she nearly ran out of balls in that first loop around the Nicklaus Course at the Club at Carlton Woods.
“To be honest, I struggled the first few times I played around this course,” Ko said earlier in the week, “and I was like, I don’t know how I’m going to do this.”
Turns out it didn’t get much better for Ko, who shot 76 with a birdie on the last hole in Round 2, finishing at 3 over for the tournament and missing the cut in a major for the first time since the 2019 AIG Women’s British Open.
Play was suspended on Friday evening due to darkness with 31 players still left to finish. They returned at 7 a.m. Saturday morning to wrap up play, with 68 players making the cut, which fell at 1 over.
While the field this week was larger than in past years (135) due to daylight savings, the cut was smaller at top 65 and ties. For the first time in tournament history, those who missed the cut received a $5,000 stipend of unofficial money.
The World No. 1 wasn’t the only big name to bow out early. Here’s a list at the other notables who missed the cut:
This marks Avery’s third start on the LPGA and her first time making the cut.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — By the time Amari Avery got to her hotel room in The Woodlands, Texas, Wednesday night, it was close to midnight. Fresh off a team victory at the Pac-12 Championships, the USC sophomore felt her eyes start to shut around 1 a.m. Later that afternoon, she teed off in the first round of the Chevron Championship without having ever seen the golf course.
“To be honest,” said Avery, “I didn’t really have that much nerves coming in just because I came straight off the plane from playing the final round at Pac-12s. I was kind of like, ‘Oh, just more golf.’ Hopefully four more rounds, and I think we’ve secured it.”
Avery has done more than secure a spot on the weekend. A second-round 69 puts her at 2 under for the tournament and in a share of 26th at the water-logged Nicklaus Course at the Club at Carlton Woods.
It didn’t always look this rosy, however, for the California teen who burst onto the scene in the Netflix documentary, “The Short Game.” Avery found herself four over through five holes on Thursday when the horn blew to suspend play. She returned to action just over an hour later and drained a birdie putt on the sixth hole. Since that first delay, Avery has played her last 31 holes in 6 under par. She trails leader Lilia Vu by five strokes.
Former LPGA player and USC assistant coach Tiffany Joh said while most attention is paid to Avery’s ball-striking – marked by power and a high ball-flight – not enough people talk about her touch around the greens.
While Avery played the Nicklaus Course blind on Thursday, she did have quite a few pointers from younger sister Alona, 16, who competed on the same course last Saturday at the Mack Champ Invitational. Alona has committed to UC Irvine for collegiate golf. Their father, Andre, is on the bag this week for Avery and scouted the course much as he could in the days leading up to Amari’s arrival.
“Got a lot of help from friends of mine who are caddies are out here,” he said.
Avery, one of seven amateurs in the field, isn’t just balancing two big events in the course of one week. The communications major is also doing about an hour’s worth of homework every day.
“Unfortunately, my adviser and my coaches have been kind of staying on me a little bit,” said Avery with a smile. “I’ve been falling behind in school. I’m trying to do something every day just to make sure I stay on track.”
This marks Avery’s third start on the LPGA and her first time making the cut.
“Someone asked me if it is more pressure, and I don’t think so.”
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Gene Knight was headed to the range one day at The Woodlands Country Club when his wife said, “You’re not leaving here without a kid.” After Jayna handed him daughter Cheyenne, Gene set her up with a cut-down hybrid and the promise of $1 for every ball she hit past the 100-yard marker. Gene lost $10 pretty quick that day.
He couldn’t have known then that 26-year-old Cheyenne would grow up to not only win her first LPGA title in Texas, but contend in her first major championship back home in The Woodlands, where the Chevron Championship is being staged at The Club at Carlton Woods for the first time.
Knight’s 3-under 69 on a muddy day in Texas puts her 4 under for the tournament and three shots back of leader Lilia Vu. Tournament officials gave Knight 10 tickets for the week, and she asked friends for about 15 more. After such a strong start, a request for more might be in order as she’s poised to contend in a major for the first time.
“Someone asked me if it is more pressure, and I don’t think so,” she said of playing in her former hometown.
“They’re going to love and support me no matter what. I think it’s just being comfortable just seeing familiar faces and trying to give them some water on the golf course, so they don’t pass out.”
Boyfriend Easton Stick, a back-up quarterback for the Los Angeles Chargers will be in the gallery supporting. Knight met Stick at the Palos Verdes Championship last year when he played in the pro-am.
Knight grew up about 2 miles down the road from the Nicklaus Course on the second hole of the Palmer Course. She played the Nicklaus Course with family friends a time or two but was too young to remember much about it.
“I would play from the red tees,” she said, “and we would be here for snacks or running in the bunkers.”
Cheyenne Knight plays her second shot on the first hole during the second round of the 2023 Chevron Championship at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Stacy Lewis was the local legend when Knight was a kid. Lewis graduated from the local high school and went on to become the No. 1 player in the world.
In 2003, Lewis’ high school team had 30 girls on it. It was the same for Knight, who said there were A and B teams for the girls as well as a JV team her freshman year. The boys B team at the Woodlands, in fact, was so good when Knight was a freshman that they won the state title.
“I actually have a signed flag from when (Lewis) won in Mobile,” said Knight.
This week, Lewis, a 13-time LPGA winner, including two majors, is staying at her childhood home about three and a half miles from the Nicklaus Course. The 2023 and 2024 U.S. Solheim Cup captain opened with a 73 and is hovering around the cut line.
“It’s something that definitely growing up here I thought would never happen,” said Lewis, “to bring a championship like this to The Woodlands. But it’s been awesome. There’s so many people walking around, so many people that I know.”
After her freshman year, the Knights moved to Aledo, Texas, just west of Fort Worth. That’s where her golf career really blossomed with a golf scholarship to Alabama. In 2019, at age 22, Knight won her first LPGA title at the Volunteers of America Classic, 65 miles from Aledo.
With her parents now building a house back in The Woodlands area, Knight will be forced to move out, and recently bought a townhome in Fort Worth about a mile and a half from where she practices at Shady Oaks.
“It’s an off-week thing,” said Knight as she signed electronic mortgage documents after Tuesday’s pro-am round, “just buying a house because there’s no time to do it.”
Cheyenne Knight poses with the trophy after winning the Volunteers of America Classic golf tournament at the Old American Golf Club on October 6, 2019 in The Colony, Texas. (Photo by Chuck Burton/Getty Images)
Knight never had the chance to attend an LPGA event until she qualified for one her freshman year of college. She marvels at what a women’s major in a golf-centric place like the Woodlands might do for juniors.
Knight’s tournament career started with three-hole competitions from the middle of the fairway. Gene said first instructor, Donnie Massengale, nicknamed her “one more” because she always wanted to hit one more shot.
There’s plenty for Vu to be positive about these days.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Five years ago, it’s conceivable that Lilia Vu — the winningest player in the history of UCLA women’s golf with eight wins, not to mention titles at the World Amateur Team Championship, Curtis Cup and Palmer Cup — pictured days like these when she was sitting atop the leaderboard at a major after 36 holes.
But just a couple years ago? After the grind of a 2019 debut LPGA season sucked the life out of her golf game, relegating her to a pair of years on the Symetra (now Epson) Tour?
“Two years ago, maybe not. I think I’ve grown a lot since COVID, and I think I just never looked back,” Vu said Friday after she fired a 32 on the front nine at the Chevron Championship.
“I was in such a bad mindset my rookie year. Everything was life or death, and that’s not how I see things anymore. I feel like there’s always a solution to any problem, so I just try to stay positive, even though I get really angry sometimes when I make a mistake. I just try to look up and be positive.”
There’s plenty for Vu to be positive about these days. After following up Thursday’s 68 with a streaky 69 on Friday, Vu walked off the Nicklaus Course at The Club at Carlton Woods atop the leaderboard that also features names like Patty Tavatanakit and Nelly Korda.
It’s a far cry from that first year, when Vu made just one cut in nine starts and took home a whopping $3,830 in prize money. The winner at the LPGA’s first major of the year takes home $765,000.
Cole Pensanti, the caddie for Lilia Vu, points out a spot on the fringe before she putts on the 16th green during the second round of the 2023 Chevron Championship. (Photo: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports)
Of course, there’s plenty of golf to be played and Vu will certainly face obstacles over the next two days, including a weather forecast that could mess with Saturday’s tee times. She found adversity on the back nine during the second round, posting back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 15 and 16, but snapped out of the funk with a birdie on the finishing hole. A driver that couldn’t miss on the front nine found a few patches of rough.
The field is as thick as the Bermudagrass lining the fairways with names like Tavatanakit, the 2021 champion, taking aim. After a scintillating 31 on the font, Tavatanakit sits at 6 under, just a shot behind Vu. She said during her second-round 67 that she was “in the zone and just taking it shot by shot.” Nelly Korda and Marina Alex are also T-2 at 6 under through 36 holes.
But for Vu, this week could mark the final realization of a potential that many have long been waiting for her to reach. The 25-year-old has shot 70 or lower in 13 of her 14 rounds this season, winning her first LPGA title in Thailand in February and adding three top-15 finishes since.
She credits a stronger mental resolve and caddie Cole Pensanti for bouncing through the tough times with less damage these days. If she does win her first major, Vu knows it will take all that she’s learned through a stretch that took her to some dark places.
“I think it’s just all mental. I just wanted to win so badly towards the end of last season and put too much pressure on myself, and now I’m just allowing whatever to happen happen and try and have fun out there,” she said. “I think that’s more of just an accumulation of all the self-help and personal development books I’ve read over COVID, and I just had a lot of time to read that stuff.
“I try to remind myself that it’s a really tough week. Everybody is going to make mistakes. It’s just how I come back from it, and then just try and make birdie the next hole and just let it go. It takes a lot out of me. I think Cole does a good job of trying to get me back into a better mood, but yeah, I’m just trying to be nice to myself this week.”
By the time she left for the Chevron Championship in Texas, the World No. 2 was content with the swing she saw on the video playback.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas – When Nelly Korda’s at home in Florida grinding on the range, she sets up a tripod and videos roughly 20 swings per session. Korda estimates she has 6,000 videos on her phone, maybe more, forcing her to constantly upgrade her iCloud storage.
By the time she left for the Chevron Championship in Texas, the World No. 2 was content with the swing she saw on the video playback.
On a rainy Thursday at the Nicklaus Course at The Club at Carlton Woods, Korda birdied all four par 5s in Round 1, pulling within one stroke of leader Peiyun Chien. Back-to-back birdies on her last two holes included a small, controlled 50-degree wedge to 1 foot to close out an opening 4-under 68.
“Overall, I played pretty well,” she said. “It was nice to finish the way I did with just a tap-in birdie, but made a couple mistakes here and there where it was more of the yardage where I was a little too aggressive and I left myself a little short-sided chip, and with the rain that we got during the delay, I wasn’t sure how it was going to react, bump-and-running it or flopping it.
“Just made a couple of mistakes there, but that’s a given at a major championship.”
Korda said she’s mostly been working on her swing solo of late, noting that she came back from Singapore struggling with her balance from the jet lag.
The 24-year-old said the constant videoing doesn’t make her a technical player. She’s simply looking to make sure she’s hitting the spots in her swing.
The eight-time LPGA winner and Olympic gold medalist who boasts one of the most enviable swings in the game, said she makes the majority of her mistakes on the backswing.
— The Chevron Championship (@Chevron_Golf) April 21, 2023
“It’s hard, because I grew up in an academy setting where I had a coach behind me, and after every shot he would tell me if my positions were good,” she said.
“But then when you’re by yourself, which a majority of the time when I’m practicing I am, it’s hard to know if one swing was good and one swing was not in my positions, because your feel is different every day. That’s why I over-obsess with videoing. It’s just to check to see if I’m actually hitting the positions I want.”
What stood out most about Lincicome’s lid at The Club at Carlton Woods is that it’s completely blank.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas – Brittany Lincicome wore a shiny ballmarker on her hat that spelled out youngest daughter Sophia’s name in the first round of the Chevron Championship. On Day 2, she’ll wear one with eldest daughter Emery’s name.
“Can’t play favorites,” she said, after opening with a 2-under 70 at the first LPGA major of the year, good for a share of fifth.
Lincicome, 37, a two-time major champion with eight career victories, is one of the few moms on the LPGA who’s still competing after having two children.
What stood out most about Lincicome’s lid at The Club at Carlton Woods, however, is that it’s completely blank.
“I was going to put ‘Your name here,’ ” joked Lincicome, who lost her hat and bag sponsor in December of last year.
This marks the first time the decorated American player has gone without a hat sponsor, which at the peak of her career brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now, with a more limited playing schedule after giving birth to her second child last August, Lincicome’s longtime agent, Jeff Chilcoat, said they’re looking for anywhere from $60,000 to $100,000 for that space.
“My expectation would be that corporations would seek out and really want to work with mothers,” said Chilcoat, “especially in the products that apply to being a mom.”
Chilcoat, the founder of Sterling Sports Management, had a number of LPGA players on his roster become moms around the same time, including Stacy Lewis, Brittany Lang, Gerina Piller, Brooke Pancake and Lincicome. As some sponsors dropped off, Chilcoat hoped to replace them with companies whose consumers were mothers.
“We, as a company, very purposefully made up lists of brands that we thought would really work for these mothers,” said Chilcoat.
After hundreds of phone calls, they didn’t strike a deal with a single company that fit that model.
Lincicome’s dream scenario is to win on the LPGA once again and have her kids run out on the green to celebrate. She sees that play out so often on the PGA Tour. This marks Lincicome’s fourth LPGA start since giving birth to Sophia.
The 2023 season also marks her first with a new caddie, as longtime looper Missy Pederson has transitioned away from caddie life. Lincicome, who prefers to employ female caddies, hired Britney Hamilton.
It’s hard to imagine anyone on the LPGA having a deeper affection for the Dinah Shore Tournament Course than Lincicome, who twice made a leap into Poppie’s Pond. She’s embracing everything about the week in Texas, from the Bentley courtesy car she’s driving around town to the local park she found to take her daughters.
“Assuming Chevron stays with us for 20 or 30 years,” she said, “I think they’ve done a fantastic job.”
And if she were to win this championship for a third time this week?
“I feel like it’s only a matter of time before they come our way,” said Brittany Lincicome.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas – An important new chapter began in the women’s game at this week’s Chevron Championship, where 51 years of Dinah desert history transferred over to Texas. Those who follow the LPGA closely have long noticed that Tiger Woods announcements coincidentally frequently happen in the middle of important weeks on the LPGA calendar.
This week’s Chevron has to not only overcome Woods’ surgery news, but also now Greg Norman’s comments from Australia that LIV Golf has internal discussions “on a regular basis” about how to get involved in the women’s game.
“I have personally had discussions with individual LPGA Tour players, LET Tour players, Ladies European Tour. They love what our product is showcasing,” claimed Norman during a press conference at Grange Golf Club ahead of LIV Golf Adelaide. “They ask all the time, ‘How can we get involved? We’d love to see a LIV ladies series.'”
While this isn’t new news, it’s worth noting that talk about LIV Golf hasn’t been as prevalent in LPGA circles as it was last year.
“A lot of players have kind of stopped talking about it in the last four or five months,” said two-time winner Marina Alex, shortly after wrapping up an opening 4-under 68. Alex trails leader Peiyun “Money” Chien, one of the last players to get into the field this week, by one stroke.
The Nicklaus Course at The Club at Carlton Woods played tough on Thursday at 6,706 yards. Only 19 players broke par in the morning wave.
“I think that whoever manages their approach game correctly,” said Alex, “trying to get it into the right sections of the greens, trying to avoid the miss error that will likely cost you a bogey. That’s championship golf in a nutshell, really plotting your way around and trying to make as few unforced errors as possible.”
World No. 1 Lydia Ko opened with a 71 and was pleasantly surprised by how the day unfolded.
“To be honest, I struggled the first few times I played around this course,” she said, “and I was like, I don’t know how I’m going to do this.”
Georgia Hall, one of the hottest players in the game right now, birdied her last two holes to shoot 70. The former AIG Women’s British Open champion relishes a longer layout, which the afternoon downpours will surely guarantee for Friday’s round.
Play was suspended on Thursday at 4:38 p.m. ET due to thunderstorms.
Hall hasn’t finished outside the top 15 in five starts this season, including two runner-up showings. She began the year on the LET in Saudi Arabia with English compatriot Colin Cann, who is in his 29th year caddying on the LPGA.
Hall said she hasn’t been approached by anyone from LIV about a women’s tour.
“No, I haven’t heard that there is discussions going on,” she said, “especially recently. A little bit last year, but not anything recent.”
The potential impact of a rival tour on the LPGA has concerned many.
Seven-time major winner Karrie Webb told Golfweek last summer that she’d hold a grudge against players who would choose to leave the LPGA for LIV.
“If the LPGA were to suffer because a group of players went and started playing on a tour similar to (LIV) and the LPGA would suffer, I would hold that against them,” Webb said. “I know that (Greg Norman has) had this vendetta against the PGA Tour as long as I’ve known him, So I don’t think there would be any changing him. I would just ask him that in his ambition to succeed, that he doesn’t ruin women’s golf in the process.”
Two-time Chevron winner Brittany Lincicome, who opened with a 70, echoed the thoughts of peers on the subject of Saudi buzz within the tour.
“I feel like I haven’t heard anything about it in a long time,” she said. “Not really sure why, I just thought they were focused on lawsuit stuff … I feel like it’s only a matter of time before they come our way.”
Eila Galitsky, a 16-year-old from Thailand, shot 2-under 70 on Thursday during the opening round of the Chevron Championship at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. She was tied for third after the morning wave and is making noise, keeping herself in the hunt.
Galitsky shot the same score as Georgia Hall and was better than Brooke Henderson, Celine Boutier and others.
Here are five things you need to know about Galitsky:
Old tournament, new site. That’s the story surrounding the 2023 Chevron Championship.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Old tournament, new site. That was the story surrounding the 2023 Chevron Championship, which opened Thursday at The Club at Carlton Woods near Houston.
Last year marked the final playing at the iconic Mission Hills in California, an event that was captured by Jennifer Kupcho, the 20th-ranked player in the world.
“I have personally had discussions with individual LPGA Tour players … They love what our product is showcasing.”
On the eve of the first women’s major championship of the year in Texas, Greg Norman hinted at a growing interest in a women’s LIV Golf League while speaking ahead of the upstart circuit’s next event in Australia.
The CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf was asked about the future of LIV both from a men’s and women’s perspective and admitted there have been internal discussions “on a regular basis” about the latter.
“I have personally had discussions with individual LPGA Tour players, LET Tour players, Ladies European Tour. They love what our product is showcasing,” claimed Norman during a press conference at Grange Golf Club ahead of LIV Golf Adelaide. “They ask all the time, ‘How can we get involved? We’d love to see a LIV ladies series.’”
“We can only drink out of a fire hydrant so much, so we have a lot of opportunities and initiatives coming across our plate,” Norman explained. “Our focus is to make sure this year we produce what we’re producing (with the LIV Golf League) from day one, 2023, and then going forward we’re looking what are the best opportunities to build on to what we have today.”
Believe him or not, Norman has been adamant that his goal for LIV was to coexist within the golf ecosystem. For the sake of their tour, LPGA players past and present can only hope Norman is good on his word.
“I think if Norman does do this, it’s going to totally ruin the LPGA, because I think most of the girls would go, just because the money is a game-changer,” said 31-time LPGA winner Juli Inkster last August.
“If it’s the money that they have on the LIV, you know they’re going to crush the LPGA,” said 10-time major champion Annika Sorenstam. “Hopefully they have the intention of growing the game and working together with the LPGA.”
Seven-time major winner Karrie Webb said she’d hold a grudge against players who doesn’t agree with her fellow Aussie Norman.
“If the LPGA were to suffer because a group of players went and started playing on a tour similar to (LIV) and the LPGA would suffer, I would hold that against them,” Webb said. “I know that (Greg Norman has) had this vendetta against the PGA Tour as long as I’ve known him, So I don’t think there would be any changing him. I would just ask him that in his ambition to succeed, that he doesn’t ruin women’s golf in the process.”
“I hope we survive it,” added former world No. 1 Stacy Lewis. “Should we talk to them? Absolutely. Ultimately, I think we have to find a way to co-exist.”
LIV Golf has long been criticized as a way for Saudi Arabia to sportswash its controversial human rights record. The Kingdom has been accused of politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. Members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.
How can a women’s organization reconcile doing business with a regime that has such a horrendous record of human rights abuses, especially toward women?
“I think that’s maybe one of the reasons we should partner,” said Sorenstam, “to be able to make a difference.”
