Historic Pebble Beach, host of the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open, certainly helped attract eyeballs.
The LPGA is enjoying record television ratings, with July being the most-watched in the tour’s history, according to a report by Sports Business Journal.
The 2023 U.S. Women’s Open, held for the first time at historic Pebble Beach Golf Links, certainly provided golf fans a reason to tune in. And they stuck around. Despite a leaderboard devoid of most of the tour’s big names, the third and final rounds on NBC each surpassed 1 million viewers. Sunday’s action peaked at 1.59 million, the best number of the season. The prime-time NBC window also helped the cause.
The much less heralded Dana Open on CBS also hit 1 million viewers for its final round, giving the tour three such landmark days, according to LPGA data. SBJ reports that in 2014, 2016 and 2022, there were two broadcasts that surpassed the seven-digit mark.
For the month of July 2023 as a whole, viewership averaged 600,000.
This week’s AIG Women’s Open is the fifth and final major of the 2023 campaign. NBC will have the third and final rounds on broadcast TV from noon to 2 p.m. ET.
Linn Grant was on 59 Watch during Saturday’s third round of the LPGA’a Dana Open. While she fell short on becoming the second-ever LPGA golfer to do that, she did post an impressive 9-under 62, hitting 17 of 18 greens and needing just 27 putts to take a six-shot lead after 54 holes at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio.
That 62 matches the low score on the LPGA in 2023 but five-time winner on the Ladies European Tour was aiming higher, trying to become the sixth Rolex First-Time Winner on the LPGA.
Missy Farr-Kaye, Grant’s college coach at Arizona State, was certainly enjoying what she was watching and even texted the CBS broadcast booth to say that Linn “loves to win”.
Consider Grant now a winner on the LPGA.
The last two U.S. Women’s Open champs – Allisen Corpuz and Minjee Lee – tried to give chase during the final round but they were too far back to make a serious dent in Grant’s lead.
Corpuz birdied Nos. 14, 15, 17 and 18 to get to 18 under and cut the lead to two just as Grant was teeing off on the 17th hole.
Grant, who opened with seven consecutive pars, made several par-saving putts on the back nine and closed with a statement birdie on the par-5 18th to seal the win in her 15th LPGA start. A final-round 68 got her to 21 under, three clear of the field.
“I feel like I was so blank today. I just really tried to kind of be in the moment without losing — I was playing well, but I was also scrambling a bit at the end there. So my plan was just try to keep it together without thinking too much about what could happen.”
Linn Grant imitates a selfie as she poses with the trophy after winning the 2023 Dana Open at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio. (Photo: Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
Corpuz was second at 18 under. Lindy Duncan was solo third at 15 under. Xiyu Lin and Stephanie Kyriacou tied for fourth at 14 under. Maria Fassi was sixth, her best finish since a tie for 15th back in February. Defending Dana Open champion Gaby Lopez finished 12 under, tied for sixth alongside Jaravee Boonchat, Aditi Ashok and Minjee Lee.
Mia Hammond, a 15-year-old amateur who made the cut after opening 68-68, shot 70-72 over the weekend and tied for 21st.
Grant earned $262,500 for the win, which now elevates her into a different conversation: making the European Solheim Cup team.
“It was a big goal coming into this year. Obviously, since I played well on the LET last year, I knew if I just continued to play my game I would be there in September. And I guess it’s even more clear now.”
Rose Zhang’s professional career got off to a fast start, winning the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National in her first event. Three weeks later, the former Stanford star tied for eighth at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. And last week at Pebble Beach, Zhang finished T-9 at the U.S. Women’s Open.
However, Zhang has now missed her first cut as a professional after rounds of 66-77 at the Dana Open at Highlands Meadow Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio.
“I will say that I’m a little more fatigued than I would like to be. I caught a cold, so my voice is not exactly the most normal right now. I will say that I had a nine-hour delay going from Phoenix, connecting flight to here. To Detroit actually. So it was a bit of a travel mess. I came in Tuesday morning at 3 a.m., so the practice rounds and the pro-am was a little bit shaky for me. I’m glad that I played a solid round, and hopefully, I can rest a little bit more,” Zhang said after her 5-under opening round.
Her tiredness caught up with her Friday, as she totaled six bogeys and no birdies for a Day 2 6-over 77.
Atop the leaderboard is Annie Park, who’s opened the tournament with rounds of 68-63 and leads at 11 under. U.S. Women’s Open champ Allisen Corpuz is tied for second at 9 under with 18-hole leader Linn Grant, who shot a second-round 69, and Jaravee Boonchant, who also shot a Friday 69.
On Monday, Mia Hammond was playing in a Monday qualifier, trying to get into her first LPGA event. By day’s end, she won that Monday qualifier and has plans for Thursday and Friday.
Come Friday afternoon, her weekend was booked: playing in the 2023 Dana Open.
Hammond shot consecutive rounds of 68 at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio, to make the cut in her first LPGA start. The 15-year-old, who is not in the field at next week’s U.S. Girls’ Junior in Colorado Springs, Colorado, will play the weekend in a professional event instead.
“It’s so amazing, it’s honestly a dream come true,” Hammond said. “I’ve put in a lot of work over the winter and beginning of the season this year, and it’s so great to see it finally pay off. I had a few rough tournaments here and there so just so relieving.”
Not only will she make the cut, she walked off the course inside the top 20 on the leaderboard.
A reminder: Hammond is 15, Monday qualified and is making her first professional start. Not bad.
“I would say for now I’m going to set a goal as top 20,” she said of her goals this weekend. “If it happens to be better than that, then that’s great. I’m just here for the experience more than anything else. Playing on the LPGA Tour is a dream of mine in the future. So just getting a feel for what it’s actually like to be out here is more important to me.”
Hammond has hit 28-of-36 greens and also missed only six of the 28 fairways. She’s averaging 265 yards off the tee.
Now, it’s time to prepare for the weekend.
“I’m just going to take it all in,” Hammond said. “Spend time with the people that are here, make the best of it. I mean, it’s my first tournament, it’s the best experience, I’m just excited to be here.”
Seeing Linn Grant at the top of a leaderboard should come as no surprise.
The 24-year-old from Sweden has hardly competed in the United States since earning her LPGA card in 2021 because of COVID-19 vaccination travel restrictions. She managed to keep her card by competing in events only held outside the U.S., recording four top-eight finishes in the span of six events.
In her latest starts this year, both at majors, she placed T-20 at the KPMG Women’s PGA at Baltusrol and T-53 at the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. Now, she’s leading the way at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio, for the 2023 Dana Open.
A birdie from Linn Grant on her final hole gives her the solo lead at 64 (-7) 🙌 pic.twitter.com/HnDn1sf3Lp
Grant opened with a 7-under 64 Thursday morning and is tied with Jaravee Boonchant for the lead after the opening round.
“I think coming off last week, playing at Pebble, it was a challenge,” Grant said. “I felt last week that I really hit the ball well and I was putting well. Obviously coming here, you know, easier conditions. That kind of just suited my mindset for the day. I just got on a roll.”
Ariya Jutanugarn and Emily Kristine Peterson each sit at 6 under, but guess who’s at 5 under?
That’s right, it’s Rose Zhang. The 20-year-old star is making her fourth professional start and coming off a T-9 finish at the U.S. Women’s Open, her worst finish thus far. A reminder, Zhang won the Mizuho Americas Open in her debut and placed T-8 at the KPMG Women’s PGA.
This despite an arduous trek from the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach.
“I will say that I’m a little more fatigued than I would like to be. I caught a cold, so my voice is not exactly the most normal right now,” she said. “I will say that I had a nine-hour delay going from Phoenix, connecting flight to here. To Detroit actually. So it was a bit of a travel mess. I came in Tuesday morning at 3 a.m., so the practice rounds and the pro-am was a little bit shaky for me. I’m glad that I played a solid round, and hopefully I can rest a little bit more.”
Zhang is T-4, along with Bailey Tardy, Aditi Ashok and Linnea Johansson.
