Tag: 2024 Dow Championship

2024 Dow Championship prize money payouts at Midland Country Club

Both Thitikul and Yin have gone over $1 million in earnings this season.

Atthaya Thitikul and Ruoning Yin each collected their third LPGA victories at the Dow Championship, where they teamed up for a one-stroke victory.

Both players earned $366,082 apiece. Yin has now amassed $1,005,963 this season and $4,070,780 in her career. Thitikul has earned $1,110,066 this season and $4,841,827 in her career.

The 21-year-olds, who went by the team name “Jin & Ronic,” turned professional in the same year (2020) and were rookies on the LPGA in 2022.

Check out the full prize money list for the 2024 Dow Championship, which featured a $3 million purse (the money is which each player earned, not a team total):

Pos. Players Score Earnings
1 Atthaya Thitikul, Ruoning Yin -22 $364,572
2 Ally Ewing, Jennifer Kupcho -21 $179,574
T3 Nicole Broch Estrup, Nanna Koerstz Madsen -19 $97,812
T3 Haeji Kang, In Kyung Kim -19 $97,812
T5 Georgia Hall, Charley Hull -18 $60,177
T5 Auston Kim, Grace Kim -18 $60,177
7 Nataliya Guseva, Gigi Stoll -17 $48,599
T8 A Lim Kim, Yealimi Noh -16 $31,568
T8 Lakareber Abe, Georgia Oboh -16 $31,568
T8 Brooke Henderson, Lexi Thompson -16 $31,568
T8 Brittany Lang, Brittany Lincicome -16 $31,568
T8 Nasa Hataoka, Jin Young Ko -16 $31,568
T8 Mao Saigo, Yu Jin Sung -16 $31,568
T8 Jaravee Boonchant, Chanettee Wannasaen -16 $31,568
T8 Ssu-Chia Cheng, Wei-Ling Hsu -16 $31,568
T8 Amanda Doherty, Caroline Inglis -16 $31,568
T17 Celine Boutier, Yuka Saso -15 $19,206
T17 Sofia Garcia, Hira Naveed -15 $19,206
T17 Amelia Lewis, Paula Reto -15 $19,206
T20 Minami Katsu, Hinako Shibuno -14 $14,977
T20 Liqi Zeng, Weiwei Zhang -14 $14,977
T20 Wichanee Meechai, Pavarisa Yoktuan -14 $14,977
T23 So Mi Lee, Haeran Ryu -13 $11,443
T23 Peiyun Chien, Yu-Sang Hou -13 $11,443
T23 Cydney Clanton, Aline Krauter -13 $11,443
T23 Jennifer Chang, Annie Park -13 $11,443
T27 Danielle Kang, Lydia Ko -12 $9,322
T27 Perrine Delacour, Jasmine Suwannapura -12 $9,322
T29 Vanessa Borovilos, Sophie Stevens -10 $7,871
T29 Alexa Pano, Rose Zhang -10 $7,871
T29 Pornanong Phatlum, Arpichaya Yubol -10 $7,871
T32 Ariya Jutanugarn, Moriya Jutanugarn -9 $6,954
T32 Matilda Castren, Kelly Tan -9 $6,954
34 Sandra Gal, Maude-Aimee Leblanc -8 $6,495
35 Frida Kinhult, Linnea Strom -7 $6,190

 

Former No. 1s Atthaya Thitikul and Ruoning Yin team up to win Dow Championship

The partnership came together during a Callaway sponsorship shoot last November.

Atthaya Thitikul and Ruoning Yin, a couple of 21-year-old hotshots who have risen to No. 1 in the past, teamed up for the first time at the 2024 Dow Championship and walked away winners.

The partnership came together during a Callaway sponsorship shoot last November. Thitikul, who had never played in the event before, asked Yin to team up with her.

“She doesn’t have any option,”said Thitikul, who buried the winning birdie putt on the par-3 18th. “I’m just forcing her to play with me.”

Yin, who goes by “Ronni,” and Thitikul, who goes by “Jeeno,” chose the team name “Jin and Ronic” after one of their coaches’ favorite drinks.

It was LPGA victory No. 3 for both players, who closed with a 62 in the best-ball format at Midland Country Club to finish at 22 under for the tournament, edging Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho by a shot. Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis certainly kept a close eye on the American duo as a potential pairing for this year’s Solheim.

“Alternate shot, I think we’re by far a really, really, really good alternate shot team,” said Ewing.

2024 Dow Championship
Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand plays her shot from the 18th tee during the final round of the 2024 Dow Championship at Midland Country Club. (Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

Danish players Nicole Broch Estrup and Nanna Koerstz Estrup took a share of third with South Koreans Haeji Kang and In Kyung Kim at 19 under.

Charley Hull, another first-time Dow participant, teamed up with lifelong friend Georgia Hall to take a share of third with Auston Kim and Grace Kim (no relation).

Brooke Henderson and Lexi Thompson highlighted a logjam of players in a share of eighth that included Nasa Hataoka and Jin Young Ko as well as the all-star mom pairing of Brittany Lincicome and Brittany Lang, two longtime Solheim Cup partners and major winners.

Lincicome and Lang, who are both 38, joked that they were going to change their team name from the “Killer Bees” to “AARP” or “Life Alert” because they now feel so old.

“Tour old,” Lang clarified.

John Shippen Women’s Invitational winner Georgia Oboh and her partner Lakareber Abe, who were both playing on a sponsor exemption, also tied for eighth. Neither player has LPGA status.

Yin, No. 4 in the world, and Thitikul, No. 12, have both battled injuries of late. Thitikul’s thumb injury kept her away from her golf clubs for three months. She returned to the tour at the Chevron Championship in April and said she’s now pain-free.

“The reason that I played five weeks in a row, I just want to get back to, like, feeling competition feelings, the imaginations,” she said. “It’s been a long time that I missed like three months that I don’t touch any clubs, not hitting balls at all. I just want to stick back to how can I see the ball, how the ball is going to react over my shots.”

Yin, meanwhile, injured her wrist in May at the Mizuho Americas Open and still feels a great deal of pain. She will skip the next major, the Amundi Evian Championship, and return to competition at the Paris Olympics.

“I really, really, really wanted to play Evian, but for my body, I think it’s a good decision that I have a break,” said Yin, who said on a scale of 1 to 100, she’s 60 percent toward being healthy.

For Thitikul, this marked her first victory on tour since she won twice in 2022. She admits to putting too much pressure on herself last year to win again.

“Still want to win,” she said, “but it’s less than last year because what I focus is I try to improve myself every day and just trying to be Jeeno out there, like 100 percent Jeeno out there.”

She was no doubt her authentic self in Midland, where players get the chance to smile more and relax with a partner by their side. Yin told her mom on Saturday that this was the fastest week she’s ever had on tour.

“Time flies when you’re …” Yin began.

“When you’re happy,” Thitikul interjected.

“Yeah, when you’re having fun,” Yin continued. “When you’re around good people. Yeah, it’s a good week.”

Team Ally Ewing-Jennifer Kupcho leads the way at the LPGA’s 2024 Dow Championship

Catch up on Saturday’s action here.

Just like they did in round one, the 35 two-woman teams that made it to the weekend played alternate shot at the LPGA’s 2024 Dow Championship at Midland Country Club on Saturday, and Americans Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho lead the way at 15 under.

Team Ewing-Kupcho shot a 3-under 67 Saturday in Midland, Michigan, three shots worse than their alternate-shot 6-under 64 they posted on Thursday (they shot 6 under in the best ball format on Friday).

The American duo made a birdie and eight pars on the front nine before making the turn and pouring in birdies on Nos. 10, 11 and 18 (they made bogey on the par-4 16th).

Team Haeji Kang-In Kyung Kim and Team Atthaya Thitikul-Ruoing Yin are tied for second at 14 under, one back, while Team Amanda Doherty-Caroline Inglis and Team Grace Kim-Auston Kim share fourth at 13 under, two back.

The final round broadcast can be seen on CBS from 1-3 p.m. ET.

Dow Championship team event ideal week for LPGA players to change the course of their season

For Sandra Gal and Maude-Aimee Leblanc, an opening 67 gives the old friends reason to smile.

There’s something about team golf that, for many, brings out the best. Over the course of the past four editions of the Dow Championship, several winning teams have enjoyed a serious springboard.

Cydney Clanton was ranked 269th in the world and playing on the Epson Tour when Jasmine Suwannapura invited her to play the Dow in 2019. By week’s end, Clanton was an LPGA winner and back on the big tour after the pair won by six.

Last year, Elizabeth Szokol teamed up with good friend Cheyenne Knight to earn her first LPGA title at age 29.

For Sandra Gal and Maude-Aimee Leblanc, an opening 67 in the alternate-shot format at Midland Country Club gives the old friends reason to smile. Gal, who is coming back from a years-long battle with Lyme disease and recent hip surgery, reached out to Leblanc after hearing she needed a partner.

A dozen years ago, Gal was Leblanc’s “big sister” on tour, a rookie program the LPGA puts together to help young players adjust. Their team name, “The Shorties,” is tongue-in-cheek given that both players are at least 6 feet tall.

“I think we really complement each other, obviously,” said Gal. “Maude hits it very, very far, and I think I hit some good wedge shots coming in and then we both made a few putts. It just felt like we just trusted each other and really enjoyed being out there.”

Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Canada and Sandra Gal of Germany walk the eighth fairway during the first round of the Dow Championship at Midland Country Club on June 27, 2024, in Midland, Michigan. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

Gal, 39, who has played a very limited schedule for the past four years, is currently No. 813 in the world while Leblanc is 386th. Gal made her first tour start since 2022 earlier this season at the Blue Bay LPGA, where she tied for 55th. She withdrew from the ShopRite and missed the cut at the Meijer two weeks ago. The German won her only LPGA title in 2011 at the Kia Classic. She played on two Solheim Cup teams in 2011 and 2015.

Leblanc, 35, hasn’t finished better than a share of 47th so far this season and has never won on tour.

LPGA members on the winning team will receive the standard two-year winner’s exemption. CME points and prize money will be official for the purposes of the current-year LPGA Official Money List and Race to the CME Globe Standings. Rolex Player of the Year, Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year and U.S. Solheim Cup points will not be allocated and statistics will not be calculated. Rolex Women’s World Rankings Points also will not be allocated.

Another duo looking for a boost from the week is Team FinAsia – Matilda Castren and Kelly Tan – two players whose friendship blossomed years ago on the Epson Tour. Tan even served as Castren’s maid of honor two years ago. The pair finished second at this event in 2022, which marked Tan’s career-best finish on the LPGA.

“We have such a close friendship,” said Tan, “and we just cherish that we get to team up and play together.”

Tan currently ranks 905th in the Rolex Rankings while Castren, who has missed eight of her last nine cuts, is 369th. Castren won on the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour in 2021 to play her way onto the European Solheim Cup team.

The pair opened with a 2-under 68.

Interestingly, the team with two players ranked in the top 10 – Celine Boutier (6) and Yuka Saso (10) – had an unusually rough finish, carding a bogey and triple-bogey on the last two holes to shoot 74.

The second and final rounds will be played in a four-ball (best ball) format while the third round returns to foursomes (alternate shot).

After 36 holes, the field will be cut to the low 33 teams and ties. The purse of $3 million will award a first-place team prize of $732,165 ($366,082 each).

Charley Hull and Georgia Hall, best friends for most of their lives, set to team up at Dow Championship

“We didn’t even consider anyone else.

Charley Hull and Georgia Hall have been best friends since age 11, or thereabouts. This week’s Dow Championship is merely an extension of what they’ve been doing for more their half their lives.

“It was just a no-brainer,” said Hall of them partnering together for the LPGA team event. “We didn’t even consider anyone else.

“I was more like, ‘George, you’re playing with me,’ ” said Hull.

“I was like, ‘all right, Charles,’ ” added Hall.

Georgia Hall of England Women and Charley Hull of England Women pose for a photo prior to Day One of the GolfSixes at The Centurion Club on May 5, 2018 in St Albans, England. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

This marks the first time that Hull has played in the Dow, a popular team event that debuted on the LPGA schedule in 2019.  The tournament, held at Midland Country Club, features 72 teams, including the likes of Lexi Thompson/Brooke Henderson; Lydia Ko/Danielle Kang; Jin Young Ko/Nasa Hataoka; Ruoning Yin/Atthaya Thitikul; and Celine Boutier/Yuka Saso.

Dow Championship: 15 teams to watch

The first and third rounds will be played in foursomes (alternate shot), and the second and final rounds will be played in a four-ball (best ball) format. After 36 holes, the field will be cut to the low 33 teams and ties. The purse of $3 million will award a first-place team prize of $732,165 ($366,082 each).

Hall and Hull grew up practicing together in England and now live three minutes apart. Not a day goes by that they don’t speak to each other. They represented England Golf together for years and are stalwarts of the European Solheim Cup team. This week, Hall and Hull both officially made the Olympic Team for Great Britain.

“Just spending time with George, because we love playing golf together,” said Charley of what they’re most looking forward to in Paris. “We share together, we go to the gym together. We eat food together. We get our nails done together. Obviously that week is going to be a bit of a busy week, but it’s just nice to share it with your best friend special in a moment like that.”

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During the Dow press conference, plans were hatched to go shopping in Paris. Hull agreed to watching gymnastics with Hall if she’d go to boxing.

Someone suggested they start a podcast.

“Honestly, you haven’t heard anything yet,” quipped Hall.

With both Englishwomen ranked in the top 40, they’ll be a formidable pair this week in Michigan.

LPGA members on the winning team in Midland will receive the standard two-year winner’s exemption. CME points and prize money will be official for the purposes of the current-year LPGA Official Money List and Race to the CME Globe Standings. Rolex Player of the Year, Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year and U.S. Solheim Cup points will not be allocated and statistics will not be calculated. Rolex Women’s World Rankings Points also will not be allocated.

Hull and Hall have practiced and competed together so much over the years that they know each other’s games inside and out. The pair of 28-year-olds have each won twice on the LPGA, with Hall’s first title coming at the 2018 Ricoh Women’s British Open.

It’s not just each other’s games they’re familiar with, however, it’s personalities, too.

“I know when Charley is upset before she does,” said Hall, “and she’s the same with me. She’ll be like, ‘What’s wrong?’ And I’ll be like, ‘Nothing.’

“There is, and I’ll tell her a few days later. We know each other really well, and I think that’s so important. This type of an event we go out there and just have fun.”

As for the team name – Rose and Thorn – well, that came courtesy of mutual friend, Ryan Evans, who once described Georgia as the lovely English rose and Charley the thorn.

“It was kind of stark,” said Hall, “but there’s lots of thorns around the rose, so you protect me, don’t you?”

Always.