Tag: boca rio golf club

Gainbridge LPGA will return to Boca Rio in South Florida in 2022

The 2022 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio will feature a field of 120 players competing for a $2 million purse.

As the 2021 LPGA season winds down, next year’s schedule is becoming a little clearer. The tour will make an early stop in South Florida in January, returning to Boca Rio Golf Club in Boca Raton, Florida, for the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio.

The tournament is in its third year on the LPGA schedule, and after debuting at Boca Rio in 2020, moved to Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, Florida, in 2021 for the second playing. LPGA Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam competed that week – Lake Nona is her home golf course – and remarkably made the cut in her first official start since retiring from the LPGA in 2008. Nelly Korda won the event.

The 2022 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio will feature a field of 120 players competing for a $2 million purse and will be played Jan. 27-30.

“We are thrilled to continue our work with the LPGA Tour and return to Boca Rio Golf Club for the 2022 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio,” said Dan Towriss, President and CEO of Group 1001, the parent organization of Gainbridge. “In the tournament’s first two years, we have established the Gainbridge LPGA as a world-class championship. It is an honor for us to support women’s golf and provide a platform for the game’s best players to showcase their talents to fans all over the world.”

Boca Rio is a member-owned golf club built in 1967. It is located four miles from the Atlantic Ocean on 200 acres of native Florida wilderness.

This season, the Gainbridge LPGA was one of five stops in Florida, where several LPGA players call home.

“I love an event where you can stay at home. It makes the week a little easier,” Palm Beach Gardens resident Austin Ernst, a member of the U.S. Solheim Cup team who is 24th on this year’s money list, told the Palm Beach Post.

“Boca Rio is a great course. It’s a good test. There’s a good mix of holes. The course played long last year because of the rain, but I think it’s a great venue.”

With eight events still to go on the LPGA in 2021 – including six domestic events – the full picture of the 2022 LPGA schedule is still unknown.

Craig Dolch contributed reporting.

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Madelene Sagstrom’s career week continues at Gainbridge LPGA with boyfriend’s dad on the bag

Madelene Sagstrom, a former LSU standout, followed a career-best 62 with 67 on Saturday to extend her lead to two over Japan’s Nasa Hataoka.

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BOCA RATON, Fla. – Last weekend, Jack Clarke taught his father how to properly rake a bunker. Alan Clarke maintains that he gave his son, a former pro, that same lesson many years ago back home in Essex, England, but the roles reversed this week as Alan filled in as caddie for Jack’s girlfriend at the new Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio.

Ranking a bunker at a tour event is precise work. So far, the retired Alan Clarke seems to be excelling at all angles of the job as his boss, Madelene Sagstrom, holds a two-stroke lead heading into the final round.

“He’s there to keep me happy,” said a smiling Sagstrom.

Truthfully, Alan’s just trying to keep up. Though he and Jack have had several successful runs in big events back home in England. It’s clear they’re all having a grand time in Boca.

Gainbridge LPGA: Leaderboard | Photos

Jack and Madelene first met two years ago at the UL International Crown, where he was caddying for a different player on the Swedish team, Anna Nordqvist. Because Jack’s current boss, Caroline Hedwall, missed the cut at Boca Rio, Jack was outside the ropes on Saturday watching the action. That’s actually the toughest place to be, he said.

Zero control.

Sagstrom, a former LSU standout, followed up a career-best 62 with a 67 on Saturday to extend her lead to two over Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, who lost in a seven-hole playoff on Monday to Gaby Lopez at the season-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions. Sagstrom sits at 15 under after three rounds.

“You could shoot 5 over, you could shoot 5 under,” said Sagstrom of following up a career day. “It’s golf, you never know. I didn’t really want to mess it up.”

It’s been a week of firsts for Sagstrom, who has never held the lead going into Sunday at an LPGA event. The 2017 Solheim Cup player won three times on the Symetra Tour in 2016 and set a single-season earnings record of $167,064. Sunday’s winner in Boca Rio will take home $300,000.

“I didn’t play perfect yesterday, but I still shot 62,” said Sagstrom, whose best finish on the LPGA came last year at the Pure Silk Championship when she tied for second. “I didn’t play perfect today and still shot 67. It’s not about being perfect. It’s having a lot of acceptance and doing the best I can.”

Danielle Kang and Sei Young Kim sit three strokes back in a share of third. Kim, winner of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship last November, took off time during the offseason to buy dinner for everyone she knows. After all, she took home the largest paycheck in women’s golf history that week in Naples, Florida – $1.5 million.

Both Kim and Kang like the fact that they can attack the hole locations in these soft conditions.

Kang, a two-time winner on the LPGA last season who is currently No. 4 in the world, said she’s having to read the putts at Boca Rio from every angle to account for the grain. Because of that, she’s not relying on her caddie as much to help on the greens.

“These Bermuda greens definitely pick up pace throughout the day, the windier it gets,” said Kang. “I really like the way they set up the golf course. It’s kind of unique. It’s really long, yet sometimes it plays short. You just got to take the opportunities.”

Jaye Marie Green was born and raised in Boca Raton and now lives in nearby Jupiter. She’s had plenty of support in the gallery and gave them all a thrill when she hit her 48-degree wedge from 103 yards to within an inch.

“I go, ‘How does this not go in the hole?’” asked Green, who has yet to make an ace on tour.

Green heads into Sunday eight shots back at 7 under. She’ll be one group ahead of another local favorite, Lexi Thompson, who’s at 6 under.

Morgan Pressel grew up 15 minutes from Boca Rio and has been a member of the club for years. She’s at even par for the tournament. The Kathryn Krickstein Pressel Mammovan, named after Pressel’s late mother, who died of breast cancer, is parked near the 17th tee. Pressel’s annual fundraiser has raised $9.5 million over the past 13 years toward the fight against breast cancer.

“We’re big on early detection and that’s why the Mammovan’s so important to us,” said Pressel earlier in the week. “It’s kind of a billboard that says ‘Get your mammogram’ …”

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What I’m Working On: Patty Tavatanakit

Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols talks with LPGA golfer Patty Tavatanakit on what she is working on as she plays in this week’s LPGA event at Boca Rio Golf Club.

Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols talks with LPGA golfer Patty Tavatanakit on what she is working on as she plays in this week’s LPGA event at Boca Rio Golf Club.

Jaye Marie Green hopes to hoist first LPGA trophy at new hometown event

Jaye Marie Green grew up about 15 minutes from Boca Rio Golf Club, home of the inaugural Gainbridge LPGA. She put 60 tickets at will call.

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Jaye Marie Green grew up about 15 minutes from Boca Rio Golf Club in a neighborhood called Hidden Lake. There were 15 to 20 kids on her childhood street, and at least 10 of them plan to come watch her compete in the inaugural Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Raton. She put 60 tickets at will call.

Green’s father, Donnie, has taught at nearby Broken Sound Golf Club for 25 years. He told people to reach out if they needed tickets.

“That was the wrong thing to do,” he said, smiling. “Too many people have my number.”

Jaye Marie now lives about 45 minutes away in Jupiter but will be staying at her parents’ house this week. The door frame of her bedroom closet is still lined with USGA medals. Her runner-up medal from the 2012 U.S. Women’s Amateur, when Green fell in the final match to Lydia Ko, is among them.

“I would love to win in my hometown,” she said. “That’s my No. 1 goal.”

Jaye Marie Green waves to the gallery during the final round of the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open at the Country Club of Charleston. (Photo by John David Mercer/USA TODAY Sports)

Green, who has yet to win on the LPGA, plays out of Trump Jupiter when not on the road. She came out to Boca Rio a couple of weeks ago but prior to that hadn’t seen the course in four years. It came back to her instantly.

“It’s always windy like this in south Florida,” said Green. “I think that’s going to be the main thing. This course is really protected by trees, so when you’re standing on the tee box you can’t feel the wind. And it swirls a lot. So it’s really committing to your shots and where the wind is going.”

The forecast for Wednesday’s pro-am round calls for gusts of 30 to 35 mph and feel-like temperatures near freezing.

It’s expected to get warmer as the week goes on.

The 1953 Boca Raton Weather Vane, won Beverly Hanson, marked the first LPGA’s stop in this city. There was another run at Stonebridge Golf and Country Club from 1986 to ’89.

Morgan Pressel and her sister Madison are two more local players who create plenty of buzz this week. Morgan grew up at St. Andrews Country Club and still lives there now with husband Andy Bush. Madison, a Symetra Tour player, is competing on a sponsor exemption.

Green, who went to middle school and high school down the road at Spanish River Christian, hit several shots from a greenside bunker on the 18th with her father nearby. She figures there will be a back-right hole location at some point this week and assumes she’ll take an aggressive line.

“I like to picture myself holding the trophy and what that would feel like,” said Green. “But when I’m playing, I do not let myself think that because then you’re not in the moment.  You’re thinking way too far ahead. That’s a lesson I learned at the U.S. Open.”

Green contended over the weekend in the U.S. Women’s Open at Club of Charleston and tied for fifth.

Older brother, Matt, frequently tells her to soak up those moments and not rush to the finish. Matt typically caddies for Green but is starting his season a little bit later.

“He’s not fired,” said Green, who has already fielded the question quite a few times.

There will be times this week when Green will have to put on blinders to keep focused. But mostly, it’s going to be a blast to look out and see so many who have watched her grow up.

There’s no place like home.

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