Tag: Hae Ran Ryu

Nelly Korda chases LPGA history at 2024 Chevron Championship, where she trails by one

Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) and Nancy Lopez (1978) are the only two LPGA players to win five consecutive starts.

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – There’s a portable heater on the dais now at the 2024 Chevron Championship, hidden behind a vase of flowers, and Nelly Korda was grateful for the warmth.

After a storm system rolled through The Woodlands on Saturday, suspending Round 3 and dropping 1.52 inches of rain, temperatures plummeted into the low 50s, and the wind kicked up for the resumption of play. It was an early wakeup call for the 7 a.m. local start time on Sunday, and everyone on the leaderboard grinded down a demanding final stretch at the Club at Carlton Woods.

Korda, who looks to become only the third player in LPGA history to win five consecutive starts, trails by one going into the final round, with her 12:36 p.m. ET tee time coming roughly two hours after she completed her third. Hae Ran Ryu, last year’s Louise Suggs Rolex LPGA Rookie of the Year, holds the lead at 11 under after making birdie on three of her last six holes on Ssaturday to shoot 67. Ryu began Sunday morning in a share of fifth.

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Korda, meanwhile, held on with a long string of pars to card a 69 and sit tied at 10 under with Brooke Henderson. While Korda had seven holes left to play this morning, Henderson needed only to finish the par-5 18th. Henderson parred the last to shoot a course-record 64 and put herself in the mix for a third career major title.

“So different, oh, my gosh,” said Korda. “The first three days we were sweating so much, and today I was freezing out there. Pars went a long way. Made some good up-and-downs. Overall played pretty well. The golf course is just playing so different right now. It’s quite tough in this weather.

“The wind is out of a complete different direction, too, so the holes that I would probably hit 3-wood on or maybe take advantage of, I had 6-irons in instead of short irons. Completely different.”

A trio of players are tied for fourth at 8 under, including Maja Stark, Jin Hee Im and Atthaya Thitikul, who began the morning with the solo lead at 11 under. Thitikul bogeyed the three toughest holes in the third round – Nos. 14-16 – to card an even-par 72. Last year’s Vare Trophy winner injured her thumb after the LPGA season and was forced to take several months off from competition. The Chevron marks her first start to the season.

Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) and Nancy Lopez (1978) are the only two players in LPGA history to win five consecutive starts. Korda’s in prime position to make it an elite trio.

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See who collected all the LPGA season-ending accolades at 2023 CME Group Tour Championship

Meet the LPGA award winners from a busy 2023 season.

NAPLES, Fla. — While Amy Yang took home the title and biggest check of the week – $2 million – there was plenty more on the line at the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.

Lilia Vu, the player who seemingly came out of nowhere to own 2023, put a bow on several more accolades after clinching the Rolex Annika Major Award earlier this season. A two-time major winner this season, Vu won her first tournament of the year in Thailand and kept on going.

“Last year I played golf with a lot of worry,” she said. “I just was worried about everything.”

Not anymore.

Here’s a look at how the LPGA’s season-long awards shook out in sunny Naples, Florida:

Rookie Hae Ran Ryu wins first LPGA title at Walmart NW Arkansas

Lexi Thompson, fresh off the Solheim Cup, posts first top-10 of the season on the LPGA.

Rookie Hae Ran Ryu began the final round of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship with a two-stroke advantage, and when the leaderboard bunched up Sunday afternoon, Ryu hit the gas on the back nine with a closing 29 to win by three.

The shot of the day came when Ryu hit her second shot within inches of an albatross on the par-5 14th. The well-struck 7-iron set up a short eagle putt.

Ryu, a five-time winner on the KLPGA, finished the tournament at 19-under 194 for the 54-hole event. She’s the fifth rookie to win this season, setting a new LPGA benchmark.

Sweden’s Linnea Strom finished solo second after a closing 64.

Ryu said she struggled with distance control on the front nine, recording a couple of bogeys after hitting her approach shots too far. She adjusted, and checked off a major goal for the year.

“Before the season, I want to get a Rookie of the Year,” said Ryu, “but now I got winner on the LPGA and I want to get Rookie of the Year and so now, so meaningful.”

Ryu came into the Arkansas event with a 113-point lead in the rookie race despite not yet winning on tour.

Lexi Thompson, coming off a strong Solheim Cup showing, posted her best finish of the season. The veteran American player briefly held a share of the lead at the midway point but played the last six holes in even par. Still, her closing 66 gives momentum to what’s easily been the worst season of her career. Prior to the Arkansas event, Thompson’s lone top-20 finish of the year came at the Kroger Queen City Championship.

“It’s the highest honor,” said Thompson of playing in her sixth Solheim last week, “and to be able to pull off some good shots and make some putts for my country, there is absolutely no better feeling.”

Lexi Thompson of the United States plays her shot from the 16th tee during the Final round of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G at Pinnacle Country Club on October 01, 2023 in Rogers, Arkansas. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

Bianca Pagdanganan shot 65-64 over the weekend to vault into a share of third. The long-hitting Pagdanganan was 179th coming into the week on the CME points list and and in danger of losing her card. She’s projected to move to 77th after her strong performance in Rogers, Arkansas.

Pagdanganan played the last three holes birdie-birdie-eagle.

Ryu took home $345,000 for the victory.

A dozen LPGA rookies to watch in 2023, including a couple of former American prodigies, a Division II college star and a 10-time winner from Japan

Keep an eye on these 12 rookies in 2023.

It’s not often that an LPGA rookie rises to No. 1 in the world, but Atthaya Thitikul proved to be a special player last season. Will anyone be able to make such a strong showing in 2023?

This year’s rookie class is once again highly global. In fact, an American hasn’t won the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award since Paula Creamer in 2005.

There are, however, a couple of American hotshots who made headlines before they graduated from elementary school in the 2023 rookie class. Could Lucy Li or Alexa Pano break that drought?

Here are a dozen LPGA rookies to keep an eye on in 2023:

Eight-round Q-Series gauntlet ends with 46 players securing LPGA status for 2023

The first full-field LPGA event of the season is in March in Arizona.

Charlotte Thomas described this week as a “do or die” chapter of her professional career. Six years into the play-for-pay ranks, Thomas felt that whatever happened at Q-Series over the last eight rounds could be a sign.

In the end, the sign read: Back to the LPGA.

“I’m exhausted and ready for a drink,” said Thomas, who tied for 28th to earn back her tour card for 2023. A total of 46 players earned LPGA cards at Q-Series, a 144-hole grind that takes places over a fortnight in Alabama.

“I think when I look back on last year, I initially was disappointed that I lost my card and had to come back here,” said Thomas, “but I think the fact that I didn’t play golf for 16 months was – I kind of don’t give myself enough credit sometimes I don’t think.”

Thomas missed the 2021 LPGA season while struggling to find a treatment for chronic eczema.

Everyone in the field in Dothan has a story. Some have been toiling in the professional ranks for years, while others, like Michigan State’s Valery Plata, turned pro just before Q-Series. Plata tied for third with recent Stanford grad Aline Krauter.

Tournament winner Hae Ran Ryu, a KLPGA veteran, is ranked 50th in the world. (Epson Tour photo)

South Korea’s Hae Ran Ryu, currently No. 50 in the Rolex Rankings, topped the field at 29 under, clipping Bailey Tardy by two strokes.

Two years ago, Tardy missed out on earning her LPGA card through the Epson Tour by $343. Once again, Tardy finished 11th on the money list this year, missing the 10th spot by $1,765.

“I actually told my caddie just walking down, I think 15, and really anybody close to me knows that I wasn’t even going to sign up for QII,” said Tardy. “I think I signed up 15 minutes before the deadline, and that was because my coach told me to and was like, this is your opportunity, you can’t give that up.

“And I didn’t want to come to Q-School at all. Even at the beginning of the year I told everyone, I’m not going to Q-School. I’m not doing it. That’s not what I want to do.

“And I’m so happy I did.”

The top 20 players and ties earn category 14 status on the LPGA, while those who finished 21-45 and ties earned category 15 status. Players who finished outside the top 45 and completed all four rounds before the cut earned Epson Tour status for 2023.

“Feels good, especially since our first event of the year would be my home course in Phoenix,” said Dana Finkelstein, who tied for 15th.

LPGA Q-SERIES: Leaderboard

“Superstition Mountain is kind of where golf started for me. The Safeway Open out there, I was like 12 or 13 and I went to go watch Annika [Sorenstam] and Morgan [Pressel] and all them. I have pictures of my awkward 12-year-old self at the golf course, and now it’s cool that I’m going to be playing and some other 12-year-old is going to be watching me. It’s pretty cool.”

The first full-field LPGA event of the season, the LPGA Drive On Championship, will take place March 23-26, 2023, in Gold Canyon, Arizona.

Finkelstein, an LPGA veteran, shared 15th with 2022 Alabama grad Polly Mack, who held on despite a closing 76. Mack played the first 72 holes without a caddie but employed a good friend for the second week.

Alexa Pano, the 18-year-old who starred in the Netflix series “The Short Game,” shot 68-67 over the weekend yet missed the top 20 by one stroke. Pano turned professional in the spring and finished 13th on the Epson Tour money list this season.

Jaravee Boonchant was one of three former Duke players who finished in the top 45. Boonchant had former Blue Devil teammate Gina Kim on her bag for Q-Series. The pair, along with Ana Belac (T-38), helped Duke win the 2019 NCAA title. (Kim earned her LPGA card earlier this year via the Epson Tour.)

Lindy Duncan, a former NCAA Player of the Year at Duke, shot three consecutive 73s to also take a share of 38th.

“I keep asking Gina questions that probably shouldn’t be asked on the course, but she was really helpful and very supportive,” said Boonchant, who tied for 21. “And she honestly was like the one who kind of put me in place and shape my thought and my mental game.

“I’m really thankful for that.”

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