Here’s what you need to know about the opening round at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – A couple of amateurs from Stanford – Kelly Xu and Sadie Englemann – hit the opening tee shots off Nos. 1 and 10 at Pebble Beach and with that, history was a made. The first women’s major ever contested on this American treasure was underway and, well, it was a rough start for many of the best.
World No. 1 Jin Young Ko and No. 2 Nelly Korda started on the 10th tee and dug a hole early, carding a shocking 79 and 76, respectively. As bad as that was, rookie Natthakritta Vongtaveelap had it worse: She was disqualified after five holes.
Meanwhile, as is often the case, several amateurs had career days with three of the 27 inside the top 10.
Here’s the lowdown on how Round 1 unfolded on a damp and chilly day for some of the biggest names in the field, including rookie sensation Rose Zhang:
Following her tie for 20th at the 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Jin Young Ko is ranked No. 1 for a 159th week, breaking the mark held by Lorena Ochoa.
Ko has been No. 1 five different times since April 2019, with her latest stint starting in May. Ochoa reached 158 weeks at No. 1 after she consecutively held the top spot from April 2007 to May 2010.
“It’s an honor people saying with Lorena and me in the same sentence. It makes me happy, but also it makes me humble,” said Ko, who has had Ochoa’s long-time caddie Dave Brooker on her bag for most of her time at world No. 1. “It’s great to honor, to stand with Lorena.”
Time spent at No. 1
Jin Young Ko: 159 weeks
Lydia Ko: 125 weeks
Yani Tseng: 109 weeks
Inbee Park: 106 weeks
Annika Sorenstam: 61 weeks
Jin Young Ko is one of five Korean players to have obtained the top spot. She has two victories so far in 2023 and 15 in her career, including two majors. Ko also leads the Race to the CME Globe, a season-long points race on the LPGA.
The Performance Insights relies on caddies to gather information and turn in a special card after each round.
SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — Two years ago, KPMG launched an analytics platform to help narrow the information divide between the men’s and women’s games. The program, similar to what’s offered on the DP World Tour, relies on caddies to gather information and turn in a special card after each round. KPMG pays the caddies a small stipend.
It’s an evolving system that gets more useful over time as data accumulates.
Scorecard numbers can only tell so much of the story, and as the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship kicks off this week at historic Baltusrol for the first time, we take a closer look at the Performance Insights numbers of five players to keep an eye on in New Jersey.
Ko now has 20 of the 27 points needed to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Jin Young Ko battled through fatigue at the Cognizant Founders Cup to outlast Minjee Lee in a sudden-death playoff for her 15th LPGA title. Ko birdied the 18th hole all four rounds, with that last birdie in regulation pushing her to a 5-under 67 and a 13-under total at Upper Montclair Country Club. Ko’s 67 was the lowest round of the day by two shots.
Lee, who won this event in 2022, held a two-shot lead with three to play but couldn’t hold on for the outright victory, carding a 71 to finish knotted with Ko at 13 under.
In the playoff, the Aussie appeared to have the advantage until she misjudged her speed significantly on the birdie attempt, which flew past the hole. The ensuing three-putt handed the victory to Ko, who won the Founders Cup for a third time on a third different course. Ko’s caddie, David Brooker, was on the bag for two of Lorena Ochoa’s victories at Upper Montclair at the Sybase Classic.
As the final group came up the 18th fairway at Upper Montclair, a group of junior girls walked hand-in-hand behind the players, wearing vintage-looking attire in honor of the LPGA’s 13 founders. Since former LPGA commissioner Mike Whan started this event in 2011, it’s been a catalyst of growth for LPGA-USGA Girls Golf.
“It’s a great honor,” said Ko of winning what has become one of the LPGA’s premiere events. “I thank all the past founders today, so I really thank to everybody to make that amazing tour.”
Australia’s Lee, who actually played more golf than Ko last week at the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown, was surprised to learn that she’d only made five LPGA starts this year outside of the Crown.
“It’s still pretty early I guess in my season,” said Lee, “and I have a lot more events coming up. So I feel like I could take a lot of positives into, you know, the next couple majors coming up and obviously Mizuho is my next event.
“I think I’m going to train hard the next two weeks and be ready for Mizuho.”
Ko began Sunday four strokes behind but heard before she started her round that Sungjae Im had come from five back to win on the Korean PGA earlier that day.
“So that was inspir(ing) me,” said Ko, “and if I like play really well, I could chance for win.”
Ko said her swing coach, Si Woo Lee, will come to Texas next Saturday to begin working with her in the lead-up to the next two majors. She’ll skip the LPGA match-play event in Las Vegas as well as the Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan. They will mostly focus on her ball striking.
Ko now has 20 of the 27 points needed to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame, which she said has been a goal since around age 10.
“I will do my best in my future, and I will practice hard, harder than this,” she said. “We’ll see.”
Check out the prize money payouts at the 2023 Cognizant Founders Cup.
The roots of the Cognizant Founders Cup date back to 2011, the result of a dream former LPGA commissioner and current USGA CEO Mike Whan scribbled down on a hotel bar napkin to celebrate the tour’s 13 founders. The event has been critical to the growth of LPGA-USGA Girls Golf and a bridge between the current generation and those who, 70-plus years ago, laid the foundation.
It has elevated from players playing purely for charity, to one of the largest non-major purses on tour at $3 million thanks to Cognizant.
Jin Young Ko beat Minjee Lee in a playoff to win this event for a third time, taking home $450,000. The first time Ko won the Founders Cup in 2019, she earned $225,000.
Ko, a two-time winner in 2023, has now earned $970,692 this season and $11,334,148 in her LPGA career. She now has 15 titles on the LPGA, including two majors.
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Check out the prize money payouts at the 2023 Cognizant Founder Cup.
Korda, Ko can each reclaim the No. 1 spot in the rankings this week.
SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. — The top two ranked players in the field at the 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship bounced back from so-so rounds Thursday to zoom up the leaderboard Friday.
Nelly Korda, No. 2 in the Rolex Rankings, and Jin Young Ko, who checks in at No. 3, each birdied the par-5 18th hole to close their first rounds late in the day to finish with 2-over 70s.
Those birdies may have jump-started their early-wave second rounds, as Ko shot a 65 and Korda a 66 on Friday playing in the morning wave.
Those two plus Brooke Henderson formed easily the most popular threesome over the first two days. Korda, who was a bit under the weather Friday, opened with two birdies, made the turn in 33, and had three more birdies in a row on her back nine before closing with a birdie on the easiest hole on the course, the par-5 18th.
Her birdies came in bunches, as she went back-to-back on Nos. 1 and 2, as well as Nos. 6 and 7 before posting three in a row on Nos. 13 through 15.
“They were short holes so I could use my length to my advantage,” she said. “Hit some solid wedge shots in. Pretty sure my first bounce-back was a reachable par-5. Then it was a short par-4 after. Yeah, they’re just shorter holes so I can take advantage of it.”
Nelly Korda plays her shot from the 11th tee during the second round of the 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club in Arizona. (Photo: Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
Course conditions were a bit different Friday, as well.
“I played in colder weather today but fresher greens,” she said. “Towards the end in the afternoon, you could definitely tell the greens were really bumpy. They were rolling solid this morning.”
Ko, meanwhile, did Korda one better Friday, posting a bogey-free 65 which included four birdies on her last eight holes. She played the front nine last and closed with a birdie on No. 9 but also admitted that she wasn’t feeling 100 percent.
“My goal this week was to make the cut because truthfully my condition isn’t good. My voice being gone and my game are separate things, but it’s tough not being able to speak much, but I still did my best,” she said. “I couldn’t talk much with my caddie Dave today. I wish we could have talked more especially when selecting clubs.”
Ko is tied for seventh, three shots back, and Korda tied for 15th four back.
World No. 1 Lydia Ko skipped the Drive On, and she’s not guaranteed to stay atop the rankings with the second- and third-ranked players close behind.
Korda can return to No. 1 with:
a win
a solo second
two-way tie for second
a three-way tie for second
a solo third and if Jin Young Ko doesn’t win
Jin Young Ko can return to No. 1 with:
a win and a Korda solo third or worse
Three-way tie for lead
Jenny Shin, one of three tied for the lead after the first round at 7 under, is one of three tied for the lead at 12 under after 36 holes. She opened with a bogey on No. 10 on Friday but strung together five straight birdies to close out her front nine en route to a 67.
Shin has one LPGA win and it came seven years ago. “I’m happy to be where I am. I haven’t been here in a while, so especially solo lead. So I’m very excited,” she said.
Shin has a fill-in caddie for the week, Joe Shildmyer.
“‘There is this guy I know and he’s great company,'” Shin said of Gemma Dryburgh’s recommendation. “Hey, that’s all I can ask for. Met him on Monday and he really is great company out there.”
Late in the day, Moriya Jutanugarn posted a bogey-free 65 that included five birdies and an eagle to get to 12 under and tie Shin atop the leaderboard. Jutanugarn’s last win came five years ago. Then, beating the setting sun, Maddie Szeryk had three birdies over her last five holes to shoot a 65 and also tie for the lead.
Albatross for Saso
The shot of the day came off the 19-degree hybrid of 2021 U.S. Open champ Yuka Saso. On the par-5 second hole, her 11th of the day, Saso holed out from 217 yards for an albatross. It’s the first one on the LPGA since 2020.
“We all know how hard it is to get one,” she said, admitting as she was approaching the green she didn’t realize her ball was in the cup. “They say you’re lucky if you ever get one in your golf career. I guess I was very lucky to have it.”
The top 65 and ties make the cut. Saturday’s third-round tee times start at 11:10 a.m. ET (8:10 a.m. local time) with the leaders going off at 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. local). Golf Channel’s live coverage is from 7 to 9 p.m. ET.
The field of 144 golfers consists of six of the top 10 players in the latest Rolex Rankings.
SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. — The field of 144 golfers who descended on Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club east of Phoenix consists of six of the top 10 players in the Rolex Rankings.
Nelly Korda, No. 2 in the rankings, is here, along with No. 3-ranked Jin Young Ko, who won the last LPGA event that was held to Arizona in 2019. Other top 10 golfers in the field include Atthaya Thitikul (3), Lexi Thompson (6), Brooke Henderson (7), and In Gee Chun (8).
Top-ranked Lydia Ko and fifth-ranked Minjee Lee skipped the event, just the second on U.S. soil in 2023, but otherwise it’s a who’s who of LPGA golfers.
Three tied for the lead
After 18 holes, there’s a three-way tie for the lead and all three golfers played late in the afternoon wave, with two of them finishing just in time to beat the setting sun.
Alison Lee, Jenny Shin and Gaby Lopez each fired 7-under 65s. Lee had six birdies and just one bogey on her first nine holes (she started on the back nine) and then birdied Nos. 1 and 2 to get to 7 under to take the outright lead. Another birdie on the fourth got her to 8 under and briefly put her on 59 Watch.
“It was one of those days golf was just easy,” she said. “I was honestly playing so well I thought I could’ve shot a lower round.”
She closed with four straight pars and a bogey.
Gaby Lopez played late and posted a bogey-free 65. She started with a birdie on her first hole, the 10th, and three birdies later she made the turn in 32. Lopez admitted after her round she had only played Superstition Mountain one other time and it was about five years ago with Carlota Ciganda.
“When it gets cooler the ball just doesn’t go as far,” Lopez said, noting the chillier late afternoon temperatures altered her approach. “The greens get a little firmer, so you just got to make a little adjustment to how much the ball is a going to bounce.
“So, yeah, supposedly tomorrow morning is going to be a little cooler than it this afternoon, so we’ll just have to gear up.”
Jenny Shin, who said she hadn’t played the course before this week, birdied the 18th hole to get to 7 under. She had eight birdies in all, including her first and last hole, and had just one bogey.
Nelly Korda
On the 11th hole, Korda almost holed out for eagle, as her approach spun back and then a caught a bit of the edge of the cup before stopping about two feet out.
But she would then miss the short putt for birdie. Two holes later she faced another short birdie and made it to get back to even par. In all, she had six birdies but also two bogeys as well as a double-bogey 6 on the par-4 10th hole. She finished the first round strong, with birdies on Nos. 13, 14 and 18 to shoot a 2-under 70.
Jin Young Ko
A left-wrist injury derailed her 2022 season but three weeks ago, she bounced back in a big way, defending her title at the HSBC Women’s World Championship. She’s one of three winners in 2023, and all three are in the Drive On. Grouped with Nelly Korda and Brooke Henderson, Ko, much like Korda, birdied the par-5 18th to post a 2-under 70.
Brooke Henderson
Two months ago, in the LPGA’s season opener in Florida, Henderson won her 13th title in the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. The third member of the all-star threesome with Korda and Ko, Henderson had a large contingent of Canadian fans following her around.
Brooke Henderson plays her shot from the seventh tee during the first round of the 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club in Arizona. (Photo: Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
One group of fans in particular were all wearing Saskatchewan Rough Riders gear. Her gallery even included fellow Canadian Mike Weir’s high school gym teacher. Henderson shot 1-under 71.
Atthaya Thitikul
The third-ranked player in the world turned 20 last month. She briefly held the No. 1 ranking last November, joining Lydia Ko as the only LPGA golfers to do that as teenagers. Thitikul has two LPGA victories and on Thursday in Arizona, shot a 3-under 69. She had four birdies on her card before bogeying the par-5 18th hole.
Lexi Thompson
Thompson, making her first start of the 2023 season, was in the early wave Thursday and her scorecard featured three birdies and three bogeys for an even-par round of 72. That leaves her tied for 94th after 18 holes. Her last victory on the LPGA was at the 2019 ShopRite LPGA Classic.
Lilia Vu
Vu was among the large group of 11 golfers at 5 under. She started on the back nine and noted how different the greens were playing on each side. Like Henderson and Ko, Vu is one of the three winners on tour this season. She won the LPGA stop in Thailand a month ago after rallying from six shots back to start the final round. It was her breakthrough LPGA win.
“I don’t really feel different. I feel like I just happened to play well and have fun, and then that’s how I ended up winning,” she said after her round Thursday. “Each week my goal is just to have fun. I know if I can do that, my golf will follow.”
Among the burning questions: Will the champion’s leap, the most significant tradition, carry on?
Every time Pat Bradley walked by the statue of Dinah Shore next to the 18thgreen at Mission Hills Country Club, she’d climb up on the little base and put her hand on Dinah’s arm and have a chat. Longtime Desert Sun golf writer Larry Bohannan recalled the scene as he considered the question: How should Shore’s legacy continue in Texas?
Bradley, like so many LPGA greats, was friends with Shore. The Hollywood superstar made such a tremendous impact on the tour in the 1970s and ’80s that they put her in the LPGA Hall of Fame as the only non-playing member.
But as the 52nd Chevron Championship, still known by many as “The Dinah,” leaves the Dinah Shore Tournament Course and heads to The Woodlands near Houston this year (April 20-23), it’s natural to wonder how Shore will fit in.
“You can’t create that,” said Bohannan of Bradley’s ritual, “that has to be something that’s organic.”
Shore died in 1994, before nine of the top 10 players in the world were even born. Jane Blalock, the tournament’s first champion in 1972, said Shore could be compared to a modern-day Oprah in terms of her popularity and reach.
Another burning question with only three events remaining before this year’s Chevron: Will the champion’s leap, the most significant tradition (one might argue the LPGA’s only noteworthy tradition), carry on?
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Tournament organizers told Golfweek there’s no expectation that a player will jump into the lake on the 18th next month at the Nicklaus Course at The Club at Carlton Woods, but should the mood strike, the championship team is making sure it will be safe.
An area of the lake at the 18th green is being dredged and netted to make sure it’s deep enough for a player and her caddie and family to take the plunge. The traditional robe and slippers will also be on standby, if needed.
“Whoever wins this year needs to jump in and keep it going,” said Brittany Lincicome, a two-time champion at Mission Hills.
View of the 18th hole at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course at Carlton Woods. (courtesy The Club of Carlton Woods)
The hospitality area around the 18th green at the Nicklaus course at Carlton Woods will be named “Dinah’s Place” and Shore’s family has been invited to attend.
Shore’s name will also live on in the generosity of the Chevron Dinah Shore Scholarships, given to high school seniors who are pursuing a college education but not playing collegiate golf. Nominees must have a passion for women’s golf and desire to help grow the game.
There will once again be a Champions Dinner with Thomas Keller, chef and proprietor of The French Laundry, creating a special menu to honor 2022 champion Jennifer Kupcho. The tournament will also bring back a Junior Legacy Pro-Am, designed to link up legends of the game with bright young stars.
The Champions Wall will be, for now, a temporary structure that will celebrate the 51 years of history that took place at Mission Hills.
Sandra Palmer, an honorary member at Mission Hills who won 19 times on the LPGA, including the Colgate Dinah Shore Winner’s Circle before it was a major, feels the championship needs to find a new identity in her native Texas.
There was talk at last year’s Chevron about the LPGA Legends staging an event in the Coachella Valley this spring. There was even a news conference about it Sunday morning before Kupcho won.
Two weeks later, the PGA Tour Champions announced that the new Galleri Classic would be held March 24-26 at Mission Hills. Fred Couples, Steve Stricker, Ernie Els, Bernhard Langer and David Duval are among those who have committed to the field.
So far, nothing has been announced in the area for senior women.
Jin Young Ko, caddie David Brooker and agent Soo Jin Choi leap into Poppie’s Pond next to the 18th green at Mission Hills Country Club after the 2019 ANA Inspiration on the Dinah Shore course in Rancho Mirage, California (Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Patty Sheehan, who won at Mission Hills in 1996 and lives there now part-time behind the 14th tee on the Dinah Shore Course, signed up to volunteer at the Galleri Classic. She was given three choices: walking scorer, work the range, help out in the caddie tent.
Sheehan, who hasn’t yet decided which job she’ll take, reported that the greens are hard and fast on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course but the rough isn’t up. They’ve added a couple new tees and trimmed the eucalyptus trees to open it up more.
“They’re trying to clean up Poppie’s Pond,” she said, “in case one of them tries to jump.”
Sheehan said she’s trying to “go down the positive road” about how things have turned out.
The 18th green at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course at Carlton Woods (courtesy The Club at Carlton Woods)
Judy Rankin, who like Palmer and Blalock won the Dinah before it was a major, is doing the same. Rankin was part of the deep history of the LPGA at Mission Hills for five decades, right up to the final putt last year in the broadcast booth. She too would like to see the Chevron begin its own kind of history in her home state of Texas, noting that it’s probably right not to see a lot Dinah this year, but that it’s never right to forget her.
“I think it’s part of growing old gracefully,” she said of adapting to change. “Be glad you had it, celebrate on a rare occasion, and let the new be new.”
A $270,000 winner’s check moves Ko to 22nd on the LPGA career money list,
Former World No. 1 Jin Young Ko won for the first time in a year as she successfully defended her title at the HSBC Women’s World Championship. After battling a wrist injury for most of 2022, Ko called it the most important victory of her career.
Ko has now won at least one title in each of the past six seasons. The 27-year-old has 14 career LPGA titles, including two majors. A $270,000 winner’s check moves her to 22nd on the LPGA career money list, passing Yani Tseng and Ariya Jutanugarn with $10,680,535.
Nelly Korda birdied the 72nd hole to move into solo second and take $169,299 at the no-cut event.
Jessica Korda, playing in her first event since returning from a back injury, finished last after rounds of 76-78-79-72, earning $4,078.
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Here’s the full breakdown of the $1.8 million purse:
When it was over, she doubled over on the final green as the tears poured out.
Jin Young Ko grabbed her towel walking up to the 18th green to wipe her eyes. The emotion of the past year was written on her face. After an injury to her left wrist wrecked her 2022 season, Ko defended her title at the HSBC Women’s World Championship, calling it the most important victory of her career.
When it was over, she doubled over on the final green as the tears poured out.
“It’s going to be big momentum for me in my life,” said Ko, who closed with a 69 to beat Nelly Korda by two strokes and win for the first time in 12 months.
Ko has now won at least one title in each of the past six seasons. The 27-year-old has 14 career LPGA titles, including two majors. A $270,000 winner’s check moves her to 22nd on the LPGA career money list, passing Yani Tseng and Ariya Jutanugarn with $10,680,535.
Sentosa Golf Club received a month’s worth of rain in one week as LPGA players endured a number of rain delays, the last of which occurred Sunday when the final group was on the 16th hole.
“I actually didn’t honestly know if we were going to finish the last hole,” said Korda, who made birdie on 18 to jump into solo second. Danielle Kang, Allisen Corpuz and Ayaka Furue finished in a share of third.
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The showdown between Ko and Korda is what many fans expected to play out all last season before health issues set them both back.
“It’s always hard to play with Nelly, especially on Sunday” said Ko. “We’ve been playing together yesterday, and today was second time. We had a lot of times to play in 2021. She hits farther than last year, I think. So I don’t look at her ball. I didn’t look at her ball or her playing. It’s hard but love to compete with Nelly.”
Nelly Korda tees off on the 15th hole during the final round of the 2023 HSBC Women’s World Championship at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore. (Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
This marked the 15th playing of the HSBC, known as “Asia’s major.” All but two players who have won in Singapore are major champions. Ko now joins Inbee Park, who is out on maternity leave, as the only two-time champions.
Ko pushed back her winter training in December to rest her wrist and went to Europe to see the Northern Lights in Finland and tour The Louvre in Paris.
“I think it brings good luck for me because it’s really hard to see the Northern Lights when you go to Finland or Iceland,” said Ko, “but I take just one day that I saw the Northern Lights, and so it was lucky.”
Ko then spent a month in Vietnam working with her former swing coach, Si Woo Lee, and said she took a great deal of confidence from their time together. She also took up meditating during the offseason and felt that it helped bring more balance to her life.
“I’m just trying to enjoy the course,” she said of the long and demanding week, “and I just want to hear birds singing, and I just wanted to feel wind and air.”
For a player who likely wondered if her body would ever let her return to the form that saw her dominate the LPGA, finding pleasure in the small things has been key.
For Corpuz, this marked the 24-year-old’s third career top-five finish as she moves a step closer to her No. 1 goal of making the Solheim Cup team.
“Really happy with how I played,” said Corpuz, who birdied the last hole, “especially being with Jin Young and Nelly. So awesome to just watch them play well and kind of feel like I’m almost keeping up with them.”
Kang: ‘Have a beer on us’
Kang left Singapore proud of her efforts, noting that she’s continuing to test balls and wedges and likes the progress that’s been made.
But before Kang headed out, she handed out beers to those who made the week possible.
“Normally what we do is in America, my caddie and I, we go buy cases of beers, and I have him help me out and load them up and give them to the grounds crew and things,” she said. “This week, I thought the volunteers did an incredible job, so we add the volunteers this time, too.
“In Singapore, it’s expensive but it’s OK. They worked really hard to keep the golf course in the most championship condition possible and without them we would not have been able to play or finish 72 holes, so I just wanted to say thanks and have a beer on us.”
