Six of the top-10 players in the world are in Malaysia, where Nelly Korda feels somewhat at home.
As the LPGA and LET tours enter the last leg of their respective seasons, the best players in the world are split this week between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.
The LPGA returns to Malaysia for the first time since 2017 at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club for the inaugural edition of the Maybank Championship. A total of 78 players will compete for a $3 million purse, one of the largest on tour outside of the major championships. The winner will receive $450,000. This is the third of four stops on the LPGA’s Asian swing.
Meanwhile over on the LET, the fifth and final event in the Aramco Team Series presented by PIF will be held at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia. The field of 84 will play in a two-day team event alongside amateurs. The top 60 professionals and ties then advance to the final round to determine the individual stroke-play winner.
The LET’s Saudi-backed events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
Here are five things to note about the two fields:
ANTRIM, Northern Ireland – A twinkle surfaced in Olivia Mehaffey’s eyes as she fondly recalled the last time her father graced the fairways at one of her events, the 2021 playing of the ISPS Handa World Invitational.
Philip Mehaffey hadn’t gotten out of bed in months after being diagnosed with colon cancer in 2020, but after a motorized scooter was delivered to his home in the small village of Scarva, Northern Ireland, he came to see his daughter make good in her first LPGA start.
Although she expected him to simply make a quick appearance, Olivia was utterly impressed by her father’s determination to see her play, and the support helped spur her on to a top-20 finish.
“I kept looking every fairway and I’m like, oh, my gosh he’s still here. I think he needs to go home,” Mehaffey said Wednesday at Galgorm Castle Golf Club as she prepared for the final playing of the ISPS Handa International, as it was announced this week the event was not included in the 2024 DP World Tour schedule.
“So just having him there every round was so nice for me. So I think probably just those memories and like how special it was to have him there beside me every shot, every hole.”
Soon after her triumphant home debut, Mehaffey’s life slipped into a dark place. Her father succumbed to the disease in December 2021, and the former Arizona State star – one of three Sun Devils to earn All-American honors in all four years of college – threw herself headfirst into the game as a means to deal with the pain.
To open the 2022 season, Mehaffey subjected herself to a golf gauntlet; an eight-week stretch of consecutive tournaments that saw her passport stamped in South Africa, Thailand, Australia and Spain. When it was over, her game was slipping and she was flirting with a dangerous mixture of exhaustion and uncertainty, both on the golf course and off. She finally had a self-diagnosed breakdown after pulling out of the Skafto Open in Sweden nearly a year ago.
That’s when Mehaffey knew she needed time to process what she’d been through. Away from the game she loves.
“Grief is the weirdest thing I’ve ever been through,” she told the Irish Times as part of a fascinating read. “I think that’s one of the reasons people don’t talk much about it. It’s because it’s so hard to explain. You don’t know when it’s going to come.
“I’ve had times when I’ve felt totally fine, and then all it’s taken is one thought to trigger it and I’m a mess. And in life, we’re basically taught that everything can be answered. But everyone’s experience is so different, it comes to different people in different ways and at different times. That’s what makes it hard for people to understand.”
Olivia Mehaffey and her father, Philip, and mother, Evelyn
She put the clubs down. She stopped thinking about attacking flags and started contemplating what made her tick. After months of reflection, Mehaffey posted on her personal blog at the beginning of 2023 that she was emerging from the depths she’d suffered through.
“As I look back and reflect on the last 12 months, it is easy to only see the hurt, the hard times and the tears. I still feel the scars that 2022 has given me. But I am also able to see the progress. I know where I was, the dark places I experienced alone and felt the lowest I ever have. I also see the progress,” she said. “I recognize the work I have put into getting myself out of a dark hole and the improvements, although it still isn’t where I want it to be. I am proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone, for being brave to get help and for admitting to my struggles. I know 2022 has given me the ability to have new tools and strategies that I have never had before.”
To see her this week at the ISPS Handa, back in the comfort of her homeland, is to see a player who seems to have found the balance necessary to succeed. She bounced through the media center for interviews Wednesday with the wide smile and long blonde locks that made her look native to the Tempe, Arizona, campus where she spent so many successful seasons.
Mehaffey posted a best-ever third-place finish on the LET Tour at the Ladies Open By Pickala Rock Resort in Finland a few weeks ago, and she hopes that with friends and family on hand this week, she’ll be ready to again do her father proud, even if he’s not following along on each fairway.
“At the start of the year I didn’t set any goals. Normally I set where I want to finish, order of merit, world ranking, try and win tournaments. I didn’t do any of that this year,” she said. “I just wanted to come back from my break last year and really enjoy golf, and frankly I’m doing that again, which is great. So I’m just going to keep that same mentality for the rest of the year.
“I think when you’re enjoying it you’re playing good, so that’s sort of my only goal. Try not to put no pressure on myself, no expectations, which is difficult at times to manage, but I think it’s very important.”
Mehaffey prepared for a busy stretch by employing a strategy she hadn’t been comfortable with in the past – staying away from tournament golf. When she starts her first round today at Galgorm Castle, she will have been off the road for three full weeks.
The balance seems to have put her at peace.
“It’s been nice having a few weeks off. Took the first week and didn’t play. Felt like I was getting a little bit burnt out; played a lot of golf,” Mehaffey said. “And then last two weeks just working a lot with my coach. It’s been nice to prepare for this. It’s going to be a really busy finish to the rest of the year. The LET schedule is pretty busy.
“So a lot of practicing and just really get prepared for obviously Irish Open after this as well. It’s great to have two events at home in a row.”
Nelly Korda is hoping her third LET title is a springboard into the final two LPGA majors of the season.
Korda completed a wire-to-wire victory at Centurion Club on Sunday, winning the individual title in the LET’s Aramco Team Series presented by PIF – London.
Korda dominated the week and started the final round with a six-shot lead. She finished at 11 under and won by four over England’s Charley Hull.
“I am hoping that I can take this momentum into the next couple of weeks, I have Evian and the AIG Women’s Open coming up and hopefully I have learned a little bit about the weather this week and I can take that momentum into the next two big events,” Korda said. “I’m going to see my grandparents tomorrow. I have a couple of friends here right now, so we’ll celebrate after. I’ll be very full tomorrow.”
It’s Korda’s 13th worldwide professional win.
South Africa’s Nicole Garcia was third, while Ireland’s Leona Maguire earned solo fourth. England’s Georgia Hall was solo fifth.
Hall won the team title alongside Kylie Henry, Lea Anne Bramwell and amateur Michael Austick.
During the first round of the Aramco Team Series event in London at the Centurion Club on the Ladies European Tour, Hull made birdie on Nos. 3 and 5 before disaster struck.
She stumbled her way to a quintuple-bogey 10 on the par-5 sixth and was all of a sudden 3 over for her round.
To her credit, she came back swinging.
Hull immediately made birdie on No. 7 and added another at the ninth to go out in 1-over 38. After making the turn, she made four straight birdies on Nos. 12-15 before adding two more on 17 and 18. Her 5-under 68 is one of the most impressive scorecards you’ll ever see.
“I just lost two balls on a birdie-able par-5. I hit my first tee shot out of bounds and then hit my fourth shot out of bounds. But then to make 10 birdies to shoot five-under was pretty fun,” she said after her round.
“It was a birdie-able par-5, if I’d have made a birdie, I’d have been 11 under. But I felt confident even after I made the ten. I birdied the next couple of holes, so it was good.”
After the morning wave, Hull was in a tie for first with Nelly Korda at 5 under.
View photos of Swedish golfer Maja Stark throughout her career.
Maja Stark may just be the next face of Scandinavian golf.
The Swedish star made her professional debut in August of 2021, establishing herself on the Ladies European Tour. After a highly successful amateur career that included three wins at Oklahoma State, All-American honors, Big 12 Player of the Year (2021), a Junior Solheim Cup, Arnold Palmer Cup and multiple Augusta National Women’s Amateur appearances, Stark used her experience to quickly adapt to the pro game.
From September of 2021 to August of 2022, Stark racked up five wins on the LET, the final win doubling as her first LPGA Tour win – the ISPS Handa World Invitational.
In her first full season on the LPGA Tour, Stark is closing in on a top-30 world ranking and is comfortably inside the top 25 in the Race to CME Globe.
With strong showings over the past couple of seasons, look for Stark to carry the strong Swedish influence on the LPGA for time to come.
Noja is fifth in the 2023 Race to Costa Del Sol rankings for LET Player of the Year.
Chiara Noja joins an impressive list of players – Brooke Henderson, Paula Creamer and Lexi Thompson – who made their professional debuts at the ShopRite LPGA Classic as sponsor exemptions.
The 17-year-old won her first LET title last November at age 16 at the Aramco Team Series event in Jeddah, defeating Charley Hull in a two-hole playoff. Noja finished runner-up last week at the Belgian Ladies Open and has seven top-15 finishes so far on the LET this season. She’s currently fifth in the 2023 Race to Costa Del Sol rankings for LET Player of the Year.
Noja, who is still in high school, makes only her second start on U.S. soil this week in New Jersey. She heads next to her native Berlin for the Amundi German Masters and then home to Dubai for prom.
“I actually do enjoy being in this school and being a regular person out there,” she said. “Then coming back to golf and you just feel a lot more refreshed.”
At 6-feet tall, Noja averages 295 yards off the tee on the Ladies European Tour but says she doesn’t swing full throttle in competition. Her swing speed of 106 mph is plenty, she noted, because hitting the fairway remains priority.
“When I was like 13, I had a bit of back pain because I think I was just swinging it too fast for my frame,” she said, “so we’ve made sure that I’m just swinging healthy and efficiently, and that’s what I’ve done or the last two years.”
Currently No. 94 in the world, Noja won’t turn 18 until next March and would need special permission from the tour to attend LPGA Q-Series later this year.
“I’m hoping I can go to Q-School at the end of the year,” said Noja, “but it’s dependant on my age, so we’ll see what the answer is to that.”
Matthew was a three-time Curtis Cupper and the first captain to lead Europe to back-to-back Solheim Cup wins.
For those who don’t follow the Curtis Cup closely, the appointment of Catriona Matthew as captain of the 2024 Great Britain and Ireland team at Sunningdale might seem like a no-brainer. Of course she’s qualified for such a position as the three-time Curtis Cupper and major champion became the first captain to lead Europe to back-to-back Solheim Cup victories in 2019 and 2021.
What’s historic about the appointment, however, is that a professional player has never captained a Curtis Cup team. Matthew will be the first LPGA pro to lead the team of eight in the biennial competition against Team USA. GB&I last won the Curtis Cup in 2016 at Dun Laoghaire.
The 43rd Curtis Cup match will be played at Sunningdale’s Old Course for the first time, Aug. 30-Sept. 1, 2024. Matthew has practically seen it all in the event. She was on the losing side in 1990, the winning side in 1992 at Royal Liverpool and again in 1994 when GB&I retained the trophy.
Winner of the 2009 AIG Women’s British Open and the 1993 Women’s British Amateur, Matthew still works in a mentoring role with Scottish Golf.
“As a player I remember the emotions of competing in the Curtis Cup,” said Matthew in a statement, “the excitement of being on a team rather than competing individually, as well as the desire to perform well for your team and pressure you put on yourself not to let them down. As a captain, it is my job to navigate the players through these situations and to help them believe what is possible.”
Last summer, GB&I lost to the Americans at Merion by a score of 15½-4½. The USGA has also traditionally appointed outstanding amateur golfers to captain its Curtis Cup squads.
“The Curtis Cup has long been a prominent event for women’s elite amateur golf and Great Britain and Ireland has enjoyed some fantastic wins,” said R&A CEO Martin Slumbers in a release. “We are now seeing the amateur level of the sport evolve into a more competitive era and believe that Catriona is the best placed captain to guide the team in this period.”
The 2023 Ladies European Tour season begins this week with the Magical Kenya Ladies Open, the first of 30 events on a schedule that boasts a record-setting 35 million euros (roughly $38 million) in prize money. Meghan MacLaren, a three-time winner on the LET, is grateful for the perspective of what tour life was like only a short time ago, when the schedule was half that size and it was possible to finish 20th on the money list and still lose money.
Players voted in late 2019 for the LPGA and LET to form a joint venture partnership, with the goal of using shared resources to strengthen the struggling tour, increasing playing opportunities in Europe in particular.
“If we hadn’t had that partnership when COVID hit,” said MacLaren, “I think a lot of us know that things would be drastically different now, and the tour might not be operating at all, and I don’t think that’s a stretch to say.”
Of course, something else happened around that time to strengthen the LET: the investment of Aramco and the Public Investment Fund.
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In addition to this month’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International on the LET, which features a $5 million purse, there are five stops around the world in the Aramco Team Series. Total prize money for all six Saudi-backed events on the LET is $10 million.
With two majors accounting for $13.8 million in prize money, Saudi money represents more than 40 percent of what remains.
The LET now finds itself in a position to attract more players to its tour, players to its tour, which stands in stark contrast to a short time ago, when many fled to what’s now the Epson Tour seeking opportunities.
The minimum purse on the LET this season is 300,000 euros. Last season, there were 11 events with purses below that mark. MacLaren looks at the La Sella Open in Spain and its $1 million purse as a strong sign of positive momentum given that a sponsor outside of Aramco put up a seven-figure purse.
What’s more, the schedule has a better logistical flow.
There are three years left on the LPGA-LET joint venture contract, and the possibility of the LPGA merging with the LET has been a point of conversation for many months now. It was expected that LET players would vote late last year on the merger, but that never happened.
The two sides, it would seem, are still working out the details of what a potential merger would look like.
“So at this point we didn’t ask for a vote on the merger. We went on a tour, a listening tour, to hear from the LET players and things that have worked well for them, things that they need, areas of investment that they still are looking for and then talked to our LPGA players,” said LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan, when asked about the matter last November at the CME Group Tour Championship.
“For us, we just want to make sure that there are clear pathways for women’s golf, and that the best players in the world can make a living and live their dreams through golf.”
Players on both tours are interested in understanding more about the long-term vision for both tours. It’s important to many LET players that their tour retains its identity. That its future potential with sponsors – like Aramco, for example – isn’t at all curtailed by the LPGA.
One veteran player said that after Marcoux Samaan and another tour official came over to speak with LET players in separate meetings last year, many had their minds eased about financial concerns. Some remain skeptical, she said, but it would seem that more would vote in favor of a merge.
An LPGA official said there’s nothing new to update on the matter since the CME; multiple requests by Golfweek to speak to LET officials went unanswered.
LET CEO Alexandra Armas (courtesy Aramco Team Series)
LPGA players want to know more details, such as the number of cards that would go to top LET players and where those players would they rank on the LPGA priority list compared to Epson Tour graduates.
South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai got her start on the LET and believes the competition on that tour now is as strong, if not stronger, than the Epson Tour.
“They’ve got to test themselves and still try to keep (their card) over here,” said Buhai. “That’s the hard part. But you’ve proven that you can play and compete at a high level; I don’t see why not.”
Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom, who is a member of both tours, said last November at the CME she believed both sides are looking for more communication.
“Until we know what it would mean,” she said, “it’s really hard to make up your mind.”
MacLaren looks at the fracturing that has taken place in men’s golf and feels it would make sense for the women’s tours to be more closely aligned.
“God help us if there’s a LIV women’s tour,” said Liz Young, an LET veteran and board member. “I just don’t think any tour is strong enough to fight that.”
Young would also like to see the LET and LPGA merge, citing that her No. 1 goal as a board member is to make it easier for players to make a living.
“Hopefully we can get to that point where we can be as one,” said Young. “Because I think that’s the best for golf.”
Of course, what’s squarely in the middle of all of this is the question marks that surround doing business with the Saudis. The Aramco events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
As it currently stands, the LPGA can somewhat distance itself from Aramco while being part of an alliance. But should the LET fall completely under the umbrella of the LPGA, some observers question if existing and future LPGA sponsors might choose to distance themselves from the LPGA because of Aramco’s large presence. And if so, how many?
On the other hand, LET players might wonder how much the LPGA could hold them back from bigger purses at Aramco events. Could the PIF pump so much money into the LET that it one day becomes the LPGA’s rival?
The flip side to that, of course, is that the LET becomes so dependent on Saudi money that it couldn’t survive without it. And there’s no telling how long the Saudis will want to remain so heavily invested in women’s golf.
It remains a time when there seem to be far more questions than answers, even from a philosophical standpoint.
“We’re constantly talking about hypotheticals,” said MacLaren.
Meghan MacLaren of England tees off on the 18th hole during the first round of the ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics at Galgorm Castle Golf Club on August 11, 2022 in Galgorm, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
The 28-year-old Englishwoman has become one of golf’s most thoughtful players. MacLaren took a hard stance early on, skipping Saudi events over sportswashing concerns. Playing in Saudi Arabia, she said, didn’t fit with her values.
Now, she has committed to playing in the big-money Aramco Saudi Ladies International later this month. MacLaren said she didn’t come to the decision lightly, but as Saudi Arabia continues to bolster its presence in golf and other sports, she had to take another look.
“At some point you have to reconcile,” said MacLaren, “this is my competitive nature and my profession versus how do I want to live my life? What do I want to stand up for?
“You have a voice to a certain point, but also, the better golfer I am and the more recognizable golfer I am, the louder I can use that voice.”
So while she’s still wrestling with tough questions, MacLaren has decided that staying in the game – playing in the big events – is the best way for her promote change.
“At the end of the day, money is power,” said MacLaren. “We live in a world where that is the truth, and you can’t get around that. How you choose to use that money will say a lot about who you are as a person.”
To this point, LET players competing for Saudi money have received far less attention and criticism than what male players who joined LIV have faced. MacLaren said her honest answer is that people don’t care as much. The profile of women’s golf is so much smaller compared to men’s golf, she continued, noting that there aren’t 15 journalists at press conferences asking tough questions.
“In terms of how golf is covered,” she said, “I don’t think the exposure is the same, and therefore, the criticism isn’t to the same level.”
Grant played a limited LPGA schedule last year for the same reason as she is not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Linn Grant will begin her 2023 season in Morocco next week on the Ladies European Tour. One of the most promising young players in the game, Grant was forced to play a limited LPGA schedule last year because U.S. travel restrictions won’t let her in the country as she is not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Grant, who is currently No. 28 in the Rolex Rankings, will be able to compete in the LPGA’s upcoming Asian swing, but her agent, Pelle Krüger said they’re not optimistic that she’ll be able to compete in the year’s first major, the Chevron Championship.
Tennis star Novak Djokovic was not able to compete in the U.S. Open last summer for the same reason.
In January, the U.S. government extended its existing COVID-19 restrictions, which require international visitors to be fully vaccinated against the virus, to April 10. Kruger told Golfweek that while they’re still trying to obtain a pass for special circumstances, they don’t foresee things opening up until at least early May. The Chevron is slated for April 20-23.
On Monday, the Biden administration announced plans to end both the national emergency and public health emergency declarations on May 11.
Linn Grant poses with the trophy after winning the 2022 Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed Hosted by Henrik & Annika at Halmstad Golf Club in Sweden. (Photo: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
Grant won four times on the LET in 2022, including the history-making Scandinavian Mixed, in which she beat the men on the DP World Tour. She also topped the season-long Race to Costa del Sol.
In six LPGA starts last season, Grant carded four top-eight finishes and a T-19 at the AIG Women’s British Open.
Worst-case scenario, Grant will play in all the LPGA events held outside the U.S. (around 10 or 11) and add in the same number of LET events in between.
Sweden is one of eight countries that qualified for the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown, which will be played May 4-7 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. The top four Swedish players in the Rolex Rankings as of April 3 will qualify for the event. Grant is currently the second-highest ranked Swede, behind Madelene Sagstrom (25th).
Players will compete for a $5 million purse, with the winner earning $750,000.
The Aramco Saudi Ladies International has announced that 13 major winners will be included in this year’s field, highlighted by World No. 1 Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson, In Gee Chun, Danielle Kang and defending champ Georgia Hall.
The event, which is the presented by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, takes place Feb. 16-19 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club and features an upgraded purse of $5 million. More LPGA stars are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
The 120-player field will feature 60 Ladies European Tour players, 50 from the top 300 in the Rolex Rankings and a maximum of 10 sponsor invites. The winner will receive $750,000.
The tournament’s purse is up from $1 million last year and now matches the men’s event, the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, which will be held Feb. 2-5 at Royal Greens.
“Equal pay in golf has been something that all of us in the women’s game have wanted for so long,” said Thompson in a release, “so seeing that huge prize purse increase at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF to match the men’s tournament was extremely heartening. For us, it’s always been about feeling equal and we are all focused on growing the game to leave in a much better place for future generation of female golfers.”
In addition to the Aramco Saudi Ladies International, the 2023 LET schedule also features the Aramco Team Series, comprised of five events staged across the globe. Winners of those events last year include LPGA players Bronte Law, Nelly Korda and Thompson.
The LET’s Saudi-backed events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
The 13 major winners in the Saudi Ladies International field boast 18 major titles between them.
Chun, a three-time major major winner, will make her first trip to Saudi Arabia later this month.
“I’m excited to finally visit Saudi Arabia,” Chun said in a release. “I’m also looking forward to an event that is expected to elevate women’s golf in all parts of the global community. It will definitely be a great early season challenge with a very strong field competing.”
Added Hall: “It’s a massive boost for the women’s game, and it also goes beyond golf as it’s what women in sport deserve. We are all thoroughly grateful to Golf Saudi for what it’s doing for women’s golf.
The Ladies European Tour begins its 2023 season this week with the Magical Kenya Ladies Open.
Here are the 13 major winners set to play later this month in Saudi Arabia (with world ranking):
