Tag: LPGA Drive On

Celine Boutier fends off Georgia Hall in a playoff to win 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship

The 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship came down to a playoff between a pair of Solheim Cup teammates.

SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. — The 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship came down to a playoff between a pair of Solheim Cup teammates.

France’s Celine Boutier got up-and-down for a must-have tying birdie on the par-5 18th hole Sunday to get to 20 under to knot things up with England’s Georgia Hall, who also birdied the closing hole about an hour earlier.

They replayed the 18th, playing 469 yards Sunday, with Boutier hitting a similar second shot right of the green. Hall then hit her approach into the back bunker. Boutier chipped up to about four feet, setting up a birdie try. Hall, meanwhile, faced a dicey sand shot and ended up about 20 feet past the hole.

After Hall’s birdie putt missed to the left, the stage was set for Boutier to close it out, which she did, making birdie on 18 for the second time Sunday to clinch the victory, her first playoff win.

Following her round Saturday, which gave her a one-shot, 54-hole lead, Boutier said “I think I just realized that my game is good enough.” She sounds even more confident Sunday after earning the win.

“I think it’s definitely not easy to win. I feel like my game was good enough for the past couple years for sure. I just wasn’t able to win. I feel like it’s something you need to learn,” she said. “I definitely had a bunch of opportunities last year and wasn’t able to do it, so to be able to do it this early in the season this year is definitely very satisfying.”

2023 LPGA Drive On Championship
Celine Boutier holds the trophy after winning the 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club in Arizona. (Photo: : Alex Gould/The Republic)

She proved it Sunday by winning for the second time in five tries when holding the third-round lead. She also becomes the winningest player from France in LPGA history, surpassing Anne Marie Palli, who lives in Scottsdale and followed Boutier’s group Sunday.

“It’s wonderful for her to win, and what’s so fun, and I just made her aware, she won in Australia, she won in Atlantic City and here, and Atlantic City and here are the two tournaments I won as well, on tour,” said Palli. “She’s a hard worker. She’s a great player. Yeah, and she’s very nice. I’m very excited for her.”

Hall last won just over a year ago at the 2022 Aramco Saudi Ladies International. The 2018 Women’s British Open champ also has the 2020 Cambia Portland Classic on her resume.

“Obviously fantastic to get to the position I was in. I knew I had to shoot low today, and obviously gutted about the playoff.”

Boutier’s 268 total (69-66-65-68) sets the 72-hole scoring mark. The tournament was 54-holes a year ago and while the LPGA has staged the Drive On event since 2020, the 2022 version is considered the first official event.

Japan’s Ayaka Furue finished solo third. Korea’s Narin An finished solo fourth. Defending champion Leona Maguire finished tied for 23rd.

Chip shots

Gina Kim recorded the first hole-in-one of the 2023 LPGA season when she aced the par-3 eighth hole early in Sunday’s round. “At first I was scared because I was like, ‘Oh, crap. It probably hit the pin and went down the hill or something like that.’ Then I heard my mom screaming and everyone screaming and then that’s when I realized, holy cow,” Kim said. She had a final-round 66 and tied for 66th.

Lydia Ko will remain No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings after skipping the Drive On. World No. 2 Nelly Korda, who finished tied for 57 after closing with a 1-over 73, and No. 3 Jin Young Ko, who finished tied for fifth, each came up short of supplanting Lydia Ko. Among the scenarios for Korda was a win or a solo second. For Jin Young Ko, she needed to win and have Korda finish solo third or worse.

Golfers from four different countries have won the four LPGA events so far: Boutier (France), Brooke Henderson (Canada), Jin Young Ko (Korea) and Lilia Vu (U.S.).

Tournament director Scott Wood says ticket sales, despite the tournament only having been announced in November and no title sponsor to drive promotion, reached close to 35,000 for the week.

Up next: The DIO Implant LA Open starts Thursday at Palos Verdes Golf Club in Palos Verdes Estates, California.

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Gina Kim makes first LPGA hole-in-one of 2023 at Drive On Championship

There was an albatross before there was an ace on the LPGA in 2023.

SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. — There was an albatross before there was an ace on the LPGA in 2023.

During Friday’s second round, Yuka Saso posted a 2 on the par-5 second hole, the first albatross in three years on tour.

On Sunday, Gina Kim recorded the first hole-in-one of the season. It happened on the par-3 eighth hole when she holed out to spark her final-round 66.

“It’s a little still chilly in the morning,” she said. “Wind was kind of going left to right, and I said, ‘Hey, you know, you thinking that 8-iron would be good?’ Because we were trying to play like a 146 shot and my caddie, Jorge said ‘I don’t want you to be muscling this. I think that 7-iron, just a nice grip-down easy 7-iron should be good.’

“And so I aimed left of it and let the wind take the ball, and it looked like it was going great, and suddenly we heard this loud bang and turns out it didn’t even just hop into the hole it just dunked straight into the hole. No damage to the hole. Just sank right to the bottom of the cup.”

As (bad) luck would have it, there was no video captured of the shot.

“At first I was scared because I was like, oh, crap. It probably hit the pin and went down the hill or something like that,” Kim said. “Then I heard my mom screaming and everyone screaming and then that’s when I realized, ‘Holy cow.'”

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LPGA Drive On Championship shows that the tour ‘belongs in Phoenix’ after four-year absence

The LPGA is “going to be well-supported no matter what we do here.”

SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. — The 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship – the first LPGA event in Arizona since 2019 and the first at Superstition Mountain since 2008 – is just about in the books.

Six of the top 10 ranked players in the world made the trek to compete in the first full-field event on the LPGA’s 2023 schedule and the second U.S. tournament in two months.

Temperatures gradually warmed as the week went and fans were treated to low scores, the first ace of the season and the tour’s first albatross in three years.

Scott Wood, the 2023 tournament director, sat down with Golfweek for a Sunday Q&A about week.

Golfweek: Initial thoughts on the week?

Scott Wood: It’s been a fantastic week, to be honest with you, it’s exceeded all of our expectations. Ticket sales have just been fantastic. The community involvement has been great. So, to us, this has been a plus it’s been a home run.

GW: Is there anything you’d have done differently?

SW: We tried some things. … and so I think there’s a lot for us to build upon. The only thing that I always ask for is more time to plan. I think now that we’ve got one under our belt here, and worked with everybody, to be honest with you, as long as we have time we can we can really take this to the next level.

GW: Have you gotten much feedback from players?

SW: Feedback has just been completely positive about their experience at the clubhouse. Obviously, dining is very important to our players and caddies and so that’s been that’s been well-received. The golf course has been truly phenomenal. I honestly anticipated scores probably a little bit lower, so I think it’s a really good fair test. And the players have been nothing but complimentary to the to the team here about just from tee to green.

GW: It seems like the course has been a good test.

SW: It is, you know, I was watching, like everybody else, the middle of the pack really shot up [on Saturday]. … with 30 players within four shots [after 54 holes], that’s the kind of competition that you want. So I think we got it dialed in.

2023 LPGA Drive On Championship
Nanna Koerstz Madsen tees off from the 17th during the second round of the 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club in Arizona. (Photo: Patrick Breen/The Arizona Republic)

GW: Has the tour provided any feedback?

SW: Everything’s been well received. That’s why I think when we say this just exceeded our expectations. I think that’s it’s collectively, from our staff from players, from the few sponsors that did, you know, jump in last-minute with us. Everybody is just super excited about where this could go in the future. and there’s been a lot of conversations had on-site this week of, okay, this is really great. How can we make it better?

GW: We don’t know if it’s coming back [in 2024 and beyond] for sure, but do you feel like this was a big step towards that?

SW: I do. I do. I’ll be honest with you, as I’ve been telling some others this week, for us to move Founders Cup out of Phoenix [after 2019], it was a business decision and this [Drive On] gave us this opportunity to come and bring one of our marquee events that the Tour owns and operates, for us to be able to get it back into the market. To see after four years how well it was received by the fans and by our players and by really everybody in town. That’s gonna be the catapult that just sends us into like, you know, I think having really strong conversations with a lot of good people that can really help to facilitate a long-term deal.

2023 LPGA Drive On Championship
Danielle Kang tees off on the third hole as golf fans gather around the tee box during the first round of the 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club in Arizona. (Photo: Parick Breen/The Arizona Republic)

GW: Can you share ticket sales?

SW: What I can say right now is is the way that we saw ticket sales, pre-tournament, and then ticket sales during tournament week online and then walk-up ticket sales, we’re in that 30- to 35- [thousand] range right now [for the week].

It just proves the point that the LPGA belongs in Phoenix and that it’s going to be well-supported no matter what we do here.

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Mina Harigae just misses albatross, Celine Boutier leads, three 63s tie tournament record at 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship

The weather has improved steadily each day and so has the scoring.

SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. — The weather has improved steadily each day and so has the scoring at the 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship.

On Saturday during the third round, Korea’s Amy Yang shot the best score of the week, a 9-under 63. She had 10 birdies, five on each side, and just one bogey. Her 63 ties the tournament’s low round in its official two-year history.

“I hit it so solid out there, especially my second shot going into the green was really solid,” she said. “My putting worked really well today. I could see the break. Just over the ball I could see the break and the speed, just one of those days you just got the good feeling about your playing. So I just enjoyed it out there.”

Yang opened 70-70 to get to 4 under through 36 holes. She made the cut by a shot and started her Saturday round at 9 a.m.

She seemed to like the course conditions early in the day.

“I think it helped the ball wasn’t release so much like yesterday afternoon. I think that really helped.”

Yang, 33, turned pro in 2008 and has four LPGA victories, three of them in the Honda LPGA Thailand. A win in Arizona on Sunday would be her first in the U.S.

A few hours later, Norway’s Celine Borge matched Yang’s 63. Playing in her first LPGA event since 2019, Borge opened with four straight birdies, then closed out her round birdie-eagle for a back-nine 31.

Not to be outdone, Ariya Jutanugarn shot a third-round 63, riding nine birdies without a bogey to claim a share of the clubhouse lead. Jutanugarn, who said she missed some short putts which could’ve made her score even lower, had five birdies in a row on Nos. 6-10. She then closed with three straight birdies on Nos. 16, 17 and 18.

Near albatross

Mina Harigae, one of the nearly dozen LPGA players with special membership status at Superstition Mountain, had her second shot on 18 lip out during Saturday’s third round.

Yep, she was oh-so-close to recording an albatross. It would’ve been the second in as many days.

The near-miss comes one week after she got married at the course to Travis Kreiter.

Yuka Saso recorded one Friday on the par-5 second hole, the first one on the LPGA in three years.

Boutier holds solo lead

Celine Boutier shot a third-round 65 to get to 16 under. When Moriya Jutanugarn hit her second shot into the lake on the 18th hole en route to a closing bogey, Boutier claimed the solo 54-hole lead.

Boutier eagled the par-5 second hole and sprinkled in six birdies, including one at the last. She had just one bogey on her card.

“I feel like I had a lot of birdie opportunities today,” she said. “I didn’t even make all of them, but I feel like because I was playing really steady and focusing on hitting good shots and having the birdie chances.

“It was definitely very solid round all around.”

Jutanugarn had bogeys on her last two holes, as well as her first hole. Her second-round 69 dropped her into a tie for second with Alison Lee and LPGA rookie Hae Ran Ryu, who eagled the 18th to shoot a 64.

Go low on 18

The par-5 18th hole, measuring just over 500 yards this week, is playing as the easiest hole during the first two rounds. The scoring average through 36 holes was 4.594 and players racked up 82 birdies in the first round and, despite a back-left pin location that was guarded by the lake that runs down the left side of the hole, another 57 in the second. There were also three eagles on 18 in the first round and another in the second.

The final hole is likely to provide scoring opportunities all week and could set the stage for some final-round theatrics from the contenders.

“I feel like you need to take advantage of all the par-5s out here,” said Nelly Korda, the second-ranked player in the women’s game. “I think whenever you par a par 5 you definitely lose one on the field because they’re all pretty reachable.”

About that tournament history

The two 2020 Drive On events as well as the 2021 tournament were at the time staged as one-offs as the LPGA was seeking to create playing opportunities for its players during the COVID pandemic.

The event didn’t become an official, regular LPGA tournament until last year. Also, when Leona Maguire won it a year ago, it was a 54-hole event. Whoever wins it this year will establish the tournament’s 72-hole scoring record.

The future status of the Drive On is unclear. The 2024 schedule has not been finalized, nor has Superstition Mountain been named as a future host of the event.

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Nelly Korda, Jin Young Ko zoom up leaderboard at 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship

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.”

2023 LPGA Drive On Championship
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.

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Yuka Saso makes LPGA’s first albatross in three years at 2023 Drive On Championship

The LPGA’s first full-field event of 2023 has produced the first albatross on the tour in three years.

SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. — The LPGA’s first full-field event of 2023 has produced the first albatross on the tour in three years.

In the second round of the LPGA Drive On Championship, Yuka Saso, who played the back nine first, was 217 yards out after her tee shot on the par-5 second hole.

Using a 19-degee hybrid, Saso, the 2021 U.S. Open champ, holed out for an albatross.

“We didn’t really know where it landed,” she said. “So we were just walking to the green and everyone started clapping. But my ball wasn’t on the green so I was like, ‘Why are they clapping? Is it over? Why is everyone clapping if it’s not on the green?’ Then Sei Young [Kim] was walking around also and she looked down and she said it’s in, the ball was in, so that’s how I found out,” Saso said, noting that this was her first albatross.

It’s also the first one on the LPGA since Lyndsey Weaver-Wright recorded one in 2020.

Saso shot a 66 on Friday to get to 8 under and a tie for 12th when she signed her scorecard.

“We all now how hard it is to get one,” she said. “They say you’re lucky if you ever get one in your golf career. I guess I was very lucky to have it.”

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Danielle Kang withdraws from 2023 LPGA Drive On, cites ‘visit to the ER’ on Instagram

Kang posted on Instagram about a “visit to the ER for respiratory infection and severe nausea.”

SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. — Danielle Kang, 13th in the Rolex Rankings and playing in her third LPGA event of 2023, withdrew during the first round of the LPGA Drive On Championship on Thursday.

The LPGA reported it was due to illness.

Kang later posted a message on Instagram stating she took a “visit to the ER for respiratory infection and severe nausea.”

She went on to say she was taking medication and planned to play through it but “now I see that it was a bit too ambitious,” she wrote, with a photo of an IV in her arm underneath the text of her Instagram message.

Kang, who tied for third at the 2023 HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore and and tied for 38th at the Honda LPGA Thailand, birdied the 10th hole to get back to even par Thursday at Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club on Thursday. She then had bogeys on Nos. 12 and 14 before calling it a day.

Her playing partners, In Gee Chun and Jennifer Kupcho, finished the day without her, and Kang acknowledged them in her post for “being patient with me on the course as well.”

Kang finished her message stating “hopefully the nausea will subside and will be back to playing some golf again.”

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LPGA Drive On: Gaby Lopez, Jenny Shin, Alison Lee tied for lead at first full-field event of 2023

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.

2023 LPGA Drive On Championship
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.”

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LPGA feels it found perfect fit for Drive On Championship at Crown Colony

“The red carpet’s been rolled out,”

Scott Wood was directly impacted by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. But he’s also had a role directly impacting the LPGA’s return to Southwest Florida.

Wood runs the Cognizant Founders Cup in Phoenix, and that was ready to happen. Until COVID-19 hit in March 2020.

“We shut down on Thursday before we went live on Monday (for tournament week),” Wood said.

The Drive On Championship has become a series of one-off events to help LPGA players fill gaps in their schedule created by postponements of many overseas events due to the pandemic.

There were two in 2020, the first at Inverness in Ohio and the second at Reynolds Lake in Georgia, and one last year at Golden Ocala.

“It was a way for us to kind of control how the LPGA was going to get started after we were shut down,” said Wood, who has been part of all four. “It was something we could really control because we owned and operated it. We were our own sponsors.

“It’s become almost familiar for the players. It’s another way for us to just celebrate the tour and all of our members and all our players.”

LPGA Drive On: How to watch since its not on TV

The Drive On Championship, which has a $1.5 million purse, follows up the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in Orlando, and the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio in Boca Raton.

“To do a three-week Florida swing made the most sense,” Wood said. “The players are able to bounce from one to another. Trying to find a golf course in South Florida in February is like trying to find a golf course in March in Phoenix. I know the struggle.”

So Crown Colony Golf & Country Club ended up coming forward, through general manager David Kent, and will host this week’s event with play Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

“The red carpet’s been rolled out,” said Wood, who said a “big net” was cast in the state to see what courses were interested. “We can’t say enough about David and his team, but the membership, the HOA, the community here, everybody’s welcoming.

“It’s been a home run. It truly has been. It’s one of those things where the golf course is getting just as good of rave reviews as the community, as us playing in a familiar location with having a fan base and everything. It’s such a solid golf course. The more and more that the players are getting out there and getting practice rounds in, it’s a true test of golf.”

Wood said the timeline of getting the tournament was the main reason there will be no fans allowed to watch the event live.

“It’s not like we didn’t want to have any,” he said. “…  Given the timing of everything, from a safety and just an infrastructure standpoint, we just felt like let’s really focus on giving our players and our members a solid opportunity to earn another paycheck for this year, and then when you start looking at the timing of when you launch ticket sales, and you do everything and all of the infrastructure that goes into shuttles and parking, etc., it became one of those things where we said let’s do X, Y and Z really, really well, and let’s focus on that and let’s make sure that that happens.

“We know that the fans are the lifeblood — fans and sponsors. We’re not like the PGA Tour. I know David’s received a lot of phone calls and we’ve gotten some messages through the LPGA that people want to come and support. They also understand that the short timeframe of planning, it’s not feasible.”

The tournament name comes from the LPGA’s Drive On campaign that highlighted some of the other players on the tour that maybe aren’t the most prominent, but have compelling stories. Naples’ Mo Martin, who has spent most of her time in her home state of California since the onset of the pandemic, was one of the players featured.

Since there already was a recognition factor with that campaign, so bringing that over to the created tournaments made sense.

“Over the last three years, this Drive On campaign has really been able to personalize a lot of our players that are not covered,” Wood said. “The stories behind Drive On and the way we’ve been able to promote it, and to be able to tell that story to a broader audience, I think by having a tournament title Drive On, I think has really been a catalyst for the tour to continue our elevation.”

Despite the Drive On Championships being one-offs, would there be a possibility of a return to Southwest Florida as part of a more permanent Florida swing with Orlando and Boca Raton already secured? Wood was noncommital.

“It’s a fluid operation and thought process,” Wood said. “That’s the way we’ve been operating going on 23 months now.”

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How to watch the LPGA Drive On Championship in Fort Myers since it’s not on TV and you can’t be on-site

“The reality is we funded this tournament ourselves. We’re trying a different production model, scaled down.”

How to watch this week’s LPGA Drive On Championship at Crown Colony Golf & Country Club in Fort Myers has been one of the event’s important issues.

No fans will be allowed on-site to watch the event live and it’s not on Golf Channel or “TV” per se.

“There’s two parts of it — one’s easier than the other,” said Brian Carroll, senior vice president of global media distribution for the LPGA.

The tournament will be streamed on LPGA.com from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for Thursday’s first round and Friday’s second round, and from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for Saturday’s final round. Fans can go to the website and click on a link to watch it for free. But it will be coverage of just one hole.

The full tournament coverage will stream on Peacock on Thursday and Friday from 3-6 p.m. ET and Saturday from 2-5 p.m. ET. There is free content on Peacock, but the tournament is part of a subscription component that is $4.99 per month. Peacock can be watched on smart TVs like other streaming apps such as Netflix or Amazon or Apple+, and also on laptops or smartphones.

“You can sign up (for Peacock) and then delete it before the next month rolls around,” Carroll said.

With the tournament coming together late, and with no fans and not a great deal of room on the property for a typical TV compound and all that goes with it, the LPGA is looking at this as a chance to try something with its tournament coverage.

“The reality is we funded this tournament ourselves,” Carroll said. “We’re trying a different production model, scaled down.”

Everything is produced in a studio in Palm Beach.

“The different production allows us to experiment a little bit,” Carroll said. “We’re doing the production ourselves this week, so just thought let’s try to have fun with it.”

The talent being used will be familiar to golf viewers. Chantel McCabe will host the streaming on LPGA.com, and the hosts of the Peacock coverage are Grant Boone and Paige Mackenzie, and Jerry Foltz, Amy Rogers and Tripp Isenhour will be on-site for both.

“The afternoon coverage, the intention is for it to look very much like a normal week,” Carroll said. “Golf Channel graphics. Golf Channel announcers. Golf Channel personnel behind the scenes. They know the players really well so I think it’ll come off really well.

“I know it’s a hard thing. You can’t just turn on Golf Channel.”

Carroll said with the Winter Olympics in China starting and some of that coverage streaming on Peacock, that’s another opportunity to see what the viewership will be.

“We want to see what that audience ends up looking like,” he said. “With the Olympics on, there’s a ton of people, in theory, using Peacock this week.

“Let’s see how it does. It’s part of an experiment.”

CME Group Tour Championship highlighted 

On Monday, the LPGA announced the premiere of “LPGA All Access: CME Group Tour Championship,” a behind-the-scenes documentary detailing the excitement, competition and glamour of the Tour’s 2021 crowning event, which was played at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in November.

The series will air on YouTube and LPGA.com, with three 15-minute episodes, the last on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET. Others aired on Monday and Tuesday, also at 8 p.m., and are still available.

The documentary shares exclusive moments with players, caddies, sponsors and staff, both on and off the course.

Featured moments include:

  • An in-depth look into the season-long competitive battle between Jin Young Ko and Nelly Korda, who fought all week for the titles of Rolex Player of the Year and Race to the CME Globe Champion
  • 2021 Chevron Championship winner Patty Tavatanakit’s preparations for the red carpet for the Rolex Awards, where she received the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award and the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award
  • Workout sessions and pickleball matches with Gaby Lopez and Amy Olson, who also shared a house for the week and made a relaxing meal of Mexican food from Lopez’s recipe book
  • Early-morning golf-course scouting with LPGA Tour Rules Official Annie Giangrosso and caddie Will Davidson, who looped for past CME winner Lexi Thompson
  • Interviews with LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan and CME Group Chairman/CEO Terry Duffy

“This documentary helps show the accessibility and personality of our players, along with the drama and intrigue of the CME Group Tour Championship,” said Brian Carroll, senior vice president of global media distribution for the LPGA. “Hopefully this is just the beginning of our storytelling in this format.”

Field update

No players who already were not in the Drive On Championship field finished in the top 10 of the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio on Sunday, so Jennifer Chang of Cary, North Carolina, and Agathe Laisne of France made the 120-player field.

Danielle Kang, who finished second on Sunday, was one of two to withdraw. Elizabeth Szokol was the other. That put American Alana Uriell and Gemma Dryburgh of Scotland into the field.

American Andrea Lee won the qualifier on Monday with a 5-under 67, and Frida Kinhult of Sweden won a playoff for the second qualifying spot at 4 under with Daniela Darquea of Ecuador.

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