Tag: Pelican LPGA

Christina Kim, playing on a sponsor invite and fighting to keep her card, finds herself in contention at Pelican LPGA

“This is my passion. This is my love. My entire life is golf.”

BELLEAIR, Fla. – Christina Kim joked that she could’ve been drafted into the NBA, she jumped so high on the driving range after learning she’d received a sponsor exemption into the Pelican LPGA Championship. She’d just missed out on the Monday qualifier by one stroke and sits at 98th on the CME points list. The top 100 keep their LPGA card.

“Literally rolling around doing somersaults on the ground because I was just so overjoyed,” said Kim, who is taking full advantage of the opportunity.

The popular player, now in her 19th year on the LPGA, currently holds the clubhouse lead at the Pelican with World No. 1 Nelly Korda at 9 under. Jennifer Kupcho, who is still on the course, has moved to 11 under.

At this time last year, Kim was safely into the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship thanks to five top-25 finishes. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, nothing from 2020 carried over into this season. Kim’s status reverted back to where she finished in 2019, and she didn’t get into an LPGA event until March of this year.

“Sometimes things go your way; sometimes they don’t,” she said. “But that’s life. What are you supposed to expect?”

Korda, who trails Jin Young Ko by 15 points in the LPGA Player of the Year race, matched Kim’s 66 by hitting 14 fairways and 16 greens. Her average drive on the measured holes: 309 yards.

“The fairways are pretty wide open,” she said, “and so I just kind of get up to it and try to rip it.”

A victory this week is worth 30 points toward the Player o the Year race.

Ko, who has won four of her last seven events, shot 66 and moved into the top 20. Yuka Saso, the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open winner, posted a 64 to move into the top five.

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Kim has missed six of her last seven cuts on the LPGA and said she spent the last three weeks in hyper-stress mode. Getting into the Pelican, however, gave her a sense of controlling her own destiny, and she finds herself in contention for her first LPGA title since 2014.

When asked if her time working for PGA Tour Live on Sirius was a preview of her second act, Kim insisted that her focus remains on her playing career.

“You know, yes, I’m 37 years old, but I still tell fart jokes,” she said, “so I don’t really feel like – you know, and I’m truly in the best shape of my life, so there is no reason why I can’t sit there and think all the experience that I’ve had … with three Solheim Cups, three singles wins – no big deal – my tour wins around the world, that that can’t help me out here.

“You know, yeah, sure, there are literally players on here that can be my children if I had chosen to have them. That doesn’t mean anything, though. This is my passion. This is my love. My entire life is golf. I’ll stop when it’s time. I’m damn nowhere near close to that yet.”

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Watch: Pavarisa Yoktuan becomes second player to win two-year lease on a Lamborghini at Pelican LPGA

Is the insurance price tag worth the sweet ride?

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BELLEAIR, Fla. – Pavarisa Yoktuan’s seventh career hole-in-one is certainly the most memorable. The Thai player hit an easy 8-iron into the par-3 12th at Pelican Golf Club and joyfully watched it disappear. Every player who aces the 12th hole at the Pelican LPGA Championship wins a Lamborghini.

Austin Ernst was the first to win one during Monday’s pro-am. On Friday morning before her second round, Ernst drove a Lamborghini around the parking lot of the Pelican clubhouse with cameras rolling. After sitting down in the front seat, Ernst yelled out for her husband to get in with her: She’d never driven a manual before.

“It’s a two-year lease,” said Yoktuan, “so I don’t know how much I have to pay for monthly (for insurance). But, yeah. I want to give it a try … we’ll see.”

Yoktuan used to drive a BMW until she crashed it two months ago. She now drives a motorcycle. Last year in Thailand, Yoktuan won $3,000 for making a hole-in-one.

Every shot that’s struck on the par-3 12th during competition rounds of the LPGA Tour’s Pelican Women’s Championship is being streamed live on NBC’s Peacock in what is the first-ever Featured Hole stream in LPGA history.

The 12th hole coverage features live interviews by Amy Rogers and studio coverage from host George Savaricas and analyst Jim Gallagher Jr. Coverage of the watery par 3 will begin at 9:45 a.m. ET over the weekend. It’s free to consumers on the Peacock app.

It’s now possible that Brooke Henderson might get to keep her 48-inch driver, as LPGA opens up dialogue about local rule

“I started hitting a driver longer than 46 when I was 15, and I’ve never looked back.”

BELLEAIR, Fla. – For the first time in nearly two years, Brooke Henderson could look over to the gallery ropes and see her parents, Dave and Darlene, watch her compete in person at the Pelican LPGA Championship. Border restrictions between the U.S. and Canada changed on Monday for those who are vaccinated.

“It’s just kind of a comfort level,” said Brooke of their presence, adding that dad’s confirmation that she has the right line or position boosts her confidence.

With no ShotLink and limited television coverage, Thursday’s opening 3-under 67 marked the first time since January 2020 that Dave could see every shot and every decision his two daughters made during the course of a round.

“I’m good at learning how to score,” said Dave. “They were out of position a couple times today.”

Also in the gallery was Mike Miller, a Rochester, New York, resident who has now traveled to 50 LPGA events to watch Henderson. A longtime LPGA supporter, Miller first watched Henderson compete in 2015, and over time, has gone from superfan to family friend, even attending a hockey game with the family several years back.

Mike Miller has now watched Brooke Henderson compete in 50 events. (Golfweek photo)

One of the most popular players on the LPGA, “Brooke’s Brigade,” as Miller shows, certainly isn’t limited to Canadians. The 10-time LPGA winner is known for her aggressive style and length, making her one of the more entertaining players to follow. One of the ways she gets that extra pop is by choking down on a 48-inch driver.

“I started hitting a driver longer than 46 when I was 15,” she said, “and I’ve never looked back.”

Which is why a new local rule the U.S. Golf Association and R&A put forth in October that allows the option to limit the maximum length of a driver to 46 inches is of great interest to Henderson.

Last month, the LPGA told Golfweek in a statement that the tour planned to implement the new rule at some point after the 2021 season. After an in-person player meeting on Tuesday at the Pelican, however, the door is open to start a dialogue.

Brooke believes players should have more input in the decision. Dave agrees, saying the longer clubs bring more excitement to the tour.

“I think it takes skill to be able to hit it as well,” said Brooke.

At next week’s CME Group Tour Championship, there will be a club-testing area set up to check driver lengths. The tour will also begin to survey players about the potential changes.

With newly-elected board members in place – Stacy Lewis and Ally Ewing were voted in this week – nothing has been finalized. There was also discussion at the meeting about whether or not the LPGA will follow the PGA Tour’s lead in altering what’s allowed in green-reading books.

The Executive Leadership Team, Rules Committee, and Player Directors will ultimately make the call on both the driver length and green-reading books.

Last month the PGA Tour said in a statement that it planned to implement the Local Rule at the beginning of next year. A survey across the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions, and Korn Ferry Tour found that a very small number of players have used or are currently using clubs longer than 46 inches. The new rule does not apply to putters.

Henderson said she has begun testing a 46-inch driver and “didn’t love it,” losing several yards. She would like to see the tour refrain from implementing the Model Local Rule, meaning she would likely only have to use a 46-inch driver at the U.S. Women’s Open and AIG Women’s British Open, where the rule will be enforced.

Henderson currently ranks ninth on the tour in driving distance at 273.8 yards.

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Hannah Green won’t play in next week’s Pelican LPGA, but odds are strong she’ll still clinch Aon $1 million

The odds are good for Green to take home the money, but two players are in striking distance.

There’s only one event left for the season in the LPGA’s Aon Risk Reward Challenge, and it will take something heroic to knock Australia’s Hannah Green out of the top spot.

Green has withdrawn from next week’s Pelican Women’s Championship, which means that she can’t move from her current average of -0.938. Players take their two best scores from each Aon Risk Reward Challenge hole, with the winner having the best average score at the end of the season.

The winner of the award receives $1 million. For perspective, so far, 13 players on the LPGA have crossed $1 million in earnings this season. The total purse for the Pelican is $1,750,000.

Charley Hull, who is currently in second place, is playing next week in the Aramco team Series Jeddah event in Saudi Arabia, taking her out of the running.

The next two players on the list who are in the Pelican field are Lexi Thompson and Lydia Ko. Thompson would have to play the par-5 14th hole in 5 under (an eagle and a double eagle) to overtake Green at -0.941. Ko would have to play the hole (over two rounds) in 6 under (two double eagles) to move her to -0.944.

Hannah Green reacts to a putt on the 18th hole during the second round of the 2019 LPGA Cambia Portland Classic. Photo: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Green, 24, is currently ranked 25th in the world and is 35th on the money list with $531,507. She has $2,262,361 in career earnings.

Earlier this year, Matthew Wolff clinched the 2020-2021 Aon Risk Reward Challenge trophy and the $1 million prize on the PGA Tour.

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