Kim defends
A year ago I.K. Kim’s fabulous season really got kick-started at the three round ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by ACER after a two-shot victory over two-time defending champion Anna Nordqvist.
Kim shot rounds of 66-67-69 to notch her fourth career LPGA Tour title, almost a decade after she broke through as a 20-year-old to win her maiden professional event.
Last year Kim went on to win the Marathon Classic in July and the RICOH Women’s British Open in August, her first major championship.
Kim has had an up-and-down season so far, having missed just two cuts, but notching only two top-10 finishes.
Those finishes, however, have been solid ones.
She tied for 4th at the Kia Classic and was runner-up at the LPGA Volvik Championship two weeks ago.
She returns to defend her title this week in New Jersey ranked 31st on the Race to the CME Globe, and 7th in the world on the Rolex Rankings.
Can Nordqvist break through?
It’s been a year of adjustment for Anna Nordqvist as she made an equipment change in January. There have been flashes of brilliance (two top-10 finishes on the year including a T-7 at the Kia Classic in March) but she’s still working on dialing everything in.
But, if there was a place for her to break out and notch her best result of the year, it would be Stockton Seaview Golf Club’s Bay Course, where Nordqvist holds the scoring record (in 2016 the eight-time LPGA Tour winner shot 17-under par) and won back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016.
Nordqvist knows exactly what it takes to win this week and has proven she isn’t afraid to go low.
Her stats show that she is on the cusp of putting it all together – she’s fifth in Greens in Regulation, eighth in Driving Accuracy, and is 17th in Scoring Average – and last year’s Evian Championship winner (her first major) should be considered a favourite.
Lewis looking for a victory
An LPGA Tour golfer has won while pregnant just twice before (Catroina Matthew in 2009 while five months pregnant and Nancy Lopez in 1991 while 5.5 months pregnant) and Lewis, who said in April she would be playing on the LPGA Tour through her hometown event – the Marathon Classic in July – could make it three this week in New Jersey.
Lewis, who missed the cut last week at the U.S. Women’s Open but notched her best result of the year the week before (a tie for seventh at the LPGA Volvik Championship) has won the ShopRite LPGA Classic twice before – in 2012 and 2014.
The last time she won was in dominating fashion. Her six-shot win was the largest margin of victory in the tournament’s history.
Although Lewis has struggled this year, she still sits 21st in Putting Average on the year and is as steady on the greens as anyone on Tour.
She finished tied for 32nd a year ago.
Henderson on the list, Jutanugarn taking it off
Ariya Jutanugarn is taking a well-deserved break this week after capturing the U.S. Women’s Open in dramatic fashion Sunday.
Jutanugarn, who had played all 14 LPGA Tour events so far, is the only two-time winner on Tour this year and sits 1st on the Race to the CME Globe. Out of those 14 events, she has 10 top-10 finishes.
Brooke Henderson, herself a winner this year, withdrew from the U.S. Women’s Open prior to the start of the second round last week for personal reasons and flew home to Ottawa. A member of Henderson’s management team confirmed to The Canadian Press that there was an illness in her family.
She is listed to participate this week. Henderson finished tied for 36th a year ago.
All of last year’s top-10 finishers minus Michelle Wie and Moriya Jutanugarn including Jenny Shin, Jacqui Concolino, Jeong Eun Lee, Paula Creamer, Gaby Lopez, Mo Martin, and Jaye Marie Green are in the field.
Natalie Gulbis, fresh off participating in an event in Washington, D.C. as part of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition will make her fourth start of the LPGA Tour season this week. She made her first cut since 2015 at the HUGEL-JTBC LA Open.
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