Preview & 4 to watch for the LPGA & LET Access Series events this week.
Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic
Date: 04/07/19
Location: Oneida, Wisconsin
Course: Thornberry Creek at Oneida
Prize Fund: $2,000,000
Yardage: 6,624
Defending Champion: Sei Young Kim - 31 (Yes -31!)
In the 3rd edition of the event we look at 4 players below who could be lifting the trophy at the end of the week and celebrating independence day with a bang.
Sung Hyun Park (South Korea)
Rolex Ranking: 1st
CME Race to the globe ranking: 3rd
Park finished 2nd at the PGA Championship and then followed that up with a win last week at the Arkansas Championship, her 2nd win this year in 11 starts. She has also had 4 top 10s. Now back to number 1 in the world can she go make it back to back victories?
Currently 3rd on tour in driving distance and scoring average. She missed cut last year her only appearance here.
Carlota Ciganda (Spain)
Rolex Ranking: 14th
CME Race to the globe ranking: 11th
In her 14 events this year Carlota has had 5 top 10 finishes including a runner up spot at the Bank of Hope Founders Cup. She has been so close on so many occasions this year.
She finished 48th 2 weeks ago at the PGA Championship before ending up 6th last week.
Leads with the most eagles on tour this year and finished runner up here last year. can she finally pick up that win?
Hyo Joo Kim (South Korea)
Rolex Ranking: 20th
CME Race to the globe ranking: 20th
Kim is coming into this event in good form, she finished 7th at the PGA Championship and went better last week finishing runner up to Park. She has had 6 top 10 finishes in her 9 starts this year.
Finished 35th here last year. Leads the tour on putting average with 28 and is 3rd with putts per GIR.
Sei Young Kim (South Korea)
Rolex Ranking: 12th
CME Race to the globe ranking: 13th
The defending champion who won with a record equaling -31. Kim had one eagle, 31 birdies, and a double bogey to best then Annika Sorenstam’s historic mark of (-27).
Kim has 3 top 10's in her 12 starts this year and a win at the Mediheal Championship her 8th career victory. Ended up 20th at the PGA Championship and 41st last week.
SAINT-MALO GOLF MIXED OPEN 2019
Date: 04/07/19
Location: Brittany, France
Course: Saint-Malo Golf Resort
Prize Fund: € 45,000
In another new format for women's golf the Saint Malo Mixed Open will see men and women go head to head for the same trophy. The 72-hole tournament takes place at Saint-Malo Golf Resort in Brittany, France where ladies from the Ladies European Tour Access Series, as well as golfers from the Alps Tour do battle.
The competition tees off on Thursday morning and after two rounds, there will be a cut to the leading 45 players and ties. The champion on Sunday will take home the trophy, a cheque for €7,200
Below we look at 4 women who could be challenging for the tittle this week.
Sarah Nilsson (Sweden)
Sarah's best finish of the season came last week at the Belfius Ladies Open in Belgium where she came 7th. She also had a 26th place earlier in the year at the NSW Open on the LET. She is currently 98th on the LET Access order of merit after 4 events and 69th on the LET order of merit.
Her sister Emma won the Access Series order of merit last year. Sarah is playing some consistent golf on both tours in 2019 and is currently ranked 662nd in the world, can she continue her good run of form here this week.
Sanna Nuutinen (Finland)
Sanna is on a great run of form on the Access Series. She finished 30th last week but did travel back from Thailand the week before where she unfortunately missed the cut so tiredness may have crept in. However, before that she had finishes of 2nd, 4th and 9th which has seen her rise to 8th position on the order of merit.
100th on the LET order of merit with a best finish of 31st in Sotogrande, now 462nd in the world. Could be back to her best this week.
Manon De Roey (Belgium)
Manon ended up in 29th last week in her native Belgium after finishing 26th in Thailand the week before on the LET. She has had 2 top 10 finishes on the Access Series with a 6th and her best finish of 4th at the VP Bank Ladies Open. Manon also finished an impressive 6th the Canberra Classic on the LET.
Currently 19th on the order of merit and 49th on the LET order of merit Manon has risen to 411th in the world. Will definitely be one to watch this week.
Jane Turner (Scotland)
Jane looked back to form last week with a closing round of 69 to finish 2nd behind eventual winner Emma Grechi.
She has unfortunately missed a few cuts on the LET this year but in the last few weeks has been moving in the right direction back on the Access Series.
Can she keep the form going this week? currently 30th on the order of merit and 739th in the world.