What to watch for this week at Walmart NW Arkansas Championship

Best-Ever Field
The star-studded field is the strongest in the event's five-year history and includes 47 of the top 50 and 10 of the top 10 on the LPGA money list. Defending champion and Rolex Rankings No. 1 Yani Tseng, who looks to capture her fifth LPGA tournament and eighth tournament victory world-wide this year, headlines the field which also includes Rolex World Ranked No. 2 Pettersen, No. 3 Kerr, No. 4 Jiyai Shin, No. 5 Na Yeon Choi, No. 6 Ai Miyazato, No. 8 I.K. Kim, No. 9 Paula Creamer and No. 10 Brittany Lincicome. Also in the field are 2008 champion Seon Hwa Lee, LPGA and World Golf Halls of Fame members Juli Inkster and Karrie Webb, all 12 U.S. Solheim Cup team members, and nine of 12 European Solheim Cup team members.

Can anyone stop Tseng?
Rolex Rankings No. 1 Yani Tseng and Walmart defending champion continues to add lines to her already impressive résumé in 2011. The 22-year-old became the youngest player, male or female, to win five major titles in August at the RICOH Women's British Open. In all, she has nine LPGA victories in her four-year career including three other victories - Honda LPGA Thailand, State Farm Classic and Wegmans LPGA Championship - this season. Tseng, who has held the No. 1 position in the Rolex Rankings for 29 consecutive weeks, is looking to sweep the year-end LPGA awards. She currently holds the lead in the Rolex Player of the Year race (which she also won in 2010), the contest for the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average and the LPGA money list.

Rallying Rookies
Hee Kyung Seo, a.k.a. "The Supermodel of the Fairway", is currently dominating the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race. She has carded seven top-25 finishes this season including a runner-up finish at the U.S. Women's Open. Chasing Seo in the race for the Louise Suggs Trophy are No. 2 Ryann O'Toole and No. 3 Tiffany Joh. Joh, Jenny Shin (No. 5) and Jennifer Johnson (No. 8) all recently gained points with season-best finishes at the CN Canadian Women's Open.

Americans on the Rise
Several U.S. players have been making some recent charges up the money list. American players swept the topfive positions at the CN Canadian Women's Open (1. Brittany Lincicome, T2. Michelle Wie, Stacy Lewis, T4 Cristie Kerr, Angela Stanford.) In the last two LPGA tournaments - CN and the Safeway Classic - 11 different American players - Lincicome, Wie, Lewis, Kerr, Stanford, Paula Creamer, Vicky Hurst, Ryann O'Toole, Brittany Lang, Alison Walshe and Gerina Piller - posted top-10 finishes. O'Toole was the surprise captain's pick for the U.S. Solheim squad. O'Toole, a three-time LPGA Futures Tour winner, has posted two top-10 finishes in eight starts on the LPGA Tour this season, including a tie for fifth at the Safeway Classic.

Bam Bam Makes Her Move
Brittany Lincicome, a.k.a. "Bam Bam", heads to Arkansas fresh off her second LPGA victory of the 2011 season. The five-time winner is the only American to notch two wins this year. Her win at the CN Canadian Women's Open moved her up five spots in the Rolex Rankings to No. 10 - her first appearance in the top 10 this season. After the victory, the long-hitting Lincicome, who sings to keep herself loose on the course, headed home to Florida for a week of early morning fishing expeditions and a one-day stint caddieing for a friend in a mini-tour event. Lincicome's power has her atop the charts in several LPGA statistical categories including eagles (2nd), birdies (4th), scoring (7th at 71.04) and driving distance (4th 265.8 yards). Lincicome is the only player on the LPGA Tour to finish in the top-three in driving distance every year for the last six years.

NYC Heats Up
2010 Vare Trophy winner Na Yeon Choi, nicknamed "NYC", has yet to win in 2011, but the talented South Korean player may be on the verge of capturing her fifth career LPGA title. Choi, who also led the 2010 LPGA official money list, has finished in the top seven in her last three starts including a runner-up finish to Suzann Pettersen at the Safeway Classic. A perfectionist on the course, outside the ropes Choi has been striving to perfect her language skills this year, traveling with a private tutor.

The Razorback Returns - Stacy Lewis
Former University of Arkansas stand-out Stacy Lewis has found her groove in her third year on the LPGA Tour. A regular presence atop LPGA leaderboards, Lewis became a Rolex First-Time Winner and a major champion at the 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship. The four-time All American, who captured 12 collegiate victories including the 2007 NCAA Division 1 National Championship, has posted eight top-10 finishes in 2011. While ranking second in the Rolex Player of the Year race, third in birdies and third in scoring, Lewis spends much of her time outside the ropes giving back to fans and the community. Lewis, an inspiration to young girls and women living with scoliosis, conducts meet and greets with those battling the condition throughout the season. In July, Lewis also initiated a golf outing with three U.S. servicemen from the Wounded Warrior project at the U.S. Women's Open.

Another Rising Razorback
University of Arkansas sophomore Emily Tubert will compete this week on a sponsor's exemption. Tubert, a California native, is coming off an impressive freshman season where she set new school records with the bestever finish for a freshman at the NCAA Championship, ending tied for 19th, and carded the lowest round of the season with a 63.Tubert's strong amateur resume also includes the 2010 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links title.

Pettersen and Miyazato - Playing for their Countries
Rolex Rankings No. 2 Suzann Pettersen and No. 6 Ai Miyazato may not be from the same continent, but they share a common purpose, playing to heal the hearts of their countrymen. Pettersen learned of the tragic events in Norway at the Evian Masters and she has played with renewed purpose since. After the RICOH Women's British Open, Pettersen and 150,000 other Norwegians took part in a tribute to those that lost their lives. Pettersen went on to win the Ladies Irish Open on the Ladies European Tour (LET) the following week and then captured the Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola. Miyazato's emotional win at the Evian Masters came several months after the devastating events in Japan. Miyazato has worked hard this season, along with fellow Japanese players Momoko Ueda and Mika Miyazato, to raise money to help in the relief efforts through their own initiative "Never Give Up" Japan.

Moving on up
The Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G continues to elevate itself each year in purse, field and community impact. While this year's event boasts the strongest field in tournament history, the purse has grown from $1.25 in 2007 to $2 million in 2011. The purse ranks as the highest in the U.S. for a non-major. The tournament also continues to increase its impact on the community through Pantene Beautiful Lengths, NWA Foodbank donations, the First Tee, Mars Petcare and other initiatives.

Danielle Kang Makes Debut
Two-time U.S. Women's Amateur champion Danielle Kang will make her professional debut on a sponsor's invitation this week. Kang has compiled a stellar amateur record. She competed for a year at the University of Pepperdine and recently became the first player in 15 years to repeat as U.S. Amateur champion. As an amateur, Kang has also made the cut in three of the four LPGA Tour major championships with her best finish coming at this year's Ricoh Women's British Open where she earned low amateur honors.

A 9-11 Tribute
Sunday, September 11 will mark the 10th anniversary of the tragic terrorist attacks on NYC and the Pentagon. In a special tribute to the lives lost, all active and retired service personnel, along with their accompanying families, as well as all fire, police and emergency employees, will receive free admission throughout tournament week. In addition, on Sunday, Sept. 11th, the tournament will have an Honorary Pin Flag program. The traditional pin flags on all 18 greens will feature the American flag and representatives from all four military branches as well as fire and police personnel in full uniform will serve as pin flag bearers. At the conclusion of play on Sunday, a brief 9/11 program will be hosted by U.S. Rep. and military veteran Steve Womack on the 18th green.

The First Tee
Participants in area First Tee programs will compete in the official pro-ams Wednesday and Thursday. LPGA players with First Tee connections are Brittany Lincicome who is an honorary member of The First Tee of St. Petersburg Board of Directors and Paula Creamer who serves on The First Tee's Young Ambassadors Council. The Mars First Tee dinner will be held Wednesday evening. Five First Tee students and four LPGA players will each speak to one of the nine First Tee core values. LPGA players slated to speak are Lincicome, Creamer, Mina Harigae, who is a former First Tee student, and LPGA and World Golf Halls of Fame member Amy Alcott.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths
The Pantene Beautiful Lengths event will feature more members of the community donating their hair than ever before hair to benefit those suffering from hair loss due to cancer. Natalie Gulbis will again serve as the player host for the evening, while LPGA players Kris Tamulis and Tiffany Joh are expected to donate their hair. Many LPGA players, including Cristie Kerr, Michelle Wie, Jiyai Shin and Ai Miyazato, came out for the 2010 event to help cut hair. Previous LPGA players who have donated hair for the cause are Christina Kim, Jeehae Lee, Vicky Hurst, Chella Choi and Paige Mackenzie.

Feeding the Community
As the primary charitable beneficiary of this year's Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank will receive a minimum cash and food donation of $500,000, tournament officials announced today.

According to Marge Wolf, President and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, this gift on behalf of the tournament and its sponsors represents the single largest contribution the organization has ever received.

"A gift of this size has the potential to help feed 40,000 families in need in this region," Wolf said. She added that the gift will also enable the Food Bank to purchase an additional refrigerated vehicle to help the organization transport food throughout the region.

“The catalyst for this gift was a $200,000 cash contribution to the Food Bank from the Walmart Foundation,” said Jay Allen, Tournament Chairman. “The Foundation gift came in the form of a challenge grant with the expectation that the tournament and its sponsors would follow suit with contributions of their own totaling at least $200,000. In fact six other tournament sponsors along with the tournament responded to the challenge grant with an additional $300,000 in cash and food donations to the Food Bank bringing the total contribution to a minimum of $500,000.”

In addition to this contribution, those attending the M&M’s/Extra Dickson Street Concert in Fayetteville featuring Huey Lewis and the News on Friday, Sept. 9 will be able to add to this contribution. The concert is free to the public but those in attendance will have an opportunity to make a voluntary donation of $5 or more with all proceeds benefitting the NWA Food Bank.

Along with the Walmart Foundation, the sponsors who made contributions of cash and food toward this initiative include Campbell's, General Mills, Kraft, Mars & Wrigley, Sara Lee and Tyson.

Mars Petcare
On Thursday LPGA player Mollie Fankhauser will take part in a donation by Mars Petcare. Mars will donate 3000 lbs (three thousand pounds) of PEDIGREE® Dry Dog Food and 900 lbs (nine hundred pounds) of Special Kitty® Dry Cat Food. Additional LPGA players TBD. Fankhauser spends much of her time off the course giving back time to pet charitable initiatives. She visits pit bull rescues at nearly every Tour stop.

Woman's Golf Day
U.S. Solheim Cup teammates Morgan Pressel and Cristie Kerr will attend the Woman's Golf Day reception from 4:00-6:00 Tuesday at the Pinnacle Country Club.