Sweet tea, humidity and a great golf course are just a few things LPGA players will find plentiful this week as the Tour heads to Alabama for the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic.
The Senator Course at Prattville’s Capitol Hill, part of the state’s famed Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, is primed and ready for a stellar field of hungry players looking to cap another LPGA three-week stretch with a big win. Chief among those will be 2012 tournament champion Stacy Lewis, who finished second to Mi Jung Hur a year ago and who is coming off a sudden-death playoff loss to Lydia Ko.
Lewis, who finished first in U.S. Solheim Cup Team points to grab the first of 10 automatic spots on the 2015 team, should have plenty of motivation after her second sudden-death loss of the season. Hur will be looking to become the first repeat Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic champion since Hall of Famer Lorena Ochoa won the event in 2008 and 2009.
Lexi Thompson, who will also represent the United States at the Solheim Cup in Germany next month, won this tournament at the senator Course in 2012 and could be a factor on the weekend. Fellow 2015 U.S. Solheim Cup Team members Brittany Lincicome and Angela Stanford will join Thompson and Lewis in this week’s field.
Anna Nordqvist and Charley Hull will represent the Europeans, who are looking for a third consecutive Solheim Cup victory, this week in Alabama. Australia’s Katherine Kirk, the tournament’s 2010 champion, is also teeing it up and will be looking for good memories from the course to propel her to her first top 10 of the season.
In addition, 2015 tournament winners Minjee Lee, Chella Choi, Brooke Henderson, Hyo Joo Kim and Sei Young Kim are teeing it up in the $1.3 million event. University of Alabama fans will be able to cheer for former Crimson Tide standout Brooke Pancake, who no doubt will thrill one of her sponsors by making a stop at a Waffle House to grab some breakfast while she is in town.
Golf fans can also see players like Ai Miyazato, Shanshan Feng, Beatriz Recari, Yani Tseng and Austin Ernst chase down birdies inside the ropes all weekend. Tournament champions have averaged 17-under-par winning totals, so red numbers should litter the leaderboard.
Next week, players get a week off to rest and begin traveling to France for The Evian Championship, the Tour’s fifth and final major of the season, before the 14th installment of the Solheim Cup takes place the following week. So, this weekend’s event is a crucial measuring stick for how their games stand heading into the home stretch.
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