In the shadow of Lambeau Field, the LPGA returns for year two of the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The event was a hit in year one with Katherine Kirk claiming her first LPGA victory in seven years. She’s back to defend in 2018 and is certainly a can’t miss on the promotional materials. The image of the roar she let out after a big putt to win last year is plastered all over town. When Kirk came for a visit last month to promote the tournament, she said she was “cheesed” to be returning. That’s Aussie slang for “really excited”, probably.
Coming off the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, the third major of the year, No. 1 Inbee Park is not in the field, but No. 2 Sung Hyun Park, who dazzled with brilliant play down the stretch on Sunday, is in the field looking to go back-to-back. Sung Hyun has pulled within less than one average point from the No. 1 ranking so a win this week in Green Bay could push her to the top spot in the Rolex world rankings. Sung Hyun moved to No. 1 in the world late in 2017, but held it for just one week. Based on her play Sunday, she may be destined to hold it a bit longer this time around. Other world top players in the field include No. 9 Moriya Jutanugarn and No. 10 Minjee Lee.
Thornberry Creek was very scorable a year ago as Kirk won with a four-day total of 22-under, which included a 63 on day two. Ashleigh Buhai finished one shot back at 21-under while Sei Young Kim finished third at 20-under and Pornanong Phatlum came in fourth at 19-under. All four are in the field this week looking for similar results.
A 13 Year Old is Playing This Week
Alexa Pano, 13, is making her LPGA debut this week on a sponsors exemption. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida native is a golf prodigy. She is already a five-time U.S. Kids Golf world champion and a three-time Callaway Junior World champion. She also won her second Drive, Chip & Putt title at Augusta National in 2017. Pano even played in a Japan LPGA event at the age of 11.
In a recent Global Golf Post article, her swing instructor Spencer Graham, compared her to proven major champions on the LPGA.
"This is a girl that comes along once in a couple decades," said Graham. "It's a Lexi Thompson, it's a Lydia Ko, it's a Yani Tseng. I think she is going to be No. 1 in the world like Lorena Ochoa or Annika Sorenstam did."
Alexa first received notoriety when she starred in the 2013 Netflix film "The Short Game", which was produced by Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel. The film chronicled seven and eight year olds, like Alexa at the time, competing in the U.S. Kids World Golf Championships at Pinehurst.
At the tournament media day in early June, Pano seemed excited and confident about her unique opportunity to compete against the worlds best.
"I love the golf course and everyone has been so great to me here, especially the members," said Pano. "This is what I want to do with my future (play on the LPGA) so getting into it as soon as possible and as young as possible is a big deal for me. There are a lot of opportunities for birdies and hopefully I will be taking advantage of those."
Gabby Lemieux, a former Texas Tech golfer, will her professional debut on a sponsors exemption and Selanee Henderson is also playing on an exemption.
Will 19 Year Old Hataoka Contend for Third Straight Week?
In the last two weeks, Nasa Hataoka has solidified her name amongst the elites in the game. Two weeks ago she won the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship by six shots and last week she forced herself into a three-way playoff with a final round 64 and came up just short of back-to-back wins. Three weeks ago, she was No. 30 in the world. Now, she's knocking on the door of the top 10 at No. 12.
Hataoka ranks second on Tour in money earned, fourth in the Race to the CME Globe, fourth in Rolex Player of the Year and fifth in top 10 percentage. She has finished inside the top 10 in six of her last seven starts. Amazingly, she had zero top 10 finishes in her first seven starts of the year.
In her last four starts, she has pocketed $700,405, that's 72% of her total earnings for the season.
If you're wondering, Hataoka missed the cut last year at Thornberry, but she comes in this year as a completely different player.
Which Putter Will Show Up for Henderson?
Brooke Henderson isn't afraid to experiment with new putters. It's the one of the part of her game that comes into question from time-to-time. The six-time LPGA winner has struggled with the flatstick the last two weekends she's played. At the Meijer LPGA classic three weeks ago, she attempted 30 putts in round three and 33 in the final round. Last week at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, she went 32-33 in putts attempted over the weekend. By the way, she still finished in a tie for sixth.
Last week, Henderson was using the Ping Craz-E putter, a similar one to the putter she used to win her first LPGA title. She said that the putter she used when she won in Hawaii earlier this year only lasted a few events after the win.
This is what Henderson said in her pre-tournament presser.
"'I've been switching around putters a little bit. I switched again, but I really like this one, and I used it yesterday, and it seemed to work pretty well. I have positive thoughts going into this week, and hopefully I can just follow my game plan as best you can in a major championship and then hopefully catch a couple breaks along the way."
Henderson went onto explain why she has switched putters four times this year.
"I just love looking down at a putter and feeling excited, and I think to do that, I kind of have to switch a lot," she said. "But when I won in Hawai'i, that putter worked great for a couple weeks, and then it wasn't working anymore, so I had to get rid of it. It's just a feel thing. Sometimes when you go through a slump you just need that kind of fresh new look and that kind of great feeling that you get with a new putter, so that's pretty much all I'm looking for."
We'll see if she decides on a new putter for this week or sticks with the Ping Craz-E putter.
15 UL International Crown Participants in Field
The LPGA announced the 32 players that have qualified for the 2018 UL International Crown on Monday at the UL headquarters in Chicago. The four-person teams, which feature the best players from the top eight golfing countries, will compete in Incheon, Korea from Oct. 4-7.
A total of 15 players in the UL International Crown are in field this week including Sung Hyun Park from Team Republic of Korea, the Jutanugarn sisters from Team Thailand, Nasa Hataoka from Team Japan, Minjee Lee from Team Australia and Anna Nordqvist from Team Sweden.
Team Republic of Korea are favorites while Team USA will look to defend the crown.
Lydia Ko Makes First Start in Green Bay
Lydia Ko didn't play last year at the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic so this will be her first start in Green Bay. The 15-time LPGA winner has five top 10 finishes in 15 starts this year. Four of those top 5 finishes have come in her last seven starts. Ko finished T31 last week at the major, but finished T9 the week prior.
Ko has won a tournament in six of the last seven years, remarkable considering she is only 21 years old.
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