Past Champions, Top Ranked Players And Texans Highlight Field

The sixth edition of the Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic will once again have a strong field of past champions and top ranked players. Top ranked players in the field include world No. 5 Sung Hyun Park, No. 6 Ariya Jutanugarn, No. 8 Cristie Kerr and No. 11 Anna Nordqvist. Past champions Jenny Shin (2016) and Stacy Lewis (2014) are also in the field. Further, recent 2018 winners are also teeing it up in Texas. Lydia Ko, who won last week in San Francisco, is in the field along with Moriya Jutanugarn, who won two weeks ago in Los Angeles and Brooke Henderson, who won at the start of this stretch of tournaments in Hawaii.

Stacy Lewis in Texas After Revealing First Child on Way

Stacy Lewis grew up in The Woodlands, Texas, a Houston suburb, which is about 230 miles southeast of Old American Golf Club. Last week, Lewis revealed that she and her husband, Gerrod Chadwell, are expecting their first child this November. Golfweek first reported the news. Lewis said she plans to continue to play through the Marathon Classic in mid-July before she puts the clubs aside to prepare for a growing family. Lewis has made four starts this season including last week where she missed the cut at the MEDIHEAL Championship in San Francisco. Her best finish this season is a T55 at the ANA Inspiration. Lewis has generally played well when the LPGA rolls through the Lone Star state. She finished in a tie for 17^th last year and tied for 19^th the year prior. Lewis won in Texas in 2014 with a four-day total of 16-under. She turned in a final-round 64 to win by six shots on a windy day in Texas.

Pride of Fort Worth Always a Headliner in Texas

Angela Stanford has a busy week ahead of her even before the Volunteers of America LPGA Classic begins. On Monday, she is hosting her annual charity pro-am event to raise money for the Angela Stanford Foundation, which has the mission of serving children and young adults in the Fort Worth area affected by cancer. The foundation has also given out 40 scholarships since 2012 in the total amount of $125,000. There are a total of 21 LPGA players taking part in the pro-am including past stars like Michelle McGann. Stanford has been a golfing star in Fort Worth since her amateur days. She won the Fort Worth Girls Championship four times and won the 1996 Texas State 4A State Championship. At Texas Christian University, she was a four-time All-American and the 1999 WAC Player of the Year. Stanford is a five-time LPGA Tour winner and has accumulated 91 top 10 finishes with earnings exceeding $10 million. At 40 years old, Stanford is still competing at a high level. Her best finish this season is a tie for eighth at the HSBC Women’s World Championship. She finished in a tie for 16^th in Texas in 2016.

Lydia Ko in Field Fresh Off First Win Since 2016

Questions began to swirl around Lydia Ko. Did she make too many sweeping changes? Was her new swing good enough to produce another win? There was no panic in Ko eventhough she had only one top 10 finish through her first eight starts of the season. On Sunday, she put all the questions to rest with a playoff win over Minjee Lee at the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship. Only a few days after her 21^st birthday, Ko now has 15 LPGA wins. For perspective, Tiger Woods had just six wins by his 22^nd birthday and Jordan Spieth had five. Ko made a nice move from 31^st to ninth on the Race to the CME Globe. She also moved up to No. 13 in the world.

Meet The Amateurs

There are two amateurs playing this week on exemptions. The first is Annika Clark, a junior at TCU (Texas Christian University). As a sophomore (2016-17), she held a 74.3 stroke average, the eighth lowest in the history of the program. The Highlands, Texas native won the 2015 WTGA State Amateur Championship before heading off to college. Clark has the third lowest scoring average on the Horned Frogs this year and is tied for the most rounds played. The second amateur invite is Meagan Winans, a freshman at Plano East High School. Winans, 15, turned in a 73 to win the high school/college qualifier to earn her spot. Winans is a very successful junior on the All-American Tour (AAT) in Texas. In her last five starts, she has finished inside the top five in each event with a win at the AAT Winter Showcase.

Other Notables

• Danah Bordner, a mother of two, last played full-time on LPGA in 2015. She will make her first start of 2018 this week in The Colony. Bordner made just three starts in 2017. A hamstring injury sidelined her all of 2016. Bordner’s daughters, Taylor and Reagan, typically travel with her. Her youngest, Reagan, will turn four this summer.
• Natalie Gulbis will make her second start of the season. Gulbis, who debuted in 2001 at the U.S. Women’s Open, finished T42 at the HUGEL-JTBC LA Open in her first start.
• Mckinney, Texas native Brittany Lang is another player competing in a place she’s very comfortable. The two-time LPGA winner finished T13 in Texas last year.
• Former Texas Tech golfer and current Dallas area resident Kim Kaufman is in the field. Kaufman has ten career top 10 finishes.
• Former University of Texas golfer Katelyn Sepmoree will make her second start of the season.