Each event on the LPGA Tour schedule holds its own unique place in the league’s more than 70-year history. Sunday, the newest addition to the schedule wrapped up in Ohio with the first edition of the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G. Ally Ewing made history as the event’s inaugural champion. The victory marks the third win in as many years for the 29-year-old, who surprised herself with her return to the winner’s circle given the challenges she faced throughout the year with a balky putter that kept her outside the top 10 all season long.
“It's been really tough for me mentally just knowing that I've been hitting it so great. Seeing that stuff everywhere, seeing the stats, knowing I'm not hitting putts like I want to. It's just being kind of the thing holding me back,” Ewing said about her struggles this year. “Obviously, here, you know, just had it working and it was a lot of fun to finally put it all together.”
Players now shift their focus from the Tour’s newest stop to one of its oldest as they make the cross-country journey to Oregon for the AmazingCre Portland Classic, the longest-running, non-major on the LPGA Tour.
The tournament has been a fixture on the Tour’s schedule since 1972 and Thursday makes its return to its long-established home at Columbia Edgewater Country Club after a year away at Oregon Golf Club.
In what is the Tour’s lone stop in the Pacific Northwest, Columbia Edgewater has hosted the tournament for the better part of three decades. Built back in 1925, the course is one of the most unique and picturesque stops on Tour with a traditional Pacific Northwest style layout which features towering pines and more than four dozen bunkers that challenge players throughout.
The players who have hoisted the trophy in Portland include a who’s who of women’s golf. Kathy Whitworth won the inaugural tournament in what was the first of back-to-back titles and in the years that followed was joined by the likes of JoAnne Carner, Nancy Lopez, Annika Sorenstam, and Suzann Pettersen as multiple winners of the historic event.
More than a dozen major champions make up the field for the 51st playing of the AmazingCre Portland Classic, which features a tournament record $1.5 million purse. Nelly Korda, winner of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, is making her tournament debut as the top-ranked player in the field. Major winners Patty Tavatanakit, So Yeon Ryu, A Lim Kim, Angela Stanford, Na Yeon Choi, Sung Hyun Park, Pernilla Lindberg, Hinako Shibuno, and Mo Martin will also compete in Oregon.
Two-time winner Brooke Henderson, who earned her breakthrough win on the LPGA Tour in Portland in 2015, a title she successfully defended, is also in the field. She’s joined by past champions Georgia Hall (2020), Hannah Green (2019), and Marina Alex (2018).
Beginning once more on Thursday in Portland, the best in the game will seek to etch their name beside the game’s greats who have won there. That rich history has come to define the tournament and earned it a unique place not just on the schedule but in players’ hearts for more than 50 years. And with it, a special place in the history of the LPGA Tour.
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