The third edition of the ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics is set to begin on Thursday, August 17, and the field features 22 dual LPGA/LET members as well as 10 LPGA Tour winners, including Ireland’s Leona Maguire.
All 144 players will play one round each at Galgorm Castle Golf Club and Castlerock Golf Club with a cut to the top 60 and ties made following 36 holes. The competition will then be played only at Galgorm over the weekend and another cut will be made to the top 35 and ties after 54 holes are completed. A $1.5 million purse with a winner’s check of $225,000 is up for grabs this week as are valuable Solheim Cup points for those trying to solidify their places on their respective teams.
Take a look at a few featured groups who will be duking it out over the next four days for the ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics title.
Thursday, 8:14 a.m. (Castlerock) – Mina Harigae/Anne van Dam/Leona Maguire
Three veterans will tee off at 8:14 a.m. at Castlerock Golf Club, but only one is an LPGA Tour winner. Mina Harigae has come close to earning that delineation a handful of times since her rookie year in 2010, most recently falling just short at the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club and finishing runner-up to champion Minjee Lee. Things have been pretty lackluster this season for the 33-year-old as she has missed seven cuts in 16 total starts, earning her best result of the season at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club where she finished T24. But Harigae does rank inside the top 20 on the LPGA Tour in putts per green in regulation (1.78, 19) and driving accuracy (79.91%, 20).
Anne van Dam is a name we don’t see much on the LPGA Tour these days, but the Netherlands native has been playing some solid golf on the Ladies European Tour. She has two top-five finishes on her resume, a tie for second at the Jabra Ladies Open and a tie for third at the Scandinavian Mixed, as well as a tie for 25th at the Amundi German Masters. Van Dam has only played in one LPGA Tour event so far this season, the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei where she missed the cut, so it will be interesting to see how she tackles this week in Northern Ireland.
Leona Maguire is one of the headliners in this week’s field as the two-time LPGA Tour winner is the only Irishwoman set to tee it up at the ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics. She became a Rolex First-Time Winner last season at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Crown Colony and picked up her second career victory earlier this year at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. The 28-year-old has recorded five additional T11 or better finishes, the best of which came at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play presented by MGM Rewards where she finished third. This is just her second appearance in this event and she finished solo 10th in her 2022 debut. While Maguire has cooled slightly since tying for 11th at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, look for the Duke University alum to turn on the gas in front of a hometown crowd who will be sure to trek to Northern Ireland to watch her compete.
Thursday, 12:52 p.m. (Galgorm) – Cara Gainer/Stephanie Meadow/Ryann O’Toole
Ladies European Tour member Cara Gainer will be alongside two LPGA Tour veterans on Thursday when the tournament gets underway, playing with Stephanie Meadow and Ryann O’Toole. She’s had a strong season thus far on the LET, earning three top-five results after finishing runner-up at the Amundi Evian Masters, solo third at the La Salla Open and in a tie for fourth at the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open. Gainer has recorded three other top 15s, a T9 at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open and a pair of T14s at the Saudi Ladies International and Belgian Ladies Open. She currently sits eighth in the Race to Costa del Sol and will be looking to rise to the occasion this week as she takes on some of the game’s best.
Northern Irishwoman Stephanie Meadow is the only past champion of the ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics in the field this week, winning the 2019 edition of the event before it was a co-sanctioned tournament. She beat Charley Hull by just one stroke that year to earn her second professional victory. Since then, the 31-year-old has earned six of her seven career top 10s on the LPGA Tour, most recently tying for third at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course. Statistically, Meadow is second in strokes gained putting (+1.41), sixth in putting average (28.93) and 12th in putts per green in regulation (1.77), a deadly combination that proves the lethality of her flat stick.
Ryann O’Toole is making her third start in the ISPS Handa World Invitational where she finished T14 in 2021 and missed the cut in 2022. It’s been an up-and-down year for the 36-year-old so far this season. She earned four top-25 finishes in her first nine events of the year, recording her season-best at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions where she finished T12. But O’Toole missed five straight cuts in June and July, finally righting the ship during the #LPGAEuroSwing with a T28 finish at The Amundi Evian Championship and a T21 finish at the AIG Women’s Open to cap off the 2023 major season. She’ll look to carry that momentum into this week as she works to earn her second LPGA Tour title and first since the 2021 FREED GROUP Women’s Scottish Open presented by Trust Golf.
Thursday, 1:14 p.m. (Galgorm) – Georgia Hall/Albane Valenzuela/Esther Henseleit
Another of the marquee names in the field in Northern Ireland is that of major champion Georgia Hall. The Englishwoman is teeing it up in the ISPS Handa World Invitational for the third consecutive year, finishing T14 in 2021 and solo third in 2022. Hall got off to an incredibly fast start this year, earning six top-15 results in her first six events of the 2023 season, including two back-to-back solo seconds at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain and the DIO Implant LA Open. But she has slowed slightly, missing three cuts, two of which were at major championships, and only earning one top 10 in her last eight starts, a tie for 10th at the Cognizant Founders Cup. She made back-to-back cuts at The Amundi Evian Championship and AIG Women’s Open to round out the 2023 major season on the LPGA Tour and will hope to stay trending in a positive direction as she searches for her first win since the 2020 Portland Classic this week in Northern Ireland.
Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela has been in fine form this season, earning three of her six career top-10 results in 2023, including a T4 at The Chevron Championship, fifth at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play presented by MGM Rewards and T6 at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer. Statistically, Valenzuela currently leads the Tour in sand saves at 65% and is also 21st in strokes gained approach (+0.68). This is her first appearance in the Handa World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics and considering her good form and recent history of Rolex First-Time Winners in Northern Ireland, the stars just might align for the Stanford University alum to take home her first Tour title since becoming an LPGA Tour member in 2020.
Esther Henseleit has only played in one ISPS Handa World Invitational, tying for 34th in the 2021 edition of the event, a result she’ll look to improve upon this week. So far this season on the LPGA Tour, the German has been quietly consistent, earning five top-20 results, the most notable of which is a tie for 14th at The Amundi Evian Championship a few weeks ago. According to KPMG Performance Insights, the 24-year-old is 11th in strokes gained approach and 26th in strokes gained tee-to-green. She has played in three LET events this year, not counting the co-sanctioned European events, finishing in the top 20 twice at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open (T17) and Lalla Meryem Cup (T11).
*All times local
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