Tee times at the 69th playing of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship begin at 7 a.m. on June 22 at Baltusrol Golf Club and the 156-player field is sure to be tested by the tough conditions at the Lower Course in Springfield, N.J. Ten past champions and 19 of the top 20 players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings are set to tee it up this week in the Garden State and here are just a few of the groups to watch at the second major of the 2023 LPGA Tour season.

Thursday, 7:55 a.m. Anna Nordqvist/Atthaya Thitikul/Ayaka Furue

Veteran talent and young talent meet in the 7:55 a.m. grouping which features nine-time LPGA Tour winner Anna Nordqvist playing alongside a pair of 2022 rookies in Atthaya Thitikul and Ayaka Furue. The 2021 AIG Women’s Open winner has played solid so far this season, missing just one cut and recording five top-15 finishes in nine starts this year, including a pair of top 10s at the Honda LPGA Thailand and Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play presented by MGM Rewards where she finished in a tie for tenth and ninth, respectively. Putting has seemed to be Nordqvist’s bugaboo in recent years, but she’s figured something out this season, jumping from 110th at the conclusion of last season to 53rd through nine starts in 2023 in putts per green in regulation and is currently sitting at 13th in strokes gained putting (+0.93), according to KPMG Performance Insights.

Thitikul and Furue have both had incredibly hot seasons ahead of this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. In nine starts this year, the 20-year-old Thailand native hasn’t finished worse than T33, recording seven top-10 finishes, three of which are top-fives, including a solo third at the Honda LPGA Thailand, a T4 at The Chevron Championship and a T5 at the Cognizant Founders Cup. Thitikul is third in strokes gained total (+2.13) and seventh in strokes gained putting (+1.19) this season and is leading the Tour in rounds under par (29).

Furue has earned five top-five finishes in 12 starts this year, including a runner-up at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play after she lost to Pajaree Anannarukarn in the championship match at Shadow Creek. She has two additional top 15s that both came in the last two weeks as the 23-year-old finished T13 at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give and solo 14th at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer. When it comes to putting, Furue is one of the players to beat as she ranks 5th in strokes gained putting (+1.22) and has made 93 putts of 10 feet or longer this season, 17 more than any other player.

Thursday, 8:39 a.m. Lexi Thompson/Rose Zhang/Minjee Lee

All eyes will be on the 8:39 a.m. grouping as Rose Zhang makes her major debut as a professional alongside major champions Lexi Thompson and Minjee Lee, both of whom finished T2 at last year’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club. Thompson returned to LPGA Tour competition last week in Belmont, Mich. after taking a little over a month away from the game to reset. She’s had a tough go of it on Tour this season as she’s dealt with a lingering hand injury, missing three cuts in only four starts, but the long break should have Thompson feeling refreshed and raring to go this week, as she looks to turn her season around at Baltusrol.

Amateur superstar Zhang was catapulted into the spotlight following her historic win at the Mizuho Americas Open which saw the 20-year-old become a Rolex First-Time Winner in her professional debut on the LPGA Tour after defeating major champion Jennifer Kupcho in a playoff. While her Tour tenure is young, Zhang has more than enough experience playing in major championships, teeing it up in 10 total since 2018 and recording a best finish of T11 at The Chevron Championship in 2020. Though she will have the collective golf world’s attention on the first tee on Thursday, Zhang will sit back and take it all in, just like she’s done in every other big moment in her golf career.

After finishing no better than T41 in her first four starts of the 2023 season, Lee has turned on the gas in her last three starts, earning three top-15 finishes, including a solo second at the Cognizant Founders Cup after losing in a playoff to Jin Young Ko at Upper Montclair Country Club. Although she’s been quiet on the course, statistically, Lee is right in the conversation, leading in statistical categories that will be key at Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Lee is fourth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.91), fifth in strokes gained approach (+1.22) and seventh in strokes gained driving (+0.79), excluding players with less than 30% of rounds played.

Thursday, 2:01 p.m. Nelly Korda/Lydia Ko/Jin Young Ko

The top three players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Jin Young Ko, Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko, are in the 2:01 p.m. grouping off the 10th tee on Thursday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Korda is making her return to the Tour this week after taking the last two weeks ago to rehab a back injury that was bothering her following a missed cut at the Cognizant Founders Cup. But despite that bit of adversity, the 24-year-old has had an incredibly solid 2023 season thus far, recording six T6 or better finishes in eight total starts, including a solo second at the HSBC Women’s World Championship when her group mate, Jin Young Ko, successfully defended her title in Singapore. Korda captured her first and only major title at the 2021 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club and is looking to add to a second to her already impressive resume this week at Baltusrol.

Opening her year with a T6 at the Honda LPGA Thailand, Lydia Ko just hasn’t been able to get it in gear this season, missing two cuts and notching a best finish of T31 since that week at Siam Country Club's Pattaya Old Course. The New Zealand native comes to Springfield, N.J. fresh off one of those two missed cuts at last week’s Meijer LPGA Classic and will need to find a way to put the pieces together if she wants to capture her third major title and earn those remaining two points needed to enter the LPGA Hall of Fame.

Rolex Rankings No. 1 Jin Young Ko tied the record for most weeks at No. 1 in the world on Monday, matching Lorena Ochoa’s mark of 158, and is looking to take home her second win of the year in the Garden State and third victory of the 2023 season. In addition to her two wins, Ko has been a force to be reckoned with this year, recording four additional top-15 finishes, and ahead of this week, she ranks third in greens in regulation (75%) and fifth in scoring average (69.34). Many players will say that the Korean is the best player in the game at the moment, whether she’s at No. 1 or not, and Ko should be one to watch come Sunday with a chance to win her third major championship.

Featured Groups: KPMG Women’s PGA Championship

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