The second major of the 2023 LPGA Tour season is on deck this week, with the 69th playing of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship set to begin on Thursday, June 22 at historic Baltusrol Golf Club’s recently restored Lower Course. The 156-player field will feature 19 of the top 20 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, a group that includes current world No. 1 Jin Young Ko, 2021 KPMG Women’s PGA Champion Nelly Korda and defending champion In Gee Chun.
But one of the most special things about this event is the inclusion of eight LPGA and PGA of America professionals who will tee it up alongside the world’s top talent after qualifying via the 2022 LPGA Professionals National Championship and the 2023 PGA Women’s Stroke Play Championship. Meet the eight members of the 2023 Corebridge Financial PGA Team competing at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in Springfield, N.J.
Sandra Changkija, LPGA/PGA
Home: Kissimmee, Fla.
LPGA Classification: A
PGA Section: North Florida
Facility: Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate, Davenport, Fla.
Representing Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate, 34-year-old Sandra Changkija will be making her seventh appearance in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She is a three-time winner of the PGA Women’s Stroke Play Championship, capturing the 2021, 2022 and 2023 titles, and won the 2022 LPGA Professionals National Championship. Changkija also captured the 2022 North Florida PGA Section Championship and 2022 North Florida PGA Stableford Championship titles last season en route to earning 2022 North Florida PGA Woman Player of the Year and 2022 Women’s PGA Professional Player of the Year honors.
She turned professional in 2011 after a standout career at Nova Southeastern University that saw her win 16 collegiate titles and be named Division II Player of the Year a record-setting four times. Changkija played on the LPGA Tour from 2012 to 2019, earning four career top-10 results with a best finish of solo fifth that came at the 2017 Dana Open.
Joanna Coe, PGA
Home: Haverford, Pa.
PGA Section: Philadelphia
Facility: Merion Golf Club, Haverford, Pa.
Joanna Coe is the PGA Director of Instruction at Merion Golf Club in Haverford, Pa. and will be making her fifth start at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship this week at Baltusrol. She finished runner-up in the 2022 LPGA Professionals National Championship after losing in a playoff to champion Sandra Changkija.
Coe won the Women’s Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship and Philadelphia PGA Conestoga Classic in 2022, earning Philadelphia PGA Women’s Player of the Year honors that same year. Coe has six consecutive Mid-Atlantic Section Women’s Player of the Year Awards on her resume and is a two-time winner of the Middle-Atlantic PGA Women’s Championship. Coe captured the 2019 PGA Women’s Stroke Play Championship title and was the inaugural Women’s PGA Professional Player of the Year Award recipient that same year. She was also a member of the 2019 and 2022 Women’s PGA Cup teams.
The 33-year-old played in the U.S. Women’s Open at Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs, Colo. in 2011, and was a member of the Epson Tour from 2012 to 2016. Most recently, Coe was named to Golf Digest’s 2023 Best Young Teachers List. She is a Rollins College alum, recording nine collegiate victories, including a win at the 2008 NCAA DII National Championship, and earning NCAA All-American honors four times.
Stephanie Connelly Eiswerth, LPGA/PGA
Home: Fleming Island, Fla.
LPGA Classification: A
PGA Section: North Florida
Facility: San Jose Country Club, Jacksonville, Fla.
Teaching professional and dual LPGA and PGA of America member Stephanie Connelly Eiswerth will be representing San Jose Country Club in Jacksonville, Fla. this week at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship as she makes her fifth consecutive start in the event. She is a two-time winner of the LPGA Professionals National Championship, winning in 2018 and 2019, and helped the United States team win the 2022 Women’s PGA Cup.
Connelly Eiswerth won the 2021 and 2022 North Florida PGA/Northern Chapter Player of the Year as well as the 2022 Northern Chapter Player Development Award. She finished in a tie for third at the 2022 North Florida PGA Professional Championship and is in her 6th season as a PGA Junior League coach.
The 35-year-old played in the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club and competed on the Epson Tour for seven years, recording six top-10 finishes. Connelly Eiswerth previously was an assistant coach for the women’s golf team at the University of North Florida and played collegiate golf at both the University of Central Florida and Ohio State University.
Loretta Giovannettone, PGA
Home: Jupiter, Fla.
PGA Section: South Florida
Facility: Country Club of Florida, Boynton Beach, Fla.
Loretta Giovannettone currently serves as an assistant professional at the Country Club of Florida and qualified for this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club after finishing in a tie for third at the 2023 PGA Women’s Stroke Play Championship. The 31-year-old won the South Florida PGA Women’s Section Championship in 2021 and captured both the Connecticut Women’s Open and the Met PGA Women’s Championship in 2019.
Giovannettone was runner-up at the 2020 Met PGA Women’s Championship and 2020 Met PGA Women’s Match Play. She played collegiate golf at Methodist University and was a member of the winning NCAA Division III National Championship in 2012.
Allie Knight, LPGA/PGA
Home: Knoxville, Tenn.
LPGA Classification: A
PGA Section: Tennessee
Facility: Fairways and Greens Golf Center, Knoxville, Tenn.
Allie Knight of Knoxville, Tenn. is making her third consecutive appearance in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship after finishing in a tie for sixth at the 2022 LPGA Professionals National Championship to earn a spot in the 156-player field. She made her PGA Professional Championship debut earlier this season, and in 2022, Knight won the Tennessee PGA Section Knoxville Chapter Championship. The 29-year-old finished runner-up at the LPGA Professionals National Championship and Tennessee PGA Players Championship in 2021.
Knight has competed on the Epson Tour, making 15 cuts, and is a two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur qualifier. She and Emily Miller were teammates at Middle Tennessee State University and Knight helped the team capture its first-ever conference championship victory and earn Middle Tennessee State’s first appearance in an NCAA regional.
Emily Miller, LPGA/PGA
Home: Livingston, Tenn.
LPGA Classification: A
PGA Section: Tennessee
Facility: Old Fort Golf Club, Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Hailing from Livingston, Tenn., 30-year-old Emily Miller currently serves as the PGA/LPGA Director of Player Development at Old Fort Golf Club in Murfreesboro, Tenn. She will be making her LPGA Tour debut this week at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship after finishing in a tie for sixth at the 2022 LPGA Professionals National Championship.
Turning pro in 2016, Miller played professionally for two years from 2016 to 2018, teeing it up on the Epson Tour in the past. She played collegiate golf at Middle Tennessee State University alongside Allie Knight and was a 2016 First Team All-Conference USA selection.
Samantha Morrell, LPGA
Home: Naples, Fla.
LPGA Classification: A
Facilities: Durland Golf School at Naples Grande, Naples, Fla. & Warwick Country Club, Warwick, R.I.
Samantha Morrell will be representing two facilities this week in Springfield, N.J. as the 32-year-old serves as an LPGA teaching professional at the Durland Golf School at Naples Grande in Florida and acts as an assistant professional at Warwick Country Club in Rhode Island. She’s making her third KPMG Women’s PGA Championship start after having participated in the event in 2020 and 2021, qualifying for Baltusrol via a T4 performance at the 2022 LPGA Professionals National Championship.
Morrell captured the 2018 Met PGA Women’s Stroke Play Championship title, and as an amateur, she won the 2013 Bucknell Women’s Golf Invitational, 2011 Rhode Island Women’s Golf Association Amateur, 2011 Lady Pirate Intercollegiate Championship and 2010 New England Women’s Amateur. She played college golf at Old Dominion University and was named the ODU Alumni Association’s Female Athlete of the Year in 2013. Morrell was Old Dominion’s first golfer to win the Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Year honors in 2010.
Amy Ruengmateekhun, LPGA
Home: Garland, Texas
LPGA Classification: A
Facility: Ursuline Academy of Dallas, Dallas, Texas
Texas native Amy Ruengmateekhun is making her KPMG Women’s PGA Championship debut this week at Baltusrol after finishing in a tie for fourth at the 2022 LPGA Professionals National Championship. She currently serves as the women’s golf coach at Ursuline Academy of Dallas and has led the program to four TAPPS 6A State Titles in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023.
The 31-year-old played in the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open and competed on the Epson Tour from 2015 to 2018, recording a career-best finish of seventh at the 2016 Tullymore Classic. After beginning her collegiate golf career at Southern Methodist University, Ruengmateekhun finished out her time at Oklahoma State University and was a Big 12 All-Tournament Team selection in 2014. She was a U.S. Women’s Amateur qualifier in 2011.
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