Sunday at the Masters Tournament, Jordan Spieth mounted a final round charge, and, for a brief moment, looked to be a threat to challenge eventual champion, Jon Rahm, for the green jacket. But a bogey on the 72nd hole dashed any hope that Spieth might have a second jacket draped across his shoulders this year.

Spieth explained after the round that his closing bogey was one of many mistakes he’d made over the course of the week. Why? He was mentally exhausted after playing eight of the last 10 events on the PGA Tour.

Spieth’s struggles call to mind the long-running debate among players about whether or not to play in the leadup to a major championship. It’s a personal preference that varies from player to player. As Spieth demonstrated, it’s a delicate balance where players seek to achieve peak performance, while also maintaining mental acuity, which Spieth says he lacked last week in Augusta.

This week on the LPGA Tour, the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei is the final playing opportunity for the best women golfers in the world to be able to compete ahead of the season’s first major - The Chevron Championship. And it’s a chance that nearly a dozen former major winners were eager to accept as they made the trip to Hawaii looking to play their way into major form at Hoakalei Country Club in Oahu.

Two-time major champion Brooke Henderson will be one of those players seeking to fine-tune her game. The Canadian headlines the field as the top-ranked player and will be eager to find the form that saw her win the season opener at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. Since her victory in January Henderson hasn’t cracked the top 40 and recorded a rare missed cut in her last start. Hawaii is a great place for her to rediscover her winning form as she’s twice hoisted the trophy on the island with back-to-back wins in 2018 and 2019.

Figuring out the right formula of when to play throughout the season has been a learning process for Henderson, just as it is for many players. In 2016, Henderson’s first full year on tour, she played more events than any other player with 31 starts. Since then, the Canadian’s schedule has become more limited as she’s incorporated more breaks.

Defending LOTTE champion Hyo Joo Kim, a past winner of the Amundi Evian Championship and owner of the lowest round ever in a major, keeps a more limited playing schedule than Henderson. Kim averages around 20 starts per season. She captured her fifth career win in Hawaii last season when she dazzled fans with a final-round thriller in which she pitched her ball to two feet on the 72nd hole for a final birdie putt and a two-stroke victory ahead of another major winner in Hinako Shibuno.

Also making a return to Hawaii are two-time major winner Cristie Kerr, who won in Hawaii in 2017, as well as three-time major champion and reigning KPMG Women’s PGA winner In Gee Chun. Former AIG Women’s Open champion Georgia Hall, who finished runner-up in her last two starts, looks on track to achieve peak performance just in time for the first major of the year with a final tune up in Hawaii.

The LOTTE Championship will provide a tough test ahead of next week’s major as Hoakalei Country Club is located in Ewa Beach, less than one mile inland from the Pacific Ocean, which will make wind a factor over the course of 72-holes as players compete for a $2 million purse with $300,000 going to the winner.

Figuring when to compete, how often, and the value of playing the week before a major championship has to be weighed by each player. Brooks Koepka saw the value in teeing it up the week ahead of the Masters Tournament as he won on the LIV Tour. The four-time major champion went on to lead for most of the week at Augusta National Golf Club before being overtaken by Rahm during that final round on Sunday.

Koepka capitalized on playing the week before a major, just as the 11 major champions and full field of 144 players will seek to do with their start on Thursday at the LOTTE Championship where they’ll seize one last chance to get their game in top form ahead of next week’s major championship.

Proper Scheduling A Key to Success For Players In LOTTE Championship

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