The Buick LPGA Shanghai is on deck for the LPGA Tour this week in the People’s Republic of China. The first event of the Tour’s four-tournament stretch in Asia features nine of the 18 total winners this season, including two-time 2024 champion Hannah Green, victorious Dow Championship teammates Jeeno Thitikul and Ruoning Yin and Cognizant Founders Cup winner Rose Zhang. Eleven LPGA Tour rookies are also set to compete for a share of a $2.1 million purse, most notably Epson Tour Graduate Auston Kim, 2020 Olympic silver medalist Mone Inami and People’s Republic of China native Liqi Zeng.

Take a look at just some of the featured groups this week at the Buick LPGA Shanghai, using data provided by KPMG Performance Insights:

Thursday, 10:10 a.m. – Hannah Green/Ariya Jutanugarn/Alison Lee

Hannah Green is making her debut in the Buick LPGA Shanghai this week at Qizhong Garden Golf Club and will be working to continue the excellent form she’s had throughout the 2024 LPGA Tour season in the People’s Republic of China. The Australian has collected two victories this year, picking up a win at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore in March and then successfully defending a title for the first time in her LPGA Tour career with a victory at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro at Wilshire Country Club in April. She has earned two other top-10 finishes in 2024, a solo second that came at the Mizuho Americas Open and a tie for 10th that came in her last LPGA Tour start at the FM Championship. Green has also collected three additional top-20 results, a list that includes a T16 showing at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Penn. Statistically, the Rolex Rankings No. 7 is ranked in the top 25 in three strokes gained categories this year, including strokes gained total (10, +1.52), strokes gained putting (18, +0.62) and strokes gained approach (21, +0.72). Green is additionally ranked third in putts per green in regulation (1.75) and is seventh in scoring average (70.51) on the LPGA Tour in 2024.

Ariya Jutanugarn is making her fourth start in the Buick LPGA Shanghai this week and has never finished outside the top 10 in her three previous appearances in this tournament. She tied for second in the inaugural Buick LPGA Shanghai in 2018, followed that up with a T7 showing in 2019 and then tied for third last year at Qizhong Garden Golf Club. This is her 21st start of the season, and in her 20 previous events, the former Rolex Rankings No. 1 has collected four top-10 results, including a tie for third at the Mizuho Americas Open, a tie for ninth at the Portland Classic, a solo sixth at the AIG Women’s Open and a tie for sixth at the FM Championship. Jutanugarn has also earned five additional top-25 finishes, the best of which is a tie for 13th that came in her home country at the Honda LPGA Thailand. According to KPMG Performance Insights, the 28-year-old is currently ranked sixth in strokes gained approach (+1.02), 27th in strokes gained total (+0.99) and 33rd in strokes gained tee to green (+0.75) on the LPGA Tour this season.

Alison Lee is making just her second appearance ever in the Buick LPGA Shanghai this week and will be working to improve upon the T31 showing she recorded last year in her tournament debut. The 2024 U.S. Solheim Cup Team member is playing in her 17th LPGA Tour event of the 2024 season and has recorded four top-10 results in her last 20 events, one of which was a tie for third that came at the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship and three of which were T8s that she earned at the Ford Championship presented by KCC, the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give and the CPKC Women’s Open. Lee hasn’t played on Tour since missing the cut at the FM Championship and will be working to improve her 55th-place ranking in the Race to the CME Globe as she tries to secure a spot in the field at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. The 29-year-old is picking up shots in five major strokes gained categories this season, according to data provided by KPMG Performance Insights, most notably ranking ninth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.19) and 22nd in strokes gained approach (+0.69). She is additionally tied for fifth in most eagles made this year, with eight total.

Thursday, 10:32 a.m. – Xiyu Lin/Esther Henseleit/Angel Yin

Two 2024 Olympic medalists will tee it up alongside the defending champion on Thursday in group 25 in the People’s Republic of China. Xiyu Lin took home the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics in August, becoming the second player from the People’s Republic of China to medal in the Olympic women’s golf competition and first since Shanshan Feng earned bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. Her performance at Le Golf National will likely go down as Lin’s crowning achievement as a professional golfer, but the 28-year-old is still as hungry as ever to capture an LPGA Tour victory, a goal she will continue pursuing in her home country at the Buick LPGA Shanghai. Lin is making her fourth appearance in this event and will be working to better her tournament-best result of T21 that she recorded in 2023. The Buick LPGA Shanghai marks Lin’s 19th start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and in her 18 previous tournaments, she has earned four top-10 finishes, the best of which is a tie for fourth that came at the Cognizant Founders Cup. She has earned two additional top-15 results, a pair of T13s that came at the Honda LPGA Thailand and The Chevron Championship. According to KPMG Performance Insights, the three-time Ladies European Tour winner is gaining shots in every major strokes gained category on Tour this season, most notably ranking in the top 25 in strokes gained around the green (9, +0.41), strokes gained total (19, +1.20) and strokes gained tee to green (23, +0.95). This week’s Buick LPGA Shanghai will be Lin’s first LPGA Tour start since she missed the cut at the FM Championship.

Esther Henseleit became the first European to medal in the Olympic women’s golf competition when she took silver at the Paris Olympics after recording a four-day total of 8-under at Le Golf National. The Buick LPGA Shanghai is just the Germany native’s fourth LPGA Tour start since making history in France, and this week marks just her second start ever in the event. She finished in a tie for third last year at Qizhong Garden Golf Club in her tournament debut after posting a 72-hole total of 13-under in the People’s Republic of China, a performance she will be working to recreate this week in Shanghai. This is her 20th start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and thus far, Henseleit has racked up four top-10 finishes, two of which came in major championships when she finished solo seventh at The Chevron Championship in April and then tied for seventh at The Amundi Evian Championship in July. She also has a runner-up showing on her 2024 resume, having finished solo second to Lauren Coughlin at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open just the week after her Olympic success. Henseleit has one other top-15 result to her credit this season, tying for 14th at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Wash. Statistically, the 25-year-old is most notably ranked 19th in strokes gained driving on Tour this season, picking up 0.49 shots with her ball-striking off the tee.

Angel Yin became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the 2023 Buick LPGA Shanghai after outlasting Lilia Vu in a playoff at Qizhong Garden Golf Club, a moment of redemption for Yin, as she had fallen to Vu in a playoff back in April at The Chevron Championship, ultimately missing out on her first major championship victory. This year, Yin will be working to successfully defend a title for the first time in her career as she makes her fourth start in the Buick LPGA Shanghai. Along with her victory, the California native has earned two other top-20 results in this tournament, tying for 17th in the inaugural edition of the event in 2018 and then tying for 14th a year later in 2019. This is Yin’s 15th start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and the 26-year-old has earned three top-10 results so far this year – tying for fifth at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards, tying for second at the Portland Classic and then tying for 10th at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews. Yin has recorded two additional top-20 finishes in her last two LPGA Tour starts, tying for 19th at the FM Championship at TPC Boston and tying for 14th at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G at TPC River’s Bend. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Yin is ranked first on the LPGA Tour this year in strokes gained putting, picking up 1.39 shots on the field with her flat stick. She is also gaining shots in both strokes gained total (+0.65) and strokes gained around the green (+0.05).

Thursday, 10:43 a.m. – Rose Zhang/Jeeno Thitikul/Ruoning Yin

Rose Zhang tied for 26th in her tournament debut at the Buick LPGA Shanghai last year, a performance she will be looking to better this year at Qizhong Garden Golf Club. This week marks her 18th start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and along with her victory at the Cognizant Founders Cup in May, the 21-year-old has earned three additional top-10 results, the most recent of which is a tie for sixth that came at the CPKC Women’s Open in Canada. It’s been a whirlwind of a year for the young talent as she qualified for her first Olympic Games in Paris in August and also played on her second U.S. Solheim Cup Team last month, ultimately going 4-0-0 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club to help the Americans win their first Solheim Cup since 2017. Zhang did not participate in the LPGA Tour’s spring Asian events as she needed to return to Stanford University to continue her collegiate education, so this will be her first time competing in Asia on the LPGA Tour since she tied for 15th at the TOTO Japan Classic last November. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Zhang is ranked in the top 20 in three major strokes gained categories this season, including strokes gained approach (5, +1.08), strokes gained total (9, +1.58) and strokes gained tee to green (18, +1.01). She additionally is 10th in bogey avoidance in 2024.

Jeeno Thitikul has played some seriously good golf this year in just her third season as an LPGA Tour member. She picked up her third career victory alongside Ruoning Yin at the Dow Championship in June and has earned seven other top-10 finishes, three of which have come in her last three LPGA Tour starts at the FM Championship (T4), Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G (2) and Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G (T7). Thitikul has two other top-20 finishes on her 2024 resume, one of which was a solo 12th that came in her season debut at The Chevron Championship. Statistically, the Thailand native leads the LPGA Tour in greens in regulation from the fairway, according to KPMG Performance Insights, hitting the green 83.9 percent of the time when she finds the short grass off the tee. Thitikul also ranks in the top 25 of five major strokes gained categories this season, entering this week at the Buick LPGA Shanghai at third in strokes gained total (+2.09), 13th in strokes gained putting (+0.80), 14th in strokes gained tee to green (+1.11), 19th in strokes gained approach (+0.75) and 25th in strokes gained driving (+0.44). She is additionally first in greens in regulation (75.66), second in birdie or better percentage (23.54%) and third in scoring average (70.07).

People’s Republic of China native Ruoning Yin is making her third start in the Buick LPGA Shanghai this week and will be trying to improve upon her tournament-best result of T38 that she recorded back in 2019 before she became an LPGA Tour member. Yin has dealt with injury this season, playing a fairly limited schedule to make sure her body was ready for the Paris Olympics, so the Buick LPGA Shanghai marks just her 16th start of the season. It’s her first time competing on the LPGA Tour since she tied for second at the AIG Women’s Open in St Andrews in August. In addition to that top-two showing, Yin collected her third career victory in June at the Dow Championship alongside her teammate Jeeno Thitikul and has earned four other top-15 results, including a tie for 12th that came at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally at Lancaster Country Club. The Rolex Rankings No. 4 is picking up shots in four major strokes gained categories this season, according to KPMG Performance Insights. Yin is currently ranked sixth in both strokes gained tee to green (+1.36) and strokes gained approach (+1.02), additionally sitting at 14th in strokes gained driving (+0.53) and 21st in strokes gained total (+1.14).

*All times local

For a full list of tee times, please click here.

Featured Groups: 2024 Buick LPGA Shanghai

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