JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The LPGA Tour is taking on Liberty National Golf Club this week for the second edition of the Mizuho Americas Open. Nine of the top 10 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, including world No. 1 Nelly Korda and defending champion Rose Zhang are set to tee it up, as are all six winners this season and five 2024 LPGA Tour rookies, most notably silver medalist Mone Inami and Epson Tour Player of the Year Gabriela Ruffels.
Take a look at just some of the featured groups this week at the Mizuho Americas Open using KPMG Performance Insights:
Thursday, 7:44 a.m.* – Nelly Korda/Atthaya Thitikul/Ayaka Furue
Nelly Korda’s consecutive wins streak came to an end last week at the Cognizant Founders Cup, but the 13-time LPGA Tour winner is more than ready to start a new one at the Mizuho Americas Open. This is the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1’s first time teeing it up at Liberty National Golf Club, and while she’s lacking in prior experience with this difficult venue, Korda isn’t lacking at all in recent form. According to KPMG Performance Insights, the 25-year-old leads the LPGA Tour in strokes gained total (+2.87), strokes gained tee to green (+2.21), scoring average (69.37), rounds in the 60s (18), greens in regulation (76.54%), par-4 scoring (3.94), top-10 finishes (6) and birdie or better percentage. She is also second in strokes gained around the green (2, +0.66) and third in strokes gained driving (3, +0.80). This is her eighth tournament of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and Korda won in five straight starts after finishing T16 at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, most notably capturing her second career major title and record-tying fifth consecutive victory at The Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas. She finished in a tie for seventh last week at the Cognizant Founders Cup in Clifton, N.J., after recording rounds of 69-66-73-73 at Upper Montclair Country Club.
The LPGA Tour hasn’t seen too much of Atthaya Thitikul this year, as the 21-year-old’s off-season was extended due to a thumb injury, and this week’s Mizuho Americas Open marks her third event of the season. She finished solo 12th in her 2024 debut at The Chevron Championship and missed the cut last week at the Cognizant Founders Cup, a result the Thailand native will be looking to bounce back from at Liberty National. This is her second time teeing it up in the Mizuho Americas Open, and in the tournament’s first year, the former Rolex Rankings No. 1 finished in a tie for 10th with a four-day total of 5-under. That result was one of 13 top-10 finishes Thitikul earned in 2023, and it’s one of 29 top-10 finishes that she has recorded since joining the LPGA Tour in 2022, the most of anyone on Tour in that span, according to KPMG Performance Insights.
Ayaka Furue had an impressive showing in the inaugural edition of the Mizuho Americas Open, finishing in a tie for fourth at this event in 2023, a solid performance she’ll be working to better this week at Liberty National Golf Club. The Japan native has played well thus far in 2024, earning five top-15 finishes, three of which are top-five results and the best of which was a solo third at the Blue Bay LPGA in the People’s Republic of China. She hasn’t finished worse than a tie for 50th this season, a result that came in the first major of the year in The Woodlands, Texas, and leads the Tour in subpar rounds with 27 total scores of par or better this year alone. Furue also ranks first in birdies with 142, second in rounds in the 60s with 17 and third in driving accuracy (88.28%). According to KPMG Performance Insights, the 23-year-old ranks in the top 25 in four statistical strokes-gained categories on the LPGA Tour so far this year, including strokes gained total (6, +1.63), strokes gained putting (18, +0.63), strokes gained approach (19, +0.74) and strokes gained tee to green (23, +0.91), a well-rounded combination that easily explains her early success in 2024.
Thursday, 7:55 a.m.* – Rose Zhang/Albane Valenzuela/Lydia Ko
Rose Zhang collected her second LPGA Tour title last week at the Cognizant Founders Cup, winning in spectacular fashion after making birdie on four of her last five holes at Upper Montclair Country Club to defeat LPGA Tour veteran Madelene Sagstrom by two shots. The win came 343 days after Zhang burst onto the professional golf scene by capturing the inaugural Mizuho Americas Open in her pro debut and accepted the immediate LPGA Tour membership offered as part of her non-member victory. Since joining the organization, the 20-year-old has earned six top-10 finishes, excluding her victories, the best of which was a tie for third at last year’s Maybank Championship in Malaysia. She’s kept that form rolling this season, earning two other top-10 results along with her victory, tying for seventh at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and tying for fifth at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards. Statistically, Zhang leads the Tour in strokes gained approach (+1.50), ranks second in strokes gained total (+2.21) and ranks fourth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.60), according to KPMG Performance Insights. Her win in Clifton, N.J., bumped Zhang up to sixth in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, the highest she’s been ranked since she turned professional, and that’s a standing she’ll continue to work to improve as she tries to successfully defend a title for the first time in her career this week at Liberty National.
Though she flies under the Swiss flag, Albane Valenzuela was born in New York City, making this week’s Mizuho Americas Open, which is taking place just across the Hudson River from the Big Apple, feel a bit like a homecoming for the 26-year-old. It’s the Stanford University alum’s ninth event of the 2024 season, and after back-to-back missed cuts at The Chevron Championship and Cognizant Founders Cup, Valenzuela will be working to find some form in Jersey City, N.J. Despite the recent troubles, it’s been a solid season for the Switzerland native, who earned her career-best result on the LPGA Tour at the Honda LPGA Thailand after finishing runner-up to Patty Tavatanakit in Chonburi. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Valenzuela is ranked in the top 10 in two strokes gained categories so far this season – strokes gained approach (4, +1.30) and strokes gained tee to green (5, +1.48). This is her second appearance in the Mizuho Americas Open, and in the inaugural playing of the tournament, she ultimately finished T49.
Lydia Ko will once again have a shot at automatically qualifying for the LPGA Hall of Fame this week in the Garden State, as the New Zealand native vies for her 21st career LPGA Tour victory, a win that would give her the 27th point necessary to enter the Hall. She earned her 26th point in January after winning the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, and after nearly capturing another title the next week at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Bradenton Country Club, Ko has yet to threaten victory again on the LPGA Tour this season. But she hasn’t been playing poorly. Excluding her victory and runner-up finish to Nelly Korda in Bradenton, Fla., the 27-year-old has earned four other top-20 results this season, the best of which was a tie for fourth at the Blue Bay LPGA in the People’s Republic of China. That steady form can be attributed to Ko’s ability to avoid mistakes this season, as she is tied with Maja Stark for most bogey-free rounds on the LPGA Tour in 2024 (6) and is tied for third in bogey avoidance, according to KPMG Performance Insights. She also leads the LPGA Tour with the highest green in regulation percentage from other than fairway, hitting the green 64.6% of the time after missing the fairway off the tee. Additionally, Ko is ranked second in rounds under par (25), sixth in scoring average (70.23) and seventh in rounds in the 60s (12).
The @LPGA travels to Liberty National as we look at the #KPMGInsights.
— KPMG Golf (@KPMGGolf) May 15, 2024
📈 Rose rises to victory
🏌️♀️ SG: Tee to Green makes a difference
🏅 Nelly leads the way pic.twitter.com/B8YMXKCeuJ
Thursday, 1:11 p.m. – Minjee Lee/Haeran Ryu/Alexa Pano
After a pair of back-to-back missed cuts at The Chevron Championship and the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro, Minjee Lee turned things around last week at the Cognizant Founders Cup. The 2022 Founders Cup winner finished in a tie for seventh at Upper Montclair Country Club, gaining 13.5 strokes from tee to green in Clifton, N.J., according to KPMG Performance Insights. It was the 17th time that Lee has gained 10 or more strokes tee to green in a tournament over the last three seasons, and that form is something the 10-time LPGA Tour winner is hoping to hang on to this week at Liberty National. This is her second time competing in the Mizuho Americas Open, and in last year’s event, Lee finished in a tie for 13th with a four-day total of 4-under. This is her eighth event of the 2024 season, and in addition to last week’s T7, she has also earned two other top-15 results, tying for fourth at the Blue Bay LPGA and tying for 15th at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards.
Haeran Ryu is making her second start at the Mizuho Americas Open, and after finishing solo third last year, the Republic of Korea native will be working to win this week at a venue that harbors great memories. She’s been playing solidly in her second year on the LPGA Tour, earning four top-10 finishes so far this season, tying for ninth at the Honda LPGA Thailand and the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards, and then finishing solo fifth at The Chevron Championship and coming third at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro. Statistically, the sophomore is also showing her mettle, ranking third in strokes gained tee to green (+1.60), eighth in strokes gained driving (+0.66) and 10th in strokes gained approach (+1.03). Ryu became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G last September, a win that helped her secure Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year honors.
Alexa Pano got off to a strong start in her second year as an LPGA Tour member in January, finishing solo second at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, the first event of the 2024 season. Things have been a bit slow for the 19-year-old after that strong showing though, as Pano hasn’t found herself inside the top 40 on an LPGA Tour leaderboard since that week at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, and she’ll be working to get the train back on the tracks at Liberty National this week. Despite her recent struggles, statistically, Pano is showing some promise, ranking third in strokes gained around the green (+0.60), fourth in strokes gained driving (+0.78) and ninth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.29), according to KPMG Performance Insights. The Florida native collected her first and only LPGA Tour title last year at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland, so Pano just might be a player who contends in the wet conditions predicted for this week at the Mizuho Americas Open.
*Off No. 10
For a full list of tee times, please click here.
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