The Portland Classic is up next for the LPGA Tour this week, and some of the world’s top talent are ready to once again tackle Columbia Edgewater Country Club at this long-standing tournament. A share of a $1.75 million purse is on the line, as are 500 Race to the CME Globe points, and considering that some of the biggest names in women’s golf are heading to France to compete in the women’s golf competition at the Paris Olympics, which is slated to begin next week, an opportunity could be ripe for the taking for a young up-and-comer or battle-tested veteran at the Tour’s annual Oregon stop.
Take a look at just a few of this week’s featured groups at the Portland Classic, using KPMG Performance Insights.
Thursday, 7:59 a.m.* – Alexa Pano/Sei Young Kim/Jenny Shin
Alexa Pano finished in a tie for 12th in her Portland Classic debut as a 2023 LPGA Tour rookie and will be looking to better that solid performance this year at Columbia Edgewater Country Club. The 19-year-old is making her 19th start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season this week, and after finishing solo second in her first Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in January, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag of results for the young superstar. She has missed seven cuts in her last 17 Tour starts since her solid showing at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, earning a best finish of T17 at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give in that same span. But statistically, Pano is hanging with the big dogs this season on the LPGA Tour. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Pano ranks third in both strokes gained driving (+0.78) and strokes gained around the green (+0.62), also ranking 16th in strokes gained tee to green (+1.11). She is still looking to pick up her second Tour title after becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner in 2023 at the ISPS Handa World Invitational, and considering that Pano is more than due for an uptick in momentum after some ho-hum results recently, she just might be able to contend this week in Oregon.
After a strong start to the 2024 LPGA Tour season, major champion Sei Young Kim has struggled a bit as of late but is bound and determined to rediscover the form that she had in the early part of the year. Kim didn’t miss a single cut or finish worse than T32 in her first 10 tournaments of the year, earning three top-10 results, including a pair of T3s at the Honda LPGA Thailand and T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards. In her last four starts, however, Kim has missed two cuts, withdrawn once and finished solo 58th at the CPKC Women’s Open last week, not exactly the way a player might want to transition into the second half of the season. But despite the recent woes, Kim is still picking up shots in every major strokes gained category, most notably sitting at 15th in strokes gained total (+1.34) and 21st in strokes gained putting (+0.58), using data provided by KPMG Performance Insights. This is her fourth time playing the Portland Classic, and in her three previous appearances, Kim has missed two cuts and earned a tournament-best result of T9 in 2019.
Jenny Shin earned her first top-three finish on the LPGA Tour since the 2023 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G on Sunday at the CPKC Women’s Open, tying for third at Earl Grey Golf Club after recording a 72-hole total of 10-under in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The LPGA Tour winner will now be looking to ride that hot hand in Oregon at a familiar venue: Columbia Edgewater Country Club. Shin has made nine starts in the Portland Classic ahead of this week, missing four cuts and recording a tournament-best tie for 18th back in 2015. This is her 15th start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and in her 14 prior events, she has earned six top-20 results in addition to her T3 in Canada, two of which came in major championships at the U.S. Women's Open presented by Ally (T19) and The Amundi Evian Championship (T12). Statistically, Shin is ranked 17th in both strokes gained total (+1.24) and strokes gained around the green (+0.29) on the LPGA Tour this season, also ranking 24th in strokes gained tee to green (+0.86), according to KPMG Performance Insights.
Thursday, 8:10 a.m.* – Cheyenne Knight/Allisen Corpuz/Lauren Coughlin
Two-time LPGA Tour winner Cheyenne Knight has had a quiet year on the LPGA Tour thus far, earning back-to-back top 10s in her first two starts of the 2024 season before missing six cuts in her next 15 events and withdrawing from the Honda LPGA Thailand in February. This week is the Texan’s fifth time competing in the Portland Classic, and while she has missed two cuts in her four previous starts, Knight earned a T5 finish in 2020 with a four-day total of 10-under at Columbia Edgewater Country Club. Statistically, Knight is only ranked in the top 25 in one major statistical category on the LPGA Tour this season, currently sitting at 24th in driving accuracy, finding the fairway 75.57 percent of the time with her tee shots. Considering she’s on the outside looking in at the top seven in the U.S. Solheim Cup points standings, she hasn’t won an individual title on the LPGA Tour since the 2019 Volunteers of America Classic and she hasn’t finished any better than T9 on Tour since late January, Knight will be as hungry as ever to make an impact at the Portland Classic, as she works to find some form to carry into the latter half of the season on the LPGA Tour.
Allisen Corpuz became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links last season, making history by becoming the first woman to win a professional tournament at the storied venue. Since then, the Hawaii native has collected four other top-10 results on the LPGA Tour, a list that includes a T6 showing at the 2023 AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath Golf Club. The 26-year-old is making just her second start ever at the Portland Classic and will be looking for revenge at Columbia Edgewater Country Club having missed the cut in her tournament debut in 2023. This is Corpuz’s 16th start of the season, and thus far, she has amassed five top-20 results, the best of which is a tie for fifth that came at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give in June. She also tied for 19th at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club. Statistically, the major winner has been gaining one shot on the field with her ball-striking 54.9 percent of the time this season, an impressive feat considering the LPGA Tour average is 34.1 percent, according to data provided by KPMG Performance Insights. This is the third consecutive season that Corpuz has ranked inside the top 20 in strokes gained approach on the LPGA Tour, as she is currently 16th in that metric, picking up 0.75 strokes on the field with her approach shots. Corpuz also ranks second on Tour in driving accuracy (83.99%) and is ninth in greens in regulation (71.52%).
After so many close calls, Lauren Coughlin finally got the job done at last week’s CPKC Women’s Open, becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The 31-year-old won by two shots over Mao Saigo to claim her first LPGA Tour title at Earl Grey Golf Club, finally laying hands on a trophy having come so close on numerous occasions this season. Before her win, Coughlin had collected four top-10 results, two of which came at major championships when she finished in a tie for third at The Chevron Championship and solo fourth at The Amundi Evian Championship. Her success in 2024 can be attributed to her putting most specifically, as Coughlin currently ranks 14th in strokes gained putting on the LPGA Tour (+0.71), a vast jump up from her 123rd and 111th ranks during the 2023 and 2022 seasons, respectively, according to KPMG Performance Insights. She is also 10th in strokes gained total (+1.52) so far this year and is 15th in bogey avoidance, another marked difference for Coughlin in 2024 compared to her past two years on the LPGA Tour. Additionally, Coughlin is ranked second on Tour in rounds under par (34), fourth in rounds in the 60s (19), fifth in greens in regulation (72.42%), sixth in birdies (209) and subpar holes (215), eighth in eagles (6) and 10th in scoring average (70.64). Coughlin is making her fifth start in the Portland Classic this week and will be looking to ride her recent momentum to a career-best result in this tournament, an event at which she has never finished better than T32.
#KPMGInsights for the @PortlandClassic!
— KPMG Golf (@KPMGGolf) July 31, 2024
📊 Approach & Putting are key metrics
🔥 Lauren Coughlin has been great recently pic.twitter.com/W54AU2xike
Thursday, 1:10 p.m. – Chanettee Wannasaen/Andrea Lee/Stacy Lewis
Group 35 is comprised of three past champions at the Portland Classic. Chanettee Wannasaen became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the 2023 edition of the event, a victory that shocked the golf world as the rookie had missed eight straight cuts on the LPGA Tour just one start before cruising to victory in Oregon. Wannasaen won by four shots that week at Columbia Edgewater Country Club after posting a four-day total of 26-under, a final score of 262 that set a new 72-hole tournament scoring record at the Portland Classic. The 20-year-old collected her second LPGA Tour title just a couple of weeks ago at the Dana Open, but her margin of victory this time around wasn’t as wide, as Wannasaen beat her fellow 2023 LPGA Tour rookie Haeran Ryu by just a single stroke at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio. According to KPMG Performance Insights, the Thailand native’s success in both of those events was a direct result of her putting. She recorded 105 putts over 72 holes at the 2023 Portland Classic, her fewest ever in a four-day tournament on the LPGA Tour until she needed just 102 putts to find the winner’s circle in the Buckeye State, a new personal best for the second-year Tour member. This is her 20th start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and in addition to her victory at the Dana Open, Wannasaen has earned three other top-20 finishes – a tie for third at the Mizuho Americas Open, a tie for eighth at the Dow Championship and a tie for 17th at The Amundi Evian Championship, her career-best finish in a major championship.
Andrea Lee won on both the Epson and LPGA Tours in 2022, claiming the Casino Del Sol Golf Classic in April before becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner at the Portland Classic in September. She beat Daniela Darquea by just a shot at Columbia Edgewater Country Club with a four-day total of 19-under to become one of 11 players to earn their first Tour titles that season. Lee has yet to win again on the LPGA Tour, but she has earned nine top-10 results since her victory in Oregon, four of which have come this season at the LPGA Drive On Championship (T9), HSBC Women's World Championship (7), FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship (T5) and the U.S. Women's Open presented by Ally (T3). Along with those solid performances, the California native has earned three other top-20 finishes this year, the most notable of which is a tie for 17th that she recorded at The Chevron Championship. This week marks her fifth time teeing it up in the Portland Classic, and she has never finished worse than T42 in this tournament, earning two other top-20 results in 2021 (T20) and 2023 (T10) along with her victory. In the last two years at Columbia Edgewater Country Club, the 25-year-old has led both fields in greens in regulation, finding the dance floor a combined 84.7% of the time in 2022 and 2023 alone, according to data provided by KPMG Performance Insights. Lee will be looking to do the same this year at the Portland Classic as she works to not only collect her second LPGA Tour title but also qualify for her second consecutive U.S. Solheim Cup team as the Qualification Period begins to wind down.
Lee will be looking to impress her groupmate and U.S. Solheim Cup Captain Stacy Lewis in the first two rounds at the Portland Classic should she ultimately need a captain’s pick to make the American squad in just under a month’s time. But as much as Lewis will be keeping an eye on Lee’s play at Columbia Edgewater Country Club, the 2017 Portland Classic winner be working to find some form of her own, something that Lewis seemed to have rediscovered at the Dana Open. In her first 12 starts of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, the 39-year-old had only made three cuts and earned a best finish of T28 twice at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards and the Mizuho Americas Open. But Lewis finally cracked the code at Highland Meadows Golf Club, posting a 72-hole total of 10-under to finish in a tie for seventh just outside of Toledo, Ohio, her best finish in an individual stroke-play event since she tied for seventh at the 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain. While she missed the cut last week at the CPKC Women’s Open, one has to wonder if Captain Lewis will once again wow golf fans at a place at which she has had past success, as Lewis has played in 12 previous editions of the Portland Classic and earned three other top-10 results in addition to her victory, two of which were solo seconds in 2013 and 2016.
*Off No. 10
For a complete list of tee times, please click here.