The Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G is on tap this week for the LPGA Tour’s best at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, Ark. Defending champion and FM Championship winner Haeran Ryu is set to tee it up, as are seven other 2024 champions and University of Arkansas alumni Maria Fassi, Stacy Lewis and Gaby Lopez. Nasa Hataoka, who won this event in 2018 and 2021, is also in the 144-player field and is joined by 22 of the 26 total 2024 LPGA Tour rookies, as well as several members of both the U.S. and European Solheim Cup Teams.

Take a look at just a few of the featured groups at this week’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, using KPMG Performance Insights:

Friday, 8:21 a.m. – Stacy Lewis/Celine Boutier/Megan Khang

U.S. Solheim Cup Captain Stacy Lewis will finally be teeing it up as just a player this week at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, an event that the University of Arkansas alum has won twice since its inception in 2007. Captain Lewis accomplished her goal of winning the Solheim Cup just a couple of weeks ago at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Va., leading the U.S. Team to its first victory since 2017 in the biennial team competition, and will now be looking to play well in what is her last event of the 2024 season, as she intends to take a well-deserved break after teeing it up in Rogers, Ark. She won the inaugural edition of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship as an amateur in 2007, but the win was deemed unofficial as the tournament was shortened to 18 holes due to inclement weather. Seven years later, Lewis took home the 2014 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship title as a professional, what was then her 11th career LPGA Tour title. Lewis has won a total of 13 times on the LPGA Tour, two of which were major championships that came in 2011 at The Chevron Championship and in 2013 at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews. She captured her most recent LPGA Tour victory in 2020 at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open. This is her 18th start in the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, and along with her official victory in 2014, Lewis has earned six additional top-10 finishes in this event.

Rolex Rankings No. 11 Celine Boutier is making her 19th start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season this week at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. It’s been a quiet year for the 30-year-old, particularly after she was one of two players to win four times in 2023, but the Frenchwoman has still managed to rack up nine top-25 finishes, one of which was a solo second that came at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore and two of which were in major championships, as Boutier tied for 19th at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and tied for 22nd at the AIG Women’s Open. She was a member of the 2024 European Solheim Cup Team that fell to the Americans at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club earlier this month, but Boutier managed to earn two of the Europeans’ 12.5 total points, winning her Saturday foursomes match 4 and 3 alongside Anna Nordqvist and defeating Lexi Thompson 1 up in the Sunday singles session. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Boutier is currently ranked inside the top 25 in three strokes gained categories, including strokes gained approach (13, +0.86), strokes gained around the green (19, +0.23) and strokes gained tee to green (23, +0.92).

Megan Khang went undefeated in the Solheim Cup for a second consecutive playing at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, going 3-0-0 in her fourth appearance to help lead the U.S. Team to a 15.5-12.5 victory. It was the first victorious U.S. Solheim Cup Team that Khang had ever been a part of, and she will be working to keep that momentum rolling this week at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G. This is the 26-year-old’s seventh time teeing it up at Pinnacle Country Club, and in her six previous starts, Khang has collected four top-25 finishes, the best of which is a tie for fifth that came in 2022. This is her 18th start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and it’s been a pretty solid year for Khang, who has earned seven top-15 finishes, the best of which is a tie for second that she recorded at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer back in June. Statistically, the 2023 CPKC Women’s Open champion is gaining shots in five major strokes gained categories this season, according to KPMG Performance Insights. Currently, the Massachusetts native is third in strokes gained tee to green (+1.75), fourth in strokes gained approach (+1.16), 11th in strokes gained around the green (+0.38), 20th in strokes gained driving (+0.48) and 25th in strokes gained total (+1.07).

Friday, 8:32 a.m. – Lilia Vu/Yuka Saso/Lauren Coughlin

At No. 2 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Lilia Vu is the highest-ranked player in the field this week at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G. The 26-year-old is teeing it up for the first time since clinching the winning half-point for the U.S. Team at the 2024 Solheim Cup at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club and will be working to improve upon her tournament-best T16 finish that she recorded in her second appearance in the event in 2022. This week marks her 14th start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and in her 13 prior tournaments, Vu collected her fifth career victory at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give in her first start back after taking a couple of months off to rehab a back injury. She has additionally recorded three other top-10 results, including a pair of T2s that came at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club and last month’s AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Vu is ranked inside the top 20 in strokes gained total (7, +1.70), strokes gained putting (10, +0.85) and strokes gained around the green (17, +0.25) on the LPGA Tour this season. She is also fifth in scoring average (70.42) and eighth in greens in regulation percentage (72.34%).

Yuka Saso earned her second career LPGA Tour victory and second major title earlier this season at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally at Lancaster Country Club. It was Saso’s first win on Tour since she took home the 2021 U.S Women’s Open title as a non-member at The Olympic Club, a victory that ultimately earned her LPGA Tour membership. Along with her win in Pennsylvania, the 23-year-old has picked up three other top-15 results this season, the most recent of which is a solo fourth that Saso recorded last week at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G, her first top 15 since winning on June 2. This week marks Saso’s fourth start in the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, and in her three previous appearances in Rogers, Ark., she finished in a tie for fourth in 2021, a tie for 32nd in 2022 and a tie for 23rd in 2023. Statistically, Saso is one of just four players to be ranked in the top 25 in both strokes gained off the tee and strokes gained putting this season, according to KPMG Performance Insights. She is currently ranked fifth in strokes gained driving (+0.66) and is sixth in strokes gained putting (+0.88), additionally ranking 21st in strokes gained total (+1.14).

It's been a whirlwind 2024 season for LPGA Tour veteran Lauren Coughlin. She became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the CPKC Women’s Open and then collected her second career title just 21 days later at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open, a win that helped her secure a spot on her very first U.S. Solheim Cup Team. With a 3-0-1 record, the 31-year-old was one of four U.S. players to go undefeated at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club and ultimately help the Americans claim their first victory in the biennial team competition since 2017 in her home state of Virginia. The Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G is Coughlin’s first start since making her Solheim Cup debut and is her 22nd tournament of the 2024 LPGA Tour season. In addition to her two victories, Coughlin has racked up six other top-10 results, including two major championship top fives that came at The Chevron Championship, where she tied for third, and The Amundi Evian Championship, where Coughlin finished solo fourth. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Coughlin’s putting has been critical to her 2024 success as she currently ranks fifth in makes from 10+ feet (2.15) and is 15th in strokes gained putting (+0.70) on the LPGA Tour this season. Coughlin is also sixth in strokes gained total (+1.77), 16th in strokes gained tee to green (+1.05), 23rd in strokes gained driving (+0.46) and 24th in strokes gained approach (+0.63) so far this year.

Friday, 1:10 p.m. – Haeran Ryu/Jeeno Thitikul/Nasa Hataoka

Three past champions of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G comprise group 35 at Pinnacle Country Club. Haeran Ryu became a Rolex First-Time Winner as a rookie last year in Rogers, Ark., defeating Linnea Strom by three shots with a 54-hole total of 19-under. It was a win that ultimately helped Ryu earn Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year honors at the conclusion of the 2023 LPGA Tour season and saw her become the 14th Republic of Korea native to win the award since Se Ri Pak was named Rookie of the Year in 1998. In her second season on Tour, Ryu has collected her second career LPGA Tour title at the FM Championship after outlasting former Rolex Rankings No. 1 Jin Young Ko in a playoff at TPC Boston. She has earned nine additional top-10 finishes in 2024, six of which are top-five results and two of which were solo fifths that came at The Chevron Championship and The Amundi Evian Championship. She also tied for ninth at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club. Statistically, the 23-year-old is ranked in the top 10 in four strokes gained categories, according to KPMG Performance Insights, including strokes gained tee to green (2, +1.82), strokes gained approach (2, +1.44), strokes gained total (5, +1.82) and strokes gained driving (9, +0.62). Ryu is also first in birdies (285), first in greens in regulation percentage (75.48%) and sixth in scoring average (70.43).

Jeeno Thitikul also won the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G as a rookie, doing so in 2022 after defeating Danielle Kang in a two-hole playoff at Pinnacle Country Club. It was the second title she earned in her first season on the LPGA Tour, as Thitikul also won the JTBC Classic presented by Barbasol in March to become a Rolex First-Time Winner. The Thailand native picked up her third career victory earlier this season alongside her partner Ruoning Yin at the Dow Championship and has earned six additional top-10 finishes, including a tie for sixth at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally and a solo second that came last week at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G. She has one additional top-15 result on her 2024 resume, a solo 12th that came in her season debut at The Chevron Championship. According to data provided by KPMG Performance Insights, the 21-year-old has earned 36 top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour since the beginning of the 2022 season, the most of any player in that span. Additionally, Thitikul is ranked in the top 25 in five major strokes gained categories this season, currently sitting at third in strokes gained total (+2.05), 12th in strokes gained tee to green (+1.14), 13th in strokes gained putting (+0.76), 19th in strokes gained approach (+0.71) and 25th in strokes gained driving (+0.45). She is also ranked third on the LPGA Tour in scoring average (70.31) and third in greens in regulation percentage (74.64%).

Nasa Hataoka is a two-time champion of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, capturing the 2018 and 2021 editions of the event in Rogers, Ark. The first of those two titles saw the Japan native win by a whopping six shots over Austin Ernst in 2018, while her 2021 victory saw Hataoka win by just one stroke over Eun-Hee Ji and Minjee Lee at Pinnacle Country Club. The 25-year-old hasn’t won on the LPGA Tour since taking home her sixth career title at the 2022 DIO Implants LA Open, something she will be working to rectify this week at a place at which she has plenty of fond memories to lean on. The Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G is Hataoka’s 21st start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and in her 20 previous tournaments, she has earned eight top-15 finishes, the best of which is a tie for third that she recorded at the HSBC Women’s World Championship and the most notable of which is a tie for 13th that Hataoka earned in April at The Chevron Championship. She is currently ranked in the top 15 of two major strokes gained categories this season, ranking seventh in strokes gained tee to green (+1.27) and 11th in strokes gained approach (+0.90), according to KPMG Performance Insights.

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

Featured Groups: 2024 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G

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