The 18th edition of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G gets underway on Friday at Pinnacle Country Club. The 54-hole tournament is one of the final full-field events of the 2024 LPGA Tour season and is an opportunity for players to make a move in the season-long point standings ahead of November’s CME Group Tour Championship. Here’s a closer look at five things you need to know about this week’s trip to Arkansas, where 144 of the world’s best athletes will be competing for a purse of $3 million.

Who’s In The Field?

Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 2 Lilia Vu headlines the field as the top-ranked player competing in Rogers, Ark. Come Friday, Vu will be making her first start since she clinched the winning point for the U.S. Team at the Solheim Cup and helped her fellow Americans win back the cup for the first time since 2017. Vu is making her third start at Pinnacle Country Club, where she last competed in 2022 and finished tied for 16th.

Several other members of the U.S. Solheim Cup Team are in the field in Arkansas, including Lauren Coughlin, Ally Ewing, Megan Khang, Jennifer Kupcho, Andrea Lee, Sarah Schmelzel and Allisen Corpuz. Assistant Captains Angela Stanford and Brittany Lincicome, as well as U.S. Captain Stacy Lewis, who is a two-time winner of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, will also be competing.

The European Solheim Cup Team is well-represented in Arkansas with Celine Boutier, Carlota Ciganda, Emily Pedersen, Madelene Sagstrom and Maja Stark teeing it up at Pinnacle Country Club.

Jeeno Thitikul, who won this event as a rookie in 2022, is making her return to the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, where the world No. 12 will look to build on the momentum she generated last week at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G. Sunday, Thitikul held the 54-hole lead and ultimately finished runner-up to champion Lydia Ko.

Thitikul has earned five additional top 10s this season, along with her team victory alongside Ruoning Yin at the Dow Championship, and she’ll look to add another win to her resume this week. Nasa Hataoka, who won this event in 2021 and 2018, is also in the field, as is Lexi Thompson, who continues her farewell Tour ahead of her retirement from full-time competition at the end of the season.

Haeran Ryu Defends

In 2023, Haeran Ryu was in the midst of her first season on the LPGA Tour when she earned her breakthrough win at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. That week, Ryu carded back-to-back opening rounds of 64 to take a two-stroke lead into the final round. On Sunday, Ryu managed to card a 66, even with four bogeys on her card, and won by three strokes over Linnea Strom to become a Rolex First-Time Winner. Ryu went on to win the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award at the end of the season, and she has ridden that momentum into 2024. Ryu won for a second time on Tour at the FM Championship at TPC Boston on September 1 and has collected six additional top-five finishes this year.

Season’s Final Push

The Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G is one of three remaining full-field events on the LPGA Tour schedule and is an opportunity for players looking to advance to the CME Group Tour Championship to make up ground in the season-long point standings. The top 60 ranked players in the Race to the CME Globe will qualify for the CME Group Tour Championship, where players will compete for a winner’s check of $4 million for the first time in 2023. Gaby Lopez, a former Arkansas Razorback, enters the week at No. 59 in the point standings after a tie for seventh on Sunday in Cincinnati moved her up 10 spots and just inside the top 60. Lucy Li, who sits at No. 60 in the Race to the CME Globe, is also in the field in Arkansas, along with Marina Alex at No. 61, A Lim Kim at No. 63 and Georgia Hall at No. 68.

Sponsor Exemptions

Since the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship was first staged in 2007, the University of Arkansas has enjoyed a special connection with the championship. Each year, the tournament has extended a sponsor exemption to a member of the university’s women’s golf team. In 2024, that exemption was given to Maria Jose Marin, the SEC Freshman of the Year, who is currently ranked No. 15 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. Lilly Thomas Russel, a native of northwest Arkansas who grew up playing at Pinnacle Country Club, was also given an exemption for the second time. Shyla Brown received the third exemption on the heels of her victory at the Kathy Whitworth Invitational, and the 16-year-old will make her LPGA Tour debut this week in Arkansas.

What’s Next?

The Walmart NW Arkansas Championship is one of just nine events remaining on the LPGA Tour’s schedule, with just eight of those being official events. Following the trip to Arkansas, the LPGA Tour will take a one-week break before embarking on the annual fall swing through Asia, which kicks off with the Buick LPGA Shanghai, where Angel Yin will seek to defend her title. The next week, the Tour travels to the Republic of Korea for the BMW Ladies Championship, where Minjee Lee is the defending champion, and one week later, the Maybank Championship gets underway with Celine Boutier seeking a successful title defense. The LPGA caps off its trip to Asia with the TOTO Japan Classic, where Mone Inami won in 2023, and the Tour will then head to Hawaii for the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei, which will be played in November for the very first time. And finally, the Tour concludes its season in Florida with back-to-back weeks at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican and the CME Group Tour Championship. Two weeks later, a limited field of both the LPGA and PGA Tour athletes will compete in the second edition of the Grant Thornton Invitational, an unofficial event but a fun-filled way to cap off the year.

Five Things to Know About the 2024 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G

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