Just days after Nelly Korda clamored for a platform on which she and her fellow pros can showcase their talents, the LPGA Tour heads to the biggest stage of them all: Hollywood. The sixth edition of the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro gets underway on Thursday at Wilshire Country Club, nestled in the heart of Los Angeles. Here's a look at what you need to know about the Tour’s return to the City of Angels.
The Field
The JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro has attracted a strong field of 144 players, which includes 17 of the top 25 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. And while Nelly Korda made easy work of last week’s venue at The Club at Carlton Woods, many of the world’s top-ranked players failed to advance to the weekend and are teeing it up in Hollywood looking for a bounce-back. Rose Zhang, Danielle Kang and Jin Young Ko are among those who didn’t play the weekend in Houston and are poised to compete this week. Both Zhang, who is making her tournament debut, and Kang, grew up in the Los Angeles area. Ko will make just her fourth start of the season as she’s had a limited playing schedule this year.
The field also features past champions Moriya Jutanugarn (2018), Minjee Lee (2019), Nasa Hataoka (2022) and Hannah Green (2023). Three sponsor exemptions were extended to Emma Talley, who picked the first top-five finish of her career in L.A. in 2018, Muni He who considers Wilshire Country Club one of her home courses and Yu-Sang Hou, who is splitting her time playing both the LPGA and Epson Tours in 2024.
Hannah Green Defends
Already a winner this season on the LPGA Tour, Hannah Green returns to Wilshire Country Club seeking a successful title defense for the first time in her LPGA Tour career. Green, who won the HSBC Women’s World Championship earlier this year at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore, picked up her third career victory last season in Los Angeles. The Aussie won in thrilling fashion by draining a 25-footer on the 72nd hole to get into a playoff with Aditi Ashok and Xiyu Lin. Green then won with a par on the second extra hole at Wilshire Country Club, a dramatic victory which marked her first win in four years on the LPGA Tour.
Big Bucks Up for Grabs in Hollywood
In 2023, when JM Eagle and Plastpro took over sponsorship of the LPGA’s annual Los Angeles Tour stop, they did so with the commitment to elevate the tournament, hoping to serve as a motivator for other events to follow suit. They immediately doubled the tournament’s purse to $3 million and continued their commitment to women’s golf by increasing the purse again this year to $3.75 million, additionally covering the cost of hotel accommodations for players in the field. The purse of the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro is the largest outside the majors and CME Group Tour Championship.
How to Watch
Golf Channel and Peacock will carry live coverage of the first and second rounds at Wilshire Country Club on Thursday, April 25 and Friday, April 26 from 6:30-9:30 p.m. ET. Third and final round coverage will also air live on Golf Channel and Peacock on Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28 from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. ET.
What’s Next?
Following this week’s trip to Hollywood, the Tour takes a one-week hiatus before returning to action with back-to-back weeks in New Jersey for the Cognizant Founder’s Cup, where Jin Young Ko is defending champion, and the Mizuho Americas Open, where Zhang earned her breakout win in 2023.
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