When a tournament doubles its purse, hosts a huge party with giveaways and provides complimentary accommodations to all the players in the field, you know it’s going to be a big hit. That’s the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro, which returns to the LPGA Tour schedule for its seventh edition this week. This year, the 144 players in the field will be competing for one of the biggest purses outside the major championships, with $3.75 million on the line. Staged the week before the season’s first major championship, the trip to Los Angeles represents an opportunity for the best in women’s golf to get game-ready for next week’s Chevron Championship. But first, here are five things you need to know about this week’s JM Eagle LA Championship.

Green Goes for Three in a Row

Two-time defending champion Hannah Green will look to do what no other player has been able to do this weekend at the JM Eagle LA Championship – win the event for a third consecutive season. In 2023, Green defeated Aditi Ashok and Xiyu Lin in a three-person playoff to capture her first win in nearly four years. When she returned in 2024, the situation couldn’t have been more different as Green built out a sizable lead with a final-round 66 and went on to win by three strokes over Maja Stark. Green’s victory last year in Los Angeles was part of a standout season for the Australian, who won three times on the LPGA Tour in 2024. Green returns to Los Angeles with two top 10s in her first four starts of the 2025 LPGA Tour season.

Venue Change

For the first time this week, the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro will be played at El Caballero Country Club while Wilshire Country Club, the tournament’s regular home, is undergoing a year-long restoration. El Cab, as the venue is affectionately nicknamed, was designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and is located about a 30-minute drive northwest of Wilshire in Tarzana, Calif. In 2024, El Cab hosted the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship but will host the LPGA Tour for the first time in over two decades this week. Once the restoration project is complete at Wilshire Country Club, the JM Eagle LA Championship will return to the venue.

The Field

The stars will be out this week in L.A. as the top-ranked players in the game are slated to compete at the JM Eagle LA Championship. Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda headlines the field at El Cab as she returns to the tournament for the first time since 2023 when she finished tied for sixth at Wilshire Country Club. In Korda’s last start at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards, she lost to Ariya Jutanugarn in her final round-robin match and failed to advance to single-elimination match-play over the weekend.

Jeeno Thitikul has enjoyed one of the hottest starts to the season, having collected four top-five finishes on the LPGA Tour so far this year, and she will tee it up this week on the heels of her fifth-place showing at the T-Mobile Match Play. Thitikul is back in the field in L.A. for the first time since 2023, when she tied for 33rd.

Madelene Sagstrom, who returned to the winner’s circle for the first time in five years with her win at the T-Mobile Match Play, is poised to compete in L.A. along with Lauren Coughlin, who Sagstrom defeated in the Championship Match at Shadow Creek.

Lexi Thompson, who is playing a limited schedule after announcing her retirement from full-time competition last year, is making her third start of the year and first appearance at the JM Eagle LA Championship since 2021. Jin Young Ko, who tied for fourth last season at the JM Eagle LA Championship, is back in the field again this year.

Several players with L.A. connections are also competing this week, including Angel Yin from Arcadia, who is already a winner this season on the LPGA Tour at the Honda LPGA Thailand, major champion Lilia Vu of Fountain Valley, University of Southern California alum Gabriela Ruffels and Ryann O’Toole from San Clemente.

Past champions in the field include Minjee Lee (2019), Brooke Henderson (2021), Nasa Hataoka (2022) and Green (2023, 2024).

Thanks for the Invite

Sophia Popov, another player with ties to the City of Angels, received one of three sponsor exemptions available this week at the JM Eagle LA Championship. Popov, who won the 2020 AIG Women’s Open, attended the University of Southern California and will make her fourth start of the season when she tees it up at El Cab. Popov missed the cut last year in L.A.

Caroline Canales, who is a resident of nearby Calabasas, also received a sponsor invitation to compete this week at El Caballero Country Club, where she will turn professional and make her LPGA Tour debut. Canales is a senior at UCLA and was an Honorable Mention All-American for the 2023-2024 season.

Asterisk Talley received the third sponsor invitation following her runner-up finish at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur earlier this month. The 16-year-old will have a familiarity with the venue that few of the pros in the field will, considering she had a chance to compete at El Cab just last year when she finished runner-up at the U.S. Girls Junior Championship.

Tournament of the Year

In 2024, the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro was named the Tournament of the Year on the LPGA Tour. Walter and Shirley Wang, the husband and wife duo who are the CEOs of JM Eagle and Plastpro, took over sponsorship of the tournament and immediately doubled the purse with the hope of not just enticing the best players in the world to come and play their event but also provide a better way of life for the athletes competing. The Wangs hope that giving the players an increased purse, complimentary hotel accommodations and giveaway prizes totaling more than $100,000 would serve as a model for other tournaments to follow suit. Since doing so, nearly a dozen other tournaments on the LPGA Tour have followed their lead and also increased their purses.

While El Caballero Country Club hasn’t been physically impacted by the recent wildfire devastation in the Los Angeles area, the Wangs have donated $1.5 million to the relief efforts and pledged an additional $5 million in relief aid. They’re also providing complimentary admission to the tournament to first responders and residents who were impacted by the Palisades and Eaton fires earlier this year.

Five Things to Know About the 2025 JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro

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