The Dow Championship is set to begin on Thursday, June 27, and 72 teams will tee it up at Midland Country Club in Michigan, ready to duke it out for a share of a $3 million purse. Two past winning teams are in this week’s field – Moriya & Ariya Jutanugarn and Cheyenne Knight & Elizabeth Szokol – as are seven of the top 10 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, six 2024 LPGA Tour winners, including major winners Yuka Saso and Amy Yang, and 18 of the 26 total 2024 LPGA Tour rookies.
Take a look at just a few of the featured groups this week at the Dow Championship, using KPMG Performance Insights:
Thursday, 11:52 a.m. – Brooke Henderson/Lexi Thompson, Georgia Hall/Charley Hull*
Brooke Henderson and Lexi Thompson are once again partnering for this year’s Dow Championship will be looking to improve upon a missed cut in the 2023 edition of the annual team event. Henderson has been playing solidly so far this season, missing just one cut in 14 total starts and earning five top-10 finishes, three of which were T3s or better. According to KPMG Performance Insights, the 13-time LPGA Tour winner is 10th in strokes gained total (+1.39), 15th in strokes gained driving (+0.54) and 18th in strokes gained tee to green (+1.10) on Tour this year. She is also second in rounds under par (30), birdies (191) and subpar holes (195). This is the Canadian’s fourth time playing in the Dow Championship, but it’s the first time that she has had the same partner for two consecutive years. Along with Thompson in 2023, Henderson played with In Gee Chun in 2021, earning a T17 finish that year, and she competed alongside her fellow countrywoman Alena Sharp in 2019, ultimately finishing solo fifth. She earned a T22 result at last week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, carding a respectable four-day total of 3-over at a challenging major venue like Sahalee Country Club and is continuing to search for her first 2024 victory alongside Thompson in the Great Lakes State.
Lexi Thompson’s T9 showing at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship marked the first top-10 finish she has recorded in a major since tying for second at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club in 2022. It was a solid week for the 11-time LPGA Tour winner, even with a rollercoaster ride of a final round to deal with. On Sunday in Sammamish, Wash., Thompson carded a 43 on the back nine, making two double bogeys, four bogeys and one birdie on her opening nine holes in Washington. The veteran then managed to recover on the back nine, recording five birdies to post a back-nine 31 and finish at 2-over for the round, an impressive bounce-back effort from the 29-year-old. The tie for ninth was Thompson’s second consecutive top-10 result and third of the season, as she tied for second at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give before the year’s third major championship and then tied for third at the Ford Championship presented by KCC in March. Thompson only ranks in the top 20 in strokes gained putting this season, according to KPMG Performance Insights, picking up 0.68 shots on the field with her flatstick in 2024.
Henderson and Thompson’s team name is Stars, Stripes and Maple Leafs, in honor of their Canadian and American heritages. Between the two of them, Henderson and Thompson have made $27.6 million in career earnings, recorded 24 victories, three of which are major championships, and collected 172 top-10 finishes, including their Tour starts as non-members, using data provided by KPMG Performance Insights.
Georgia Hall and Charley Hull are best friends and Solheim Cup teammates, making their partnership as The Rose and The Thorn one of the least surprising teams in the Dow Championship field this year. Hall made her tournament debut in the 2023 edition of the tournament and will be playing with Hull for the first time as she tees it up for the first time at Midland Country Club. This week marks Hall’s 12th start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and in her 11 previous tournaments, she has had one withdrawal, missed three cuts and recorded one top-15 finish, tying for 12th at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give a couple of weeks ago. The two-time LPGA Tour winner isn’t ranked inside the top 10 in any notable statistical categories, and after what’s been a bit of an up-and-down year for the 28-year-old, Hall is more than ready to shift her luck this week in Michigan.
The Dow Championship is Hull’s 10th start of the year, and she’ll be looking to continue performing solidly, just as she has already so far this season. Her previous nine events saw her record five top-20 results, the best of which is a tie for seventh that came at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and the most notable of which is a tie for 16th that came last week at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee. Statistically, the Rolex Rankings No. 8 ranks third in strokes gained driving (+0.75) and seventh in strokes gained tee to green (+1.31), according to KPMG Performance Insights. She is also ninth on the LPGA Tour in greens in regulation (71.72%) and 16th in average driving distance (270.08 yards). Despite their close relationship, Hull and Hall have played only one Solheim Cup match as partners, doing so in 2017 and losing 2 and 1 to Stacy Lewis and Gerina Mendoza.
Hall and Hull are both qualified to represent Great Britain at the 2024 Paris Olympics, finishing in the top 60 of the Olympic Golf Ranking after the qualification period ended following the conclusion of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Thursday, 12:03 p.m. – Atthaya Thitikul/Ruoning Yin, Alexa Pano/Rose Zhang*
Atthaya Thitikul and Ruoning Yin comprise team Jin & Tonic at this year’s Dow Championship as the pair makes their partnership debut in the fifth playing of the annual team event. Thitikul has never participated in a Dow Championship before this week, and while she only joined the Tour in 2022, the Thailand native will look to capture her third career LPGA Tour victory and first since the 2022 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G this week in Michigan. Since returning to LPGA Tour competition at The Chevron Championship after dealing with a lingering thumb injury that sidelined her from professional golf in the offseason, Thitikul has earned five 12th place or better results so far this year, four of which came from May to June. She finished 12th in her season debut in The Woodlands, Texas and then tied for seventh at the Mizuho Americas Open, tied for sixth at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally, finished solo fourth at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer and tied for eighth at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. The 21-year-old is gaining shots in all major strokes gained categories, ranking in the top 15 on the LPGA Tour in strokes gained total (2, +2.17) and strokes gained tee to green (12, +1.21), according to KPMG Performance Insights. She is the only other player besides Nelly Korda to rank inside the top 15 in strokes gained off the tee, approach, around the green and putting this year.
Ruoning Yin is making her 14th start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season this week at the Dow Championship and will be working to collect her third career title this week alongside her Thai partner. Yin has earned four top-15 results in her previous 13 tournaments this year, most notably tying for 12th at the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club earlier this month. Using data provided by KPMG Performance Insights, Thitikul is eighth on the LPGA Tour this year in strokes gained approach (+1.00), ninth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.30) and 16th in strokes gained driving (+0.51). She is a two-time LPGA Tour winner and major champion, becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner at the 2023 FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship and then collecting her first major title a couple of months later at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course. This is her third time playing in the Dow Championship, and she has missed the cut in both of her past appearances, doing so with Weiwei Zhang in 2022 and Xiaowen Yin in 2023.
While they will represent different countries, both Thitikul and Yin qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics and will be making their Olympic debuts in France in August.
Alexa Pano and Rose Zhang are the founding members of Team Rolexa this week and are hoping to leave a mark on the Dow Championship in just its fifth iteration. Pano played in this tournament last year alongside Dewi Weber, ultimately finishing in a tie for 17th with the Netherlands native, but is very much looking to having Rose along for the ride 2024, particularly as the two grew up together playing junior golf. It’s been a mixed bag of results for the Florida native this season, as Pano has one withdrawal, five missed cuts and two top-20 results on her 2024 resume, the best of which was a solo second finish at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in January. Statisically, however, the 19-year-old is at the top of the heap in several categories through the first half of the season. Pano is first in strokes gained driving (+0.88), second in strokes gained around the green (+0.65) and sixth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.33), according to KPMG Performance Insights, a combination that should complement her partner’s skills nicely at Midland Country Club.
Rose Zhang captured her second career LPGA Tour victory at the Cognizant Founders Cup last month and is working to add another tally to her win column alongside Pano in Midland, Mich. This is the 21-year-old’s 11th start of the 2024 season, and in addition to a withdrawal and three missed cuts, Zhang has earned two top-10 finishes, excluding her victory, as she tied for seventh at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and tied for fifth at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards in April. The Rolex Rankings No. 9 is second in strokes gained approach (+1.35) on the LPGA Tour this season, as well as third in strokes gained total (+1.98) and fifth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.47), data provided by KPMG Performance Insights reflects. This is the Stanford University alum’s first time competing in the Dow Championship, and considering she and her playing partner’s history, the duo just might be a perfect match this week in Midland, one that could come up clutch on Sunday and hoist the trophy at the end of the final round.
*Off No. 10
For a full list of tee times, please click here.
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