2022 KPMG Women's PGA Championship (Jun 23-26)

[Yellow Jacket]

 

2022 KPMG Women's PGA Championship

June 23-26, 2022

Congressional Country Club (Blue Course), Bethesda, MD

https://www.kpmgwomenspgachampionship.com/

 

Race to the CME Globe: 650 Points

Format: 72 holes

Purse: $4,500,000

Par: 72

History: This event began in 1955 and is one of the five majors on the LPGA Tour.

Yardage: 6,831

 

Korda added a glittering trophy to the family jewels, making her sixth victory the KMPG Women’s PGA Championship. In doing so, she reached No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings, the first American to do so since Stacy Lewis in 2014. Nelly Korda’s 19-under-par 269 was three strokes better than Lizette Salas.

 

TV Coverage (ET)

Thu/Fri: 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Golf Channel

Sat/Sun: 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. NBC

 

Update: 🔥 Hole by hole photos and analysis of the course here: https://forums.golfwrx.com/topic/1883594-2022-kpmg-womens-pga-championship-jun-23-26/?do=findComment&comment=24281748 🔥

 

Edited June 22, 2022 by Yellow Jacket

[Yellow Jacket]

The Women’s PGA Championship is here in Washington, DC at Congressional Country Club where Rory McIlroy won the U.S. Open in 2011. I will be a walking scorer which means I’ll be inside the ropes with players. Hopefully I get paired with some big names but looking at my tee times and the TV airtimes, probably not ☹️. I’ll be working the pro-am on Tuesday afternoon, then Thursday afternoon, Friday afternoon, and Sunday morning.

 

We had on-site training yesterday and the course was eerie. It was super empty as they finish setting up and only a handful of players were practicing. I probably should’ve done more exploring, inside the clubhouse and what not in case that’s closed off during the week, but I felt like I was trespassing the whole time. I recognized Christina Kim on the putting green and Emma Talley on the range, but I didn’t want to be a bother. There IS a whole week of golf to see, although today would’ve been my best chance to actually interact with players and pick their brains.

 

The course has undergone significant renovations since the last professional tournament played here, the 2016 Quicken Loans National. I didn’t watch much of the 2011 U.S. Open and never watched any of the PGA Tour events so I’m not familiar with the course pre-redesign. This article does a good job of discussing the changes. Everyone agreed the old design was boring, and the new one is supposed to be legit good: https://www.globalgolfpost.com/featured/a-whole-new-blue/

 

The new hole 10, a short downhill par 3 to an exposed green.

 

The clubhouse is the largest in the country and had a doorman!!

 

#1 ball in golf, #1 trailer to arrive on site. (Oh s*** maybe I could’ve talked to them?)

 

Pretty decent ride

Edited June 21, 2022 by Yellow Jacket

[woahnelly]

Bummer no Min Ji Park, I'm sure the ladies on the KLPGA are tired of her winning all the money (again) this season. She would have been exempt due to her Rolex Ranking. 

 

Hee Jeong Lim won a major this week on their tour tour as well. You may remember her from shooting bogey free 72 rounds at the BMW last year before falling to Jin Young, at the peak of her powers, in a playoff. She would not have been exempt, but I hope she makes a run at Q-school next year, along with Min Ji and Hae Ran. 

 

On the American side, nice to see Gina Kim trending upwards, I think she will have a good week. Lilia Vu and Alisen Corpuz also finished strongly this past event. Maybe Schubert and Papp perform well this week? Yealimi is still playing inconsistent. 

[18majors]

2 hours ago, woahnelly said:

Yealimi is still playing inconsistent

 

 

The truth is she's been consistently bad; we just didn't want to admit it!

 

But "hope springs eternal"; all it takes is one good round or one good tournament.

Edited June 20, 2022 by 18majors

[woahnelly]

56 minutes ago, 18majors said:

 

 

The truth is she's been consistently bad; we just didn't want to admit it!

 

Bur "hope springs eternal"; all it takes is one good round or one good tournament.

 

That 64 she shot in Singapore seems forever ago 

[18majors]

21 minutes ago, woahnelly said:

 

That 64 she shot in Singapore seems forever ago 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, that's in Singapore and there wasn't any publicity that she shot a low round of the day by 3 shots.

 

I'll be patient; age wise, she won't graduate from college until May 2023.

[Stooch]

Interesting story how Andrew Green who got to do the re-design.  Well friend looks like you get to "Shoot your shot", I hope the re-design hold up tp the scrutiny, cause ask Gil Hanse what a strong reputation in old course re-design can do for the bank account.

 

 

[Carolina Golfer 2]

Thanks for sharing that.  The course looks stunning.  I've been there for mulitple tournaments, hope I can make it out at some point this week. 

 

Andrew Green did the complete renovation of The Preserve at Eisenhower (an Annapolis, MD) area course.   His big thing there was he removed all the bunkes and replaced the with Hummocks.  Big grassy knolls in the fairways and greenside.   They are unique, lets just say that 🙂

 

[Stooch]

4 minutes ago, Carolina Golfer 2 said:

Thanks for sharing that.  The course looks stunning.  I've been there for mulitple tournaments, hope I can make it out at some point this week. 

 

Andrew Green did the complete renovation of The Preserve at Eisenhower (an Annapolis, MD) area course.   His big thing there was he removed all the bunkes and replaced the with Hummocks.  Big grassy knolls in the fairways and greenside.   They are unique, lets just say that 🙂

 

 

#10 looks like a nice hole, although a complete different layout style, very similar feel to #12 at the Master a normally easy short wedge that becomes hard when you look at the green.

[IcemanYVR]

Looking forward to seeing the redesigned Congressional. Big fan of classic courses and architecture, so this will be my main watch this week. 

[Golf Dino]

Congressional - forever notched in my mind as Ken Venturi's sole Major Championship victory -- the 1964 U.S. Open . . . poor fella.  He almost passed out from heat exhaustion - Raymond Floyd, playing with Venturi, said it looked like poor Ken couldn't see straight and was wobbling, but luckily Ken had a 4-shot lead over the field so it didn't matter if he missed his last putt.   Venturi would retire 3 years later -- victim of carpal tunnel syndrome in his (left hand I believe) . . . and that was it.  

As for the 2022 KPMG Women's PGA, I think Nelly is looking very much the favourite at the moment.   Meijer was the rust being scraped off of her game.

 

But I do think Brooke is going to contend and I would not be surprised if she won her second major here.  She has spoken about this being the one she wants to win (spoken at the US Women's Open in the event that she did not win at Pine Needles).   It seems that this has been on her mind for a while, but it was the first time that I know of where she has spoken about it so publicly.  With the uptick in her game (i.e. improved putting and short game), we will see if she can put it all together for four intense rounds of golf. 

 

The other one I am keeping an eye on is Jin Young Ko -- I know its a "no brainer", but I am curious to see how she fares here.  She has been working on her swing trying to eliminate a hitch in her backswing, so we will see how she manages here.

 

 

BETSIDED has the odds (as of today June 20, 2022): 

 

• Nelly Korda (+900)
• Lydia Ko (+1100)
• Jin Young Ko (+1100)
• Minjee Lee (+1400)
• Lexi Thompson (+1400)
• Brooke Henderson (+1800)
• Atthaya Thitikul (+2500)
• Hye Jin Choi (+2500)
• Jessica Korda (+3000)
• Leona Maguire (+3000)

[Seamus_McDuff]

I stayed at and played Congressional years ago. I don’t think I’ll recognize any of it now. 

[postfold]

I don't remember being too excited by Congressional from past events so I too am very interested to see the renovation.

[Stooch]

35 minutes ago, Golf Dino said:

But I do think Brooke is going to contend and I would not be surprised if she won her second major here. 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, Brooke should be around on Sunday, but it will be the putter in the end IMO.  I think she needs it to be really hard, her ball striking is next level right now and if she stabilized her putting she should just have to 2-putt for par most of the time.  That's thing for her not giving away 3-putts if she keeps it to 2 of them this week she should be close.

 

Her putting has me really confused it start the season greatly improved, then the driver length changed and for a 3 event stretch her putting disappeared (too many possible reason to figure out why) and the last 2 events it's back to where it was at the start of the season.  My worry though is she's still building up the putting and she has the one bad putting round each week.  The last 5 events she had at least 1 round where she average 2.0 putts/GIR and that's a killer.  But at a Major those #'s for everybody are closer to 2.0 than 1.60 (like most normal events)

 

That said I still have the regular cast being there Minjee, Lydia, Lexi, Nelly, Nasa and Jin Young.  But for the winner I'm bouncing  back and forth between Hye-Jin Choi and Hannah Green.  I know last week I was Hye-Jin was getting tired I still think she is but this is it, she a break after this event.  And one of my favorite stat to predict an LPGA winner during the season is a sub-70 scoring it is uncanny at predicting LPGA winners and besides SYP 5 of the last 6 winners have been 1sr time  Major winners.  I like Hannah too cause she likes this event as a past champ and it should inspired good play and when Hannah is on she can keep up with anybody.

[Yellow Jacket]

Just got a Friday afternoon shift added to my schedule. I was already working Thursday afternoon, but I should still be able to see the early/late wave on Thursday morning and the late/early wave on Friday morning. I'm gonna be pooped by Sunday afternoon.

[mizuno player]

Played it several times. Once before the last major change. Always liked it but it did lack something. It was just long and tight. Now it looks amazing. Can't wait to see it and none day play it again. 

[HankScorpio]

I'm going for Jeeno for the win.  Her team just needs to change her calendar so that she thinks its Sunday when the tournament begins and she will run away with this thing. 🤣

[MagicClassic407]

Matilda is rested and ready 🇫🇮 A Finn (Kiira Riihijarvi) won last week on the Epson Tour🇫🇮 Dark Horse this week: Sanna 🇫🇮 

 

Let yer Finn flags fly!

 

[Creedo77]

The greens will challenge these girls. I work here in my off season and they took out 80% of the trees to improve the air flow through the course which will improve overall conditions. #15 is a poor redesign imo, it’s a blind 2nd shot into an elevated green that runs away from you. You have to essentially land it 10 short of the front edge to hold the green, especially to pins near the front edge 

 

Going to go out Friday and follow Kupcho since a buddy of mine caddies for her 

[iBanesto]

I feel like Jin Young Ko needs to win a major soon especially with her current dominance of the tour.

 

She is too good not to have won at least 1 more since 2019.

 

 

[Argonne69]

16 hours ago, Carolina Golfer 2 said:

Thanks for sharing that.  The course looks stunning.  I've been there for mulitple tournaments, hope I can make it out at some point this week. 

 

Andrew Green did the complete renovation of The Preserve at Eisenhower (an Annapolis, MD) area course.   His big thing there was he removed all the bunkes and replaced the with Hummocks.  Big grassy knolls in the fairways and greenside.   They are unique, lets just say that 🙂

 

 

Wow, and I thought bunkers were bad for pace of play. Lol.

 

[Argonne69]

If Minjee's putter stays hot, she could be the one to beat. (Note to the all powerful golf god, Jinx: I am not picking Minjee for the win).

 

[Golf Dino]

3 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

If Minjee's putter stays hot, she could be the one to beat. (Note to the all powerful golf god, Jinx: I am not picking Minjee for the win).

 

 

@Argonne69  .  .  . just head out to your local golf course and start repairing divots and fixing ball marks!  That will build some credit with the golf gods!  😂

[Carolina Golfer 2]

4 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Wow, and I thought bunkers were bad for pace of play. Lol.

 

Yeah, and you can find your ball in a bunker as well.  These things, that's not always guaranteeed.   I played in a tournament there a few weeks ago, and actualy ended up in that that exact one-the smaller of the two closer to the green.  I found the ball but could only hack it out about 10 yards.   I was about 100 yards out from the green.   Guess I should be lucky I found it.   I managed to avoid them the rest of the round however. 

 

They have not been met with postive reviews from al lthe local players I hear from on a local golf page. 

[woahnelly]

outside the favorites (i'm reaching here)

 

Wei-Ling Hsu is +35000.  she is 5th this year on strokes gained T2G, 15th approach to the green. if she can find her short game, she could be a sneaky pick.  Finished 9th last week. 

 

I'd give Gina Kim (same odds as Wei-Ling) and = chance to win as her young American counterparts whom have never won on tour + Congressional is close to her roots in NC (if that means anything)

 

Yae-eun Hong is +100000 (!) she is the 6th best putter on tour this year. her distance is quite poor though.

 

They could all be good DFS darts, so you can stack your roster with high end talent.

Edited June 21, 2022 by woahnelly

[Rapidcat]

6 hours ago, MagicClassic407 said:

Matilda is rested and ready 🇫🇮 A Finn (Kiira Riihijarvi) won last week on the Epson Tour🇫🇮 Dark Horse this week: Sanna 🇫🇮 

 

Let yer Finn flags fly!

 

Matilda is such an iconic Aussie name, even features in one of our national songs: "Waltzing Matilda" (a 'matilda' is our slang for a 'swag' which = a rucksack or type of backback).

 

Was a popular girls name for maybe a century here, still a popular cat's name😂

 

Maybe she's really an Aussie? We can't claim Lydia as she refuses to stop dressing like a Kiwi, maybe we can claim Matilda?

 

Just joking, nice to see the Finns doing well. Matilda must be due some top finishes, too talented not to. She was wonderful in the Solheim, too.

[18majors]

 

They don't call it "Live from KPMG", but Golf Channel is giving LPGA a major treatment.

 

Anna Whiteley, Paige Mackenzie and Amana Blumenherst; the all women broadcast, is hosting a 5 hours session on the tournament from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM EDT today.

[HankScorpio]

Watching GC and they have Brooke on.  Good to hear her talk about her recent equipment changes and needing the time to adjust.  Didn't know her sister was her caddie 🤣

[18majors]

 

 

The anticipated 2022 Nelly-Jin Young rivalry has never materialized for apparent reasons.  But this week a big stake is on the line.

 

Nelly will take over world #1 if she wins and Jin Young finishes worse than a solo second.

 

 

[Yellow Jacket]

My pro-am group today is Emma Talley. Should be fun!