2022 Ascendant LPGA (Sep 29 - Oct 02)

[Argonne69]

Race to the CME Globe: 500 Points

 

Format: 72 holes

 

Purse: $1,700,000

 

Location: Old American Golf Club, The Colony, TX

 

Par: 71

 

Yardage: 6,475 yds

 

History: This is the 11th year for the event. In 2021, Jin Young Ko shot a final round 69 for a one shot victory, and her eighth LPGA win.

 

Coverage:

 

September 29: The Golf Channel 12:30 pm - 3:30 pm (EDT)

September 30: The Golf Channel 12:30 pm - 3:30 pm (EDT)

October 01: The Golf Channel 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm (EDT)

October 02: The Golf Channel 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm (EDT)

 

[Argonne69]

Field looks decent. Defending champion Jin Young is once again out (injury). 

 

Weather forecast looks excellent.

 

Coverage isn't bad. At least there's no tape delay.

 

[JungleJimbo]

35 minutes ago, Argonne69 said:

Field looks decent. Defending champion Jin Young is once again out (injury). 

 

Weather forecast looks excellent.

 

Coverage isn't bad. At least there's no tape delay.

 

 

Any idea if there will be Featured Groups 'Live-streamed' this weekend, via ESPN+ and/or LPGA website?

 

Monday Qs:  If only 2 qualifiers to join the field ... presumably there is a playoff for the 3 ladies who finished joint-T1 in Monday qualifiers? (Nothing conclusive yet mentioned on the LPGA website, apart from the Qualifying Round scoreboard)

 

https://www.lpga.com/tournaments/the-ascendant-lpga-benefiting-volunteers-of-america/tournament-entries 
 

 

Interesting to see Sandra Gal amongst the Reserves List? (thought she had retired/ semi-retired?)

Edited September 27, 2022 by JungleJimbo

[iBanesto]

Any reason the tournament was moved from July last year to September this year?

 

 

[JungleJimbo]

 

1 hour ago, Argonne69 said:

Race to the CME Globe: 500 Points

 

Format: 72 holes

 

Purse: $1,700,000

 

Location: Old American Golf Club, The Colony, TX

 

Par: 71

 

Yardage: 6,475 yds

 

History: This is the 11th year for the event. In 2021, Jin Young Ko shot a final round 69 for a one shot victory, and her eighth LPGA win.

 

Coverage:

 

September 29: The Golf Channel 12:30 pm - 3:30 pm (EDT)

September 30: The Golf Channel 12:30 pm - 3:30 pm (EDT)

October 01: The Golf Channel 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm (EDT)

October 02: The Golf Channel 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm (EDT)

 

 

2022 Ascendant LPGA: How to watch, who’s playing in Texas’s annual signature event

onherturf.nbcsports.com/2022/09/26/2022-ascendant-lpga-how-to-watch-whos-playing-in-texass-annual-signature-event

September 26, 2022

By Lisa Antonucci  Sep 26, 2022, 4:48 PM EDT

Getty Images

 

The LPGA make its annual stop in The Colony, Texas, this week for the 10th edition of the Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America, where Thailand’s 19-year-old rookie Atthaya Thitikul comes in hot off her second career win and second playoff victory this season at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

Leading the 132-player field at Old American Golf Club, located at Golf Clubs at The Tribute, are Texas residents and past champions Cheyenne Knight and Angela Stanford. They’ll compete for the $1.7 million prize purse alongside major champions Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko and Brooke Henderson. Last year’s Ascendant LPGA champion, world No. 1 Jin Young Ko, will not be defending her title after announcing earlier this month she would be missing several weeks due to a nagging wrist injury.

This past weekend in Arkansas, Thitikul took the lead with a 10-under 61 in the second round and shot 68 in the final round to finish regulation tied with Danielle Kang at 17-under 196. Thitikul, who won the JTBC Classic in March in a two-hole playoff vs. Nanna Koerstz Madsen, drained an 8-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to secure the win over Kang.

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How to watch the 2022 Ascendant LPGA 

Coverage of the 2022 Ascendant LPGA from Old American Golf Club in The Colony, Texas, can be found on Golf Channel, with streaming options available any time on any mobile device and online through NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app.

 

• Thursday, Sept. 29: 12:30-3:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel
• Friday, Sept. 30: 12:30-3:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel
• Saturday, Oct. 1: 1-4 p.m. ET, Golf Channel
• Sunday, Oct. 2: 1-4 p.m. ET, Golf Channel

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Who’s playing in the 2022 Ascendant LPGA

Six of the top 10 players in the Rolex World Rankings are among the field in Texas, including:

• No. 2 Nelly Korda
• No. 4 Lydia Ko
• No. 5 Atthaya Thitikul
• No. 6 Brooke Henderson
• No. 7 Lexi Thompson
• No. 10 Nasa Hataoka

A number of local Texans also are in the tournament, headlined by past champions, Angela Stanford (2020) and Cheyenne Knight (2019), and two junior champions of the Volunteers of America Classic Girls Championship, who are playing on a sponsor exemption: Yunxuan (Michelle) Zhang (2022), a freshman at SMU, and Avery Zweig (2021), a high school sophomore from McKinney, Texas.

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Past five champions of The Ascendant LPGA

YEAR	WINNER	SCORE	MARGIN	RUNNERUP
2021	Jin Young Ko (South Korea)	16-under 268	1 stroke	Matilda Castren
2020	Angela Stanford (USA)	7-under 277	2 strokes	So Yeon Ryu, Inbee Park, Yealimi Noh
2019	Cheyenne Knight (USA)	18-under 266	2 strokes	Brittany Altomare, Jaye Marie Green
2018	Sung Hyun Park (South Korea)	11-under 131	1 stroke	Lindy Duncan
2017	Haru Nomura (Japan)	3-under 281	Playoff	Christie Kerr

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Last time at The Ascendant LPGA

South Korea’s Jin Young Ko carded a final-round 69 to maintain her 54-hole lead at Old American Golf Club and held on for a one stroke win at the 2021 Volunteers of America Classic, her eighth career LPGA tour title. Ko finished regulation at 16-under 268, edging Finland’s Matilda Castren by one stroke.

It kicked off a five-win season for Ko, who had just lost her No. 1 ranking to Nelly Korda the week prior after holding the top spot for 100 straight weeks. She regained the No. 1 ranking back in October 2021, after earning her fourth win in seven starts at the BMW Ladies Championship.

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More about Old American Golf Club

Opened in 2010, the Old American Golf Club is one of two clubs at The Tribute, a lakefront resort community on Lewisville Lake in The Colony, Texas. Designed by Tripp Davis and 12-time PGA Tour winner Justin Leonard, Old American plays as a Par 71 and stretches to 6,475 yards on the tournament scorecard.

 

 

[Argonne69]

33 minutes ago, iBanesto said:

Any reason the tournament was moved from July last year to September this year?

 

 

This one has been all over the calendar since its inception, from April in 2017 to December in 2020. The ShopRite was moved from its traditional June date to early October last year, so the VoA got shifted. I assume there's a little more flexibility in the scheduling for the course given that it's not a resort course.

 

[18majors]

 

It's unusual Jin Young Ko, Minjee Lee and Nelly Korda all went into slump at the same time.  It opened the door for other stars to shine!

 

Nelly's last four tournaments; cut, T31, T2 and T41; is a cause for concern.  Time for her to show sparks!

 

Go, Nelly!

 

 

[18majors]

 

Probably the first time this happens:

 

 

[MagicClassic407]

1 hour ago, 18majors said:

 

Probably the first time this happens:

 

 

Isn't Kristen Gillman #1 on the Reserve List? She'll probably get in anyway. 

[JungleJimbo]

19 minutes ago, MagicClassic407 said:

Isn't Kristen Gillman #1 on the Reserve List? She'll probably get in anyway. 

Kristen Gillman and Gurleen Kaur survived the Monday Q playoffs, and are listed in the updated Tournament Entries.

 

 

1 hour ago, 18majors said:

 

Probably the first time this happens:

 

 

 

[ChronicSlicer]

Going with Celine B this week. Even though she's a past winner here Cheyenne Knight still lurks in the shadows for a dark horse, as does Esther. Let's go ladies

[woahnelly]

Going with A Lim this week, she is having a quietly strong year missing all but one cut. 

[Lobby]

Is it time for Lilia Vu’s Star to shine?

[JungleJimbo]

5 hours ago, ChronicSlicer said:

Going with Celine B this week. Even though she's a past winner here Cheyenne Knight still lurks in the shadows for a dark horse, as does Esther. Let's go ladies

 

 

 

 

 

[iBanesto]

5 hours ago, JungleJimbo said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would be happy for a French win! 🇫🇷

 

Boutier was so close at the Scottish Open.

 

[tonyj5]

My field rating for this tournament is a mediocre 61%, way way up from 33.5% last year when Jin Young Ko took home the trophy.
My breakdown is 69% from the LPGA Priority List and 53% from the Rolex Rankings.
The field will include four of the top six players in the Rolex Rankings:
#2 Nelly Korda
#3 Atthaya Thitikul
#5 Lydia Ko
#6 Brooke Henderson
Players not teeing it up this week include:
Jin Young Ko
Patty Tavatanakit
Minjee Lee
Leona Maguire
Hyo Joo Kim
In Gee Chun
Hannah Green
Amy Yang
Jenny Shin
Eun Hee Ji
Chella Choi
Carlota Ciganda
Marina Alex
Sung Hyun Park
Paula Reto
Andrea Lee

Other stuff:
Nelly Korda had her cut streak ended at 19 straight cuts made.

Atthaya Thitikul and Lydia Ko both got their 11th top ten finish of the year. No other player has more than nine.

Lydia Ko has teed it up 18 times this year....and has 17 top 25 finishes!

The LPGA has now had six tournaments finish in a playoff this year.

In the all important Race to the CME globe:
Dewi Weber moved from 108 to 101 
Muni He jumped all the way up from 177 to 114, but still has a lot of work to do to get into the top 100 and retain her playing privileges for next year.

We had a big change in the Race for the Vare Trophy and that Hall of Fame point. Lydia Ko has taken the lead with a 69.300 average. Minjee Lee has fallen to second with 69.333.

In the Rookie of the Year Race. Atthaya Thitikul (with her win this past week) has now taken a commanding lead over Hye-Jin Choi 1,299 to 1,161. Hye-Jin will now need to get her first victory, and some poor play from Atthaya, to have any chance to take the award.

Rolex Rankings:
Atthaya Thitikul Jumps up from 5 to 3, and may be able to take over the top spot with a win this week.
Danielle Kang Jumped from 21 to 13.
Non LPGA player Su Ji Kim leaped from 57 to 47
Chella Choi moved from 81 to 60.
Outside the top 100
Pornanong Phatlum 184 to 136
Klara Spilkova 292 to 162
Muni He 356 to 233

Edited September 29, 2022 by tonyj5

[18majors]

 

Yealimi Noh keeps Patrick Smith as her caddie, even though she missed the cut last week.

 

These are all part of her learning curve; she'll put it all together soon!

[JungleJimbo]

info on Featured Groups:
 

 

 

[Raving Shanker]

On 9/28/2022 at 8:32 AM, woahnelly said:

Going with A Lim this week, she is having a quietly strong year missing all but one cut. 

Strong year, and fabulous to watch - but she hasn't got into the mix once yet!

[Stooch]

I like Brooke and Nelly this week (Sei Young might fire something too, she missed the cut when pair with Nelly and Brooke at the Meijer), they usually head into the weekend near the top of the leaderboard when they start together, and I think both close to another win.

 

Or this is the kiss of death and now both miss the cut lol

[North Texas]

20 hours ago, tonyj5 said:

My field rating for this tournament is a mediocre 61%, way way up from 33.5% last year when Jin Young Ko took home the trophy.
My breakdown is 69% from the LPGA Priority List and 53% from the Rolex Rankings.
The field will include four of the top six players in the Rolex Rankings:
#2 Nelly Korda
#3 Atthaya Thitikul
#5 Lydia Ko
#6 Brooke Henderson
Players not teeing it up this week include:
Jin Young Ko
Patty Tavatanakit
Minjee Lee
Leona Maguire
Hyo Joo Kim
In Gee Chun
Hannah Green
Amy Yang
Jenny Shin
Eun Hee Ji
Chella Choi
Carlota Ciganda
Marina Alex
Sung Hyun Park
Paula Reto
Andrea Lee

Other stuff:
Nelly Korda had her cut streak ended at 19 straight cuts made.

Atthaya Thitikul and Lydia Ko both got their 11th top ten finish of the year. No other player has more than nine.

Lydia Ko has teed it up 18 times this year....and has 17 top 25 finishes!

The LPGA has now had six tournaments finish in a playoff this year.

In the all important Race to the CME globe:
Dewi Weber moved from 108 to 101 
Muni He jumped all the way up from 177 to 114, but still has a lot of work to do to get into the top 100 and retain her playing privileges for next year.

We had a big change in the Race for the Vare Trophy and that Hall of Fame point. Lydia Ko has taken the lead with a 69.300 average. Minjee Lee has fallen to second with 69.333.

In the Rookie of the Year Race. Atthaya Thitikul (with her win this past week) has now taken a commanding lead over Hye-Jin Choi 1,299 to 1,161. Hye-Jin will now need to get her first victory, and some poor play from Atthaya, to have any chance to take the award.

Rolex Rankings:
Atthaya Thitikul Jumps up from 5 to 3, and may be able to take over the top spot with a win this week.
Danielle Kang Jumped from 21 to 13.
Non LPGA player Su Ji Kim leaped from 57 to 47
Chella Choi moved from 81 to 60.
Outside the top 100
Pornanong Phatlum 184 to 136
Klara Spilkova 292 to 162
Muni He 356 to 233

 

Good stuff. 

 

But can you help an old guy out and use a bigger font 🙂

[18majors]

 

Scores are high for early morning wave because of gusty winds.  Winds will start to calm down around 10:00 AM local time.

[tonyj5]

2 hours ago, North Texas said:

 

Good stuff. 

 

But can you help an old guy out and use a bigger font 🙂

I adjusted. Hope that's better 😀

[Argonne69]

Love me some birdiefests, but also love to see a course play tough. Scores aren't through the stratosphere today. 

 

 

[BladedWedgeShots]

3 hours ago, 18majors said:

 

Scores are high for early morning wave because of gusty winds.  Winds will start to calm down around 10:00 AM local time.

Winds will probably stay constant all day. 8-10 mph winds but gusts is what's gonna make it difficult (15-20mph).

It's funny to see Jessica Korda wearing a vest when it's currently 80 degrees here in Dallas 😅

[Stooch]

5 hours ago, Stooch said:

I like Brooke and Nelly this week (Sei Young might fire something too, she missed the cut when pair with Nelly and Brooke at the Meijer), they usually head into the weekend near the top of the leaderboard when they start together, and I think both close to another win.

 

Or this is the kiss of death and now both miss the cut lol

 

And the "Kiss of Death" it is 🤣😂

[18majors]

 

Su Oh is +8, she's projected to drop to #101 CME ranking; she hit only eight greens today.  Cut line will be around +2 to +4; she needs to shoot low round of the day tomorrow to make the cut.

 

Like Yealimi Noh, we don't really know how badly she's been playing because we haven't seen them on TV.  But, every dog has its day, she just need to strike gold either in Los Angeles or Belleair.

 

 

[fredogolfer]

Just got back from being there most of the morning. Followed Hinako, Stacy and Pajaree.

 

1.) This group was put on the clock after 7 holes. They teed off at 7:53 and didn’t finish until after 1 or so it seemed.

 

2.) Stacy almost took 10 minutes between her tee and her 2nd shot on hole 6. She’s become plenty slow herself. She continues to be pouty and generally negative. All the talk about motherhood relaxing her and helping her see golf is just golf is BS. Hinako is slow at times as well. Stacy’s mom followed the group. 

 

3. Lots of Japanese media following Hinako’s group. Japanese fans as well. One fan I found quite disturbing. He carried a small japanese flag with writing on it and made sure to stand in Hinako’s line of vision hold it up and smile. Not anything particularly disturbing beside the  disingenuous, creepy smile and finding a way to make sure Hinako saw him on every hole.

 

4. The course was playing very tough this morning as it was very windy. Shots were not as accurate as the could have been because of it. Caught bits of Aditi Ashok, Amy Olson(how long has she been back with Tameka on the bag?), Emma Talley, Georgia Hall, Xiyu Lin and Ariya Jutanugarn, Ashleigh Buhai, A Lim Kim etc. You don’t appreciate how much weight Ariya has lost unless you see it in person.

 

5. I always find there’s an overzealous volunteer or security guard at events. On the 18th hole there was a security guard who immediately started shushing people if their bag flapped in the wind or if they coughed. Her shushing made more noise than whatever she was trying to quell.

 

Anyhow, it wore me out to follow such a slow group most of the round. I don’t mind the walking but all the standing gets to me.

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by fredogolfer

[Argonne69]

Always nice to have Judy in the booth. 

 

Who chips more around the green than Nelly, Grant? Danielle and Lydia. 

 

[Argonne69]

17 minutes ago, fredogolfer said:

Just got back from being there most of the morning. Followed Hinako, Stacy and Pajaree.

 

1.) This group was put on the clock after 7 holes. They teed off at 7:53 and didn’t finish until after 1 or so it seemed.

 

2.) Stacy almost took 10 minutes between her tee and her 2nd shot on hole 6. She’s become plenty slow herself. She continues to be pouty and generally negative. All the talk about motherhood relaxing her and helping her see golf is just golf is BS. Hinako is slow at times as well. Stacy’s mom followed the group. 

 

3. Lots of Japanese media following Hinako’s group. Japanese fans as well. One fan I found quite disturbing. He carried a small japanese flag with writing on it and made sure to stand in Hinako’s line of vision hold it up and smile. Not anything particularly disturbing beside the  disingenuous, creepy smile and finding a way to make sure Hinako saw him on every hole.

 

4. The course was playing very tough this morning as it was very windy. Shots were not as accurate as the could have been because of it. Caught bits of Aditi Ashok, Amy Olson(how long has she been back with Tameka on the bag?), Emma Talley, Georgia Hall, Xiyu Lin and Ariya Jutanugarn, Ashleigh Buhai, A Lim Kim etc. You don’t appreciate how much weight Ariya has lost unless you see it in person.

 

5. I always find there’s an overzealous volunteer or security guard at events. On the 18th hole there was a security guard who immediately started shushing people if their bag flapped in the wind or if they coughed. Her shushing made more noise than whatever she was trying to quell.

 

Anyhow, it wore me out to follow such a slow group most of the round. I don’t mind the walking but all the standing gets to me.

 

 

Yeah, there seems to be a Barney Fife at every event. I was taking photos near the practice green at the Meijer a few years back when a security guard walked up and told me that photos weren't allowed. This was years past the point where cameras weren't permitted on the grounds, but I didn't argue with him and walked away. Of course there were a dozen or more fans taking photos around the green, so I guess my "special" entry in the security binder got me some unwanted attention. Lol. 

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by Argonne69