2023 Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play (May 24 - 28)

[Argonne69]

Race to the CME Globe: 500 Points

 

Format: Match Play

 

Purse: $1,500,000

 

Location: Shadow Creek, Las Vegas, NV

 

Par: 72

 

Yardage: 6,804

 

History: This is the 3rd year for the event. In 2022, Eun Hee Ji earned a 3 and 2 victory over rookie Ayaka Furue. 

 

Coverage:

 

May 24: The Golf Channel 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm (EDT)

May 25: The Golf Channel 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm (EDT)

May 26: The Golf Channel 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm (EDT)

May 27: The Golf Channel 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm (EDT)

 

May 28: NBC Sports App 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm (EDT)

May 28: The Golf Channel 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm (EDT)

 

Edited Tuesday at 10:10 AM by Argonne69

[Argonne69]

This is a five day match play tournament that starts on Wednesday. Pretty weak field, but it is what it is. As we discussed previously, it doesn't help that it's wedged between tournaments on the east coast.

 

[JungleJimbo]

1 minute ago, Argonne69 said:

This is a five day match play tournament that starts on Wednesday. Pretty weak field, but it is what it is. As we discussed previously, it doesn't help that it's wedged between tournaments on the east coast.

 

 

 

 

[woahnelly]

Bummer, Gina Kim stuck as alt #1 w 2 days to go 

 

Weak field indeed, I see they declared the 2 invitee spots to the more 2 attractive looking young players to garner more rooting interest! Welcome Muni and Yaeeun

 

 

[MelloYello]

4 hours ago, JungleJimbo said:

 

 

 

 

Holy crap that seems like a disaster!

[HMHS]

Weak field certainly not helped with the fact that most of the "ranked" Japanese golfers decided to go home for a while/ play Bridgestone JLPGA last wkend.  Yuna, Hinako.

 

Only Ayaka is staying at the mainland this time of the yr, it seems.   No doubt she got "rewarded" last year for doing such, with a runner up finish if I recall right.  The whole contingent indicated they don't have experience in match play, and the Hanwha event certainly showed that!

 

Still watching though, it's better than nothing.  😏

 

 

 

 

[tonyj5]

My field rating for this event is very poor 45.5%, down from 49.5% last year.
My breakdown is 51% from the LPGA Priority List and 40% from the Rolex Rankings.

The field will be led by the following top 25 players:
#4 - Lilia Vu
#8 - Brooke Henderson
#11 - Celine Boutier
#13 - Xi Yu Lin
#17 - Danielle Kang
#18 - Ayaka Furue
#19 - Leona Maguire
#22 - Linn Grant
#25 - Allisen Corpuz

Players not teeing it up are too many to list, but top ten players skipping the event are:
Jin Young Ko
Nelly Korda
Lydia Ko
Minjee Lee
Atthaya Thitikul
Lexi Thompson
Georgia Hall
Hyo Joo Kim

The sponsor invitees for this event are:
Muni He
Yaeeun Hong

Other Stuff:
Jin Young Ko's win this past week was the fourth consecutive LPGA tournament to be decided in a playoff. It was also the 5th in the last six to be decided that way.
Jin Young's win was the second this season for a player from the Republic of Korea, tying them with the USA and Australia.
Jin Young Ko, Atthaya Thitikul, and Georgia Hall, all picked up their 5th top tens of the year. Nelly Korda leads the tour with six.

There was plenty of movement in the Rolex Rankings by LPGA members since the last LPGA tournament was played 2 weeks ago:
Although neither player saw any action this past week, Jin Young Ko takes over the No. 1 spot by the smallest possible margin (8.26 to 8.25) over Nelly Korda. With neither player playing in this week's event, it could change again.
Minjee Lee enters the top five moving 6-5.
Ashleigh Buhai moves 20-16.
Linn Grant 26-22
Carlotta Ciganda 46-32
Hae Ran Ryu 45-35
Angel Yin 47-42
Yuna Nishimura 53-49
Aditi Ashok 64-51
Grace Kim 85-80
On the downside both Eun-Hee Ji (48-54), and Amy Yang (50-57) have dropped out of the top 50.
Outside the top 100:
Morgane Metraux 139-120
Sarah Kemp 165-134
Longtime LPGA Superstar and Hall-of-famer Inbee Park, drops out of the top 100 (and out of my field rating) this week.

[postfold]

The top of the bracket isn't completely horrible, I mean there are some names there.  It's the bottom that is really notable.  Regardless, yeah, it's a weak field.

 

But that said, I'll watch it anyway and enjoy seeing a lot of coverage of Lilia and Brooke and then whoever upsets the big names.

[woahnelly]

Is Linn Grant really playing ? 🤔 If not, Gina gets her spot, if so, it's a win either way! (For me)

 

Last year, this event was the stepping stone for young players Ayaka Furue, Andrea Lee, Lilia Vu who finished their best on the LPGA, up to that point, and never looked back!  The seedings are kind of irrelevant, Minjee was ousted in her group as top seed, invitee and USC alum Tiffany Chan won her group. Aditi will probably mis seeded despite her stellar play so far this year! 

 

 

[JungleJimbo]

 

 

 

[woahnelly]

Brooke has an easy group. Lee6, Schubie, and Amy Hong have all been terrible this season

[Stooch]

5 hours ago, woahnelly said:

Brooke has an easy group. Lee6, Schubie, and Amy Hong have all been terrible this season

 

From what I remember, the greens are tricky, hard as a rock and very quick.  I don't think Brooke will putt very well this week. lol

[QueenJIN]

Group of death = group 5 i guess 

[Rapidcat]

Looking forward to this, love matchplay.

 

Leona will fancy her chances as a top matchplayer and in a fairly weak group plus with her now scheduling to peak for key/suitable events.

 

Will face Jen Kupcho assuming both get out of their groups which could be an epic, what with their Duke vs Wake rivalry, Jen having pulled back a 4 hole down on back 9 vs Leona in this event a few years back (the trigger for a caddie change for Leona which has worked) and Leona's thrashing of Jen in the last Solheim. A preview of another Solheim battle?

 

It's matchplay though so anything can happen.

[JungleJimbo]

2 hours ago, QueenJIN said:

Group of death = group 5 i guess 

 

Why is Group 5 = "group of death"? (also described as such, by the below-the-line commenters in the Linked tweet: https://twitter.com/LPGA/status/1660753477172363266)

 

e.g. Group 8: I think Linn Grant will have to play well, to get out of that group (Ji Eun-Hee = has pedigree as the defending matchplay champion; ditto Matilda Castren is no pushover... albeit has 2 MC's from the 2 tournaments played in 2023!)

 

..Group 10: Kupcho's bracket (Aditi Ashok, Delacour and Inglis) have all  had decent start to 2023 season...)

Edited May 23 by JungleJimbo

[woahnelly]

20 minutes ago, JungleJimbo said:

 

Why is Group 5 = "group of death"? (also described as such, by the below-the-line commenters in the Linked tweet: https://twitter.com/LPGA/status/1660753477172363266)

 

e.g. Group 8: I think Linn Grant will have to play well, to get out of that group (Ji Eun-Hee = has pedigree as the defending matchplay champion; ditto Matilda Castren is no pushover... albeit has 2 MC's from the 2 tournaments played in 2023!)

 

..Group 10: Kupcho's bracket (Aditi Ashok, Delacour and Inglis) have all  had decent start to 2023 season...)

 

I agree group 10 is the most competitive. Kupcho might be having the worst season amongst that 4 some 😂

[Jonnyuk74]

21 hours ago, woahnelly said:

Is Linn Grant really playing ? 🤔 If not, Gina gets her spot, if so, it's a win either way! (For me)

 

Last year, this event was the stepping stone for young players Ayaka Furue, Andrea Lee, Lilia Vu who finished their best on the LPGA, up to that point, and never looked back!  The seedings are kind of irrelevant, Minjee was ousted in her group as top seed, invitee and USC alum Tiffany Chan won her group. Aditi will probably mis seeded despite her stellar play so far this year! 

 

 

Yep she's there! Hoping for some improvement from last week. She's seemed a little lost had to be said on what was a tuff test.

[QueenJIN]

9 hours ago, JungleJimbo said:

 

Why is Group 5 = "group of death"? (also described as such, by the below-the-line commenters in the Linked tweet: https://twitter.com/LPGA/status/1660753477172363266)

 

e.g. Group 8: I think Linn Grant will have to play well, to get out of that group (Ji Eun-Hee = has pedigree as the defending matchplay champion; ditto Matilda Castren is no pushover... albeit has 2 MC's from the 2 tournaments played in 2023!)

 

..Group 10: Kupcho's bracket (Aditi Ashok, Delacour and Inglis) have all  had decent start to 2023 season...)

I don’t tend to read Twitter comments . Now I have and still can’t see the group of death remark. Unless you mean where someone wrote  🔥 ? Pretty sure they will be speaking aesthetically 

 

I rate Alison so it looked like a very competitive group to me but not 💯 sure that’s why I used “ I guess “ 

 

 

Edited May 23 by QueenJIN

[Lobby]

It’s just too much Golf to ask of the players. 
 

I’d do 27 holes of stroke play to select those for match play. 
 

something like that

[woahnelly]

9 minutes ago, Lobby said:

It’s just too much Golf to ask of the players. 
 

I’d do 27 holes of stroke play to select those for match play. 
 

something like that

 

Head to head is not as arduous as tournament golf , some days might be an easy 5+4. I do agree the knockout stages can be a bit grueling, when tasked to play multiple matches in the same day, in the Vegas sun no less! Poor Shanshan wanted to die after playing 36+ advancing to the SF. When she lost , she kindly forfeited the 3rd place match v Ariya 😂. At least this year they did not schedule it a week before a major !

[JungleJimbo]

 

 

 

 

Edited May 24 by JungleJimbo

[18majors]

 

Linn Grant is it; it's unusual to get this kind of featured treatment from Golf Digest:

She's had an LPGA card for 17 months. Now Linn Grant is finally making her first start in the U.S.

 

[18majors]

 

@JungleJimbo

 

Pound for pound; Lucy Li must be the longest hitter in golf, men or women!

 

 

Edited May 24 by 18majors

[woahnelly]

3 hours ago, 18majors said:

 

@JungleJimbo

 

Pound by pound; Lucy Li must be the longest hitter in golf, men or women!

 

 

 

Ashkay Bhatia on PGA or LPGA rookie Xiaowen Yin would give her a run for her money !

 

I am thinking a rookie wins this event, picking Lucy or Boonchant FTW

[Stooch]

IMO group 13 will be the toughest to advance from, every player can drop a low round on you, maybe they won't but every match-up is tough and can go either way.

 

 

[JungleJimbo]

2 minutes ago, Stooch said:

IMO group 13 will be the toughest to advance from, every player can drop a low round on you, maybe they won't but every match-up is tough and can go either way.

 

 

"+1".  All the players in Group 13 = "birdie-machines", and have been playing well in 2023.

 

 

[18majors]

9 minutes ago, woahnelly said:

Xiaowen Yin would give her a run for her money !

 

 

I know Xiaowen is slender, but she is the same height as Yealimi and A Lim; 5'9".  Lucy is 5'2".

[Stooch]

I've never thought about it before, but stats must not count this week, giving putts you can have putting stats and play 14 holes can't have driving stats.  I guess of you have a good week your stats don't count. lol

[woahnelly]

18 minutes ago, 18majors said:

 

 

I know Xiaowen is slender, but she is the same height as Yealimi and A Lim; 5'9".  Lucy is 5'2".

 

Lucy is built like a tank. 💪. Xiaowen looks the same weight as Aditi, but drives it 60 yds further 😂

[18majors]

4 minutes ago, woahnelly said:

Aditi

 

 

Aditi isn't as tall, but she's tall 5'8".