2023 Meijer LPGA Classic (Jun 15 - 18)

[Argonne69]

Race to the CME Globe: 500 Points

 

Format: 72 holes

 

Purse: $2,500,000

 

Location: Blythefield Country Club, Belmont, MI

 

Par: 72

 

Yardage: 6,638 yds

 

History: This is the 9th year for the event. In 2022, Jennifer Kupcho was three over early in her final round, but bounced back to win her second career title in a playoff with defending champion Nelly Korda and Leona Maguire.

 

Coverage:

 

Jun 15: The Golf Channel 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm (EDT)

Jun 16: The Golf Channel 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm (EDT)

Jun 17: The Golf Channel 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm (EDT)

 

Jun 18: Peacock 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm (EDT)

Jun 18: CBS 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm (EDT)

 

[Argonne69]

Just a reminder that the final round airs on CBS.  If you're recording it, I'd set a manual recording for The Golf Channel at 4 pm in case there's a playoff and they switch over.

 

Decent field this week with Lydia, Brooke, Minjee, Hye Jin, Jennifer, Lexi, and In Gee teeing it up.

 

[postfold]

6 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

Just a reminder that the final round airs on CBS. 

 

I know why it's not on NBC, but I wonder what kind of weird deal was struck to get it on CBS.

 

Anyway, after the incredible on-the-ground thread reports with lots of photos the last couple events I feel kinda bad that I'm not likely to get over there to do the same, since this is the closest thing to a hometown event for me.

[grm24]

27 minutes ago, postfold said:

 

I know why it's not on NBC, but I wonder what kind of weird deal was struck to get it on CBS.

This article is from early 2022 but it explains what took place. It's a short read.

 

https://thegolfnewsnet.com/golfnewsnetteam/2022/01/21/lpga-tour-to-have-10-tournaments-air-on-us-broadcast-tv-in-2022-125039/

 

As part of the new TV rights deal with the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour will see expanded coverage on CBS Sports.

 

 

[18majors]

 

We're close to the mid-point of 2023 season; with 14 out of 15 tournaments yielded Rolex points.  Surprisingly, only Jin Young, Nelly and Jeeno among the Top-10 players who finished 2022 are on the list of 2023 Rolex points.  Lydia, Minjee, Lexi, Brooke and Danielle are behind players like Aditi Ashok, Ruoning Yin and Angel Yin.

 

Ashleigh Buhai earned only 24.0 points with her win last week, but it helped her to climb the leaderboard:

 

1	Lilia Vu	200.18
2	Jin Young Ko	172.66
3	Georgia Hall	123.18
4	Nelly Korda	120.90
5	Celine Boutier	108.70
6	Ayaka Furue	106.75
7	Ashleigh Buhai	105.35
8	Aditi Ashok	102.20
9	Atthaya Thitikul	94.24
10	Ruoning Yin	92.90

 

Notables:

 

Lydia Ko	79.76
Minjee Lee	48.68
Lexi Thompson	17.99
Brooke Henderson	40.74
Danielle Kang	60.73
Nasa Hataoka	59.21
Angel Yin	82.55
Hannah Green	72.07
Hae Ran Ryu	74.41
Rose Zhang	53.00

 

 

Edited June 13, 2023 by 18majors

[Lobby]

🍿

[ChronicSlicer]

4 hours ago, Lobby said:

🍿

Pretty sure I'm gonna need glasses soon.

[woahnelly]

Welfare check on @18majors Yealim dropped out of 200 in Rolex and missed US Open.

[tonyj5]

My field rating for this event is a mediocre 56.5 (down from 68% last year).
My breakdown is 64 % from the LPGA Priority List and 49% from the Rolex Rankings

The field will led by Rolex ranked top ten players:
Lydia Ko
Minjee Lee
HyoJoo Kim
Lexi Thompson 
Brooke Henderson
Top ten players skipping the event:
Jin Young Ko
Nelly Korda
Lilia Vu
Atthya Thitikul
Georgia Hall

Past champions of this event that are teeing it up.
Jennifer Kupcho - 2022
Brooke Henderson - 2017 & 2019
So Yeon Ryu - 2018
Lexi Thompson - 2015

Sponsor Invitees: Brook Bierman (a), Paige Crawford, Rachel Kuehn (a)

Monday local qualifiers: Yunxuan Zhang & Teresa Toscano

Other Stuff:
Asheigh Buhai's win this past weekend was the 8th different country this year to have an LPGA winner (in just 12 events). 
Attaya Thitikul registered her 7th top ten finish of the year. She leads the tour in that category.
Ashleigh Buhai recorded her 6th top ten, tying Nelly Korda for 2nd place.

There was not much movement inside the top 100 of the Rolex ranking among LPGA players this week:
Ashleigh Buhai made the most important move jumping from 16 to 12.
Nanna Koerstz Madsen moved from 78 to 68.

With the weak field at the ShopRite Classic, it gave many of the players outside the top 100 a chance to improve their ranking. We had some enormous moves there:
Yan Lui - 279 to 182
Su Oh - 247 to 228
Daniela Holmqvist - 453 to 301
Alexa Pano - 435 to 397
Marissa Steen - 486 to 443
Haru Nomura 728 to 478
Brianna Do - 577 to 486
Soo Bin Joo - 841 to 512

[JungleJimbo]

 

https://www.lpga.com/news/2023/field-breakdown-meijer-lpga-classic-for-simply-give

 

 

 

[JungleJimbo]

4 hours ago, tonyj5 said:

My field rating for this event is a mediocre 56.5 (down from 68% last year).
My breakdown is 64 % from the LPGA Priority List and 49% from the Rolex Rankings

The field will led by Rolex ranked top ten players:
Lydia Ko
Minjee Lee
HyoJoo Kim
Lexi Thompson 
Brooke Henderson
Top ten players skipping the event:
Jin Young Ko
Nelly Korda
Lilia Vu
Atthya Thitikul
Georgia Hall

Past champions of this event that are teeing it up.
Jennifer Kupcho - 2022
Brooke Henderson - 2017 & 2019
So Yeon Ryu - 2018
Lexi Thompson - 2015

Sponsor Invitees: Brook Bierman (a), Paige Crawford, Rachel Kuehn (a)

Monday local qualifiers: Yunxuan Zhang & Teresa Toscano

Other Stuff:
Asheigh Buhai's win this past weekend was the 8th different country this year to have an LPGA winner (in just 12 events). 
Attaya Thitikul registered her 7th top ten finish of the year. She leads the tour in that category.
Ashleigh Buhai recorded her 6th top ten, tying Nelly Korda for 2nd place.

There was not much movement inside the top 100 of the Rolex ranking among LPGA players this week:
Ashleigh Buhai made the most important move jumping from 16 to 12.
Nanna Koerstz Madsen moved from 78 to 68.

With the weak field at the ShopRite Classic, it gave many of the players outside the top 100 a chance to improve their ranking. We had some enormous moves there:
Yan Lui - 279 to 182
Su Oh - 247 to 228
Daniela Holmqvist - 453 to 301
Alexa Pano - 435 to 397
Marissa Steen - 486 to 443
Haru Nomura 728 to 478
Brianna Do - 577 to 486
Soo Bin Joo - 841 to 512

 

thanks @tonyj5
 

"paying it forward" = via this Link... i.e. More info on the rankings movements here: https://www.lpga.com/news/2023/making-moves-holmqvist-soars-in-rolex-rankings-after-career-best-finish 

 

 

[postfold]

Going way out on a limb here.  Lexi comes back with a vengance and wins.  Hae Ran Ryu comes tantalizingly close but is the runner up.  Soo Bin Joo has yet another good week as the dark horse.

 

I did not know that Rachel Kuehn received a sponsor's invite, that's great.  

[woahnelly]

Ruoning Yin to win, what an impressive young player! she's got all the tools in the bag. 

 

Annie will probably miss the cut, she doesn't have the firepower to go low with these young gals. 

 

michigan native Jennifer Song top 10 finish. 

[pjc]

One thing that I can predict is that LT will not win, she has not won since 2019, and it ain't looking good for her to even make the cut here.  We shall see.

[woahnelly]

1 hour ago, pjc said:

One thing that I can predict is that LT will not win, she has not won since 2019, and it ain't looking good for her to even make the cut here.  We shall see.

 

She won on LET last year and top 10 in CME again. She can show no form and suddenly smash a leaderboard. 

 

[pjc]

2019 since proper LPGA even, that other was an exhibition tournament basically.  Four seasons since her last win and she has missed cuts already this season.  Sorry, no mic drop for that!!

[Argonne69]

4 hours ago, postfold said:

Going way out on a limb here.  Lexi comes back with a vengance and wins.  Hae Ran Ryu comes tantalizingly close but is the runner up.  Soo Bin Joo has yet another good week as the dark horse.

 

I did not know that Rachel Kuehn received a sponsor's invite, that's great.  

 

Lexi plays well here. She has 4 top 10s in her last 5 starts, including two T2s. Not a bad choice. 

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by Argonne69

[woahnelly]

1 hour ago, pjc said:

2019 since proper LPGA even, that other was an exhibition tournament basically.  Four seasons since her last win and she has missed cuts already this season.  Sorry, no mic drop for that!!

 

yeah she sure is slumping so far this year , i expect her to turn it around soon! she's bound to finish runner up at a major again. 

Edited June 14, 2023 by woahnelly

[Tasals]

1 minute ago, woahnelly said:

 

yeah she sure is slumping so far this year , i expect her to turn it around soon! she's bound to finish runner up at a major again. 

shes played in what the first major, two amarco and thats about it? Shes attempting to go full makeup mogul now, which if thats what she wants to do good for her,  but I dont think shes got the social media or the performance to keep the brand in the spotlight. Some quick searches on it and its got little to no engagement on social media, her golf media section of her website hasnt been updated in 2 years, her brand has a bunch of other brands show up when searching for it. It's quite odd. Feels like she decided to retire, shes been at professional golf for what 15 years so far?

[woahnelly]

1 minute ago, Tasals said:

shes played in what the first major, two amarco and thats about it? Shes attempting to go full makeup mogul now, which if thats what she wants to do good for her,  but I dont think shes got the social media or the performance to keep the brand in the spotlight. Some quick searches on it and its got little to no engagement on social media, her golf media section of her website hasnt been updated in 2 years, her brand has a bunch of other brands show up when searching for it. It's quite odd. Feels like she decided to retire, shes been at professional golf for what 15 years so far?

 

yep she finished T3 in Saudi in an otherwise forgettable year .. she's def the oldest 28 year old on tour! 

[Lobby]

Are we talking about Lexi?

[postfold]

3 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Lexi plays well here. She has 4 top 10s in her last 5 starts, including two T2s. Not a bad choice. 

 

 

Blythefield suits the bombers.  It's not super long but it's open enough that there is no reason to hold back.  You don't have to be one to win (hi So Yeon!) but it sure doesn't hurt to have wedges constantly in hand.

[JungleJimbo]

 

 

[JungleJimbo]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[woahnelly]

1 minute ago, JungleJimbo said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow congrats to Paige! Door dash to pro golf, at least one of us made it!  She look like my gal Anita Uwadia w/o the high top fade 😂

[JungleJimbo]

9 hours ago, woahnelly said:

Ruoning Yin to win, what an impressive young player! she's got all the tools in the bag. 

 

Annie will probably miss the cut, she doesn't have the firepower to go low with these young gals. 

 

michigan native Jennifer Song top 10 finish. 

 

Superstitious much? Lots of "Bam Bam" here... and see if you can spot Annie Park?

 

 

 

[woahnelly]

3 minutes ago, JungleJimbo said:

 

Superstitious much? Lots of "Bam Bam" here... and see if you can spot Annie Park?

 

 

 

 

Y Annie dressed like a rugby player 😂

[pmcuk]

Sung Hyun Park on -3 for round one.

 

On the basis of her tied 39 in the Shoprite last week, this could hopefully be the first stirrings of some better results.

[jimecherry]

some low scoring today from an average perspective 70+ players under par however the lead isnt as low as it has been in the past. winner probably will be -20 under again this year.

[woahnelly]

My pick Ruoning wasn't even the field. Whoops. Been paying more attention to the US Open today .. Cheyenne is still cookin I see Gina Kim slumping hard of late 

 

Lexi to go low tomorrow !