The third Major of the LPGA schedule, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship takes place this week at Sahalee Country Club, find out more about the venue and what to expect in this blog.
Last year the tour visited Baltusrol Golf Club where Ruoning Yin was victorious beating Japan’s Yuka Saso by one stroke with a birdie on the last hole, finishing -8 under par.
Yin’s rookie year was 2022 and with two wins in 2023, has taken to the Tour like a duck to water. Saso would go on to win the U.S. Women’s Open in 2024 for the second time so Yin picking up her maiden LPGA Major was no small feat – Saso had a final round 66, -7 under par!
Heading into Sahalee Country Club.
Whilst perhaps a lesser known course on the calendar, Sahalee is familiar with Major golf having previously hosted the 1998 PGA Championship and 2016 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
The last time the Tour visited Sahalee it was the Canadian Brooke Henderson who won her first Major Championship back in 2016. Nelly Korda, currently world no. 1 would not make her Tour debut until the following year.
Henderson has not been in the best of form lately but perhaps fond memories of Sahalee will inspire her over the course of the week/weekend. Contrastingly, Nelly Korda is on one of the best runs of form the women’s game has seen which we look into more here.
Brooke Henderson – trending?
With five top 10s so far this year and playing well at the Meijer LPGA Classic, Henderson has stats to suggest she could feature come Sunday at the KPMG PGA Championship.
Here are some of Brooke’s top stats:
Ranked 7th in GIR% (greens in regulation)
2nd in rounds under par
2nd in birdies
4th in rounds in the 60s
All pretty good stats to rank highly in! Henderson is no stranger to going low with a scoring average of 70.50 which places her 7th on Tour. As a past champion at this course, could fond memories bring the birdies?
Nelly Korda – Continue a sensational season?
Although Korda had a disaster at the Women’s PGA Championship, her stats remain remarkable, here are some:
1st in in GIR%
1st in scoring average (69.61)
1st in eagles
Secured her place in the Solheim Cup squad 10 weeks before qualifying ends!
For many players, qualifying for the Solheim Cup can go right down to the wire awaiting a phone call perhaps to say whether or not they have been picked. For Korda, without playing another tournament between now and then, her place is secure – she will be playing but just crazy that she doesn’t need to!
That is because Korda has seven Top 10s this year with six of them being victories – not bad at all.
Linn Grant – Mixed Scandinavian Open Champion 2024
Fresh off a win on the LET/DP World Tour schedule where both men and women compete in the same event, Linn Grant has now become a two-time winner of the event this year with a final round 65 to win by a stroke ahead of 71 hole leader Sebastian Soderberg.
Grant’s season is off to a solid start on the LPGA Tour having made ten cuts out of eleven tournament starts with her best finish being tied 7th at the Cognizant Founders Cup.
Here are some Grant’s top stats heading into the KPMG PGA Championship:
17th in Driving Distance
14th in Rounds in 60s
26th in Rounds under par
Linn was also a strong team member of the European Solheim Cup Team on her rookie appearance with a record of 3-2-0 helping the European’s retain the Cup at Finca Cortesin.
Could the recent win at the Scandanavian Open lead on to bigger things? Time will tell.
Ruoning Yin – Defending Champion
Last but not least, Ruoning Yin, the defending champion will be hoping to go back-to-back at the KPMG PGA Championship after a hard fought win last year. Yin appears to be in good form with a T12 at the U.S. Women’s Open and T4 at the Cognizant Founders Cup.
Here are some of the top stats for Yin heading into the tournament:
54th in Driving Accuracy (74%)
50th in GIR (69%)
21st in Rounds under par
Again it may seem like Ruoning is not ranking that great in these areas but if she were to hit 6% more fairways this places her just outside the top 10 which is the equivalent to one more fairway per round.
When it comes to accuracy, the LPGA Tour players are ridiculously good and so being ranked towards the top requires very consistent golf.
Who will win when the sun sets on Sahalee Country Club this Sunday?
It could be any one of the four we have mentioned or it could be someone entirely different but we look forward to finding out!
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