To say that Stacy Lewis had a great week in Galloway Township, N.J., last year would be an understatement.
All she did was claim her 10th career LPGA victory with an impressive six-stroke margin at the ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer, a win that would help her go on to win her second Rolex Player of the Year award. Lewis will be back at Stockton Seaview and Hotel Golf Club’s Bay Course to defend her title this week against a strong field of hungry players who are fresh after another off week spent honing their games.
This week’s $1.5 million event is a 54-hole tournament with a rich history that dates back to 1986, when Hall of Famer Juli Inkster won her first of two ShopRite titles in three years. Inkster is competing this week and could go low on a course she clearly enjoys, and plenty of the game’s top stars will be teeing it up as well.
From world No. 2 Inbee Park, rookie sensation Sei Young Kim and recent winner Minjee Lee, to other 2015 tournament champions Na Yeon Choi, Cristie Kerr, Hyo Joo Kim, Brittany Lincicome and Amy Yang, this week’s event is stacked with talent. In addition, past ShopRite champions Karrie Webb (2013), Ai Miyazato (2010) and Angela Stanford (2003) are also teeing it up in the tournament.
Other players to watch include Paula Creamer, Hall of Famer Laura Davies, Shanshan Feng, Anna Nordqvist, Suzann Pettersen, Brooke Henderson, Morgan Pressel, Lexi Thompson and Michelle Wie, who is attempting to return from a nagging hip injury.
Lewis is definitely the player to beat, as the two-time Rolex Player of the Year has won two of the last three stagings of the event and averaged a 14-under-par total in those two wins. Lewis’ 16-under mark from last year was just one stroke off the tournament record set by Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam in 2005, and she would love to join Sorenstam (1998, 2002, 2005) and Hall of Famer Betsy King (1987, 1995, 20010 as the only three-time winners of the event.
The par-71, 6,177-yard course offers plenty of birdie chances, and the tournament has featured champions with double-digit sub-par totals every year except one since 1996. Only Webb’s 2013 triumph – at 4-under-par – was the anomaly.
This will be the 27th installment of the popular tournament, and it was not part of the LPGA schedule from 2007-09. Players enjoy their time at the resort, which is just a short drive from the bright lights of Atlantic City, and high-notch hospitality and big crowds have become the norm for this Tour stop.
The tournament has a champions list as impressive as any on the LPGA schedule, and Golf Channel will broadcast the action live each day as another name is added to the trophy.
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