Click here for the complete field at the 2017 Kingsmill Championship.
20 of the Top-25 Compete in Virginia
20 of the top-25 in the Rolex Rankings arrive in Virginia for this week’s Kingsmill Championship. World No.1 Lydia Ko continues to hang on to the top spot despite a push from world No. 2 So Yeon Ryu, who leapfrogged now No. 3 Ariya Jutanugarn just this week. All three are in the field.
Ko is making her third appearance this week in Virginia where she will look to crack the top-15 for the first time since 2014 and pick up her first victory of 2017. Ryu’s record at the Kingsmill Championship mirrors the consistency she shows week in and week out – she hasn’t finished outside the top-10 in her previous four appearances.
Also in the field and rounding out the top-10 are No. 4 In Gee Chun, No. 5 Lexi Thompson, No. 6 Shanshan Feng, No. 8 Sei Young Kim and No. 9 Amy Yang.
May's Month
This week, Jutanugarn kicks off her first of back-to-back title defenses. She makes her fourth start in Virginia where she won last season with four sub-70 rounds to capture her second career victory on Tour. Before winning at Kingsmill, Jutanugarn broke through for her first victory on Tour earlier that same month in Alabama. She went on to win all three events staged in the month of May on Tour in 2016 and make history as the first player on Tour to win her first three titles consecutively. The feat was just the beginning of an incredible season for Jutanugarn who went on to capture her first major title at the RICOH Women’s Open as well as the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open. Jutanugarn also won the season long Race for the CME Globe, the money title and Rolex Player of the Year.
10 For 10
This week’s field features eight of the ten winners this season on the LPGA Tour. So far, there hasn’t been a multiple winner in 2017 – a testament to the strength of the field week in and week out on Tour. Veteran Cristie Kerr captured her 19th career win at the LOTTE Championship in April and leads the pack of players to watch in breaking that streak this week – she’s a three-time winner of the Kingsmill Championship who captured the title in 2005, 2009 and 2013.
Former champions Karrie Webb (2006), Suzann Pettersen (2007), Lizette Salas (2014) and Minjee Lee (2015) are also in the field.
Looking To Break Through
Three players received sponsor invites to this week’s Kingsmill Championship including Lauren Coughlin, Mariah Stackhouse and Kaylin Yost. Stackhouse, a 2017 rookie on the LPGA Tour and former Stanford standout, is making just her third start on Tour this season and looking to make her first cut. She’s played primarily on the Epson Tour this season where she has played in six events, her best finish coming in a tie for second at the Epson Classic. She’s coming off a missed cut at last week’s event where she played with a set of borrowed clubs and shoes after locking her keys in the trunk of her car.
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