Shin Ready To Defend
At the 2016 Volunteers of America Texas Shootout, Jenny Shin shot the low round on the final day, a bogey-free 67, to capture her first-career LPGA victory in her 135th start on Tour. Shin defeated Gerina Piller, Amy Yang and Mi Jung Hur by two-strokes.
Shin was recognized on the field at AT&T Stadium on Tuesday night at the official Volunteers of America pro-am party. “Everybody’s welcoming me,” Shin said. “A few Texans were recognizing who I am and they’ve been really kind and really supportive, so it’s good to be back.”
A slower start to the 2017 season doesn’t have Shin worried.
“I think I turned it around in Hawaii,” Shin said of her season-best T11 finish at the LOTTE Championship. “So we’ll see what happens this week.”
Solheim On The Mind For Stanford
Five-time LPGA Tour winner Angela Stanford is Texas born and bred, so it’s no surprise the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout is one of her favorite stops on Tour.
“I love playing at home,” Stanford said. “I love being in Texas. I love that the Texas golf fans come out and support it, and to still be here years later is a good sign. There’s just nothing better than playing at home.”
The TCU graduate has three top-20 finishes already this season and is searching for another good finish this week to boost her bid to make her seventh U.S. Solheim Cup appearance. “I would really love to be a part of this team for a number of reasons,” Stanford said. “To play for Juli again obviously, but I think at some point there’s going to be a crossover where the team’s going to get younger.”
“It’s kind of cool to get to play six, seven Solheims and you get to see different generations of amazing golfers, so it would be fun to be a part of.”
As the Team USA Standings sit now, Stanford is in ninth place with 163 points. Members of Team USA are decided by the top-8 U.S. Solheim Cup Points earners, two players from the Rolex Rankings not already qualified by points, and two captains picks.Next Gen On Display
From a field of 68 players (51 high school and 17 collegiate), four amateur female golfers qualified in the annual one-day High School/College Shootout for exemption into the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout.
- Eun Jeong Seong, 17, senior, Youngpa Girls High School, Seoul, South Korea, score 71 (E)
- Gina Kim, 16, junior, Chapel Hill High School, Chapel Hill, NC, score 72 (+1)
- Maddie McCrary (from Wylie, TX), 21, junior, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, score 73 (+2)*
- Anne Chen, 15, freshman, Clements High School, Sugar Land, TX, score 73 (+2)*
*Top two of a three-way playoff
Seong has competed in six LPGA events in her amateur career, most recently posting a career-best T16 finish at the LOTTE Championship. When asked about her expectations for herself at Las Colinas, Seong said, “This week, top 10.”
McCrary will be playing in her second Volunteers of America Texas Shootout, after she also earned exemption into the 2015 event by way of the HS/College Shootout. It will be the first LPGA tournament for Kim and Chen.
While most of the field was practicing on Tuesday, Chen was leading Clements High School to the girls Region III-6A tournament to qualify for the Texas state tournament for a fifth straight year. Chen finished third individually.
Number One Scenario
Lydia Ko has spent the past 79 weeks as No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings, but either No. 2 So Yeon Ryu or No. 3 Ariya Jutanugarn could take over the No. 1 spot depending on what happens this week.
There are two scenarios for Ryu to take over the No. 1 spot:
- Ryu can become No. 1 if she finishes 2nd AND Ko finishes 13th or worse
- Ryu can become No. 1 if she wins AND Ko finishes 3rd or worse
- If Ryu finishes 3rd or worse, Ko remains No. 1 in the world
Jutanugarn can become No. 1 if she wins AND Ko finishes 7th or worse, Ryu does not play a factor.
National Golf Day
The LPGA was part of a delegation of more than 200 people from the golf industry who visited Capitol Hill today on National Golf Day 2017 to raise awareness about the game’s considerable impact on society and its long-term benefits for good health.
For more information visit: http://www.lpga.com/news/lpga-joins-other-golf-organizations-on-capitol-hill-to-raise-awareness-on-2017-national-golf-day
Quotable
“It means I’m getting old.”
- Angela Stanford on the possibility of playing on her seventh Solheim Cup team
“My goal is four majors.”
- Amateur Eun Jeong Seong on her career goals
Quick Hits
- In six starts this season, Lexi Thompson has three top-5 finishes including a pair of playoff losses at the ANA Inspiration and Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic
- Thompson leads the LPGA in Driving Average (275.6) and sand saves (84.6%) and ranks second in greens hit (81.1%), rounds under par (20 of 22/90.9%) and money earned ($489,367)
- Heading into this season, Thompson is one of only five players on the LPGA or PGA Tour to have won an event in each of the last four seasons. Dustin Johnson (9 straight), Jimmy Walker (4 straight), Patrick Reed (4 straight) and Lydia Ko (5 straight) are the other four
- Thompson’s best finish at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout was a tie for fourth in 2015
- In her last two appearances at Las Colinas Country Club, Jenny Shin has a 12th place finish (2014) and a win (2016)
- In 2016, Shin was one of nine Rolex First-Time winners with her victory at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout Presented by JTBC
- In seven starts this season, Shin has made seven cuts with a season-best T11 finish coming at her last outing at the LOTTE Championship Presented by HERSHEY in Hawaii
- Aside from being close to home, this week is special for Angela Stanford who will host her annual Let Your Light Shine Charity Golf Tournament on Monday in Fort Worth, Texas, the tournament has helped the Angela Stanford Foundation raise over $600,000 the past 8 years
- In four starts at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout, Stanford has three top-22 finishes including a sixth place finish in 2015
- Amateur Anne Chen, was born in Melbourne, Australia but has lived in Sugarland, Texas since she was nine years old and will have her dad Byron on the bag this week for her first LPGA tournament
- North Carolina native and high school junior Gina Kim is verbally committed to playing college golf at Duke University
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