Tiffany Joh, Hannah Green, Maria Torres
7:32 a.m. – 1st Tee
Tiffany Joh makes her return to the Bahamas for the first time since 2016. Joh missed the tour’s season opener last season after being diagnosed with melanoma on her scalp. With a clean bill of health, Joh returned to the Tour in March 2017. She’s made three starts in the Bahamas where she’s looking to crack the top-30 for the first time this week. Joh is kicking off the 2018 season alongside two rookies, Hannah Green and Maria Torres. The pair both earned their card for 2018, but took different paths to the LPGA. Green’s three victories in 2017 on the Epson Tour put her No. 2 on the Tour’s money list and earned her membership to the LPGA Tour. Green has enjoyed having fellow Aussie, Karrie Webb, as a mentor and was a recipient of the Karrie Webb Scholarship. Torres is the first player from Puerto Rico to earn her card. She did so by winning a three-way playoff for the final spot at the LPGA Qualifying Tournament.
Brittany Lincicome, So Yeon Ryu, Michelle Wie
8:05 a.m. – 1st Tee
Defending champion, Brittany Lincicome, begins her quest for a second consecutive win alongside major champions So Yeon Ryu and Michelle Wie. In 2017, Lincicome carded rounds of 64-65-69-68 to finish the week tied with Lexi Thompson at 26-under par. The duo returned to the 18th tee where Lincicome won with a birdie at the last to capture her seventh career win on Tour. Ryu is making her first start in the Bahamas since 2012, when the event was shortened due to severe rains. With starting her season earlier than usual, the two-time major champion didn’t get in as much practice as she would have liked with her instructor Cameron McCormick but is looking forward to this week’s challenge. Plagued by injury, illness and a freak incident involving a bee, Wie has missed the cut in her last two appearances on Paradise Island. The U.S. Women’s Open champion appears to have turned a corner in the last year, notching eight top-10s in 2017, which is a better indicator of the type of play fans can expect to see this week from Wie.
Lexi Thompson, Shanshan Feng, Nelly Korda
8:16 a.m. – 1st Tee
Lexi Thompson knows what it takes to go low at the Ocean Club Golf Course. In 2017, Thompson carded a personal best, 61, which set a new Tournament and course record. Despite losing in a playoff, Thompson used the week as a springboard to a career best season, which included seven top-10s and two wins. She’ll play the opening rounds alongside world No. 1 Shanshan Feng and Nelly Korda. Feng tends to hit her stride late in the season, as eight of her nine career wins have come in the latter half of the season, but forecasted windy conditions this weekend in the Bahamas could bode well for Feng who won in 2017 at the windy Blue Bay LPGA. As a rookie last season, Korda soared to the top of the leaderboard in her LPGA debut. She carded a 10-under par, 63, to finish the week T-5. Korda will look to continue building on a successful rookie campaign, which included five top-10s including a T-8 at the season ending CME Group Tour Championship.
Ariya Jutanugarn, Charley Hull, Stacy Lewis
12:09 p.m. – 10th Tee
After an up and down 2017, that saw Ariya Jutanugarn climb to world No. 1 and then miss the cut in the next four majors, she closed out the season on an upswing with a victory at the CME Group Tour Championship. She’s had mixed success in the Bahamas where she nearly won, losing out in a playoff her rookie year to 2015 champion Sei Young Kim. She missed the cut the following year and then posted a T-47 last year. Jutanugarn will start her season alongside Charley Hull and Stacy Lewis. Hull picked up a top-10 in Paradise in 2016 along with Lewis, who finished runner-up that same year for the second time. She held a share of the 54-hole lead last year before settling for third.
In-Kyung Kim, Brooke Henderson, Danielle Kang
12:20 p.m. - 10th Tee
In-Kyung Kim returns to the Bahamas this week for the first time since 2012. The newly minted major champion enjoyed a breakout year in 2017 that included three wins, including the Ricoh Women’s British Open. That experience of playing in the wind will fare her well at the Ocean Club Golf Course where gusty conditions are in the forecast this weekend. Kim will play alongside fellow major champions Brooke Henderson and Danielle Kang. Henderson was a two-time winner in 2017 and is looking to find some success in the Bahamas where she has yet to crack the top-20 in her first three starts. Kang is coming off her career best season on Tour with her victory at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship as well as five more top-10s. She’ll look to keep that rolling into the new year after putting in more work on her game during this past off season.
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