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Jin Young Ko, Ariya Jutanugarn, Brooke Henderson- 12:55 P.M., 1st Tee
Jin Young Ko returns to Los Angeles as the Rolex World’s Women’s Golf Rankings No. 1 golfer. Her performance last year matches her current torrent of strong play this year. She was in the final pairing on Sunday with eventual winner Moriya Jutanugarn. Ko came to Wilshire Country Club as the 18th player in the world last year during her Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year campaign, and now looks to maintain her top ranking.
Jutanugarn has strong feelings from the event last year, celebrating with her sister Moriya after the older Jutanugarn’s first career victory. She played very consistently over the four rounds, carding even par for the tournament with two rounds of even par, one round at (-1), and one round at (+1). She comes into Los Angeles off her best performance of 2019, a T3 finish in Hawaii. Her 66 in the third round matched her best round of the season, which she also shot in Singapore.
Henderson comes in with the exact same finish at the LOTTE Championship as the year prior, building off a victory. Her result at Wilshire Country Club wasn’t desired, as she missed the cut. She had her worst round of the 2018 season in her second round to miss the cut.
Jessica Korda, Moriya Jutanugarn, Lexi Thompson-7:44 A.M., 10th Tee
The AON Risk Reward Challenge leader, Jessica Korda, is playing in her third event of the season. It’s been a strong run of play for her, with a T2 and T6 finish to her name. Korda finished at even par last year for a T24 result, with a third round (-2) her best of the tournament.
The defending champion for the first time in her career, Moriya Jutanugarn returns to Wilshire Country Club looking to remain the lone champion of the tournament. Her finishes have steadily improved since the LPGA moved to its domestic portion of the schedule, finishing T19, T12, and T9 over her last three starts at the Kia Classic, the ANA Inspiration, and the LOTTE Championship, respectively. Jutanugarn took the lead last year after a second-round bogey free 66, never relinquishing her position at the top of the leaderboard the rest of the tournament.
Lexi Thompson rounds out the trio, entering after taking the LOTTE Championship off. It was her strongest performance of the 2019 season at the ANA Inspiration, featured by a (-5) final round. She finished T12 last year at Wilshire Country Club, finding herself near the top of the leaderboard after an opening round 68.
Danielle Kang, So Yeon Ryu, Nelly Korda- 12:44 P.M., 1st Tee
The Southern California native enters her second HUGEL-AIR PREMIA LA Open with her game clicking. Kang’s finished in the top six in her last three starts, a T2 finish at the Kia Classic, a T6 finish at golf’s first major, and a T5 finish at the LOTTE Championship last week. It’s a reversal from when she began the Los Angeles tournament in 2018, where she finished T55 after missing the cut in her prior two starts.
So Yeon Ryu comes in off her first top 10 finish of the season, a T9 at the LOTTE Championship. She finished in 4th last year at the premiere of the HUGEL-AIR PREMIA LA Open, posting the low round of the tournament in the second round. Ryu’s 65 featured eight birdies, including two out of the gate.
Nelly Korda returned to her dominant 2019 form in Hawaii last week, finishing T8 for her sixth top 10 finish in seven starts. She enters Wilshire Country Club after missing the cut by a stroke last year. The potential for Korda to play well here was on display, as she averaged three birdies a round before missing the weekend.