The excitement surrounding a new LPGA event is always intense but the anticipation encompassing the inaugural Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational is twice as nice. As team golf comes to the women’s game, an air of playfulness embraced the tournament even before the first ball was struck, hinting at exactly how much fun this week will be.
This is not only a new tournament, it is innovative. And players quickly embraced its uniqueness, taking to social media to announce their teams and, in some cases, recruit partners for the competition. Paula Creamer even had fans at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship hold up signs asking Morgan Pressel to be her partner. She accepted.
Everything about the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational is out of the ordinary, from the format to the dates to the fact that this will be the only week this side of the Solheim Cup or the UL International Crown when players won’t go it alone but with a teammate.
When play begins Wednesday at Midland Country Club in Midland, Mich., 144 players representing 72 teams will tee it up in alternate shot play followed by four-ball on Thursday and then alternate shot again Friday ending on Saturday with four-ball.
Two players, not one and two formats, not one will mean twice as much fun for the fans and the twice as much pressure for the players since each has a partner they don’t want to let down.
Alternate shot is the grueling format where an errant shot can put your partner in a perilous position since she will have to strike the next blow. The strategy is to stay out of trouble. Par is a good score in this battle for survival.
Four-ball, on the other hand, is an aggressive, let’s make as many birdies as we can free-for-all that encourages an attacking style of play. The strategy is to court trouble, taking risks in order to go as low as you can.
The nature of the teams also sets the stage for fun. There are the Sister Acts: Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn as well as Nelly and Jessica Korda. All four have won LPGA events and the Kordas are the only Sister Act in LPGA history where both siblings have multiple wins.
There are also some national alliances, like Brooke Henderson and Alena Sharp from Canada; the Japanese duo of Nasa Hataoka and Suzuka Yamaguchi; Amy Yang and Mirim Lee of South Korea; Pernilla Lindberg and Linnea Strom of Sweden; Caroline Boutier and Karine Icher of France.
There are possible USA Solheim Cup pairings in Lexi Thompson and Cristie Kerr as well as the California duo of Danielle Kang and Lizette Salas. Suzann Pettersen, who’d love to be on Europe's Solheim Cup team, is partnered with the woman who will make the four captain’s picks – Cartriona Matthew.
There are two new Moms playing together – Stacy Lewis and Gerina Piller – and two rising stars in Minjee Lee and Jin Young Ko. Jennifer Kupcho and Maria Fassi, who waged such a wonderful duel in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur before joining the LPGA, are a team.
Kristy McPherson and Kendall Dye enlisted country music star Toby Keith to sing about their pairing, tweeting out:
MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!!! Team Solo No Mo is heading to Midland, Michigan to partner up in the inaugural DOW Great Lakes Bay Invitational. Shout out to @tobykeith for helping us out! @KRISTY2208 @LPGA @DowGLBI @BettinardiGolf #teamsolonomo pic.twitter.com/2dOS5xrkYC
— Kendall Dye (@Kendall_Dye) July 14, 2019
The video, in which Keith adapts his song touting the versatile joys of a “red solo cup” at tailgate parties and other festive events ends with McPherson and Dye floating in a swimming pool on a massive inflatable pink flamingo holding – you guessed it – red solo cups, toasting their team.
As much fun as there will be at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational there is also a greater purpose as the tournament once again shows that while golf cannot change the world, golfers can. Under the slogan #TeamUp tournament organizers selected 36 local charities that have an impact in the Great Lakes Bay Region in the areas of STEM, Sustainability, Inclusion, and Innovation.
The 36 nonprofits will be paired with the 71 teams and each nonprofit will align with two different teams. Each team gets a contribution worth $2,000 to donate to their paired nonprofit and can earn more for their nonprofits based upon how they play.
As Dow GLBI organizers say: “The mission of #TeamUp for the GLBR is to accelerate the efforts of the Great Lakes Bay Region and Dow’s strategy by building a world class LPGA Tour event that positively impacts people’s lives and enriches the community.”
The week kicks off with a two-day food festival featuring live music before the rare Wednesday start of competition that concludes on Saturday. There will be walk-up songs, great golf and most likely a few surprises that extend the festive tone already established.
Few tournaments have ever been this much fun even before play begins. Imagine how much fun it will be when play gets going and we see 144 of the best women golfers in the #TeamUp to compete and do good deeds. Now that’s a great pairing.
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