*All times are local
Karrie Webb, Beth Allen, Brittany Lincicome
Group 4 - 7:03 a.m. - 1st Tee
It can’t be all work and no play. Karrie Webb knows that, as she took a break from preparing for this week’s Ricoh Women’s British Open by taking a trip to the British Golf Museum in St. Andrews, where some memorabilia from her victory was on display. It will be interesting to see how last week’s near win will affect the Hall of Famer, who went from leading by two strokes on the final stretch Sunday, to losing by one. She has five top-10s in this championship since it became a major on the LPGA Tour in 2001. She will play alongside Beth Allen and Brittany Lincicome in the opening rounds. Allen could find the spark she needs in returning to Scotland and familiar territory as the American has played most of her career on the Ladies European Tour. She’s struggled this season on the LPGA Tour where she has missed the cut in her last eight starts. She’s making her seventh appearance in this championship where she was tied for 14th in 2016. Lincicome rounds out this group and makes her first start since finishing tied for 10th at the Marathon Classic. She hasn’t played her best golf on the links, with just one top-10 in 12 starts. She is currently ninth in the Solheim Cup point standings, one position outside the automatic eight that automatically qualify for Team U.SA. She could qualify based on her current Rolex Ranking, but will need a solid finish this week to keep from being leapfrogged in the standings.
Michelle Wie, Brooke Henderson, Lydia Ko
Group 7 – 7:36 a.m. – 1st Tee
Three major champions in search of their first Ricoh Women’s British Open title, Michelle Wie, Brooke Henderson and Lydia Ko, are grouped together in the opening rounds at Kingsbarns. Wie played her way into seventh position in the Solheim Cup point standings with six top-10s this season, but she will need yet another solid finish this week, with double points on the line, to maintain her automatic spot on Team U.S.A. She’s coming off a tie for 19th in last week’s cold and blustery conditions at Dundonald Links, which was her first start since withdrawing from the U.S. Women’s Open with neck pain. Henderson skipped last week’s Ladies Scottish Open, choosing instead to enjoy a rare week off from the Tour to put in some extra time to better prepare for the challenges of links golf which, in the past, has gotten the better of her. In her first two appearances she finished tied for 50th and 61st. Ko rounds out this group as she looks to bounce back after missing just the third cut of her career on the LPGA Tour at last week’s Ladies Scottish Open. She’s making her sixth start in this championship where she finished tied for third in 2015 at Trump Turnberry.
Ariya Jutanugarn, So Yeon Ryu, Lexi Thompson
Group 31 – 12:16 pm.- 1st Tee
The world’s top-three ranked players will play together on Thursday and Friday at Kingsbarns. No. 3 and defending champion Ariya Jutanugarn looks to defend her title on a links style layout that couldn’t be more different from the parkland style course she won on last year at Woburn. Jutanugarn, who is battling a cold this week, hasn’t had much success on the links. She finished tied for 44th last week at Dundonald Links and in her two prior trips to this championship has made one cut in two starts, resulting in a tie for 45th. On the other hand, the world No. 1 has never finished worse than tied for 17th at this championship. Ryu has high expectations for herself this week in wanting to win this championship ,but will have to manage the nerves that come with that added pressure to have a chance come Sunday of winning her first Ricoh Women’s British Open. This week, Thompson will tee it up as the new world No. 2, the highest ranking she’s held in her career. She skipped last week’s Scottish tune-up at Dundonald Links and arrives at Kingsbarns off her fifth top-10 of the year after finishing runner-up at the Marathon Classic. The closest Thompson has come to winning this championship came in her fifth appearance last season at Woburn where she was tied for eighth.
Charley Hull, Shanshan Feng, Mo Martin
Group 32 – 12:27 p.m. – 1st Tee
This week, Charley Hull will compete in her sixth Ricoh Women’s British Open, where her best finish came in 2014 when she was tied for 12th. Since winning the CME Group Tour Championship in November, her first win on Tour, Hull has had a quiet start to 2017 with two top-10s. She will play alongside Shanshan Feng, who has enjoyed just the opposite start to the year with four top-10s and a win at the LPGA Volvik Championship. She nearly went wire-to-wire to win the U.S. Women’s Open but settled for a tie for fifth after being chased down by Sung Hyun Park on Sunday. Feng hasn’t missed this championship since 2008 and finished tied for second in 2014, the year Mo Martin won. The 2014 champion is the final member of this group and is just one of two champions in the history of the event to come from outside the top-5 on Sunday to win. Martin nearly picked up her second Ricoh Women’s Open title last year when she finished tied for second at Woburn. She sits at 14th in the Solheim Cup point standings and to have a chance of playing on her first Team, she'll need to improve her ranking or make a strong case for a captain's pick, as Juli Inkster has said repeatedly she’s looking for players who are playing well right now.
Haru Nomura, Nelly Korda, Inbee Park
Group 33 – 12:38 p.m. -1st Tee
Three-time winner Haru Nomura will play alongside rookie Nelly Korda and seven-time major champion Inbee Park in the opening rounds at Kingsbarns. Nomura is making her fourth appearance in this championship in search of her second win of the season after defeating Cristie Kerr in a marathon playoff, which lasted for six holes, at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout. Korda will look to make a case for a captain’s pick for this year’s Solheim Cup at 27th in the standings. The younger Korda is on Inkster’s radar. The captain has said she will not rule out picking a rookie for her team and Korda fits the mold the captain of players currently playing well as Korda arrives in Scotland off her third top-10 of the season. This week, Park returns to the Ricoh Women’s British Open for the first time since 2015, when she completed the Career Grand Slam with her win at Turnberry. She finished tied for 44th at last week’s Ladies Scottish Open, her first start since missing the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open.
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