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Sung Hyun Park, Shanshan Feng, Ariya Jutanugarn
1st Tee, 10:39 a.m.Talk about a powerhouse group.
China’s own Shanshan Feng is joined by world No’s 1 and 2 Sung Hyun Park and Ariya Jutanugarn.
Feng is no stranger to winning in her native China, having captured an LPGA Tour title on home soil in 2013. Only two of her nine LPGA Tour wins have come before October, so this time of year is when Feng usually plays her best golf. She’s notched five top-10 finishes so far this year and sits No. 8 on the Rolex Rankings.
Park and Jutanugarn both finished tied for third last week in South Korea, and both have three wins apiece in 2018.
Park has been No. 1 in the world for the last 10 weeks and won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship earlier this year, her second major triumph.
Jutanugarn, at No. 2, has been nipping at her heels of late, however. Her three wins on the year include in the U.S. Women’s Open. She leads the money list, the Player of the Year standings, and the Race to the CME Globe.
Marina Alex, So Yeon Ryu, Ruixin Liu
1st Tee, 10:06 a.m.
After a season to remember on the Epson Tour, Ruixin Liu is teeing it up on the LPGA Tour this week. Liu, of China, was a rookie on the Epson Tour in 2017 and broke through in a big way in 2018. She finished No. 1 on the money list after winning three times. The results in her final four tournaments were T3-T2-1-1 – not a bad way to finish a year.
Liu will be paired with two LPGA Tour winners.
So Yeon Ryu, the co-Player of the Year in 2017, captured the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give in June, one of her six top-10’s on the season. Ryu sits third in the Rolex Rankings. Ryu took last week off after being part of the victorious South Korean squad at the UL International Crown.
Marina Alex broke through for her first LPGA Tour victory in August at the Cambia Portland Classic. She won by four shots over Georgia Hall. Alex finished tied for 37th last week in South Korea.
Brittany Lincicome, Jin Young Ko, Carlota Ciganda
1st Tee, 10:17 a.m.
Brittany Lincicome started her year with a bang, and with just four events left after this week in the 2018 season, she’s hoping to end it just as strongly.
Lincicome captured the season-opening Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic, one of her five top-10 finishes on the season. She also played the Barbasol Championship on the PGA TOUR this summer.
Lincicome is paired with the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year leader Jin Young Ko. Ko captured her first event of the year, the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open. She’s been a model of consistency this year with 10 top-10s, and has a commanding 300-point lead in the Rookie of the Year race.
Carlota Ciganda, who’s won twice on the LPGA Tour (both in 2016) and whose best finish in 2018 is a runner-up, rounds out the trio.
Minjee Lee, Brooke Henderson, Yu Liu
1st Tee, 10:28 a.m.
Minjee Lee has never been ranked higher in the world than right now, and she’s hoping to build on that success.
Lee, who won the LPGA Volvik Championship in May, has eight top-5 finishes this year and is No. 5 in the Rolex Rankings. She finished tied for third a week ago in South Korea.
Brooke Henderson, meanwhile, is looking to join Ariya Jutanugarn and Sung Hyun Park as three-time winners on the LPGA Tour in 2018. Henderson has two wins on the year, including a memorable victory at the CP Women’s Open in August on home soil. She notched her 12th top-15 result of the year last week.
China native Yu Liu rounds out the group. Liu is fourth on the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year standings. Her best finish is a third at the Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic.
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