The third major of the year has arrived as the KPMG Women's PGA Championship gets started on Thursday at Kemper Lakes Golf Club, which hosted the 1992 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship and featured a championship matchup of Vickie Goetze and Annika Sorenstam. Goetze, now Goetze-Ackerman and the LPGA's Player Association President, won 1 UP. Kemper Lakes has hosted major men's events like the 1989 PGA Championship won by Payne Stewart, the 1986 PGA Grand Slam of Golf won by Greg Norman and the 1990 PGA Grand Slam of Golf won by Andy North.

The field is absolutely stacked with the entire Top 100 on the LPGA money list in the field and 37 of the top 40 in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings.

This year's field features the last three winners of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, including Inbee Park who won in 2015 at Westchester Country Club, Brooke Henderson who won in 2016 at Sahalee Country Club and Danielle Kang who won in 2017 at Olympia Fields.

The field also includes each of the 16 winners on the LPGA Tour this season.

Kang

Can Danielle Kang Go Back-to-Back?

Last year at Olympia Fields, Danielle Kang proved she has the game and fight to win on the LPGA. She turned in a final round 68 to hold off the charging Brooke Henderson by one shot. Remember, she made bogey on the 71st hole to drop to 12-under and made birdie on the 72nd hole to get to 13-under, which was the one shot difference she needed to hoist her first LPGA trophy.

Since her win last year, she's made 24 starts and has five top 10 finishes, but no wins.

Kang enters this week off a shaky couple of weeks. She had to withdraw from the ShopRite LPGA Classic two weeks ago citing personal reasons and then missed the cut last week in Arkansas.

Assuming she is fully healthy, Kang remains a logical candidate to win. It's also important for Kang to perform well in a last effort to qualify for Team USA at the UL International Crown. She is currently the fifth highest ranked American and needs to catch No. 4 Michelle Wie, who is ranked five spots higher in the Rolex Rankings.

Surprise

Who Will Be the Surprise This Time Around?

The first two majors of 2018 have been defined by unheralded players stealing the headlines. Pernilla Lindberg, who was ranked No. 95 in the world entering the ANA Inspiration, led from the start after a first round 65 in Rancho Mirage and went onto win her first LPGA title.

She even outlasted Inbee Park in a playoff.

The second major, the U.S. Women's Open, had a surprise leader at the top headed into the weekend in Australian Sarah Jane Smith, who was No. 97 in the world at the start of the week. Smith carded rounds of 67-67 to take a four shot lead into weekend. Ultimately, she faded with rounds of 74-78, but still managed a T5 result. Ariya Jutanugarn turned in a 67 on Saturday and moved into position and then won with a 73 on Sunday and a brilliant bunker shot on the fourth playoff hole.

The winners of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship have been some of the biggest names in women's golf. Since 2005, winners include Annika Sorenstam, Se Ri Pak, Suzann Pettersen, Yani Tseng, Anna Nordqvist, Cristie Kerr, Shanshan Feng, Inbee Park, Brooke Henderson and Danielle Kang.

That said, the LPGA has had a few surprise winners this year like Annie Park, Lindberg and Nasa Hataoka, who won for the first time on Tour last week.

Wie

Wie Trying to Put Grip on Second Major

Michelle Wie will of course be part of the discourse in the lead up this week. She's coming off a T61 finish in Rogers, Arkansas, but also has five top 11 finishes this year including a T10 at the U.S. Women's Open. Wie finished T30 at the ANA Inspiration.

The 28-year-old made the cut in each of her 13 starts this year and ranks 15th on the LPGA money list.

Wie has had mixed success in the majors since winning the 2014 U.S. Women's Open. Some of her down performances in majors are injury related, but here is a look at how she's performed in the majors since herwin at Pinehurst.

Tournament	Result
2014 Ricoh Women's British Open	MC
2014 Evian Championship	WD
2015 ANA Inspiration	T57
2015 KPMG Women's PGA Championship	T41
2015 U.S. Women's Open	11
2015 Ricoh Women's British Open	WD
2015 Evian Championship	T16
2016 ANA Inspiration	T36
2016 KPMG Women's PGA Championship	MC
2016 U.S. Women's Open	MC
2016 Ricoh Women's British Open	MC
2016 Evian Championship	T55
2017 ANA Inspiration	6
2017 KPMG Women's PGA Championship	T20
2017 U.S. Women's Open	WD
2017 Ricoh Women's British Open	T3
2018 ANA Inspiration	T30
2018 U.S. Women's Open	T10

Ariya Jutanugarn Has to Be Considered the Favorite

Of all the juggernauts in the field this week, Ariya Jutanugarn has to be considered the favorite of favorites. She leads the LPGA in every major category: money earned, Race to the CME Globe, scoring average, Rolex Player of the Year and birdies made.

Of her last 20 rounds, 17 have been under par and 19 have been even par or better. She's finished outside the top 30 only twice this year and has ten top 10 finishes already. She's on pace to become the first $3 million earner in a single season and a win this week would bump her over $2 million with about half the year to go.

The one area we didn't mention, which is probably most important, is that she leads the LPGA in putting. Everyone loves to discuss her long game, but her short game has no match this year. She ranks first in putts per GIR (1.71) and first in putting average (28.36).

Brooke

Brooke Henderson Likes the KPMG Events

Brooke Henderson really seems to thrive at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship regardless of the course. She finished one shot short of forcing a playoff in 2017 to defend her crown from the year prior. She's posted two strong final rounds at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. She handed in the 65 at Sahalee in 2016 and the 66 at Olympia Fields last year.

One difference between this year and the last two years are the results heading into this year's championship. In 2017, the major fell one week after her win at the Meijer LPGA Classic. In 2016, she had a T3 two weeks prior.

This year, she enters the third major after three tough weeks both emotionally and on the course. Three weeks ago, she withdrew from the U.S. Women's Open to be with her family when her grandfather passed away. The last two weeks, she finished T28 and T44.

Keep an eye on her putting this week. She ranks 89th on Tour in putting average, but if she gets a feel for the greens, that could spell trouble for the rest of the field.

Wendy

T&CP National Championship Top 8

The top eight finishers from the 2017 T&CP National Championship earned entry into the field this week. Wendy Doolan, who played on the LPGA for 17 years, won the national title to earn her spot. The other seven to qualify are Joanna Coe, Heather Angell, Jean Bartholomew, Alison Curdt, Ashley Grier and Charlotta Sorenstam.

Charlotta, Annika's sister, won the 2000 Standard Register PING.

Field Breakdown - KPMG Women's PGA Championship

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