Not all the Thursday-Friday groupings at the KPMG Women’s PGA were completely random. There are common threads that weave through several of the threesomes taking on Aronimink. Yealimi Noh (2018), Kristen Gillman (2014) and Brittany Altomare (2006) all are past Girls Junior PGA champions, as well as past U.S. Junior Ryder Cup players. Likewise, Cristie Kerr (1995), Inbee Park 2001-02) and Ariya Jutanugarn (2011-12) all won the Girls Junior PGA, doing it in three different decades. (This year marks the 25th anniversary of Kerr’s victory at PGA National). Alison Lee, Esther Lee and Linnea Storm all competed in the 2012 Junior Ryder Cup at Olympia Fields. Mina Harigae, Emma Talley and Andrea Lee all played for U.S. Junior Ryder teams. And Carlota Ciganda, Leona Maguire and Bronte Law all represented Europe in the Junior Ryder Cup. In all, there are seven past Girls Junior PGA champions in the KPMG field, and 16 golfers who participated in the Junior Ryder Cup.
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For the first time since 2014 – when Meena Lee and Lexi Thompson were tied atop the leaderboard at Monroe Golf Club in Rochester, N.Y.– there is a tie for the lead after the opening round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
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Three of the last four KPMG Women’s PGA Champions led the championship outright after the first round, including the last two (Hannah Green, 2019 at Hazeltine and Sung Hyun Park, 2018 at Kemper Lakes). Brooke Henderson, the 2016 KPMG champion, also led after 18 holes at Sahalee.
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Eight former KPMG Women’s PGA champions are in the field this week at Aronimink: Hannah Green (2019), Sung-Hyun Park (2018), Danielle Kang (2017), Brooke Henderson (2016), Inbee Park (2013-15), Christie Kerr (2010), Anna Nordqvist (2009) and Laura Davies (1994, ‘96).
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There are 26 countries represented in the 132-player field for the 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship: Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and the United States.
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Linnea Strom’s 68 was her best round in eight career major championships starts (21 rounds).
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