The Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G is the first of five opportunities for players to qualify for the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open. Following the final round of the tournament Katherine Kirk (-14) and Jenny Shin (-15) have qualified for the major championship, to be conducted Dec. 10-13 at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas.
Following this week’s competition, there will be four additional play-in opportunities:
ANA Inspiration (winner)
Cambia Portland Classic (top two players not already exempt)
ShopRite LPGA Classic (top two players not already exempt)
KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (top three players not already exempt)
PLAYER NOTES
Rolex Rankings No. 58 Austin Ernst (65-65-63)
- Ernst’s 54-hole score of 193 is a career-best mark by five strokes, she previously recorded 198 to finish as the runner-up at the 2018 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship
- She hit 13 of 13 fairways and 16 of 18 greens, with 28 putts
- Made 143 starts between her win at the 2014 Cambia Portland Classic and today
- Ernst joins Danielle Kang (Drive On Championship, Marathon Classic) and Stacy Lewis (Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open) as American winners on the LPGA Tour in 2020
- This is Ernst’s eighth season on the LPGA Tour; she has one career win at the 2014 Cambia Portland Classic
- Member of the 2017 U.S. Solheim Cup Team with a 2-2-0 record
- 2011 NCAA Individual Champion at LSU where she graduated from in 2014 with a degree in Business Management
- Hosts the annual Austin Ernst Charity Pro-Am benefitting Safe Harbor, a domestic violence shelter
- Member of the 2012 U.S. Curtis Cup Team
- Brother, Drew, played collegiate golf at Coastal Carolina and caddies for Austin
- Dad, Mark, is the General Manager and Director of Golf at Cross Creek Plantation and taught Austin to play
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