The Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G is celebrating its second playing this week in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the field is solid as the LPGA Tour's best wrap up a challenging 10-tournament stretch. Two 2023 major champions, Allisen Corpuz and Ruoning Yin, headline the field along with 13-time LPGA Tour winner Brooke Henderson, up-and-coming superstar Rose Zhang and fan-favorite Lexi Thompson. A $2 million purse and $300,000 winner's check are on the line for 144 of the game's top talent as many in the field are looking to find some momentum in the final few events of the 2023 LPGA Tour season. Here are some of the featured groups to be watching as they work to tackle Kenwood Country Club's Kendale Course in the shadow of the Cincinnati skyline.
Thursday, 8:25 a.m. – Pajaree Anannarukarn/Jenny Shin/Ariya Jutanugarn
Thailand native Pajaree Anannarukarn captured her second LPGA Tour title in May at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play presented by MGM Rewards but has struggled to find any momentum since her impressive performance in Las Vegas. She has missed four cuts in her last eight starts and has only cracked the top 30 once in that same span, finishing T29 at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational. Despite the challenges, Anannarukarn is still ranked 35th in the Race to the CME Globe, well inside the top 60 cutoff for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. Still, the 24-year-old will be looking to cultivate some form as the end of the year looms large with only ten regular-season events, including this week at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G, left on the 2023 schedule.
The Republic of Korea's Jenny Shin looked like she might have gotten on a roll earlier this summer, carding back-to-back top-10 finishes in June at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer and the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. Nevertheless, the 30-year-old fell off the wagon for a bit, missing the cut at the U.S. Women's Open and withdrawing from the Dana Open, finally righting the ship late in the #LPGAEuroSwing, recording two consecutive T16 results at the FREED GROUP Women's Scottish Open presented by Trust Golf and the AIG Women's Open. Now sitting at 72nd in the Race to the CME Globe, the 2016 Ascendant benefitting Volunteers of America champion has some work to do in the final events of the 2023 season if she hopes to qualify for the CME Group Tour Championship. It will take some solid golf, but veteran Shin is more than up for the challenge.
Twelve-time LPGA Tour winner Ariya Jutanugarn comes to the Queen City fresh off a T7 showing at the Portland Classic, her best finish of the 2023 LPGA Tour season. The 27-year-old carded all four rounds in the 60s for the first time since the 2022 Dana Open, the best of which was a final round, 6-under 66. It was her first top-10 showing since the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give when the Thailand native finished runner-up to Leona Maguire, her best result since winning the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational with her sister Moriya in 2021. Jutanugarn has finished inside the top 15 three additional times this season, the most notable of which was a tie for 14th at The Chevron Championship, and currently sits at 31st in the Race to the CME Globe. She finished T10 in this event last season, a good sign for a player who just found something that's working while in Oregon.
Thursday, 8:47 a.m. – Ruoning Yin/Angel Yin/Nasa Hataoka
Two-time 2023 winner Ruoning Yin is the only player in the top six of the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings playing in the Kroger Queen City Championship this week and could move to world No. 1, depending on how she performs. If the 20-year-old finishes solo fourth or better in Cincinnati, Ohio, she could potentially surpass Lilia Vu to become Rolex Rankings No. 1 for the first time in her young career. Yin would be the second player from the People's Republic of China to accomplish the feat, joining major champion Shanshan Feng, who last held the top spot from November 2017 to April 2018. The 2022 LPGA Tour rookie became a Rolex First-Time Winner earlier this season at the DIO Implant LA Open and then captured her first major title just a few months later at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club's Lower Course. She has finished in the top 10 four times this season in addition to her victories, three of which have come in her last four starts at the FREED GROUP Women's Scottish Open presented by Trust Golf, where she finished third, CPKC Women's Open where she also finished third and at last week's Portland Classic where Yin ultimately tied for third.
Angel Yin might still be looking for that elusive first victory on the LPGA Tour, but the veteran isn't too stressed about etching her name on a trophy anytime soon, especially considering she was just selected as a captain's pick for the U.S. Solheim Cup and will be making her first appearance in the event since 2019. While some may consider it a bad thing that Yin is the only player on the team that has yet to win on Tour, Yin thinks it's actually pretty awesome that she nearly qualified via the points standings without a win during the Qualifying Period. It shows just how solidly she has been playing this season. Yin has four top 10s on her 2023 resume, including a solo second at The Chevron Championship after losing in a playoff to winner Lilia Vu and a tie for sixth at the AIG Women's Open that saw her post back-to-back rounds in the 60s for the first time since last year's Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G. Considering her recent form and that positive history with Kenwood Country Club's Kendale Course, Yin might not have to wait too much longer for that first Tour title.
Though it feels like it has been a ho-hum year for six-time LPGA Tour winner Nasa Hataoka, the Japan native has actually had a pretty solid 2023 season when you look at it on paper. She has missed just one cut in 17 total starts and has recorded three top-five finishes as well as two additional top-10s, the most notable of which are ties for fourth and third at the U.S. Women's Open and The Amundi Evian Championship, respectively. Statistically, the 24-year-old leads the LPGA Tour in birdies this season with 251 thus far, is third in rounds under par (40) and is 11th in scoring average (70.58). According to KPMG Performance Insights, Hataoka is eighth in strokes gained total (+1.69), 11th in strokes gained tee to green (+1.18) and 12th in strokes gained approach (+0.85). While that seventh career LPGA Tour title might be eluding the Rolex Rankings No. 18, Hataoka is a player who always seems to find a way to surprise people, even when she may not have her best stuff.
Thursday, 1:47 p.m. – Ally Ewing/Jennifer Kupcho/Allisen Corpuz
Three United States Solheim Cup teammates comprise group 39 and will tee off at 1:47 p.m. on Thursday. Ally Ewing captured her third career LPGA Tour victory at the 2022 Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G and will look to successfully defend a title for the first time in her career this week at Kenwood Country Club's Kendale Course. She's been playing some incredibly solid golf this season, earning five top-15 finishes, including a solo 11th at the U.S. Women's Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links and a tie for sixth at the AIG Women's Open at Walton Heath Golf Club. According to KPMG Performance Insights, the Mississippi native is 13th in strokes gained tee to green (+1.08) and is 28th in strokes gained total (+1.05), strokes gained driving (+0.39) and strokes gained approach (+0.52). The 30-year-old is also 14th in both greens in regulation (71.69%) and putts per green in regulation (1.77). Ewing was selected as a captain's pick by U.S. captain Stacy Lewis and will be playing in her third Solheim Cup in just a couple of weeks at Finca Cortesin.
Joining Ewing both in Spain and in Cincinnati is major champion and three-time LPGA Tour winner Jennifer Kupcho. The 26-year-old had a banner year in 2022, becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner at The Chevron Championship and then backing that up with two more victories at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give and Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational to round out the year. She hasn't quite found that same gear in 2023, only finding the top 10 twice in 18 total starts this season, falling just short to Rose Zhang in a playoff at the Mizuho Americas Open and tying for sixth at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give in her title defense. But despite what's felt like a bit of a lackluster year, Kupcho did manage to qualify for her second straight Solheim Cup, ultimately finishing fifth in points in the United States Solheim Cup standings. She went 2-1-1 at Inverness Club in her debut and will be able to rely upon that experience as she plays on her second team, this time on foreign soil.
Rounding out this group of LPGA Tour winners and 2023 Solheim Cuppers is U.S. Women's Open champion Allisen Corpuz. The Hawaii native made history as the first woman to win a professional event at Pebble Beach in July, winning her first LPGA Tour event and first major championship by three shots over Jiyai Shin and Charley Hull. She has four other top-10 finishes on her 2023 resume, including a solo second at the Dana Open, a T4 at The Chevron Championship and a T6 at the AIG Women's Open. Corpuz was one of four players to clinch a spot on the U.S. Solheim Cup team via the points standings alongside Megan Khang, Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu and is one of five rookies that will represent the United States for the first time in a professional team competition in Andalucia, Spain at Finca Cortesin. She did so three times as an amateur at the 2020 and 2021 Arnold Palmer Cup and 2021 Curtis Cup.
For a complete list of tee times for the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G, click here.
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