Sixty-four teams are set to duke it out for a $2.7 million purse at this week’s Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational and there’s sure to be plenty of drama from Wednesday to Saturday at Midland Country Club in Midland, Mich. Major champions, Solheim Cup teammates and longtime friends all make up many of those partnerships, creating a unique tournament atmosphere that’s sure to see plenty of fun had and drama unfold in the combined alternate shot and four-ball format. Here are five teams to keep your eye on in the fourth edition of the Dow GLBI.
Celine Boutier/Yuka Saso
Celine Boutier and Yuka Saso are partnering together for the first time this week at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational. Boutier became the winningest French player on the LPGA Tour earlier this season after she captured her third career victory at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain. In addition to that win, she has recorded five other top-15 finishes this year, the best of which was a tie for fourth at the Honda LPGA Thailand. Currently sitting at No. 13 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, the 29-year-old ranks fourth in strokes gained around the green this season (+0.54) and is third in sand saves, getting up and down from the bunker an impressive 61.11% of the time.
Saso became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open at The Olympic Club two years ago. She hasn’t been able to pick up another Tour title since, but so far this season, Saso has recorded four top-10 results, most notably finishing runner-up to Ruoning Yin at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course. Statistically, the 22-year-old is eighth in strokes gained driving (+0.75) and 16th in driving distance, hitting the ball 271.75 yards off the tee on average.
Paula Creamer/Jane Park
Jane Park makes her long-awaited return to the LPGA Tour this week at the Dow GLBI after stepping away in 2021 to care for her daughter, Grace Godfrey, who suffered irreparable brain damage at 10 months old caused by a series of undiagnosed seizures. The 36-year-old will have her husband, Peter Godfrey, on her bag this week and will be playing alongside major champion Paula Creamer, one of Park’s longtime friends and fellow #LPGAMom. Park’s last event on Tour was the 2021 Ascendant LPGA benefitting Volunteers of America and this will be Creamer’s ninth start of the 2023 season. The Pink Panther, as she is colloquially known, will be looking to improve upon her season-best result of T54 at the DIO Implant LA Open this week at Midland Country Club.
Georgia Hall/Ryann O’Toole
LPGA Tour winners Georgia Hall and Ryann O’Toole are set to play together in a team event for the first time since they began dating. Combined, the pair have amassed one major championship, three LPGA Tour titles and 33 additional career top-10 finishes. This year, Hall has recorded seven top-15 finishes, including two runner-up results in back-to-back starts at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain and DIO Implant LA Open and a tie for 12th at the Cognizant Founders Cup. According to KPMG Performance Insights, the Englishwoman ranks 6th in strokes gained total and 12th in strokes gained putting so far this season.
O’Toole has finished inside the top 20 twice in 2023, tying for 12th at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and tying for 17th at the Honda LPGA Thailand. While it’s been a rough few weeks as O’Toole has missed the cut in her last four starts, the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational will be a guaranteed bright spot as the 36-year-old looks to turn her luck around alongside her significant other ahead of the European swing.
Brooke Henderson/Lexi Thompson
One of the partnerships that will surely turn heads this week in Midland, Mich. is that of Brooke Henderson and Lexi Thompson. The two superstars have a combined 24 total LPGA Tour victories, three of which are major championships, and have recorded an additional 131 top-10 finishes throughout both of their careers. This season, Henderson has one win at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and three other top 15s, most notably a T15 at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship and a solo 12th at the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Thompson has had a challenging 2023 season, making the cut in just two events at the Cognizant Founders Cup where she finished in a tie for 31st and at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship where she recorded a tie for 47th. The highlight of her year thus far was the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown where Thompson helped lead the United States Team to a third-place finish at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, Calif.
Bronte Law/Mel Reid
A pair of fiery, English Solheim Cuppers in Bronte Law and Mel Reid could be a threat in this week’s format at the Dow GLBI. Law was a member of the winning European team at the 2019 Solheim Cup and earned two full points in her first and only appearance in the event. Reid was a part of the 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2021 Solheim Cup teams, helping her team to victory in 2011 and 2021. Reid has won 7.5 total points throughout her Solheim Cup career, with a 6-7-3 record.
This week in Michigan will mark Law’s 11th start on the LPGA Tour this season and she will be looking to better her season-best finish of T43 that came at the Mizuho Americas Open. Reid is also making her 11th start of the year at Midland Country Club and has recorded four top-25 finishes in her last five events, most notably earning a T15 result at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer, which is her best performance of the 2023 season.
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