A brand-new LPGA Tour season gets underway this Thursday as the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions is set to begin at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, Fla. The season opener kicks off the Tour’s 74th season, signaling the start of a record-breaking 2024 schedule that features 33 official events – plus a Solheim Cup and the Paris Olympics – and more than $118 million in prize money. The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions is the first of back-to-back events being staged in Florida before the Tour embarks on its annual swing through Asia in February, preluding the LPGA Drive On Championship at Bradenton Country Club. Here are five things to know ahead of the first event of the 2024 season, which is one of the most unique LPGA Tour stops of the year.

A Winners-Only Field

The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions lives up to its name as it features a winners-only field, and the sixth edition of the event will see 35 players who have won on the LPGA Tour over the past two seasons tee it up at Lake Nona. With a record number of Rolex First-Time Winners over the past two years, it’s no surprise that more than a dozen players have qualified for the 2024 edition of the tournament, making this year’s field one of the strongest to date. Current Rolex Rankings world No. 1 Lilia Vu and major champions Allisen Corpuz and Ruoning Yin will make their Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions debut this week, and the field also features former world No. 1s Lydia Ko and Nelly Korda as well as rising stars Linn Grant, Alexa Pano and Rose Zhang. They’ll all be competing over 72 holes for a purse of $1.5 million, 500 Race to the CME Globe points and an official LPGA Tour victory.

Celebrity Headliners

What makes the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions so unique is the mixing and mingling of the LPGA Tour’s finest with entertainment, sports and music stars. The tournament was originally a PGA Tour Champions event, with the men playing alongside celebrities and the occasional LPGA Tour player, and then morphed into its current form as the LPGA Tour’s season opener in 2019. Since then, the event has attracted the likes of the NFL’s Larry Fitzgerald, the NBA’s Ray Allen and actor Brian Baumgartner. This year, headliners include former soccer star Landon Donovan, who will make his Tournament of Champions debut, and World Series champion John Smoltz. Fans will also enjoy the return of comedian Larry the Cable Guy, actor Jack Wagner, Ben Higgins and Wells Adams of “The Bachelor” as well as World Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam. Celebrities will compete separately from their LPGA Tour counterparts as they square off in a modified Stableford format. Mardy Fish returns as the defending champion and is a two-time winner of the celebrity division at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.

Defending LPGA Champion

Speaking of defending champions, Brooke Henderson captured her 13th career LPGA Tour victory at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in 2023. The win was a bit of a surprise for the Canadian who had spent last off-season switching equipment and having her wisdom teeth removed. But Henderson showed no signs of discomfort as she blitzed the field to win by four strokes over Maja Stark and Charley Hull. Ultimately, the win didn’t springboard the two-time major champion to a multi-win season in 2023 as she might have hoped. After going wire-to-wire at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, Henderson didn’t crack the top 10 again until July, finishing solo second at The Amundi Evian Championship. But she ended the year on a high note with a strong runner-up finish at the Grant Thornton Invitational alongside her fellow Canadian Corey Conners in the first mixed-gender team event on both the LPGA and PGA Tours since the 1999 JC Penney Classic.

Players to Watch

As the LPGA Tour kicks off a new season, Nelly Korda will be a player to watch this week as the major champion seeks a return to the winner’s circle for the first time since 2022. The former world No. 1 went without a win on the LPGA Tour last season but has consistently contended at the Tournament of Champions, where she’ll once again be a likely favorite to win the first tournament of the season. Korda has earned two third-place results at Lake Nona and has never finished outside the top 10 at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.

Danielle Kang will be another player looking to return to the winner’s circle for the first time since winning the 2022 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. Kang is a player who thrives in the fun-filled environment that comes with competing alongside celebrities, and that energy lifted her not only to victory in 2022 but also to a runner-up result in 2021. Kang has never finished worse than T12 at the Tournament of Champions in her five previous appearances.

All eyes will be on Rose Zhang as she makes her tournament debut this week at Lake Nona. Zhang’s prowess in the amateur ranks quickly propelled her to success in the professional ranks when she won in her first start as a pro at the Mizuho Americas Open. But after her breakout win, Zhang struggled to keep that momentum rolling throughout the rest of the season. As the year came to a close, the 2023 rookie admitted to being overcommitted and exhausted after a whirlwind first year on the LPGA Tour. Zhang’s appearance at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions may be one of the few times fans get a chance to see her compete in the early part of the season as Zhang intends to return to Stanford for the first quarter to continue working towards her degree.

What’s Next

After two champions are crowned on Sunday, the Tour will make the drive approximately two hours southwest to Bradenton Country Club for the third edition of the LPGA Drive On Championship. It’s the first time that the tournament will be staged at the club, and Celine Boutier is slated to make her season debut as she works to defend her title, having won the LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain in 2023. Early commitments to the first full-field event of the year also include Lexi Thompson, Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu.

Five Things to Know About the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions

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