ORLANDO, Fla. — The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Fla. sounds like a wonderful getaway. Head to the Sunshine State and enjoy four days of golf at one of the region’s finest facilities, Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, which is home to 29 touring professionals worldwide. Yes, please.
This immaculate escape will host the start of the LPGA season for the third consecutive year, and having been the venue for the Solheim Cup in 1990, the membership has always been a strong supporter of the women’s game.
You must be a winner from the last two seasons to qualify for the Tournament of Champions, and this fantastic Tom Fazio design provides an exceptional test for the 35-player field as the par-72 layout measures 6,608 yards for the tournament.
The LPGA Tour last competed 60 days ago in Naples, Fla., at the CME Group Tour Championship. Needless to say, a couple of the Tour’s elite have been working hard in the off-season after challenging 2023 campaigns.
Lydia Ko started 2023 as the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings No. 1, and she will begin this season ranked 12th in the world. Nelly Korda went winless in 2023. Brooke Henderson opened the year winning the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, and then didn’t hold another trophy the rest of the season.
There are more near-miss narratives, but the LPGA Tour has a new year to conquer. There’s no better place to get started again than Lake Nona as the world’s best players compete alongside a field of crowd-pleasing celebrities.
Fazio’s design rewards superb ball striking. The first two Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions winners were Danielle Kang in 2022 and Brooke Henderson in 2023. Henderson blitzed the field a year ago, winning by four strokes over Charley Hull and Maja Stark. How about those three elite ball strikers? You should be sensing a trend here. To navigate Lake Nona’s 18 holes, a player will need to avoid 57 bunkers and play smart on the 11 holes where water comes into play.
Both Kang and Henderson won with a winning score of 16-under, and the top-10 finishers from each of the past two editions separated themselves on approach more than any other major strokes gained category. Looking at 2023’s season-long results, Ruoning Yin leads this 35-player field in iron play, but Megan Khang, Ashleigh Buhai and Hae Ran Ryu are also excellent. In 2022, the top 10 at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions gained an average of 4.5 strokes on approach.
Consistently knocking it close creates birdie chances, and converting those putts is often the path to victory. Angel Yin, Ayaka Furue and Lilia Vu are the best on the greens, but let’s not limit the short game to just putting.
Fazio’s greens are carefully situated amongst a great deal of trouble, so handling those par-saving moments is key. The best players from last year averaged a scrambling rate of 69 percent, and not one of the 35 women in this year’s field has a scrambling rate above that number. That means you’ll need to elevate your baseline to contend at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
Hitting it close from around the green is also helpful when it comes to par-5 scoring. The field will play 16 par 5s over four days of competition, and the best par-5 scorers of the bunch are Korda, Hull and Jennifer Kupcho. But Lake Nona is a very well-rounded test. The average par-3 and par-4 scoring the past two years is right around even par for the contenders. If Korda, Hull or Kupcho can just play the remaining holes in even par, they will be tough to beat come Sunday.
The start of a brand-new season is always exciting, and watching the world’s best build a successful game plan for this layout is very engaging. Walking the range, these players look eager to get after it.
If you don’t mind a friendly wager on the week, then make sure you pay attention to these tips. Favor those who can consistently keep the ball in play tee to green, save difficult pars and score on the par 5s. Build your betting card with them, and you just might come out on top like Sunday’s champion!
Keith Stewart is an award-winning PGA Professional. He covers the LPGA and PGA TOUR for Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, LPGA, and PGA of America. If you are looking to raise your golf acumen and love inside information about the game, check out his weekly newsletter called Read The Line.
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