The ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open is set to begin on Thursday, July 23, at Dundonald Links in Ayrshire, Scotland, and several of the LPGA Tour’s top athletes are in the field this week ahead of the year’s fifth major championship. Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda is teeing it up for the first time ever in this tournament and will be joined in the field by 2025 major winners Grace Kim, Minjee Lee and Maja Stark, as well as four past champions of the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open. Eleven LPGA Tour rookies are also set to compete, most notably Englishwoman Lottie Woad, who is making her professional debut after earning LPGA Tour membership via the LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway following her T3 showing at The Amundi Evian Championship in France.

Take a deeper look at just some of the featured groups this week at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open using data provided by KPMG Performance Insights.

Thursday, 8:25 a.m./Friday, 1:26 p.m.* – Maja Stark/Hannah Darling/Gemma Dryburgh

This season’s U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally winner Maja Stark is making her fourth start in the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open this week at Dundonald Links. Her three previous appearances in this championship have seen the Swede miss the cut twice in 2022 and 2024, but sandwiched in between those two lackluster performances is a tie for fourth that Stark recorded in 2023. This is her 13th start of the 2025 season, and in her 12 previous tournaments, the 25-year-old has made seven cuts and collected her second career title and first major victory at the 80th U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills Golf Course in Erin, Wisc. Stark won the second major of the season by two strokes over Rolex Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda and 2025 rookie Rio Takeda to become the third U.S. Women’s Open winner to hail from Sweden alongside Liselotte Neumann and Annika Sorenstam. Looking at Stark’s season-long statistics, she is only ranked inside the top 20 in one major category this year, currently sitting at 18th in strokes gained off the tee (+0.59), according to KPMG Performance Insights data. But she is still second in Official Money with $2,573,190 earned in 2025 and is currently at No. 8 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.

Scotland’s Hannah Darling is making her professional debut at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open in her home country this week as a sponsor exemption. As an amateur, Darling won the Scottish Girls’ Amateur Championship in 2017 and then successfully defended that title in 2018. She is a three-time Curtis Cup participant, representing Great Britain and Ireland in 2021, 2022 and 2024; was a PING European Junior Solheim Cup Team member in 2019; has represented Scotland in five European Ladies’ Team Championships; and competed as part of the International Team at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup. Darling played collegiate golf at the University of South Carolina. This is just her second start ever on the LPGA Tour, as Darling competed last year at the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship at Palos Verdes Golf Club in California.

The most notable Scotswoman in the 2025 ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open field is 2023 TOTO Japan Classic winner Gemma Dryburgh. Dryburgh is teeing it up for the ninth time in this tournament and will be working hard to improve upon her career-best T34 result that she posted in 2022 at Dundonald Links in front of a home-country crowd. This is the 32-year-old’s 14th start of the 2025 LPGA Tour season, and in her 13 previous events, she has made nine cuts and collected three top-20 finishes, the best of which is a tie for sixth that Dryburgh earned at the Dow Championship in Midland, Mich., alongside her playing partner Cassie Porter, who she competed with as Team Kilted Koalas. Statistically, Dryburgh ranks most highly in strokes gained around the green so far this year, according to KPMG Performance Insights, currently sitting at 20th in that metric, picking up 0.34 strokes on her competitors with her short game. Dryburgh is 77th in the Race to the CME Globe at the moment, needing a late-season push if she wants to have a shot at finishing in the top 60 of the season-long Race and qualifying for the CME Group Tour Championship in November, a tournament that will see the winner take home a $4 million first-place check.

Thursday, 8:36 a.m./Friday, 1:37 p.m.* – Nelly Korda/Lottie Woad/Charley Hull

A trio of new and seasoned stars comprise the 8:36 a.m. local tee time on Thursday morning. Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda is making her ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open debut this week at Dundonald Links, having never before teed it up in this tournament. This is her 12th start of the 2025 LPGA Tour season, and so far, Korda has yet to miss a single cut, collecting four top-10 results in her 11 events ahead of this week in Scotland, the most notable of which is the tie for second she recorded at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally at Erin Hills and the best of which is a solo second that Korda posted at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. But despite Korda’s unfamiliarity with Dundonald Links, the 26-year-old has quite a bit of success when it comes to playing Scottish golf. She has racked up three top-15 finishes in the AIG Women’s Open when the major championship has been contested in the country, tying for 14th in 2020 at Royal Troon, tying for 13th in 2021 at Carnoustie and then tying for second last season at the Old Course at St Andrews. Even though Korda remains in search of her first victory of the year after an impressive seven-win season in 2024, statistically, the 15-time LPGA Tour winner is still top of the heap in several categories through the first seven months of 2025. According to KPMG Performance Insights data, the two-time major champion is first in strokes gained off the tee (+1.10), second in strokes gained total (+2.47), third in strokes gained tee to green (+1.90) and 12th in strokes gained approach (+0.83). She is additionally first in birdie percentage (26.07 percent), first in birdie or better percentage (26.50 percent), first in birdie or better average per round (4.77) and second in scoring average (69.69). It’s a deadly combination of all-around strength that should make Korda a threat even in a tournament at which she has never competed.

Lottie Woad is making her professional debut at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open, what marks her first start as both a pro and as an LPGA Tour member. Woad made plenty of headlines after earning the 20th and final point she needed to qualify for Tour status with her T3 performance at The Amundi Evian Championship, subsequently turning professional and then accepting the LPGA membership offered for the remainder of the 2025 season and the entirety of 2026. The year’s fourth major championship in Evian-les-Bains, France marked Woad’s seventh career LPGA Tour start, as the young Englishwoman had played in four of the five majors in 2024 and then teed it up at The Chevron Championship in April, where she missed the cut, and the U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills in early June, where she finished as low am. Woad is a winner on the Ladies European Tour this season, picking up her first title in a pro event at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open the week before The Amundi Evian Championship when she was still an amateur. After taking a week off to rest and re-energize, Woad will begin her professional career at Dundonald Links and will look to continue riding her hot hand as she once again competes alongside the world’s top players on the LPGA and Ladies European Tours.

Charley Hull is back in action after the effects of a lingering virus caused an early exit from The Amundi Evian Championship for the two-time LPGA Tour winner a couple of weeks ago. Including her withdrawal, this is Hull’s 11th start of the 2025 season, and in her 10 events ahead of this week in Ayrshire, Scotland, Hull has earned four top-15 finishes, the best of which is a tie for fourth that she posted at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore and the most notable of which are the two T12s that the Englishwoman recorded at the U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills and the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco. This is her ninth time teeing it up in the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open, and she has never missed the cut in this event, earning five top-25 results, the best of which are a pair of solo fifths that Hull tallied in 2021 and 2024. Looking at KPMG Performance Insights data, the 29-year-old is ranked inside the top 20 of three major strokes gained categories this season, including strokes gained off the tee (9, +0.70), strokes gained total (11, +1.64) and strokes gained tee to green (17, +1.17). She is also eighth in scrambling and 14th in sand save percentage (54.29 percent), two skills that might come in handy at Dundonald Links.

Thursday, 1:15 p.m.*/Friday, 8:14 a.m. – Ayaka Furue/Lauren Coughlin/Esther Henseleit

Ayaka Furue became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open in 2022, firing a 10-under 62 in the final round at Dundonald Links to beat Celine Boutier by three strokes. The Japan native could be considered a horse for this course as, along with her victory, she has earned one other top-three result at this venue, tying for third in Ayrshire, Scotland in 2024. According to KPMG Performance Insights, in the last three editions of this tournament, the 25-year-old ranks first in strokes gained putting per round (+1.97), third in strokes gained total per round (+3.03) and fifth in greens in regulation (81 percent). This is her 18th tournament of the 2025 LPGA Tour season, and Furue has made 14 cuts and earned nine top-25 results thus far this year, the best of which is a tie for second she recorded at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore. Statistically, Furue is picking up shots or breaking even in every major strokes gained category this year, ranking best in strokes gained approach, a metric in which the two-time LPGA Tour winner is 27th (+0.51). The 2024 Amundi Evian Championship winner is also third in rounds in the 60s (22), fourth in birdies (195), tied for fourth in sub-par rounds (32) and fifth in driving accuracy (81.47 percent).

Lauren Coughlin picked up her second LPGA Tour victory in just the span of a few weeks last year at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open after becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner at the CPKC Women’s Open in Canada, but this year’s edition of the event will mark the 32-year-old’s first time ever trying to successfully defend a title on the LPGA Tour. This is her fourth start in this championship, and it’s Coughlin’s 15th tournament of 2025, a year that has seen her miss four cuts and rack up seven top-20 finishes, the best of which is the solo second she posted at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards after falling to Madelene Sagstrom in the Championship Match and one of which was a tie for 18th that came at The Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas. Looking at her season-long statistics, Coughlin has been pretty accurate this season, ranking second on the LPGA Tour in driving accuracy (83.33 percent) and then ranking 10th in greens in regulation (73.61 percent). But according to KPMG Performance Insights, it was her putter that carried Coughlin through to a victory here in 2024, as she led the field last year in strokes gained putting, a performance that she will need to conjure up again if she wants a shot at a successful title defense.

Olympic silver medalist Esther Henseleit remains in search of her first LPGA Tour title, and that breakthrough moment might just come at Dundonald Links for the German 26-year-old, who has had much success at this venue before. She finished runner-up to Coughlin in 2024, a close call that came right after an impressive performance at Le Golf National that landed Henseleit the second position on the Olympic podium. But she has tallied two additional top-20 showings in this tournament in her six previous appearances ahead of this week – a tie for seventh that came in 2021 at Dumbarnie Links and a tie for 20th that came in 2023 in Ayrshire, Scotland. This is Henseleit’s 13th tournament of the 2025 LPGA Tour season, and so far this year she has only missed one cut and collected five top 20s, the best of which was a tie for second Henseleit posted at the inaugural Black Desert Championship presented by Greater Zion and the most notable of which is the tie for 12th she earned at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in Frisco, Texas. Henseleit’s long game has been critical to her consistency this year, as she ranks inside the top 20 on Tour in strokes gained approach (14, +0.79) and strokes gained tee to green (20, +1.04), according to KPMG Performance Insights data. She is also 10th in birdie percentage (22.49 percent) and 15th in both birdie or better average per round (4.07) and birdie or better percentage (22.62 percent).

*Off No. 10

All times are local. For a full list of tee times, please click here. For more information on how to watch the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open, please click here.

Featured Groups: 2025 ISPS HANDA Women's Scottish Open

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