The LPGA Tour is in Belmont, Mich., this week for the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give at Blythefield Country Club. Several past champions have returned to the Great Lakes State to compete, including two-time Meijer LPGA Classic winner Brooke Henderson, Ireland’s Leona Maguire and defending champion Lilia Vu, who picked up her fifth career victory in a playoff here last season over Grace Kim and Lexi Thompson. Nearly all of the 2025 rookies are also set to tee it up, most notably 2025 champions Chisato Iwai, Ingrid Lindblad and Rio Takeda, all of whom have become Rolex First-Time Winners this year.

Take a deeper look at just some of the featured groups at this week’s Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give using data provided by KPMG Performance Insights.

Thursday, 7:59 a.m.*/Friday, 12:59 p.m. – Ayaka Furue/Sarah Schmelzel/Ingrid Lindblad

Ayaka Furue is teeing it up in the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give for a fourth consecutive year this week, having never finished worse than a tie for 24th at Blythefield Country Club. Her career-best result in this event is a tie for eighth that she recorded in Belmont, Mich., last season, a performance she will be working to better in the 2025 edition of the Meijer LPGA Classic. The Japan native has played in 13 events so far this season and has recorded four top-15 finishes in those events, three of which were top-five results that she collected at the HSBC Women’s World Championship (T2), the Blue Bay LPGA (3) and last week’s ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer (4). Furue has also earned four other top 25s this year, most notably tying for 17th at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass. According to KPMG Performance Insights data, since the beginning of 2023, the 25-year-old has fired 98 rounds in the 60s, the most of any other player in that timeframe. Nineteen of those rounds have been recorded in 2025, which has Furue tied for fourth in rounds in the 60s alongside Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda, and she is also currently second in sub-par rounds with 29. Furue also ranks in the top five on the LPGA Tour this season in driving accuracy (3, 83.39 percent), birdies (3, 167) and par-4 scoring average (T4, 3.95).

Sarah Schmelzel has never missed the cut in her five previous appearances at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, but she will be trying to improve upon the tournament-best T16 finish she recorded in 2022 this week in Michigan. Schmelzel is 11-for-11 in cuts made this season on the LPGA Tour and has earned four top-15 results in those 11 starts, the most notable of which are the tie for sixth that she recorded at The Chevron Championship and the tie for 14th she posted at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally at Erin Hills, what was the Arizona native’s last start on the LPGA Tour. She also tied for fifth at the Blue Bay LPGA in March and tied for 12th at the Black Desert Championship presented by Greater Zion in May. Looking at KPMG Performance Insights, Schmelzel is currently gaining shots in every major strokes gained category, most notably ranked 29th in strokes gained tee to green (+0.79) and 30th in strokes gained total (+1.15). The 31-year-old is additionally eighth in sub-par rounds (25), tied for 12th in rounds in the 60s (15) and 13th in bogey avoidance (11.94 percent) on the LPGA Tour this year.

Epson Tour graduate Ingrid Lindblad became a Rolex First-Time Winner earlier this season at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro at El Caballero Country Club, winning by one stroke over her fellow 2025 rookie Akie Iwai. This is the Swede’s first start ever in the Meijer LPGA Classic and it’s her eighth tournament of her inaugural season on the LPGA Tour. Outside of her victory, she hasn’t had too many other notable results, but the 25-year-old did make the cut in the first two majors of the year, tying for 52nd at The Chevron Championship and finishing 35th at the U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills. Statistically, Lindblad is ranked inside the top 10 in one strokes gained metric this year, currently sitting at eighth in strokes gained putting (+1.12), according to KPMG Performance Insights data. She is currently fifth in the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race (216 points), 27th in the season-long Race to the CME Globe (568.434 points) and 38th in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.

Thursday, 8:10 a.m.*/Friday, 1:10 p.m. – Lilia Vu/Minjee Lee/Brooke Henderson

Defending champion Lilia Vu is back in the field at Blythefield Country Club and will be looking to successfully defend a title for the first time in her LPGA Tour career in Belmont, Mich. She won the 2024 edition of this tournament in a three-hole playoff against Grace Kim and Lexi Thompson to collect her fifth career LPGA Tour title, having earned four victories, two of which came at major championships, during the 2024 season. This is her third time competing in the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, and along with her victory, Vu has one other top 15 on her resume in the Great Lakes State, tying for 12th in her tournament debut in 2022. The Californian is teeing it up in her eighth event of the 2025 LPGA Tour season, and in her seven previous starts, Vu has only made four cuts, earning a season-best runner-up result at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass after falling in a playoff to eventual champion Hyo Joo Kim at Whirlwind Golf Club. Looking at KPMG Performance Insights data, Vu is only picking up shots in one major strokes gained category this year, doing so in strokes gained putting, a metric in which the former Rolex Rankings No. 1 is currently ranked third (+1.21). Vu is also second in one-putt average per round (7.68), eighth in putts per round (28.73) and tied for eighth in putts per hole (1.60).

The Meijer LPGA Classic marks Minjee Lee’s 11th tournament of the 2025 season, and ahead of this week in Michigan, the Australian has racked up six top-15 results so far this year. The best of those performances is a solo second that Lee recorded at the Blue Bay LPGA in the People’s Republic of China, but one of those finishes came in a major championship, as the 10-time LPGA Tour winner tied for 14th at The Chevron Championship in April. This is Lee’s seventh appearance in this event, and in her six previous starts, the 29-year-old has collected four top-25 finishes, the best of which is a tie for 13th that she posted in 2023 at Blythefield Country Club. Looking at Lee’s season-long statistics, the two-time major champion is currently ranked inside the top 15 of three major strokes gained categories, according to KPMG Performance Insights, including strokes gained total (4, +2.18), strokes gained putting (11, +1.01) and strokes gained off the tee (14, +0.60). Lee also has been managing her mistakes pretty well in 2025, as she is eighth in birdie to bogey ratio (1.93) and tied for eighth in both bogey avoidance (11.78 percent) and bogey-free rounds (4) on the LPGA Tour this season. Lee hasn’t won on the LPGA Tour since capturing the BMW Ladies Championship title in 2023 and will be continuing her search for that elusive 11th career victory once again in Belmont, Mich.

Brooke Henderson is a two-time winner of the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, picking up her first victory at Blythefield Country Club in 2017 after beating Lexi Thompson and Michelle Wie West by two strokes and then winning again in 2019 by one shot over Brittany Altomare, Nasa Hataoka, Su Oh and Lexi Thompson. The Canadian hasn’t found victory lane on the LPGA Tour since the 2023 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, where she collected her 13th career title, but considering her history with this venue, Henderson just might be able to end her winless drought this week in Michigan. This is her 13th start of the 2025 season, and in her 12 tournaments ahead of the Meijer LPGA Classic, Henderson has made eight cuts and recorded just three top-15 finishes, including a tie for 14th at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, a tie for ninth at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards and a tie for 12th at the Black Desert Championship presented by Greater Zion. This is her ninth time competing in Belmont, Mich., and in addition to her two victories, Henderson has one other top 10 on her Meijer LPGA Classic resume, a tie for ninth that she recorded in 2022. In terms of her season-long statistics, Henderson most notably ranks 11th in driving accuracy (79.18 percent) and 16th in strokes gained around the green (+0.33), according to KPMG Performance Insights.

Thursday, 12:59 p.m./Friday, 7:59 a.m.* – Megan Khang/Rio Takeda/Haeran Ryu

Megan Khang is playing in her ninth event of the 2025 season this week at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give and will be working to add to her top-10 tally at Blythefield Country Club. In her eight tournaments ahead of this week in Belmont, Mich., the Massachusetts native has earned just one top 10 so far this year, finishing solo third at the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands. She has three other top-25 results on her 2025 resume, though, tying for 18th at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, tying for 17th at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards and tying for 21st at the Mizuho Americas Open. Khang is currently ranked inside the top 30 of three strokes gained categories this season according to KPMG Performance Insights, including strokes gained approach (8, +0.97), strokes gained tee to green (9, +1.52) and strokes gained off the tee (26, +0.48). She is second in proximity to the hole from 150 to 175 yards this season (26 feet 3 inches) and is also fourth in driving accuracy (4, 82.92 percent), fifth in ball-striking (29) and 15th in greens in regulation (74.15 percent).

Two-time LPGA Tour winner Rio Takeda is making her debut at the Meijer LPGA Classic this week having already earned a victory this season as a 2025 rookie. Takeda won as a non-member at the TOTO Japan Classic last fall and elected to defer her membership to 2025, making her one of the 21 total members of this year’s rookie class. She took home the Blue Bay LPGA title in March in the People’s Republic of China to become the second Rolex First-Time Winner of the 2025 season after Yealimi Noh collected her first victory at the Founders Cup and will be attempting to add a third win to her young resume in Belmont, Mich. The 22-year-old is playing in her 14th event of the year this week, and along with her victory, Takeda has racked up five other top-10 finishes, the most recent of which is a tie for second that she posted at the 80th U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills Golf Course in Wisconsin. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Takeda is ranked inside the top 20 in strokes gained approach (3, +1.23), strokes gained tee to green (4, +1.98), strokes gained total (6, +1.94) and strokes gained off the tee (19, +0.57) so far this year. She is also leading the Tour in rounds in the 60s (23), sub-par rounds (34), birdies (180) and Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year points (637 points). Takeda is additionally ranked second in the Race to the CME Globe (1,289.367 points), second in the Rolex Player of the Year race (68) and third on the Official Money List ($1,802,896).

Haeran Ryu is the favorite to win the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, which makes quite a bit of sense considering the Rolex Rankings No. 5 is the highest-ranked player in the field at Blythefield Country Club. Ryu has only played in one previous edition of this tournament, tying for 20th as a rookie back in 2023, and the 24-year-old is making her 11th start of the 2025 season in the Great Lakes State, having competed in 10 events before this week. So far this year, Ryu has managed to earn her third career LPGA Tour victory, winning the Black Desert Championship presented by Greater Zion in May after beating Olympic silver medalist Esther Henseleit and major champion Ruoning Yin by five strokes in Ivins, Utah, and she also racked up six additional top-20 results, including a tie for sixth that came at The Chevron Championship and five T18 or better performances that she collected in her first five starts of the season. Statistically, Ryu is one of the Tour’s elite ball-strikers, gaining an average of 2.11 strokes per round with her long game over the last two seasons, according to KPMG Performance Insights data. In that same span, the 24-year-old has also recorded 40 rounds in which she has gained four or more shots with her ball striking. So far in 2025, Ryu leads the Tour in both strokes gained tee to green (+2.36) and strokes gained approach (+1.37), ranks eighth in strokes gained off the tee (+0.78) and is ninth in strokes gained total (+1.73). The Republic of Korea native additionally leads the Tour in greens in regulation (77.78 percent) and ball-striking (4) and is currently tied for second in bogey-free rounds (7).

*Off No. 10

For a full list of tee times, please click here. For more information on how to watch the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, please click here.

Featured Groups: 2025 Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give

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