IVINS, Utah — The inaugural edition of the Black Desert Resort Championship presented by Greater Zion is on deck for the LPGA Tour’s best athletes in Ivins, Utah. There are 17 players in the top 25 of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings competing, as well as five of this season’s winners and 20 of the 2025 LPGA Tour rookies. But regardless of an athlete’s strengths and shortcomings on the golf course, with Black Desert Resort being a brand-new venue to pretty much everyone in the 144-player field, it’s going to be anyone’s game this week in the Beehive State. Here are three players whose stats suggest they are worth keeping an eye on at the first-ever Black Desert Championship.

Haeran Ryu

Haeran Ryu is the favorite in the field this week at the Black Desert Championship and has come to Utah off a T6 finish at the year’s first major tournament on the LPGA Tour. The Republic of Korea native held the 54-hole lead alongside Mao Saigo last week, but she struggled on Sunday in The Woodlands, Texas, posting a 4-over 76 that would have been two strokes worse had she not pitched in for eagle on the par-5 18th hole at The Club at Carlton Woods. Despite those late struggles, the 24-year-old still managed to earn her first top 10 of the 2025 season, what was also her sixth top-20 finish this year.

Ryu had only missed one cut at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro before last week in Texas and recorded five straight top-20 results from the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions to the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards. This is her eighth tournament of the year thus far, and statistically, Ryu is ranked inside the top 25 on Tour in several strokes gained categories, according to KPMG Performance Insights.

Ahead of the Black Desert Championship, the two-time LPGA Tour winner is fourth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.90), fifth in strokes gained off the tee (+0.76), 12th in strokes gained approach (+0.88), 16th in strokes gained total (+1.41) and 24th in strokes gained around the green (+0.26), looking at KPMG Performance Insights data. She is also second in ball striking (12), fifth in greens in regulation (77.78 percent), 11th in bogey avoidance (11.11 percent) and 12th in birdie to bogey ratio (2.11).

Allisen Corpuz

The course at Black Desert Resort is going to require some precision off the tee, as it’s lined with black lava rock that no player will want to try and hit a shot from this week, and while she may not be one of the longer hitters on the LPGA Tour, Allisen Corpuz is certainly one of the most accurate. She is currently ranked 10th in both greens in regulation (76.79 percent) and driving accuracy (79.59 percent) this season, additionally sitting at 18th in greens hit from the rough percentage (66.25). According to data provided by KPMG Performance Insights, it’s the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open champion’s ball striking that most stands out in terms of her year-long statistics, as Corpuz is 20th in strokes gained approach (+0.70) and 22nd in strokes gained tee to green.

But on the off chance that Corpuz doesn’t find the green in regulation, she knows how to get up and down, ranking 27th in strokes gained around the green and sitting at 16th in bogey avoidance (11.31 percent). It’s a strong combination of metrics in which to be proficient, and when examining this year’s Black Desert Championship field to try and choose the winner, Corpuz is definitely one to keep in mind as she plays in her ninth tournament of the year.

Andrea Lee

Andrea Lee is certainly the long shot of this group, but she brings a lot to the table in terms of statistics for an athlete who is still searching for her second career LPGA Tour title. With so many blind tee shots over the lava rock at Black Desert Resort and fairways that have a lot of undulation and that can get narrow in places, accuracy off the tee is going to be super important for success in this inaugural event.

Lee leads the Tour in driving accuracy, finding the fairway 86.11 percent of the time with her tee shots, and even if she misses the green in regulation on her approach shots, the 2022 Portland Classic winner knows how to get up and down, something evidenced by her 27th-place ranking in strokes gained around the green (+0.24). She is also ranked fourth in sand save percentage (70 percent) and is 19th in greens hit from the rough percentage (65.71 percent).

This is Lee’s seventh tournament of the 2025 LPGA Tour season, and outside of a missed cut at the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands in February, Lee has been pretty steady so far this year, making every cut since her misstep at Bradenton Country Club and finishing in a tie for 30th at the year’s first major championship.

Players to Watch: 2025 Black Desert Championship presented by Greater Zion

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