This"s the third major of the year; also the third in prize money.
The final field hasn't been formalized yet as of Tuesday, June 19; the qualification criteria includes: Professionals ranked No. 1-30 on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings as of June 5, 2018.
It includes:
9 Hye Jin Choi 21 Ai Suzuki 26 JiYai Shin 28 Jeong Eun Lee 6 30 Ha Na Jang
The event, one of five majors on the Ladies PGA Tour, was played at Olympia Fields last year with Danielle Kang the champion. Based on what has been happening on the LPGA circuit the past few weeks, this year's tourney may have a different cast of leading characters when it comes to Kemper starting on June 26.
As far as women's golf is concerned there is only one tournament that can rival the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, which is coming to Kemper Lakes in Kildeer from June 26 to July 1.
The U.S. Women's Open is older and -- at least arguably -- bigger but Jackie Endsley, the championship director for the Kemper Lakes tourney, is quick to point out one big difference. It all has to do with sponsorship involvement.
Can't wait for 2020 at Aronimink...I might have a ticket connection for that one. The course is about 5 miles NW of Rolling Green GC, 7 miles SW of Philadelphia CC, and 4 miles W of Merion GC...and I've been to all three.
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As for 2018, the sponsor exemption criteria (two spots) says the player must be in the Rolex top-300 when selected...the deadline is Mon., 6/25 at 5 PM EST. They already picked Klara Spilkova (#213 today), who wears the KPMG logo. I'm sure KPMG is desperate to pick KPMG staffer Leona Maguire...unfortunately, her pro career is so short that she is 414th in the world rankings. Even if she gets a Symetra win in Michigan this week (which is doable for her), I'm guessing that won't give her enough points to hit the top-300. She has proven in the last two weeks that she can flat-out play in the pros...definitely better than the driftwood at the lower level of the LPGA priority list that will get into this one.
Some of you old-timers may remember the controversy over this course at the 1989 PGA Championship, particularly the "par-4" 18th hole of 433 yards. It horseshoes around the water so severely that there was rampant speculation that all the long hitters of that day (like Greg Norman) would tee it high and carry the water with a driver, turning it into a par-3. Obviously, it's worth trying in practice, but I don't remember if anyone tried to do that in competition. The Golf Aristocracy further pummeled this hole since it appeared that teeing off with less than driver might be the correct choice if you played it conventionally...and they gave the course another kick for being public (it became private in 2007).
No. 18 will be 384 for ladies...I wonder what the direct distance to the flag would be. I can envision the likes of Lexi and Angel Yin trying to fly it directly during practice as a test.
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It appears that Ryu, C. Kim and Su Oh got in some work at Kemper Lakes on Monday:
The Sisters have won this event 6 times, but all those wins came from just two players: Inbee and Se Ri, who each have three wins.
It'll be interesting to see if they can finally break out and get a win from someone other than Inbee. The last two years the Koreans have not been a factor at this tournament, but there's no reason why they couldn't be.
Jackie Endsley may be making her debut as a championship director at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, which runs from June 26 to July 1 at Kemper Lakes in Kildeer, but she's no stranger to big-time golf.
She grew up in Kohler, Wisconsin -- the home of frequent tournament venues Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run -- and she was the tournament manager at the last two tournaments she has worked on.
Among her previous tournament operation projects were two U.S. Women's Opens -- in 2012 at Blackwolf Run and 2015 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Blackwolf tournament was noted for being extremely hot -- 105 degrees at one point -- and the Lancaster event set tournament attendance records.