2024 LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei

If AP doesn't win, I hope Youmin does!

It's going to be a long 2 days for HJJ keeping up with Awesome Kim and Goose off the tee

Grace gets the 5 star treatment playing with Lotte Queen Hyo Joo and Brooke

AP is back to playing with scrubs, ditto for Gina Kim this might be her swan song on the LPGA pending Q school results. AP can at least play ShopRite re her tournament winner exemption.

My field rating for this event is a very low 27%, down from 28%. Making the trip from Japan to Hawaii is a lot to ask.
My breakdown is 35% from the LPGA Priority List and just 19% from the Rolex Rankings.
Top ten players in the field this week:
Ayaka Furue (9)
Jin Young Ko (10)
Top ten players not teeing it up this week:
Nelly Korda (1) will be returning next week.
Lilia Vu (2)
Ruoning Yin (3)
Lydia Ko (4)
Hannah Green (5)
Haeran Ryu (6)
Jeeno Thitikul (7)
Celine Boutier (8)
There are three past champions in the field this week:
Grace Kim (2023)
Hyo Joo Kim (2022)
Brooke Henderson (2018 and 2019)

Other Stuff:

Nelly Korda has clinched the 2024 Rolex Player of the Year award!! The award comes with a Hall of Fame point. This is Nelly's 8th Hall of Fame point this year, bringing her total to 18 points. Twenty-seven points are needed for induction.
This is the second consecutive year that a player from the USA has won the Rolex Player of the Year award (Lilia Vu won in 2023). This is the first USA back to back wins since Betsy King and Beth Daniel did it in 1993-1994.

Rio Takeda's victory last weekend at the Toto Championship was the first event won by a non LPGA member this year, and the sixth tournament to be decided by a playoff.
Rio Takeda's victory was the third victory by a player from Japan. They Join New Zealand, Australia, and China with three wins. The USA leads the tour with twelve victories (they have also lost four playoffs), Thailand is runner-up with five wins.

Mao Saigo increased her lead for the Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year award. She now has 919 points. Runner up Jin Hee Im is in second place with 788. This race is all but over as there are just three tournaments left on the schedule. It will probably take a win by Im and some bad finishes by Saigo to lose her lead. Saigo will have a chance to pad that lead in Hawaii this week as she is in the field and Im is not.

Rio Takeda became the fourth first time winner on tour this year. She joins Bailey Tardy, Linnea Strom, and Lauren Coughlin, who achieved this earlier in the year.

Haeran Ryu earned another top ten finish at the Toto Championship, giving her a tour leading thirteen for the year. 

There were several important moves by LPGA players in the Rolex Rankings this week:
In the top ten, Ayaka Furue jumps up a spot to Number nine, and Jin Young Ko drops to tenth place.
Charley Hull (winner on the Ladies European Tour this past weekend, jumps up from 15 to 13.
Rio Takeda (who will be accepting LPGA membership either this year or the start of next season) makes the most important move as she rises from 25 to 18.
Yealimi Noh continues to be one of the hottest players on tour. Her fourth place finish last weekend was her 6th top twenty finish in the last seven weeks. She bounces up from 86 to 80.
Outside the top 100:
Marina Alex (she lost in a playoff at the Toto Championship) explodes up from 122 to 85.
Nicole Broch Larsen  surges up from 136 to 109.

As you all know, to keep fulltime playing privileges for next season, players must finish in the top 100 in the Race to the CME Globe. There wasn't any movement this week by players fighting for the last spots as the limited field in Japan prevented any of the those players from competing. As for getting into the CME Championship tournament, Marina Alex skyrockets from 61 to 32 to assure herself a spot in that very lucrative tournament.
With just two tournaments left before the CME Championship (and just the top 60 players get in), these are the players on the bubble:
Leona Maguire (55)
Mi Hyang Lee (56)
Stephanie Kyriacou (57)
Hinako Shibuno (58)
Carlotta Ciganda (59)
Gaby Lopez 60)
Hyo Joo Kim (61)
Alexa Pano (62)
Ashleigh Buhai (63)
Alison Lee (64)
A Lim Kim (65)
Ryann O'Toole (66)

Youmin didn't get shown but had a nice 69 to start. Hope we get to see her sometime this week! Ga Young 3 over, Hara over the cut, and So Young at 1 under.

A Lim started with an eagle and got the lead by the end of the day. A 66!

Jin Young ended up at 2 under as did Hyo Joo. So a decent first day.

Hwaiting!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DCFGScRq3f-

CME group Final