With just a couple of holes left at the AIG Women’s Open, play was paused on the 17th hole when “Money Rebellion” oil protesters streaked on to the green with red and yellow plumes of smoke. At least one man and one woman were eventually arrested and the round continued, but second-place finisher Charley Hull certainly had some thoughts on the ordeal.

“What a bunch of idiots,” Hull told The Telegraph. “I suffer from asthma, but didn’t have my inhaler on me and that stuff was really thick, so no it was not nice. I wasn’t scared when it happened, just thought they were idiots. Someone said they are protesting about oil, but how did they get here today? Drove probably.”

“Get off you clown!” ?

Just Stop Oil protester storms 17th green at AIG Women’s Open ? pic.twitter.com/rrwYopUt1x

— Andy Roberts (@AndyRobertsGolf) August 13, 2023

Hull didn’t blame the protest for her runner-up finish, however, she was impacted by the incident at the Walton Heath Old Course and stated that it was difficult to breathe with the smoke lingering in the air. Her caddie chimed in as well.

“There were about three of them, I think, but it was ineffective,” said looper Adam Woodward. “The police were quick and they were gone within 60 seconds. Charley took the smoke into her lungs and it wasn’t pleasant for her. Thank God their pathetic actions didn’t affect the result.”

Lilia Vu at the AIG Women’s Open. Warren Little

American Lilia Vu separated herself from the pack, besting Hull by six shots, so the interruption didn’t do much more than irritate. “Lilia played unbelievable, really, and I just don’t feel like I got a break to be fair,” Hull said.

The R&A released a statement as well, after the Women’s Open, applauding the police for their due diligence: “Protesters were quickly apprehended on the 17th green during the final group and five arrests were made by the police. We would like to thank the police and marshals for their vigilance and the players and spectators for their understanding.”

Just last month, Just Stop Oil created a similar disruption at the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. That interruption also occurred on the 17th hole but during the second round at Hoylake.

The post Charley Hull hits out at ‘idiot’ oil protesters at Women’s Open, was worried for her health appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

An innate confidence in her own ability is not a character trait Charley Hull has ever lacked. At the age of only 27, the Englishwoman has already achieved much in the professional game. A winner on both sides of the Atlantic, Hull has been a part of five European teams at the Solheim Cup.

Not too shabby. But now Hull has a potentially life-changing opportunity to make another step up by winning a major championship, confirming that inner belief and underlining her undoubted star quality. With 18 holes to play in the AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath, Hull is nine-under and tied for the lead alongside American Lilia Vu, one-shot clear of a chasing pack headed by Angel Yin and Hyo Joo Kim. Halfway leader, Ally Ewing is two shots back after a stumbling 75, with Swede Linn Grant the only other player within four shots of the leaders.

"I just enjoy it. Good or bad, I just love it."

Charley Hull is taking it one step at a time, ahead of the biggest round of her life. pic.twitter.com/51X24jAqef

— AIG Women’s Open (@AIGWomensOpen) August 12, 2023

“I’m pretty proud of myself,” said Hull, who shot 68. “It was so windy today, but we dug deep. I struck the ball pretty well. I was pretty confident and felt good out there, so can’t wait to get back in the bath and just chill tonight. To win tomorrow would be unbelievable. It would be absolutely unbelievable. To do what Georgia [Hall] did in 2018 was unbelievable. To do that again would be unreal.”

All of which is not to dismiss the chances of Vu. That would be silly. Unlike Hull, the Californian already knows with absolute certainty that she has the capability to win a major title. While she may have struggled more than a little since, Vu’s win at the Chevron Championship confirmed her ability to triumph at the very highest level of the game.

“Today was really about for me just in terms of confidence,” she said after signing for a 67. “It’s been since Chevron that I actually felt pretty decent about my game and where it’s at. So, I’m just going to do the same thing I did today, focusing on tee shots and giving myself a good opportunity for birdies. That and try not to think too much about the wind. Because every time that happens, it just slips away from me.”

In a similar vein, Ewing’s first six holes set a negative tone she never quite overcame. Standing on the seventh tee at three-over for the day, she had already perpetrated a few of the mistakes that only give encouragement to a chasing pack. Multiple fairways had been missed. And greens. And putts, both long and short. Having made only three bogeys in her first 35 holes, she dropped four shots in the next seven. Suddenly, the sizeable five-shot lead with which she set off was down to a single stroke.

It was all so different from Ewing’s last four rounds of competitive golf. The former Mississippi State All-American shot 69-66 on Days 3 and 4 of last week’s Scottish Women’s Open to finish T-9, before opening 68-66 here to get her substantial advantage with which she began the third round. Given all that, it makes sense that Ewing wasn’t writing herself off. Not at all.

“The situation was tough, coming out with pretty windy conditions,” she said. “It took me a little bit longer than I would have liked to settle in. The nerves were obviously there but at the same time I was mentally in a good place to know that I was going to be presented with challenges. But I didn’t execute shots quite like I wanted to early on, but I fought really hard. I’m teeing it up tomorrow with still a great chance to win this golf tournament.”

Plenty of stars are waiting in the wings, ready to make a charge.

Can Linn, Nelly and co. challenge for the title today? ? pic.twitter.com/ccYmUcuIPo

— AIG Women’s Open (@AIGWomensOpen) August 13, 2023

On the other side of the momentum coin, Yin was making positive noises after tying Vu for the best score of the day. Little wonder. In one eight-hole stretch, the 24-year-old made six birdies.

“I stayed patient and played it safe when I had to,” she said. “The wind was a big challenge, so I was very mindful of that and didn’t force anything. Then, on the back nine I got a few birdies. I was hoping for a bogey-free round but I had one poor hole.”

Grant too was expressing something akin to satisfaction at the conclusion of her day’s efforts. The Swede’s 68 has her on six-under par and only three shots back.

“Going out this afternoon I said to my caddie, if we can get any shots under par today, that would probably give us a good chance tomorrow,” she said. “So, I’m really happy with how I played and what the score turned out to be. It was different out there today. The wind is way more than it was yesterday. As for tomorrow I’m just kind of going to go out like I did today. I have a score in mind without playing too aggressively and being too stupid.”

The post AIG Women’s Open co-leader Charley Hull doesn’t lack confidence. Now the Brit needs a major trophy to go with it appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The weekend has arrived at the AIG Women’s Open as Ally Ewing holds a five-stroke lead at 10-under after 36 holes. American compatriot Andrea Lee, US Women’s Open runner-up Charley Hull and Japan’s Minami Katsu form the closest chase group at five-under.

Chevron Championship winner Lilia Vu put herself in contention for the first time since her major title, sitting at four-under alongside three others trying to make up ground on Saturday at Walton Heath.

Multiple big names, however, are packing their bags early from the final major championship of the 2023 season, with the cut projected at two-over with only a handful of players remaining on the course as the sun sets in England. Here are seven notable players to miss the weekend.

Brooke Henderson (75-72, three-over)
Henderson had improved at every major this season, with a T-23 at the Chevron, T-15 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, 12th place at the US Women’s Open, and a runner-up at the Amundi Evian Championship. That run stopped after reaching only eight greens in regulation on Thursday and 19 total for the week.

Yuka Saso (74-73, three-over)
The 2021 US Women’s Open champion had back-to-back top-threes in majors, and arrived as one of the most in-form players on tour. But a second round with four bogeys and only hitting four fairways resulted in Saso missing the cut.

Ashleigh Buhai (74-73, three-over)
The defending champion’s title defence ended in only two rounds. Her five bogeys in her one-over scorecard Friday proved one too many to make the weekend. The last player to defend the Women’s Open was Yani Tseng, who won in 2010 and 2011.

Patty Tavatanakit (79-68, three-over)
Tavatanakit started the tournament on Thursday by going four-over through her first three holes and ended up at nine-over with eight bogeys or worse. Friday’s 11-stroke improvement just barely wasn’t enough to get the 2020 Chevron winner into the weekend the week after playing in the final group at the Freed Women’s Scottish Open, where she finished T-6.

Lydia Ko (74-74, four-over)
Despite Ko birdieing three of her final five holes, the late charge didn’t bring the Kiwi to the weekend. This season is the first, dating back to 2012, that Ko did not finish in the top 10 at a major. Her best result this year was a T-33 at the US Women’s Open.

Jennifer Kupcho (78-70, four-over)
Even with an impressive eight-stroke turnaround, Kupcho couldn’t recover from her birdie-free six-over first round. The 2022 Chevron winner only made one cut at the majors this season, a T-14 at the Evian two weeks ago.

Lexi Thompson (76-75, seven-over)
This week marks the sixth missed cut of the season for Thompson, the most in any year of her career. With missing out on the chance to add to her Team USA Solheim points total, the current American player standings would knock her out of the seventh and final place on the team earned through points, as both Ewing and Lee would pass her.

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Don’t stop reading because you think you’ve heard this one before. Although you have. Just last month, in fact, when Brian Harman, a proud son of the American south, turned the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool into little more than a one-horse race that for long enough had only one, almost certain conclusion.

Welcome to the AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath, where Mississippi State alum Ally Ewing is 10-under at the halfway stage and as many as five-shots clear of her nearest challengers, compatriot Andrea Lee, Minami Katsu of Japan and home hope Charley Hull. So far at least, we’re all watching something akin to “Harman II: the sequel.”

Four-under par overnight and already holding a one-stroke advantage over the rest of the 144-strong field, Ewing wasted little time in stretching her lead. A front-nine 30 was capped by four straight birdies, and two more dips under par on the back-nine par 5s saw her reach 11-under with one hole to play. It was there that her first really wayward tee-shot led to what was her second missed green of the day and her only dropped shot, still good enough for a six-under 66.

Save for this one lone wayward driving ending up in Walton Heath’s heather, Ally Ewing played a meticulous second round, shooting a six-under 66 to reach 10 under and stretch out a five-shot 36-hole lead. Richard Heathcote/R&A

“I left myself in good position off the tee for the most part of the day except for 18,” said the 30-year-old three-time LPGA winner. “So I was able to hit really good iron shots into the greens and give myself a lot of ‘looks’. Not all of them were super-straight. I rolled in some breaking putts. Matching the line and speed is always a confidence boost. It was a very solid day. I didn’t really even know until I signed my scorecard that I had four birdies in a row. That stretch from like six to 11 is kind of a blur. I was very in the present on all of those shots.”

Still, it is not her fine play that will dominate headlines in the British press. During his run to Open glory, Harman revealed his liking for hunting, specifically pigs, turkeys and elks. So, given Ewing’s southern upbringing, it was inevitable that the subject was going to come up. And it did.

“I actually do some hunting,” Ewing said. “I know that’s probably not going to be interpreted well by the media, but I do, yes. I think people can spin it the wrong way for sure. It’s a means to eat for sure. For the most part my family, my husband and I, we do mostly deer hunting. That’s most of what we do.”

More positively, Ewing was also quizzed on her daily battle with Type 1 diabetes, something she discovered soon after first earning her LPGA card in 2016.

“It’s tough,” she admitted. “Some days are tougher than others, but it’s manageable. The technology has progressed a long way. But it is still something I have to be aware of on a course, not just my golf, which can sometimes be a little distracting. I deal with high blood sugar, low blood sugar. That’s why I have to stay on top of it. I can feel pretty loopy. I can feel shaky. It honestly changes every time. Sometimes I feel fatigued all of a sudden. So I keep Gatorade in my golf bag, take six ounces or so and stay on top of my snacks.”

As you’d expect, Ewing’s fellow competitors were united in their praise of her outstanding performance.

“I looked up at the scoreboard and she was five-under through five holes,” said Jodi Ewart-Shadoff, who is seven shots back. “And the next time I looked up she was 10-under through 11. I was not expecting that. But props to her. That’s an incredible round.”

The best response, however, belonged to Angel Yin, who is on three-under par after a second-round 69. Asked what course her fellow American was playing, Yin came back with: “Not this one”.

The post The AIG Women’s Open is resembling the runaway at Hoylake, with Ally Ewing playing the role of Brian Harman appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Jin Young Ko has had a heck of a season. The South Korean-born LPGA pro has two wins and five top tens. She’s currently the second ranked women’s player in the world and third in the season-long race to the CME Globe. It doesn’t compare to her scorching-hot 2021, when she won five times, including the tour championship, enroute to being named the Rolex Player of the Year, but it’s not too shabby.

Unfortunately Ko hasn’t won a major since 2019 and that comes with questions. Lots and lots of questions. On Wednesday at the AIG Women’s Open, Ko was asked one of those questions, specifically about her ambitions and expectations at the final major of the year. Her response couldn’t have been better.

Jin Young Ko: I don't have any goals for my golf. I just want to eat a lot of sausage rolls. pic.twitter.com/vioh4oOhqt

— Sean Zak (@Sean_Zak) August 9, 2023

Ko is just here to eat sausage rolls and kick butt, and she’s all out of sausage rolls. OK, so not exactly. There’s probably plenty of sausage rolls to go around — Ko admitted she’d already had three — but you get the idea.

Regardless, it’s a refreshing perspective to hear from a professional athlete. There are things in life that are bigger than sports, and sometimes those big things are actually the little things. It didn’t exactly pan out at Walton Heath on Thursday — Ko fired a one-over 73 — but she’s still firmly in the mix heading into Friday. With a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast, perhaps another one of those legendary sausage rolls, she should be in contention all weekend long.

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Perhaps only the pot bunkers on the Old Course at St Andrews are comparable. Or the rough at what used to be called a “traditional” US Open. But maybe nowhere in golf is the penalty for missing fairways more severe than at Walton Heath.

It’s the heather. Or calluna vulgaris, to give it its more official title. Or, to put it another way, “the chief vegetation on many wastelands of northern and western Europe”.

Heather may look pretty, inviting even, but attempting to extricate a golf ball from its depths is all but impossible. Little wonder then that the best score in the opening round of the AIG Women’s Open was no better than the four-under-par 68, which sees American Ally Ewing hold a one-shot edge over a five-strong pack.

Still, it wasn’t the tightly packed leaderboard after 18 holes that was the talk of the range on Day 1. While reactions varied depending on just how many shots it had taken to get round the 6,881-yard lay-out, there was a popular (or not) consensus.

A sun-soaked Thursday ends with Ewing on top of a stacked leaderboard ?#RaiseOurGame | #AIGWO

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) August 10, 2023

“I can’t think of a course anywhere in the world where finding short grass from the tee is more important,” said Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall after a commendable 71.

Former Women’s Open champion, Georgia Hall, put it even more succinctly. “It’s terrible,” said the three-time Solheim Cup player.

Others had more to offer, although Amy Yang brought new meaning to the phrase “ignorance is bliss” after completing a nifty round of 69.

“What do you mean, the flowers?” asked the Korean. “Heather? Is that what you call it? It is very hard to get out of that. So the tee shot is the key to playing well here. I’ve never seen anything as tough anywhere. Even in practice I stayed away and only looked at it from a distance.”

Others were equally respectful, most notably Jodi Ewart-Shadoff.

“In terms of being penal, this course is up there with anything else I’ve ever played,” said the Florida-based Englishwoman. “The only thing that comes close to this is the rough you sometimes see on a British seaside links. The fairways are not that narrow, but this heather is brutal. I’m lucky that I drove it well today and was never in there, which is great. I did have a couple of goes in my practice rounds. And that was enough. It would be easy to injure yourself from some of the lies you can get. It’s just about getting back into play.”

Still, in the search for a comparable level of punishment Angel Yin did come up with one example.

“This is actually typical of majors,” said the American after signing for a 72. “I’m thinking of the Olympic Club when we played the US Open there [in 2021]. Miss the fairway and you were chipping out. It was so severe and as penalising as it is here. Whatever, it definitely affects the way I approach a course. I’m not as aggressive as I normally am.”

China’s Ruoning Yin plays from the thick stuff on Thursday. The reigning KPMG Women’s PGA champ shot an even-par 72 in her opening round at Walton Heath. Glyn Kirk

Another comparison arrived via Australia’s Hannah Green, who likened the heather to the ice plant found in her homeland.

“On tree-lined courses you can get something of a good kick back into play,” said the former Women’s PGA champion. “But that doesn’t happen here. The ball isn’t bouncing out of the heather. It’s so penal. Even if you do get what looks like a good lie, you probably aren’t getting out too far. It tempts you though, which is part of the problem. It just looks so pretty you can be lulled into thinking it’s fine. But it never is.”

So what’s to be done, other than driving the ball well? The ever-thoughtful Meghan MacLaren has a theory.

“In practice my caddie told me to treat the heather as a hazard, which is good advice,” says the Englishwoman. “Knowing it is there puts you under pressure, even more than a deep fairway bunker. It gets into your head. You can make birdies, but you aren’t doing that from the heather, trust me.”

On that and all other things heather, the feeling is clearly unanimous.

The post There’s a simple gameplan for success at the AIG Women’s Open. Too bad it’s not so simple to pull off appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Just two-and-a-half weeks after giving away a record prize money payout at the Open Championship, R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers was at it again on the eve of the AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath. In announcing an increase in the overall purse by 23 per cent from a year ago at Muirfield, the fifth and final women’s major will now hand out a record $9 million, the winner collecting a first-place cheque of $1.35 million.

There was also good news for golf’s top female players in the announcement that title sponsor AIG is on board through 2030. And more again in the message that the championship will visit Royal Lytham in 2026, following in the immediate footsteps of the Old Course at St Andrews next year and Royal Porthcawl in 2025.

“When I look at what we have achieved in the last five years, I personally am incredibly proud,” said Slumbers, the R&A having taken over the administration of the tournament in 2018. “The future of women’s golf is bright, and it’s up to us with the support of the wider industry to take bold steps in a way that is financially sustainable to ensure our aspirations become reality. Part of the elevation of the AIG Women’s Open is to stage it on the best courses that present the greatest challenge, as is evident this week here at Walton Heath. We are hosted by great courses and we are showcasing the world’s greatest women’s golfers at a truly international championship.”

For 2023, the @AIGWomensOpen prize fund will increase by 23 percent to $9 million ? pic.twitter.com/psEI7NO2PS

— The R&A (@RandA) August 9, 2023

The increase in prize money falls in line with what happened at the other women’s majors this year.

CHEVRON CHAMPIONSHIP
2021 purse: $3 million ($465,000 to the winner)
2022 purse: $5 million ($750,000)
2023 purse: $5.1 million ($765,000)

KPMG WOMEN’S PGA
2021 purse: $4.5 million ($675,000)
2022 purse: $9 million ($1.35 million)
2023 purse: $10 million ($1.5 million)

US WOMEN’S OPEN
2021 purse: $5.5 million ($1 million)
2022 purse: $10 million ($1.8 million)
2023 purse: $11 million ($2 million)

AMUNDI EVIAN CHAMPIONSHIP
2021 purse: $4.5 million ($675,000
2022 purse: $6.5 million ($1 million)
2023 purse: $6.5 million ($1 million)

Also on the rise is the number of spectators expected this week in England. While the Women’s Open pulls in nowhere the size of galleries seen at the men’s equivalent, things are looking up.

“It is a challenge for all women’s golf to get people to come and watch,” Slumbers said. “So we did a lot of research in an effort to find out how we get people who don’t currently play golf to come and watch this championship. It’s not usually a challenge we have with the men’s open. We had 265,000 two weeks ago at Hoylake and 290,000 a year ago at St Andrews. But we had 30,000 at Muirfield for the Women’s Open.

“We wanted to attract families, and we wanted to attract young girls who do not necessarily play golf but who want to come and have a good day,” he continued. “So what we needed to create is a family centred environment, which is what we’ve tried to do here. We are going to be around 50,000 for this week, a fantastic achievement. Women’s golf needs to differentiate itself from men’s golf and not just be a smaller version of men’s golf. What we are trying to do here is create a different identity, one we hope will allow these great players to show us how good they are.”

It is a sound formula: Build it, pay them well and they will come.

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Lexi Thompson’s 12th season on the LPGA Tour is unlike any other in her career. Instead of remaining a consistent force atop the tour’s leaderboards, the American star’s struggles heading into the AIG Women’s Open have Thompson facing questions she has never had to answer throughout her career. Can she, at 28, maintain her spot for her sixth consecutive Solheim Cup team? And even stranger to ponder, can the 11-time winner maintain full LPGA status?

“I have been struggling this year,” Thompson said on Wednesday at Walton Heath, where the Women’s Open begins on Thursday. “I can’t deny that. I started off with a good finish in Saudi Arabia, but I’ve been a little bit off since then. Everyone has those years or tournaments though. I just have to continue to stick with it and put in the work. Productive work, that is.”

Since Thompson’s runner-up at the Ladies European Tour’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International in mid-February, she’s spent most of the year on the LPGA Tour either not playing in events or when she does tee it up, just trying to make the weekend.

Heading into the Women’s Open, Thompson has played in only seven events, the least of her career going into August. Of those tournaments, she’s only made two cuts, and even those have been a struggle. Her T-47 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in late June took a run of four straight birdies over her final five holes just to get to the weekend, and her five missed cuts so far match a career high.

“You shouldn’t read too much into [the lack of starts],” Thompson said. “I’ve just been trying to enjoy my life and take some more time for myself. This is my 13th year out here, so it’s my choice to play when I want, and when I don’t want to. I was dealing with a little bit of an injury. But I’m fully healthy now. I want to be sure I’m fully ready when I do tee it up.”

The lack of success has Thompson in foreign territory at 156th on the LPGA’s CME points list, which the tour uses to determine status for the following season. To put that in perspective, since the LPGA introduced CME points in 2014, she hasn’t finished worse than 34th.

Thompson can reach three benchmarks of CME points by the end of the season to improve her playing opportunities. Finishing in the top 100 of the CME provides Category 11 status, allowing players to get into most fields, getting into the top 80 provides Category 1 status, the best the LPGA has, and getting into the top 60 puts Thompson into the CME Group Tour Championship. She has played in every Tour Championship since 2011.

The Women’s Open is worth 25 per cent more CME points than regular tour events, allowing Thompson to surge up the standings in one week with a strong performance. She can move into the top 60 with a T-3 or better, top 80 with a T-5 or better, and top 100 with a T-8 or better.

She doesn’t have to make the gap up before the end of the week, but the conclusion of the season is quickly approaching. Currently, Thompson is entered in two of the remaining seven full-field events, but is eligible to play in all of them.

Thompson’s career money earnings also give her a one-time option to maintain full status on the LPGA. The top-20 career earners can play via Category 2, as Cristie Kerr is doing this season.

A quicker deadline coming up is Team USA finalising its Solheim Cup roster after the CPKC Women’s Open ends on August 27. Thompson is in seventh place on the Solheim Points list, the last automatic spot on the team.

Lexi Thompson hits a shot during the Women’s Open pro-am. Chloe Knott/R&A

Even with the fall down the points list, Thompson’s spot is likely safe. Only Andrea Lee, with a fourth-place finish, can pass Thompson without winning this week.

Should Thompson get passed for the final points position, she still can make the team by her Rolex Women’s World Rankings spot. She is 20th in the World Rankings, ahead of fellow Americans Rose Zhang (32nd) and Angel Yin (34th)

If the worst-case scenario happens that Thompson does not earn her way on to the team, Team USA Captain Stacy Lewis can use one of her three captain’s picks on her. The 12-year LPGA veteran, even amid a drought in performance, remains steadfast in her belief of the value she would bring to the team in Spain this year.

“Golf is such an individual sport it helps to have someone with experience to help out and interact with the other players,” Thompson said. “I hope to bring strength and determination, too, and being there for the other girls. I know in the past when I have been struggling, girls have come up to me and gave me advice. I know how important that is. It’s crazy to think I am one of the more experienced players at the age of 28.”

Likewise, Thompson explained she’s working on everything in her game to try and rediscover the form. She pointed out ball striking, which has also drastically fallen this year. She’s hit 65.3 per cent of greens in regulation this season, which is 98th on tour, while being a 10-per cent dip from her career average and an 11.9 per cent fall from last year. During her career, Thompson hasn’t finished outside the top 11 on tour in greens in regulation.

Thompson can answer these potentially career-altering questions with four quality rounds at Walton Heath.

“This week is important, of course,” Thompson said. “But I don’t want to put any added pressure on myself. The Solheim Cup is my favourite event. But it is next month. For now, all I can focus on are my emotions and taking things one shot at a time. Any time you force things by focusing on the long-term or big-picture goals, it can get you off track in the moment.”

—John Huggan contributed to this report.

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AIG Women’s Open. Golf Digest montage

We have arrived at the end of the LPGA’s major sprint, as the AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath this week marks four majors over seven weeks. Phew.

Players, too, must catch their breath over the major-laden stretch as notable deadlines loom. The clock is ticking for those trying to make their way on to the US or European Solheim Cup teams. In addition, the Women’s Open is the last chance to make up ground in the Race to the CME Globe standings on the LPGA and Race to Costa del Sol on the Ladies European Tour.

Lapping the rest of the tour is Celine Boutier, who has swept the first two European events with wins at the Amundi Evian Championship and the Women’s Scottish Open. Spoiler alert, she’s a heavy favourite this week.

With four majors in the books, what can we divine to identify a pick who could upset Boutier? Three of this year’s four champions had victories this season before their major titles. Lilia Vu won at the LPGA Thailand prior to the Chevron Championship. Ruoning Yin claimed the LA Open ahead of winning the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Boutier won the Drive On Championship before becoming the first Frenchwoman ever to win the Evian. (US Women’s Open champ Allisen Corpuz was the lone exception, but she was in the final group at the Chevron before her victory at Pebble Beach.)

With the 144-player field finalised on Tuesday morning after amateur Savannah De Bock survived a seven-hole playoff that started on Monday, we sorted out the top 25 most likely to win and take home a $1.095 million first-place prize.

Lilia Vu. Stacy Revere

25: Lilia Vu

Rolex Ranking: 6
AIG Women’s Open starts: 1
Best finish: T-41, 2022
The Chevron champ has shown some signs of life after missing four consecutive cuts at stroke-play events following her big win. Two made cuts in France and Scotland hint that maybe her game is back on track.

24: Carlota Ciganda

Rolex Ranking: 31
AIG Women’s Open starts: 14
Best finish: 7th, 2019
The Spaniard grabbed headlines for unusual reasons at Evian when she was disqualified after being hit with a slow-play penalty and refused to sign her card. But she was playing well prior to that, rattling off six straight top-21 LPGA finishes after a win at the Aramco Team Series in Florida in May. She’s this week’s comeback-with-vengeance pick.

Georgia Hall. LET

23: Georgia Hall

Rolex Ranking: 15
AIG Women’s Open starts: 8
Best finish: Win, 2018
Hall made her first cut in four starts at the Evian, ending up T-36. That turnaround might be enough to jump-start the Brit at one of her favourite tournaments, as she has three top-three finishes in the championship since 2017, including a T-3 that year and a T-2 in 2021.

22: Atthaya Thitikul

Rolex Ranking: 11
AIG Women’s Open starts: 5
Best finish: T-7, 2022
A withdrawal following a 79 at the Scottish last week won’t dissuade taking a chance on the talented Thai. The top-10 machine posted her eighth of 2023, the most on tour, at the Evian with a T-9.

21: Ayaka Furue

Rolex Ranking: 18
AIG Women’s Open starts: 2
Best finish: T-20, 2021
Furue has slowed down a bit of late, her win at last year’s Women’s Scottish Open hints that she has the ability to thrive in links golf.

20: Ashleigh Buhai

Rolex Ranking: 17
AIG Women’s Open starts: 15
Best finish: Win, 2023
The defending champion hasn’t been in contention since the Meijer LPGA Classic in mid-June. But a T-20 at the Evian and missing the cut at the Scottish is quite close to her winning formula in 2022, when the South African finished T-15 at Evian, then missed the cut at the Scottish before winning her first major title.

Leona Maguire. Tristan Jones

19: Leona Maguire

Rolex Ranking: 13
AIG Women’s Open starts: 6
Best finish: T-4, 2022
Maguire has slowed down slightly after an electric run from the end of May to June, with a victory at the Meijer LPGA Classic capping off four straight top-11s. Her strong finishes over the last two AIGs (T-13 in 2021, T-4 in 2022) keep her in the mix.

18: Madelene Sagstrom

Rolex Ranking: 38
AIG Women’s Open starts: 8
Best finish: T-2, 2021
Sagstrom posted back-to-back top-fives at the AIG Women’s Open. The 2020 Gainbridge LPGA winner rolls into Walton Heath off a T-9 at the Women’s Scottish last week.

17: Megan Khang

Rolex Ranking: 28
AIG Women’s Open starts: 7
Best finish: T-11, 2016
Khang is having the best year of major performances over so far in her eighth year on tour. She’s posted three top-10s, including a T-3 at the KPMG Women’s PGA, the most the American ever had in a season at the majors.

16: A Lim Kim

Rolex Ranking: 35
AIG Women’s Open starts: 7
Best finish: T-11, 2017
Kim is the second-best player so far on the LPGA’s European swing. The 2020 US Women’s Open champion finished T-3 at the Evian and T-4 at the Scottish.

15: Angel Yin

Rolex Ranking: 34
AIG Women’s Open starts: 7
Best finish: T-11, 2017
Yin has been a stalwart at majors this year, with the fifth-best score to par of players who’ve made all four cuts. Since her second-place finish at the Chevron, the American has only one finish outside the top 30.

Maja Stark. Asian Tour

14: Maja Stark

Rolex Ranking: 36
AIG Women’s Open starts: 1
Best finish: T-41, 2022
Stark posted her third top-five finish of 2023 last week at the Scottish, putting the 2022 ISPS Handa World Invitational winner in position for her second career LPGA victory in Europe.

13: Xiyu Lin

Rolex Ranking: 12
AIG Women’s Open starts: 8
Best finish: T-17, 2023
Lin continues knocking on the door of her first LPGA victory with top-16 finishes in five of her last six starts. Keep an eye if she is near contention on Sunday, as Lin averages 69.2 in final rounds this year, tied with Hall for the best on tour for those who have played at least 10 final rounds.

12: Jin Young Ko

Rolex Ranking: 2
AIG Women’s Open starts: 4
Best finish: 2nd, 2015
Ko only played the AIG Women’s Open twice in its last four editions, a solo 3rd in 2019 amidst her 114-consecutive-hole bogey-free streak and a missed cut last year. She has yet to contend on tour since her Founders Cup victory in early June but has finished in the top 26 in four of her last five starts.

Allisen Corpuz. Carmen Mandato

11: Allisen Corpuz

Rolex Ranking: 8
AIG Women’s Open starts: 1
Best finish: MC, 2012
Corpuz leads the Rolex Annika Major award, the honor given to the best player at the LPGA’s majors in a given season, and has been in the final group twice at majors this year with a T-4 at the Chevron and a breakthrough victory at Pebble Beach. Europe, so far, hasn’t been as kind to Corpuz—she missed the cut in Scotland and ended up T-54 at the Evian.

10: Nasa Hataoka

Rolex Ranking: 14
AIG Women’s Open starts: 2
Best finish: T-7, 2022
Still winless in majors, Hataoka found herself in the last group in the previous two. Will the Japanese star, after posting top-fives in five of her previous 16 major starts, finally get her breakthrough this week?

9: Linn Grant

Rolex Ranking: 19
AIG Women’s Open starts: 2
Best finish: T-19, 2022
Grant’s a consistency machine on the LPGA. In 14 starts as a tour member, she has a grand total of three finishes outside the top 20. There’s no reason to expect anything different from this year’s Dana Open winner.

8: Rose Zhang

Rolex Ranking: 32
AIG Women’s Open starts: 2
Best finish: T-28, 2022
Zhang’s impressive rookie season continues through her major performances. She has three top-10s in three major starts as a pro, most recently a T-9 at the Evian.

7: Hyo Joo Kim

Rolex Ranking: 7
AIG Women’s Open starts: 2
Best finish: T-7, 2017
Kim continues to lead the LPGA in scoring average and nearly came away with her first win of the year at the Women’s Scottish last week. Her lower leg injury, which caused her to hobble her way around her final round, however, knocks her down the list.

6: Brooke Henderson

Rolex Ranking: 9
AIG Women’s Open starts: 8
Best finish: T-7, 2022
Henderson’s second-place finish at the Evian is her second top-five finish of the year, along with her victory in the LPGA season opener in January. The Canadian’s immense talent meshed well at the last two AIG Women’s Open, as Henderson finished T-13 in 2021 before a career-best T-7 in 2022.

Nelly Korda. Mike Ehrmann

5: Nelly Korda

Rolex Ranking: 1
AIG Women’s Open starts: 8
Best finish: T-9, 2019

It’s back to the top of the World Rankings for Korda, due to her LET victory at the Aramco Team Series at the Centurion Club last month and her consistent place near the top of LPGA leaderboards. Korda’s T-9 at the Evian was her seventh top-10 of her season.

4: Ruoning Yin

Rolex Ranking: 4
AIG Women’s Open starts: First
The KPMG Women’s PGA winner rebounded from a missed cut in her Evian debut with a third-place finish at Dundonald Links, her fourth top-five in 12 starts this season. She’s continuing her ascension as one of the LPGA’s up-and-coming stars.

Yuka Saso. Meg Oliphant

3: Yuka Saso

Rolex Ranking: 22
AIG Women’s Open starts: 2
Best finish: T-39, 2021
Saso might have got some of Boutier’s magic dust as her teammate at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational at the end of July. The 2021 US Women’s Open winner continues her exceptional play, featuring top-threes in three of her last four starts, including a second at the KPMG Women’s PGA and a T-3 at the Evian.

Minjee Lee. LET

2: Minjee Lee

Rolex Ranking: 10
AIG Women’s Open starts: 9
Best finish: 3rd, 2020

Over the last five years, Lee has been the most consistent AIG Women’s Open player. She’s finished no worse than T-11 since 2018, including top-fives in each of the last three. The two-time major champion combines excellent results at the AIG and solid form. Lee maintained her eight straight top-20s heading into Walton Heath with an impressive turnaround in Scotland last week following an opening round 80 to finish T-13.

Celine Boutier. Getty

1: Celine Boutier

Rolex Ranking: 3
AIG Women’s Open starts: 7
Best finish: 6th, 2019
The best player in the world right now continues steamrolling through the European continent with back-to-back wins. Simply put, you can’t bet against her. It’s hard to imagine her consistency not continuing through Walton Heath and earning her fourth victory of 2023.

The post Top 25 players competing at the 2023 AIG Women’s Open, ranked appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Lydia Ko expects Walton Heath to deliver a roller-coaster week as it hosts the AIG Women’s Open. The venue is hosting the world’s best players this week for the first time since the Championship was established in 1976.

With the Surrey venue new to a number of players, two-time major winner Ko believes the chase for the title could be contested by a number of different players among the 144 international field.

The 26-year-old Kiwi, who shot to prominence when she won the Evian Championship in 2015 and the Chevron Championship in 2016, said: “Sometimes when you go to a place like, let’s say, Evian, I know that I’ve won there before and I’ve got memories to draw on, whether it’s good or bad, but with the AIG Women’s Open it’s like a new experience every time.

“So, this week, nobody really has a huge advantage in knowing the golf course really well. I’m sure some of the girls that are from England or this area might have played here a couple more times, but because it is new, I think it’s like a fresh new book for everyone. So it just feels like it’s a very level playing field.

“I think this is a very different style of golf course than any of the other Opens that I’ve played. So I think it’s going to potentially draw different names on the leaderboard to what we may be used to in previous years — and I’m hoping to be in the mix.”

The final major of the year is here ?#RaiseOurGame | #AIGWO pic.twitter.com/lOZdcI6RHM

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) August 8, 2023

Ko, who won three times on the LPGA Tour last year and sits fifth on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, finished third in the 2015 staging of the Women’s Open.

“I think I’ve only played at the AIG Women’s Open well twice,” added Ko, who is paired with Nelly Korda and Charley Hull for the first two rounds. “I hope to put myself more in contention. There’s something about this Championship that I think requires maybe a little more creativity and shots that you we might not play at any other events.

“I think there’s that different expertise you’re required to play. I think it’s going to be a fun week, a tricky week, but I’m just trying to stay patient out there and try to play the best golf I can.”

The defending champion from South Africa, Ashleigh Buhai, is playing with Brooke Henderson and Rose Zhang — winner of last year’s Smyth Salver for leading amateur — in the opening two rounds. Celine Boutier — chasing a third straight win after winning the Evian and Women’s Scottish Open — is joined by one of the home hopefuls, Georgia Hall, and Atthaya Thitikul for the first 36 holes.

England’s Mel Reid strikes the opening tee shot at 6.30am on Thursday.

Here are the marquee groups:

All set for first round fireworks ?#RaiseOurGame | #AIGWO

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) August 9, 2023

The post Lydia Ko set for another roller-coaster ride at AIG Women’s Open, big guns paired together appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.