The ShopRite LPGA Classic celebrated its 35th anniversary this week at Seaview’s Bay Course just outside Atlantic City, New Jersey. World Golf Hall of Famer Juli Inkster won the inaugural tournament in 1986, kicking off a list of notable champions in the event that included Betsy King (1987, 1995, 2001), Nancy Lopez (1989), Jane Geddes (1991), Se Ri Pak (1999), Annika Sorenstam (2002, 2005) Ai Miyazato (2010) and Karrie Webb (2013).

Other recent major winners to capture the title are Stacy Lewis (2012, 2014), Anna Nordqvist (2015, 2016) and Lexi Thompson, who counts this as her last LPGA win back in 2019.

Now, add Ashleigh Buhai to that list. Last year’s AIG Women’s Open champion at Muirfield claimed her second career LPGA title, charging from three back entering the final round and closing with a seven-under 65 to win by one shot over Hyo Joo Kim. Dubai’s Chiara Noja bagged a T12 on her LPGA debut.

Buhai, 34, earned a first-place prize money payout of $262,500 from an overall purse of $1.75 million. Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer who made the cut in the 54-hole event.

Win: Ashleigh Buhai, -14, $262,500
2: Hyo Joo Kim, -13, $161,615
3: Yan Liu, -11, $117,240
T-4: Nanna Koerstz Madsen, -10, $81,847
T-4: Dani Holmqvist, -10, $81,847
T-6: Su Oh, -9, $43,652
T-6: Haru Nomura, -9, $43,652
T-6: Albane Valenzuela, -9, $43,652
T-6: Soo Bin Joo, -9, $43,652
T-6: Atthaya Thitikul, -9, $43,652
T-6: Jenny Shin, -9, $43,652
T-12: Marina Alex, -8, $29,995
T-12: Chiara Noja *, -8, $29,995
14: Ayaka Furue, -7, $27,253
T-15: Marissa Steen, -6, $22,272
T-15: Lauren Stephenson, -6, $22,272
T-15: Mel Reid, -6, $22,272
T-15: Minami Katsu, -6, $22,272
T-15: Ruoning Yin, -6, $22,272
T-15: Anna Nordqvist, -6, $22,272
T-15: Brianna Do, -6, $22,272
T-22: Haeji Kang, -5, $16,624
T-22: Alexa Pano, -5, $16,624
T-22: Lindsey Weaver-Wright, -5, $16,624
T-22: Gerina Mendoza, -5, $16,624
T-22: In Kyung Kim, -5, $16,624
T-22: Mi Hyang Lee, -5, $16,624
T-22: Paula Reto, -5, $16,624
T-22: Wichanee Meechai, -5, $16,624
T-30: Yuna Nishimura, -4, $11,866
T-30: Jing Yan, -4, $11,866
T-30: Brooke M. Henderson, -4, $11,866
T-30: Jodi Ewart Shadoff, -4, $11,866
T-30: Linnea Strom, -4, $11,866
T-30: Lee-Anne Pace, -4, $11,866
T-30: Sarah Schmelzel, -4, $11,866
T-30: Georgia Hall, -4, $11,866
T-30: Matilda Castren, -4, $11,866
T-39: Allison Emrey, -3, $8,052
T-39: Jennifer Chang, -3, $8,052
T-39: Sung Hyun Park, -3, $8,052
T-39: Jasmine Suwannapura, -3, $8,052
T-39: Sei Young Kim, -3, $8,052
T-39: Jeongeun Lee5, -3, $8,052
T-39: Celine Borge, -3, $8,052
T-39: Peiyun Chien, -3, $8,052
T-39, Emily Kristine Pedersen, -3, $8,052
T-39: Lauren Hartlage, -3, $8,052
T-49: Dana Fall, -2, $6,034
T-49: Aditi Ashok, -2, $6,034
T-49: Yu Liu, -2, $6,034
T-49: Mariah Stackhouse #, -2, $6,034
T-49: Dottie Ardina, -2, $6,034
T-54: Bailey Tardy, -1, $4,878
T-54: Annie Park, -1, $4,878
T-54: Dewi Weber, -1, $4,878
T-54: Wei-Ling Hsu, -1, $4,878
T-54: Bianca Pagdanganan, -1, $4,878
T-54: Ana Belac, -1, $4,878
T-54: Ruixin Liu, -1, $4,878
T-54: Jeongeun Lee6, -1, $4,878
T-62: Stacy Lewis, E, $4,070
T-62: Linnea Johansson, E, $4,070
T-62: Angela Stanford, E, $4,070
T-62: Gurleen Kaur, E, $4,070
T-62: Alena Sharp, E, $4,070
T-67: Samantha Wagner, +1, $3,760
T-67: Lindy Duncan, +1, $3,760
T-69: Riley Mae Rennell, +2, $3,584
T-69: Kelly Tan, +2, $3,584
71: Sophia Schubert, +5, $3,496
72: Sierra Brooks *, +6, $3,450
73: Manon De Roey, +7, $3,406

The post Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer at the 2023 ShopRite LPGA Classic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Keely Levins
A playoff seemed inevitable at the ShopRite LPGA Classic. Celine Boutier was in the locker room at Seaview Resort at 14 under. Jin Young Ko and Inbee Park, both at 13 under, were coming down the 18th at the Bay Course, a short par 5 that holds the opportunity for eagles, let alone birdies. After hitting their approach shots, Park had an eight-footer to tie Boutier, Ko a seven-footer.

Park’s putting is so good, Boutier felt certain a birdie was as good as made: “I was like, I shouldn’t even watch it, it’s going to go in,” Boutier said. Remarkably, Park missed. Then Ko stepped up to her putt. Certainly, both the No. 3 and No. 2 players in the world wouldn’t miss, consecutively?

But they did, Ko’s putt moving left of the hole. And with that Boutier had won her second LPGA Tour event. No one was more in shocked than she.

“I was already in my mind going into the playoff and having to prepare for that,” Boutier said. “And then just the fact that neither Jin Young or Inbee birdied 18 really left me, I don’t know, kind of stunned. I’m still a little bit surprised about it.”

Even so, Boutier deserves full credit for her win, despite the unlikely misses of Ko and Park. The 27-year-old from France hit all but two fairways on Sunday and needed just 26 putts to shoot her final-round 63 in the 54-hole event.

Though it’s been more than two years since Boutier’s first LPGA win, the 2019 ISPS Handa Vic Open, if you look at Boutier’s past few weeks, this win isn’t a surprise at all.

Sarah Stier

Boutier played on Europe’s Solheim Cup team in their victory over Team USA at Inverness Club. Boutier went 1-1-1 in her matches. Though not as dominant as her 4-0-0 showing two years prior at Gleneagles, she played well and scoring points for the winning team built her confidence.

“I think it gave me a lot of energy. So, my next tournament after the Solheim was the French Open, which I won, too, so it kind of help me for the French Open,” Boutier said. “And then the French Open helped me get more confidence coming into these weeks on the LPGA. I just feel like I’m having some really good momentum, and I hope to keep going until the end of the season.”

Winning the Lacoste Ladies French Open was Boutier’s third Ladies European Tour victory. With her second LPGA title, she ties Patricia Meunier-Lebouc and Anne Marie Palli as the winningest Frenchwomen in LPGA history.

Boutier, who graduated Duke University in 2016, is humble about the accomplishment.

“Patricia has won a major, so I feel like I’m not even at that level yet,” Boutier said. “But it’s just so great to be able to tie them. We’re not that many French players out here on tour, so it’s just always amazing and super proud to be representing my country every week, and hopefully a lot more players from France are coming.”

For now, she’s trying to come to terms with what happened on the 18th.

“Just unreal,” Boutier said. “I still can’t believe that they both missed.”

The post Celine Boutier wins the ShopRite LPGA with a closing 63 and some unlikely help from a pair of major winners appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Keely Levins
Mel Reid finally got what she’s known she was always capable of. Thirteen years after turning professional, the 33-year-old Brit is an LPGA Tour winner. With rounds of 68-64-66-67, Reid took the title at the ShopRite LPGA Classic in Atlantic City, N.J., by two shots over Jennifer Kupcho. As evidence by the number of people who swarmed the green to spray the new champion with champagne, Reid is someone people are happy to see succeed.

Mel Reid is doused with champagne after winning the ShopRite LPGA Classic. Michael Cohen

Reid spent the majority of her career on the Ladies European Tour, where she won six times. It wasn’t until Q School in 2016 that she broke through to get her LPGA Tour card and played her rookie year in the United States in 2017. That season was highlighted with a spot on the European Solheim Cup team (her third appearance), but when the next Solheim Cup came around in 2019, Reid didn’t qualify nor receive a captain’s pick, despite finishing T-3 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship just months before the competition. She handled the disappointment as well as anyone could—better, maybe—and went to Gleneagles as an assistant captain for the victorious Europeans.

That’s one of the things that makes Reid likeable: She knows when the moment is about her and she knows when the moment is bigger than her personal goals. And she lives in all moments with a consistently high level of tenacity.

Despite her competitiveness and obvious talent, this first tour win has alluded Reid for some time. “Everyone has been talking about it for a while or years that I should win and be contending every week, and it’s not been happening,” Reid said.

In her last start before the ShopRite, it looked like it was finally going to happen. Reid held the 36-hold lead in the Cambia Porland Classic, which had been shortened to 54 holes, but shot 74 in the final round to finish T-5. Her countrywoman Georgia Hall took the title.

For a moment on Sunday, it looked like Reid might falter again. After bogeys at 6 and 7 on the Bay Course at Seaview Resort, she had lost the lead.

“I read a tweet yesterday and it was probably one of the only bad tweets that I got, saying she’ll choke. It gave me a little bit of motivation,” Reid said. “I was like, I’m going to prove it. I know it sounds stupid, but probably the best thing I could have read. I’m definitely not letting that happen. Someone is going to have to beat me today. I’m not going to give it away.”

She didn’t give it away by any means. After those bogeys, Reid birdied four of the next five holes. Suddenly a tight leader board that also included Jennifer Song in contention saw Reid begin to run away. She stood on the 17th tee with a four-shot lead, only to make a bogey to Kupcho’s birdie, cutting her lead to two. Still, Reid remained steely and closed out the short par-5 18th with a birdie.

“It changes your life honestly,” Reid said of finally getting her first win on the LPGA Tour. “These are the best players in the world. The LPGA is in my opinion the best tour, the tour you want to be on if you want to be the best in the world. To win out here you get a different—people look at you a bit differently. So, it’s tough to win out here. I can tell that you. Just it get it done is a huge relief and I’m ecstatic.”

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By Keely Levins
Annie Park, the No. 236 player in the world, was not a favourite at the ShopRite LPGA Classic. In fact, the 23-year-old is lucky she even got to play. She’s a member of the LPGA Tour but does not have full status, meaning she gets few starts and can’t pick which events she’ll tee it up. But after posting scores of 69-65-63 to secure the $262,500 winner’s check from the 2018 ShopRite LPGA Classic—her first LPGA victory—that’s not going to be a problem moving forward.

Park made six birdies and an eagle over her first 14 holes on Sunday to get to 16 under and then made four pars over the last four holes to beat Japan’s Sakura Yokomine by one stroke.

After a successful junior career playing in Long Island where she grew up, just a few hours from Atlantic City, N.J.’s Stockton Seaview Golf Club where the ShopRite is played, Park had an even better college career. As a freshman at USC Park won the 2013 NCAA individual championship and led the Trojans to the team title. She left USC after three seasons to turn pro and played well enough on the Symetra Tour to earn status on the LPGA Tour for 2016.

Park’s LPGA career started off well. Her rookie year she finished in the top 10 twice. Her best performance was T-6 at the … wait for it … ShopRite LPGA Classic. But then, in 2017, she started to struggle with back problems, and her results plummeted. Having finished 126th on the money list in 2017, left her with her partial status in 2018. The ShopRite LPGA Classic was just her fifth LPGA start of the season.

“I can’t really describe it in words,” said Park of what it means to win after seeing her career sputter. “I’ve been through a lot of struggles, and thank my family for being here. There are so many people that supported me. Without them, I can’t be here where I am today, so I thank them so much.”

The former U.S. Curtis Cup player is the fourth first-time winner on the LPGA in 2018. Park credits the victory in part to a Monday qualifier that led to a T-18 at the LPGA Mediheal Championship in April and a new putting technique. After two rounds at Lake Merced for the Mediheal, Park was one shot off the lead, which gave her a boost of confidence. Instead of putting with a conventional putter, she now putts with a long putter, with the handle held away from her chest so it doesn’t break the rules of the anchor ban.

“Coming in, I felt great about my swing,” Park said. “I was hitting it well. Obviously, with the new putting routine, it really helped me out. I was just trying to play my best out there, and whatever happens, I just need to accept what happens. I just thought about my own game. Just try to think about the present moments in each shot.”

Park wasn’t the only player to make a charge on Sunday at the ShopRite. Yokomine was 10 under par on her Sunday round through 17 holes and faced an eagle chip on the par-5 18th hole that could have let her join Annika Sorenstam as only the second LPGA player to shoot a 59 on tour. The chip went 10 feet past the hole, and Yokomine missed the birdie comeback putt, leaving her with a 61 that gave Park the window to pull out her victory.

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Pernilla Lindberg is one shot of the lead at the ShopRite LPGA Classic and is doing so with a most unusual set of irons.

Although split sets of irons are nothing unusual on the professional tours, one in which a player has the even clubs in one model and the odd clubs in another is virtually unheard of. That, however, is exactly the set makeup Lindberg is employing a set comprised of Ping’s i200 irons for her 4-, 6-, 8-irons and pitching wedge while using the company’s new i210 irons (yet to be released for sale) in her 5-, 7- and 9-irons.

On her fourth hole of the day, Lindberg holed out for eagle today on the par-4 13th hole at TKTK COURTSE with her i210 7-iron, the first shot she ever hit in competition with that club. For the round, she hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation.

The reason for the split set, according to Ping, is that the delivery of her full set of i210’s was delayed in delivery. The full set was delivered after the first round and she is expected to put the full set in play for the weekend.

Given her performance Friday, she might want to think twice about that.

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