Dana Open presented by Marathon

Highland Meadows Golf Club| Sylvania, Ohio| Sept. 1-4, 2022

Tuesday Pre-Tournament Notes

August 30, 2022

LPGA TOUR RETURNS FOR 37^TH EDITION OF THE DANA OPEN AT HIGHLAND MEADOWS

This week, the LPGA Tour returns to one of its longest-standing events, the Dana Open presented by Marathon. Originally established in 1984 as the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic, named after the famed actor and Toledo native, the tournament has been a staple of the community since its inception. Rolex Rankings No. 3 Minjee Lee highlights the field as one of seven in the top 10 playing at Highland Meadows Golf Club, which also includes two-time Dana Open winner Lydia Ko (No. 4), two-time major champion Brooke Henderson (No. 5), 11-time LPGA Tour winner Lexi Thompson (No. 7) and defending champion, Nasa Hataoka (No. 9).

In 2021, Hataoka won the event once it was shortened to 54 holes due to a full day of rain that left the course unplayable. It was her fourth Tour victory and the first of two last season. Hataoka’s incredible performance included a career-best 61 in the first round, and eventually bested the tournament 54-hole record with her final score of 194.

This is the Tour’s first time in the Toledo area since the 2021 Solheim Cup at Inverness Club, where the European squad claimed their second-straight cup with a 15-13 score over the Americans. Leona Maguire, the undefeated Solheim rookie last September, is back in the area for the Dana Open, and has since won her maiden LPGA Tour title at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Crown Colony. Maguire is one of 14 players in the field who participated in the team competition at Inverness, including Americans Danielle Kang, Ally Ewing, Lizette Salas and Jennifer Kupcho and Europeans Mel Reid, Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Madelene Sagstrom. Paula Creamer and Azahara Munoz are also making their returns to the Tour for the first time since 2021.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE DANA OPEN PRESENTED BY MARATHON

• This is the 37^th playing of the Dana Open, dating to 1984 and the inaugural Jamie Farr Toledo Classic
• Famed actor and Toledo native Jamie Farr, well-known as “Klinger” on the TV show “M*A*S*H,” hosted the tournament through 2012
• Se Ri Pak has the most Dana Open victories with five (1998, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2007) and holds the 72-hole scoring record of -23
• There are nine past champions in the field this week, including Nasa Hataoka (2021), Danielle Kang (2020), Lydia Ko (2014, 2016) and Paula Creamer (2008), making her first LPGA Tour start since the 2021 Amundi Evian Championship
• 16 of the season’s 19 different winners are this week’s field, including every 2022 major winner and last week’s CP Women’s Open champion Paula Reto
• The sponsor exemptions are Aline Krauter, Natasha Andrea Oon and amateur Audrey Ryu
• Gianna Clemente, a 14-year-old rising amateur, successfully Monday qualified for the second-straight week on the LPGA Tour; Jing Yan filled the field as the second qualifier
• Upon the conclusion of the Dana Open is the second reshuffle of the season
  • Members in Categories 13 and 14-19 on the Priority List who have earned Race to the CME Globe Points will be re-seeded into Category 13. Members placed into Category 13 will be ranked in the order of their position on the current year’s Points List through the Dana Open.

14-YEAR-OLD AMATEUR GIANNA CLEMENTE LOOKING FORWARD TO ANOTHER WEEK WITH THE PROS IN TOLEDO

It’s the second week in a row that 14-year-old Gianna Clemente has Monday qualified for an LPGA Tour event, and while her first Tour start at the CP Women’s Open was an extraordinary moment in her young career, this week’s Dana Open presented by Marathon will be even sweeter for the Youngstown, Ohio native. Clemente attended the event as a young fan and although most of the details are fuzzy and she doesn’t recall much of her time at Highland Meadows Golf Club, she does remember following major champion Lexi Thompson, who she was afraid to go up to in the locker room in Canada.

“I don’t really remember a lot of it, but I remember coming out and walking and watching Lexi, and I thought that was so cool. It’s kind of crazy to me. It doesn’t seem like that long ago even though it was, but this is definitely a special one to play in, so I’m really excited,” said Clemente who shot a 3-under 69 at Stone Oak Country Club to qualify. “I saw Lexi in the locker room in Canada and I was just way too scared to go up and say hi. No, I was not doing that.”

The week in Ottawa was an important learning experience for the teenager and gave her an idea of what it’s like to be a professional on the LPGA Tour. She played pretty well all things considering, opening with a 2-under 69, but a 3-over 74 just kept her from playing the weekend. “It was kind of chaotic the first day because you got to plan practice rounds, and I had no idea what I was doing,” said Clemente. “My dad had a work meeting to go to so I did it by myself the first day. Even though I missed the cut, it was so much fun to have (my dad) on the bag and to have that as a first experience was awesome.” 

Despite her age, Clemente doesn’t come to Toledo without plenty of experience. She finished runner-up to Yana Wilson at this year’s U.S. Girls’ Junior and was also the runner-up at the Girls Rolex Championship in June. In 2021, Clemente was a co-medalist and semifinalist in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball with partner Avery Zweig, and she’s qualified for two U.S. Women’s Amateurs to date, in 2019 and 2022. But as she looks ahead to another week once again teeing it up with the world’s best players, Clemente is making a point to remind herself to keep the expectations in check and that the real success is just being inside in the ropes at the Dana Open in the first place.

“In the other Monday qualifier, I didn’t expect to get in, I didn’t play my best, but in this Monday qualifier I really did play good. I made a birdie on 17 in this Monday qualifier to get in,” said Clemente. “The biggest expectation that I have to handle is my own. I set higher expectations for myself than anybody else ever could, which could be a good thing and could be a bad thing. I’m reminding myself at this tournament that I made it here and that’s the big deal.”

RACE TO THE CME GLOBE UPDATE

The season-long Race to the CME Globe continues through the Dana Open presented by Marathon. Heading into the week in Sylvania, Minjee Lee continues to top the points standings with 2,502.953 thanks to two wins and six top-10 finishes. Brooke Henderson is in second, only about 200 points shy of Lee with 2,299.958, with Lydia Ko (2,169.550) in third and Jennifer Kupcho the last with over 2,000 points in fourth (2,035.050). In Gee Chun rounds out the top five with 1,804.803 points.

With her win at the CP Women’s Open, Paula Reto jumped massively in the standings, from outside the top-60 (No. 73) to 27th with 780.110 points. With her tie for second, Nelly Korda rose from 26th to 18th, with rookie Hye-Jin Choi cracking the top-10 (No. 6) after tying Korda in Canada.

The Race to the CME Globe is a season-long points competition with LPGA Tour Members accumulating points in every official LPGA tournament to qualify for the season-ending tournament, CME Group Tour Championship. The player who wins the CME Group Tour Championship is named the “Race to the CME Globe Champion.” Beginning in 2019, players started earning points at each official LPGA Tour event throughout the season leading up to the CME Group Tour Championship. The top-60 points earners and ties then earn a spot in the CME Group Tour Championship with the entire field competing for a $7 million purse highlighted by a $2 million winner’s check, the largest single prize in the history of women’s golf.

ALINE KRAUTER FEELING COMFORTABLE, MAKING PRO DEBUT AT DANA OPEN PRESENTED BY MARATHON

Stanford alum Aline Krauter had a “dream” ending to her college career. After the Stanford Cardinals won the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships, coach Anne Walker announced live on Golf Channel that the exemption into the Dana Open presented by Marathon traditionally awarded to a member of the winning team would go to Krauter, an unexpected surprise for the graduating senior. Krauter chose to turn pro before LPGA Qualifying Tournament Stage I, and after advancing through the first stage in Palm Springs, Calif. is now making her professional debut in Toledo, a start that feels way different to her than the other times she’s teed it up on the LPGA Tour.

“It feels a little bit different now that I have turned pro,” said Krauter. “It feels a little more official to me, because before it was like oh, I’m the amateur. Like I don’t really know anyone here. And now I feel like I’ve met a bunch of people through my major exemptions as well, so it feels official and I’m extra excited.”

Krauter teed it up in the Amundi Evian Championship last month and she made sure to make the most of her time in France, picking the brains of both her fellow Germans and Stanford alumni about pro golf life and what it takes to have success on Tour. Sophia Popov, Albane Valenzuela, Andrea Lee and even Lexi Thompson were among those from whom the 22-year-old sought advice, but she says she relied most heavily on Caroline Masson, the 33-year-old German with one LPGA Tour title on her resume.

“I talk to a lot of the Stanford grads, Andrea (Lee) and Albane (Valenzuela) and I’ve leaned on Sophia (Popov) I would say and (Caroline Masson) for sure,” Krauter explained. “My first couple majors, I only played with Caro basically. I tagged onto her. The main thing was at Chevron. She gave me a couple of pin positions that had been in the past and she was like, don’t hit it here, don’t hit it here, and at Q-School, and I hit it where told me not to hit it at Chevron, and it wasn’t great, but, yeah.”

As she readies herself for Thursday play, Krauter will definitely be leaning on the lessons learned from her time at Stanford and her chats with her fellow countrywomen to help carry her through the week at the Dana Open. She’ll also rely heavily on her brother and caddie, Tim, who has been on her bag every time she’s teed it up on the LPGA Tour, a comforting presence during what can be a nerve-wracking week making her pro debut. 

“He caddied at Q-School, so he’s been on the bag quite a lot. Every time I’ve had a caddie it’s been him basically. It gives me a little bit of comfort to have my family here,” Krauter said. “One piece of advice that really helped me is not to change anything really. Never change a working system. I feel like I’ve done pretty well so far with my system. I don’t really want to change much and like look left and right, like, oh, what are these people doing, what are these people doing. I think what I’m doing is probably fine so far, so we’ll see.”

AON RISK REWARD CHALLENGE – THE PAR-5 17TH AT HIGHLAND MEADOWS

The 17th hole at Highland Meadows presents a significant scoring opportunity, especially for players who can use their length to their advantage. An uphill tee shot makes extra distance more valuable than the average LPGA Tour, par 5. An extra 30 yards of length off the tee with a drive here will gain players nearly two-tenths of a stroke on the field. The 2021 champion Nasa Hataoka went for the green in all three rounds as she gain two strokes on the field during the week.

On the LPGA Tour Aon Risk Reward Challenge, there are nine events remaining until a Challenge winner is crowned. Aon ambassador and the current no. 1 ranked player in the Race to CME Globe standings, Minjee Lee, currently sits in first place. A look at the leaderboard heading into the Dana Open:

SOCIAL MEDIA: #DRIVEON

Tournament: @danaopenlpga (Twitter, Instagram), #DanaLPGAOpen

LPGA: @LPGA, @LPGAMedia (Twitter); @lpga_tour (Instagram)

TV & STREAMING TIMES (all times Eastern on Golf Channel, golfchannel.com and the NBC Sports App)

Thursday, Sept. 1 – 1-4 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 2 – 1-4 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 3 – 1-4 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 4 – 1-4 p.m.

TOURNAMENT SCORING RECORDS

18 holes: 60, Paula Creamer, first round, 2008

36 holes: 125, Paula Creamer, 2008

54 holes: 194, Nasa Hataoka, 2021

72 holes: 261 (-23), Se Ri Pak, 1998

COURTESY LPGA TOUR COMMUNICATIONS