By Richard G. Mason
Dana Open
Highland Meadows Golf Club | Sylvania, Ohio | July 13-16, 2023
Tuesday Pre-Tournament Notes
July 11, 2023
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2023 Statistical Leaders Official Money: Allisen Corpuz, $2,481,309 Scoring Average: Hyo Joo Kim, 69.615 Birdies: Ashleigh Buhai, 193 Eagles: Jennifer Kupcho, 9 Holes in One: In Gee Chun, 2 Greens in Regulation: Hyo Joo Kim, 74.5% Average Driving Distance: Xiaowen Yin, 280.160 Strokes Gained Total – Per Round: Jin Young Ko, 2.17
2023 Award Leaders
AON Risk Reward Challenge: No. 17, par 5 The 17th at Highland Meadows is one of the longer par-5’s on the LPGA Tour, making it one of the more difficult for the players to attack in two. Accuracy is important here, with players finding the fairway going for the green nearly 20% more than those who find the rough. For those that do go for the green, an expected success rate of 6.2% results in a high number of around the green shots, placing an emphasis on the player’s short games.
Coming off of the third major championship of the year, Hye-Jin Choi sits alone at the top of the leaderboard with a -0.955 average in the season-long challenge. KPMG Women’s PGA Championship winner Ruoning Yin and Stephanie Kyriacou are both tied for second with a -0.944 average, with LPGA Tour sophomore Atthaya Thitikul and 2023 Tour rookie Hae Ran Ryu rounding out the top five with a -0.864 average (T4).
The 2023 Race to the CME Globe continues on at the Dana Open. With 500 points on the line this week for the winner, players have the opportunity to make big moves in the season-long competition. After her second win of the year at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Ruoning Yin sits in first, a jump up from her second-place position with 1,510.450 points. Ayaka Furue moved up two spots from fourth to second with 1,503.125 points and last week’s No. 1 Jin Young Ko fell to third with 1,477.823 points. Two-time 2023 LPGA Tour winner Lilia Vu (1,388.634 points) and ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer champion Ashleigh Buhai (1,215.271 points) round out the top-five at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.
The Race to the CME Globe is a season-long points competition with LPGA Tour Members accumulating points in every official LPGA event to qualify for the season-ending tournament, the CME Group Tour Championship. The player who wins the CME Group Tour Championship is named the “Race to the CME Globe Champion.” The top 60 points earners and ties earn a spot into the season finale with the entire field competing for a $7 million purse highlighted by a $2 million winner’s check, which is tied for the largest single prize in the history of women’s golf.
CME Group Cares Challenge – Score 1 for St. Jude Update: The CME Group Cares Challenge is a season-long charitable giving program that turns aces into donations. CME Group donates $20,000 for each hole-in-one made on the LPGA Tour in 2023, with a minimum guaranteed donation of $500,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which is leading the way in how the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and life-threatening diseases. There have been seven holes-in-one this season, recorded by Gina Kim at the LPGA Drive On Championship, Bailey Tardy at the DIO Implant LA Open, In Gee Chun at The Chevron Championship and U.S. Women’s Open, In Kyung Kim at the JM Eagle LA Championship, Mariah Stackhouse at the ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer, Jennifer Kupcho at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. The 2023 donation total is $140,000 thus far.
2023 Wins by Country (15 tournaments, nine countries) 4 – United States (Allisen Corpuz, Lilia Vu (2), Rose Zhang) 2 – Australia (Hannah Green, Grace Kim) 2 – Republic of Korea (Jin Young Ko (2)) 1 – Canada (Brooke Henderson) 1 – France (Celine Boutier) 1 – Ireland (Leona Maguire) 1 – People’s Republic of China (Ruoning Yin (2)) 1 – South Africa (Ashleigh Buhai) 1 – Thailand (Pajaree Anannarukarn)
2023 Wins by Player (15 tournaments, 12 players) 2 – Jin Young Ko (HSBC Women’s World Championship, Cognizant Founders Cup) 2 – Lilia Vu (Honda LPGA Thailand, The Chevron Championship) 2 – Ruoning Yin (DIO Implant LA Open, KPMG Women’s PGA Championship) 1 – Pajaree Anannarukarn (LPGA Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play presented by MGM Rewards) 1 – Celine Boutier (LPGA Drive On Championship) 1 – Ashleigh Buhai (ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer) 1 – Allisen Corpuz (U.S. Women’s Open) 1 – Hannah Green (JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro) 1 – Brooke Henderson (Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions) 1 – Grace Kim (LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei) 1 – Leona Maguire (Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give) 1 – Rose Zhang (Mizuho Americas Open)
Average Age of 2023 Winners: 25.067 Youngest Winner: Rose Zhang (20 years, 11 days) Oldest Winner: Ashleigh Buhai (36 years, 11 months)
Team USA Solheim Cup Standings: 1 – Nelly Korda, 422.50 points 2 – Lilia Vu, 416.50 points 3 – Allisen Corpuz, 318.50 points 4 – Danielle Kang, 281.00 points 5 – Megan Khang, 263.50 6 – Lexi Thompson, 258.00 points 7 – Jennifer Kupcho, 250.00 points 8 – Cheyenne Knight, 195.00 points 9 – Andrea Lee, 187.00 points 10 – Ally Ewing, 165.00 points
Team USA Solheim Cup standings Team Europe Solheim Cup standings COURTESY LPGA TOUR COMMUNICATIONS |