LPGA Tour News: Wednesday Pre-Tournament Notes – 2023 Dana Open

By Richard G. Mason

Dana Open

Highland Meadows Golf Club | Sylvania, Ohio | July 13-16, 2023

Wednesday Pre-Tournament Notes

July 12, 2023

NOTABLE PLAYERS IN THE DANA OPEN

JIN YOUNG KO (Rolex Rankings No. 1)

  • This is Ko’s 11th event of the 2023 LPGA Tour season
    • She is one of three players on Tour this year to win multiple events (HSBC Women’s World Championship, Cognizant Founders Cup)
      • She is joined by Lilia Vu (Honda LPGA Thailand, The Chevron Championship) and Ruoning Yin (DIO Implant LA Open, KPMG Women’s PGA Championship)
    • Ko has also recorded three additional top-10 finishes this season
      • Her worst finish of the season came at the JM Eagle LA Championship, a tie for 44th
        • Outside of that, Ko has not finished outside the top-25
        • She has only missed one cut this year, at last week’s U.S. Women’s Open
    • She comes to the Dana Open ranked in the top five in greens in regulation (73.39%) and scoring average (69.82)
    • According to KPMG Performance Insights, Ko is ranked in the top-five in several key strokes gained statistics this season:

 

Jin Young Ko

Strokes Gained Ranks – This Season

 

Per Round

LPGA Rank

Total

2.01

2nd

Approach Green

1.30

3rd

Tee-to-Green

1.62

5th

 

  • This is Ko’s first appearance at the Dana Open
  • This is her sixth season on the LPGA Tour
    • She has earned 15 wins and 51 total top-10 finishes

 

LYDIA KO (Rolex Rankings No. 3)

  • Ko comes to the Dana Open as the only two-time event winner in the field
    • She won in both 2014 and 2016
  • This will be Ko’s eighth appearance at the Dana Open
    • In seven previous starts, she has never missed a cut or finished worse than a tie for 20th
    • Her career-low round in Sylvania is 64, which she shot twice (2020, R1 and 2022, R3)
    • Her event-low 72-hole score came in her 2014 win where she shot a 15-under 269
    • She has shot 21 rounds in the 60s at the Dana Open
      • Her win in 2016 saw her shoot all four rounds in the 60s
  • This is her 10th event of the 2023 season
    • She finished inside the top-10 once this year at the Honda LPGA Thailand
    • She has missed two cuts
    • She is coming off a tie for 33rd at the U.S. Women’s Open
    • She last shot a round in the 60s in the second round of the 2023 Mizuho Americas Open

 

 

SOCIAL MEDIA: #DRIVEON

Tournament – @danaopenlpga (Twitter, Instagram)

 

LPGA Tour – @LPGA and @LPGAMedia (Twitter), @lpga_tour (Instagram)

 

TV/STREAMING TIMES

(all times EDT; live digital streaming on the NBC Sports App, NBCSports.com, golfchannel.com)

Thursday, July 13

3:30-6:30 p.m. – NBC Digital streaming

7:30-9:30 p.m. – NBC GOLF Channel (Tape Delay)

 

Friday, July 14

3:30-6:30 p.m. – NBC Digital streaming

7:30-9:30 p.m. – NBC GOLF Channel (Tape Delay)

 

Saturday, July 15

3:00-6:00 p.m. – NBC Digital streaming

8:00-10:00 p.m. – NBC GOLF Channel (Tape Delay)

 

Sunday, July 16

2:00pm – 3:00 p.m. – NBC Digital streaming

3:00pm – 5:00 p.m. – CBS, Paramount+, CBS Sports App & cbssports.com

 

Lydia Ko

First Nine Starts of the Season 2022 and 2023

 

2022

2023

Top 10 Finishes

4

1

Scoring Average

70.08

71.63

Score to Par

-61

-4

 

  • This is Ko’s 12th season on Tour
    • She has 19 career wins and 102 total top-10 finishes
    • Her career-low round is a 62, which she has shot three times

 

ALLISEN CORPUZ (Rolex Rankings No. 6)

“Yeah, well just focusing on energy levels, trying to just kind of get through the week with enough energy to keep playing my best. But, no, I’m really excited for the week. I liked this event last year and happy to come back.” – Corpuz on how she resets for this event after her week at Pebble Beach

  • This is Corpuz’s second start at the Dana Open
    • Last year, she missed the cut
  • This will be her 14th start on Tour this season
    • She became the season’s fifth Rolex First-Time Winner at the U.S. Women’s Open
      • She became the sixth first-time winner at the U.S. Women’s Open since 2015
      • She also became the 45th player to become a first-time winner at any major championship
      • She was the first American player in 20 years to win her first LPGA victory at the U.S. Women’s Open
    • Her best non-win finish this season was a tie for third at the HSBC Women’s World Championship
    • Coming into Highland Meadows Golf Club, she ranks first on the season’s Official Money List with $2,481,309
    • In LPGA Tour major championships this season, Corpuz is ten strokes better than any other player who has made all three cuts this year

 

Best Cumulative Score to Par

LPGA Majors in 2023 – Players to Make All Cut in All Three

Allisen Corpuz*

-19

Hyo Joo Kim

-9

Carlota Ciganda

-6

Xiyu Lin*

-6

*Only players to finish top-15 in all three majors

    • According to KPMG Performance Insights, at last week’s U.S. Women’s Open, Corpuz led the field in average approach shot proximity

Allisen Corpuz

Approach Play Ranks at U.S. Women’s Open

 

Field Rank

Proximity to Hole

28’1”

1st

SG: Approach

2.41

3rd

Greens in Regulation

6.53%

T3

 

  • This is Corpuz’s second season on Tour
    • She has one win and five additional top-10 finishes in her career
    • Her best non-win finish of her career was a second-place result at the ISPS Handa World Invitational

 

ROSE ZHANG (Rolex Rankings No. 37)

“Now that I’m playing as a professional and I’ll be in the field trying to go after the title, it’s something that I haven’t really thought about. Now it’s just kind of the reality, and I’m really enjoying it. To be able to play this kind of events, you know, on the LPGA schedule, it’s something that you kind of dream about, because on a week-to-week basis you want to be able to play with all the amazing players and make this your real lifestyle. I’m just enjoying it. Toledo has been great so far.” – Zhang on playing her fourth event this week as an LPGA Tour rookie

  • This is Zhang’s fourth start on Tour this season
    • She is coming off her third-straight top-10 finish at the U.S. Women’s Open (T9), which ties the longest streak of top-10 finishes by any player this season on Tour
      • Eight other players have recorded three-consecutive top-10 finishes this season, but Zhang’s is the only active streak
    • Zhang, who finished T8 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, joins Ayaka Furue as the only two players to finish in the top-10 in each of the last two majors; Furue finished T8 at the KPMG WPGA and T6 at the U.S. Women’s Open
  • A look at Zhang’s shots gained numbers over her last two LPGA Tour starts:

 

Rose Zhang

Field Ranks – Last Two LPGA Tour Starts

 

KPMG

USWO

Tournament finish

T8

T9

SG: Tee-to-Green

26th

7th

SG: Off-the-Tee

39th

6th

SG: Approach

52nd

24th

SG: Putting

8th

39th

 

  • Zhang gained more than twice as many strokes against the field per round off the tee at the U.S. Women’s Open than she did at Baltusrol two weeks prior

 

Rose Zhang

Off the Tee – Last Two LPGA Tour Starts

 

KPMG

USWO

SG: Off-the-Tee per round

+0.34

+0.70

SG: Off-the-Tee Rank

39th

6th

Fairways Hit

76.8%

82.1%

 

  • This is Zhang’s first appearance in the Dana Open
    • She originally received a special exemption from the tournament as the reigning NCAA Individual Champion
  • Zhang rose three places to No. 37 on the Rolex Rankings after the U.S Women’s Open
    • Prior to her win (the week of May 28, 2023), she was ranked No. 482

 

GABY LOPEZ (Rolex Rankings No. 51)

  • Defending champion Lopez shot up the leaderboard in 2022 after a bogey-free, final-round 63
    • She played the last 32 holes of the tournament in 14-under, hit 87.5% of greens in regulation and made 188 feet of putts
    • She went 8-for-9 in sand saves in the week, and had entered the event with a 54.5% rate
    • It was her third-career victory, and first since the 2020 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions
  • Since her victory at Highland Meadows, Lopez has only recorded two top-10 finishes: a tie for fourth at the 2022 ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican and a tie for sixth at the 2023 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions
    • Her season-best result since the year’s first event is a tie for 27th, recorded at last week’s U.S. Women’s Open
  • This is Lopez’s 13th start on Tour this season
    • She has only recorded six rounds in the 60s in 2023, with her last a 68 in the second round of The Chevron Championship
  • This is Lopez’s eighth season on Tour
    • Along with her three victories, she has earned 28 top-10 finishes

 

ON LPGA.COM

Field Breakdown: Dana Open

Five Things to Know About the Dana Open

Corpuz Moves into Rolex Rankings Top 10 After Major Victory

From Pebble Beach to a Parkland Venue: What it Will Take to Grab the Trophy in Toledo

How to Watch the Dana Open

CPKC Extends Sponsorship of CPKC Women’s Open

Behind the Leaderboard – U.S. Women’s Open

Drive On: LPGA All Access Episode 6

 

SOCIAL SNAPSHOT

Wednesday Warm-Up: Dana Open Edition

Rose Zhang’s Hot Start

Epson Tour: Road to the LPGA Episode 2

Defending Champion Back at the Dana Open

Nelly Korda and Rose Zhang ESPY Nomination Voting

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