By Cynthia Charlene Greason

Highland Meadows Golf Club| Sylvania, OH | July 18-21, 2024

Tuesday Pre-Tournament Notes

July 16, 2024

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE 2024 DANA OPEN

• This is the 39th playing and 40th anniversary year of the Dana Open since the event began in 1984
  • The tournament has been on the LPGA Tour schedule every year except 2011 and 1986
  • Since 1984, the tournament has donated $14 million dollars to local children’s charities through their Champions for Children initiative
• Highland Meadows Golf Club has hosted the event since 1988
  • The course was established in 1925 and designed by local architect Frank Weber
• Friday of the Dana Open will be ‘Lexi Thomspon Day’ at Highland Meadows and will feature:
  • A “pink-out” of fans, players and tournament staff wearing Thompson’s favorite color
  • Giveaways of hats and pins for fans in attendance
  • An exciting (and loud!) surprise ahead of Thompson’s afternoon tee-time on Friday
• The Dana Open field features 144 players including four past champions; Linn Grant (2023), Gaby Lopez (2022), Jasmine Suwannapura (2018), Heather Bowie Young (2005)
  • Grant is the defending champion, earning her first and only LPGA Tour victory at the 2023 Dana Open
    • Grant won her inaugural victory by three strokes over Allisen Corpuz, who was just coming off her U.S. Women’s Open victory at Pebble Beach
    • Grant’s victory at Highland Meadows was her first career win on American soil
      • She has won six times on the Ladies European Tour and most recently at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed, where she defended her title from 2023
    • With a win this week, Grant would become just the second player to win back-to-back Dana Opens, following Se Ri Pak (1998,1999)
    • Grant will be representing Sweden in the 2024 Paris Olympics
    • She was the second Swede to win the Dana Open, following Annika Sorenstam in 2000
  • Lopez won the 2022 Dana Open by one stroke over Megan Khang
    • The win was Lopez’s third Tour victory and most recent
    • Lopez will be representing Mexico in the 2024 Paris Olympics
    • She is the only player from Mexico to win the Dana Open
  • Suwannapura won her first LPGA Tour victory at the 2018 Dana Open
    • She won in a playoff over Brittany Lincicome
    • At the time of her victory, Suwannapura was just the third Thai player to win on the LPGA Tour
    • She is the only Thai player to win the Dana Open
  • Bowie Young earned her first and only LPGA Tour victory at the 2005 Dana Open
    • She won in a playoff over Gloria Park
    • Bowie Young has not competed on Tour since the 2020 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G
• Linnea Strom is the only 2024 LPGA Tour champion in the Dana Open field
  • Strom won the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer after shooting a final round 60

• There are 20 LPGA Tour Rookies in this week’s field
  • Four of the five leaders in the race for Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year will be competing this week
    • Gabriela Ruffels, who is leading the Rookie of the Year race by 22 points, is not in the field
    • Mao Saigo and Jin Hee Im are in second and third on the rookie of the year leaderboard, and both are in the field this week
• Local amateur Mia Hammond, Epson Tour player Erica Shepherd, and 2024 NCAA D1 Individual champion Adela Cernousek received sponsor invitations for this year’s Dana Open
  • Hammond is 16 years old and hails from New Albany, Ohio
    • She Monday qualified for the 2023 Dana Open and ultimately finished T26 and shot -6 overall
    • Hammond is currently ranked No. 18 on the Rolex AJGA Rankings
      • In April, she won the AJGA Junior at Canebrake Club
      • She also finished T2 at the Dustin Johnson World Junior in March
  • Shepherd is a 2024 Epson Tour rookie
    • Her best finish on the Epson Tour this season is a T21 result at the Otter Creek Championship
    • She also received a sponsor exemption for the 2023 Dana Open, where she finished T70
    • Shepherd is from Greenwood, Indiana
  • Cernousek will be making her third ever LPGA Tour start at the Dana Open
    • She won a qualifier to play in the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open, and finished T67 at the major championship
    • She missed the cut in last week’s Amundi Evian Championship
    • Cernousek plays collegiate golf at Texas A&M under coach Gerrod Chadwell, who is the husband of LPGA Tour veteran Stacy Lewis
      • Chadwell will be on Cernousek’s bag this week in Toledo
    • She won the NCAA D1 Women’s Golf Championship in May by three strokes, becoming the first Aggie to do so in the program’s history
      • Cernousek averaged a program-record 69.94 stroke average, becoming the first Aggie women’s golfer to shoot below 71.00 in a season
      • She finished the season ranked as the No. 4 collegiate golfer in the country and earned several accolades including:
        • 2024 WGCA First Team All-American
        • 2024 Golfweek First Team All-American
        • 2024 All-SEC First Team
      • She also represented the International Team a the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup
    • Cernousek is from Montpellier, France
• 2021 US Amateur Champion Jensen Castle and University of Findlay All American Mary Kelly Mulcahy Monday qualified for the Dana Open
  • Castle was one of only three golfers to shoot under par at Highland Meadows on Sunday, finishing the day with a 2-under 69
    • She is an Epson Tour rookie this season, making her professional debut at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship
    • Castle played collegiate golf at the University of Kentucky from 2019-2024, where she was named All-SEC First Team and All-American
    • In 2021, Castle won the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Westchester Country Club
    • Castle made three appearances at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, missing the cut in 2021, finishing T-12 in 2022 and T-26 in 2023
    • She won the Curtis Cup with the U.S. national team in 2021 and 2022
  • Mulcahy, a local amateur, beat LPGA Tour player Brianna Do in a playoff to earn the second Monday qualifier spot
    • Mulcahy is from Lima, Ohio and will be making her first ever LPGA Tour start
    • Formerly a prep standout at Lima Central Catholic High school, Mulcahy now plays for the University of Findlay
      • In 2024, Mulcahy was named the NCAA DII National Player of the Year, first team all-American by the WGCA, all-East Region, G-MAC Player of the Year and G-MAC all-conference
      • She had the most wins in the country, setting a single-season program record with seven victories on the year
      • She recorded 11 top-three finishes during the season and spent much of the year as the #1 ranked golfer in the country
      • She was selected as a member of Team USA for the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup, the only non-Division I female chosen
        • She went 4-0 at the Palmer Cup, leading Team USA to victory and becoming the first non-Division I player in the history of the event to go undefeated

Scoring Records at Highland Meadows:

18 holes: 60, Paula Creamer (R1, 2008)

36 holes: 125, Paula Creamer (2008)

54 holes: 194, Nasa Hataoka (2021)

72 holes: 261, Se Ri Pak (1998)

2024 STATISTICAL LEADERS

Official Money: Nelly Korda, $3,006,871

Scoring Average: Ayaka Furue, 69.887

Birdies: Ayaka Furue, 237

Eagles: Alison Lee, 8

Hole-in-Ones: Jennifer Song, Danielle Kang, Jeongeun Lee5, Sophia Popov, Pajaree Anannarukarn, Grace Kim, Alexa Pano, Auston Kim, Hinako Shibuno, Jodi Ewart Shadoff, Austen Kim 1

Greens in Regulation: Haeran Ryu, 74.4%

Average Driving Distance: Auston Kim, 279.043 yards

2024 Award Standings 

Aon Risk Reward Challenge: No. 17, par 5

With rain softening the course, the average driving distance on the 17th hole at Highland Meadows GC took a steep drop of 19 yards from ‘22 to ‘23. This led to the rate of players who decided to go for the green falling from 23% to just 7%. Much of the field was unable to take advantage of their length off the tee – but not tournament winner Linn Grant in rounds one and three. She went for it in two both days after pounding drives 13 yards beyond the field average, making birdies both days.

Auston Kim currently holds first place on the leaderboard with a -0.958 average on the season-long challenge. 2022 Rookie of the Year Atthaya Thitikul is not far behind in second place with an average of -0.938. Lila Vu, in third place, and Madelene Sagstrom, in fourth place, are close in scores battling for a top spot with averages of -0.889 and -0.885, respectively.

Race to CME Globe Update:

The Race to the CME Globe continues at the Dana Open, in Toledo, Ohio. A look at the top five in the Race to CME Globe:

• An already six-time LPGA Tour winner in 2024, Nelly Korda continues her dominance in the Race to the CME Globe as she currently sits in first place with 3,318.944 points
• Ayaka Furue is in second place with 2,081.702 points.
  • Furue came out victorious last week with a win at The Amundi Evian Championship, which is her first win of the season.
• 2024 HSBC Women’s World Championship and JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro winner Hannah Green has earned 1,549.817 points this season.
• Ally Ewing (1,239.068 points) who jumped into the top five after earning her fifth top-five finish of the 2024 season at the Dow Championship, is currently in fourth place.
• New Zealand’s Lydia Ko (1,191.508 points) is in fifth place

After winning the Tour’s most recent event, the Amundi Evian Championship, Furue jumped from third place to second place, sitting right behind Korda. Green fell from second place to third after Furue’s performance. Ewing and Ko also ended up flopping positions with Ewing moving to fourth place and Ko moving back to fifth place.

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 $11 million purse, increased from $7 million last season, and is highlighted by a $4 million winner’s check, which is 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 2024, 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 13 total holes-in-one made this season, bringing the 2024 donation total to $280,000. At the most recent event, the Amundi Evian Championship, Jodi Ewart Shadoff, Peiyun Chien and amateur Chun-Wei Wu made holes-in-one. Chiens hole-in-one came during the final round of the tournament.

2024 Wins by Country (18 tournaments, 8 countries)

9 – United States of America (Nelly Korda (6), Bailey Tardy, Lilia Vu, Rose Zhang)

2 – Australia (Hannah Green (2))

2 – Thailand (Patty Tavatanakit, Atthaya Thitikul)

2 – Japan (Yuka Saso, Ayaka Furue)

1 – New Zealand (Lydia Ko) 

1 – Republic of Korea (Amy Yang)

1 – Sweden (Linnea Strom)

1 – People’s Republic of China (Ruoning Yin)

COURTESY LPGA TOUR COMMUNICATIONS