11:30 a.m. – Roundtable with 2023 LPGA Tour winner Leona Maguire and Northern Irish golfers Stephanie Meadow (LPGA) and Olivia Mehaffey (LET)

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE 2023 ISPS HANDA WORLD INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY AVIV CLINICS

• This is the third playing of the ISPS Handa World Invitational since it became an official LPGA, LET and DP World Tour tri-sanctioned event in 2021
  • In 2019, the ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by Modest! Golf Management was hosted by Galgorm and Massereene Golf Club as an event on the Challenge Tour with a women’s invitational
• The tournament will be played on two separate golf courses, Galgorm and Castlerock Golf Club
  • This is the third year Galgorm has hosted the event
    • In addition to the ISPS Handa World Invitational, Galgorm was host venue of the 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open and is home of the Northern Ireland Open
    • The course was designed by Simon Gidman and opened in 1997
    • One of Ireland’s finest Championship parklands courses, Galgorm is an Ireland Golf Tour Operator Association (IGTOA) ‘Parkland Course of the Year Winner’ and is consistently ranked as one of the best parklands in Northern Ireland
    • Both the men and the women will play three rounds at Galgorm – one round on either Thursday or Friday and both the Saturday and Sunday rounds
  • This is the first year Castlerock Golf Club has hosted the ISPS Handa World Invitational
    • In the past two playings of the ISPS Handa World Inivtational, Massereene Golf Club was the second host venue
    • Founded in April 1901, the original course comprised nine holes before additional land was leased in 1908 and Ben Sayers was commissioned to design an eighteen hole layout
    • Castlerock Golf Club is a classic links course set amid towering dunes and situated on the Causeway coast, just 20 minutes from Royal Portrush Golf Club (home of the 1951, 2019 and 2025 The Open Championship)
    • Both the men and the women will play one round at Castlerock Golf Club, on either Thursday or Friday
• Two separate 72-hole tournaments (one for the DP World Tour men and one for the LPGA/LET women) will be played on Thursday-Sunday
  • There are two separate prize funds of $1,500,000 each for the men and women
  • The men and women will play in separate alternating groups during all four rounds
  • A cut will be made after 36-holes to the leading 60 professionals & ties and a second cut after 54-holes will be made to the leading 35 players and ties in each tournament
  • Men and women will play from different tees
• In the 2022 playing of the event, Sweden’s Maja Stark shot a final-round 10-under 63 to win by 5 strokes over Allisen Corpuz; Scottish golfer Ewen Ferguson won on the men’s side
  • At 22-years-old, Stark won the event as a non-member and accepted immediate LPGA Tour membership following her win
  • Since accepting membership, Stark has earned seven top-10 finishes on the LPGA
  • Stark is not defending her title in Northern Ireland this week
• There four players from Northern Ireland and Ireland in the field this week on the women’s side
  • Stephanie Meadow, hailing from Jordanstown, Northern Ireland, won the 2019 playing of the event before it was co-sanctioned by the LPGA, LET and DP World Tour
    • Meadow has played on the LPGA Tour for seven seasons
    • Her win in Northern Ireland in 2019 was her first professional victory
    • She has one additional professional win on the Epson Tour
  • Leona Maguire is the highest ranked player in the field this week at No. 14 on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings
    • She has two LPGA Tour victories, including one this season at the 2023 Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give
    • The Irish golfer hails from Cavan, Ireland
  • Olivia Mehaffey is from Belfast, Northern Ireland and plays on the LET
    • She is playing as a sponsor invite this week
    • She made her debut as a professional at the 2021 playing of the ISPS Handa World Invitational
• Jessica Ross is from Newtownards, Northern Ireland and is also a sponsor invite this week
  • Ross earned an invite by winning the 2023 Ulster Women’s Amateur Strokeplay Open at Clandeboye Golf Club in May
  • She won they event by 10 strokes with rounds of 73, 66 and 71

• There are four sponsor invites playing this week including Mehaffey, Ross, Bel Wardle, Ayaka Sugihara
  • Wardle is from Alderley Edge, England
    • Wardle had four wins as an amateur, including the 2017 English Girls Amateur Championship, before turning professional in 2021
  • Sugihara is from Osaka, Japan
    • She plays primarily on the WPGA Tour Australia and is sponsored by ISPS Handa

SOLHEIM CUP PROJECTIONS

USA Team

• Megan Khang has mathematically clinched a spot on the team after the AIG Women’s Open since none of the players with a chance to make the top seven are playing in the ISPS Handa World Invitational.
• Four players are on the team – mathematically clinched through the AIG Women’s Open:
  • Lilia Vu
  • Nelly Korda
  • Allisen Corpuz
  • Megan Khang

Europe Team

• Celine Boutier and Maja Stark are the two players to mathematically clinch and qualify from the LET Solheim Cup points after the AIG Women’s Open.
• The only two players with a chance to earn enough points to reach the top two and pass Boutier and Stark are not in the field at the ISPS Handa World Invitational – Linn Grant (would need a top-20 finish to have a chance) and Charley Hull (would need a first or second-place finish to have a chance)
• The rest of the team will be made up of the top six European LET players from the Rolex Rankings and four captain’s picks after the ISPS Handa World Invitational.

2023 Statistical Leaders

Official Money: Allisen Corpuz, $2,920,565

Scoring Average: Hyo Joo Kim, 69.686

Birdies: Nasa Hataoka, 233

Eagles: Jennifer Kupcho & Bailey Tardy, 9

Holes in One: In Gee Chun, 2

Greens in Regulation: Hyo Joo Kim, 74.7%

Average Driving Distance: Xiaowen Yin, 278.940

2023 Award Leaders

*Clinched

Race to CME Globe Update:

The 2023 Race to the CME Globe continues this week at the ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by Aviv Clinics. With three victories on the year, including back-to-back wins coming into this week, Celine Boutier (2,380.550) continues to lead the race. But, Boutier’s nearly 600 point lead last week has been closed significantly by two-time major champions and three-time LPGA Tour winner Lilia Vu, who won the AIG Women’s Open and claimed the last 650 point prize of the year. Vu has 2,068.618 points in the Race, trailing Boutier by a little more than 300 points. In third is 2023 major winner Ruoning Yin (1,744.870) followed by Hyo Joo Kim, who has eight top-10 finishes in 2023 and has not missed a cut in 13 starts this season. Rounding out the top-5 is U.S. Women’s Open champion Allisen Corpuz.

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 ties 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 11 hole-in-one’s made this season, bringing the donation total to $220,000. No hole-in-one’s were made at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.

2023 Wins by Country (20 tournaments, 10 countries)

7 – United States (Allisen Corpuz, Cheyenne Knight, Elizabeth Szokol, Lilia Vu (3), Rose Zhang)

2 – Australia (Hannah Green, Grace Kim)

3 – France (Celine Boutier (3))

2 – People’s Republic of China (Ruoning Yin (2))

2 – Republic of Korea (Jin Young Ko (2))

1 – Canada (Brooke Henderson)

1 – Ireland (Leona Maguire)

1 – South Africa (Ashleigh Buhai)

1 – Sweden (Linn Grant)

1 – Thailand (Pajaree Anannarukarn)

2023 Wins by Player (20 tournaments, 15 players)

3 – Lilia Vu (Honda LPGA Thailand, The Chevron Championship)

3 – Celine Boutier (LPGA Drive On Championship, Amundi Evian Championship)

2 – Jin Young Ko (HSBC Women’s World Championship, Cognizant Founders Cup)

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 – Ashleigh Buhai (ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer)

1 – Allisen Corpuz (U.S. Women’s Open)

1 – Linn Grant (Dana Open)

1 – Hannah Green (JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro)

1 – Brooke Henderson (Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions)

1 – Cheyenne Knight (Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational)

1 – Grace Kim (LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei)

1 – Leona Maguire (Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give)

1 – Elizabeth Szokol (Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational)

1 – Rose Zhang (Mizuho Americas Open)

Average Age of 2023 Winners: 25.62

Youngest Winner: Rose Zhang (20 years, 11 days)

Oldest Winner: Ashleigh Buhai (34 years, 1 month)

COURTESY LPGA TOUR COMMUNICATIONS