By Carey Van Lue

Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G

Kenwood Country Club | Cincinnati, Ohio | September 7-10, 2023

Wednesday Pre-Tournament Notes

September 6, 2023

NOTABLE PLAYERS IN THE KROGER QUEEN CITY CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY P&G

Ruoning Yin (Rolex Rankings No. 2)

• Yin’s T3 finish at last week’s Portland Classic moved her from third to second in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings entering the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G
  • It is the highest position Yin has ever held on the Rolex Rankings
• She is the only player in the top-6 on the Rolex Rankings who is teeing it up in Cincinnati this week
• Yin could potentially move to World No. 1 with a solo fourth place finish or better this wee
  • Additional tie scenarios still need to be run
• This is Yin’s 16th start of the 2023 season
  • She has two wins this season including a major championship victory
    • Yin won the DIO Implant LA Open in March, becoming just the second golfer from the People’s Republic of China to win on the LPGA Tour, following Shanshan Feng
    • She became a major champion at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, following Feng again as the second Chinese golfer to win a major
  • In addition to her two wins, Yin has four other top-10 finishes this season
    • She has finished in the top three in three of her last four starts
      • Women’s Scottish Open – 3rd
      • AIG Women’s Open – T61
      • CPKC Women’s Open – 3rd
      • Portland Classic – T3
    • Six of her seven career top-10s have come this season, her second on Tour
  • According to the KPMG Pre-Tournament Intelligence, Yin has vaulted up the approach play rankings this season – she’s second on the LPGA Tour in strokes gained approach per round in 2023

• This is Yin’s second appearance in the Kroger Queen City Championship
  • She missed the cut in 2022
• This is Yin’s second season on the LPGA Tour
  • During her rookie year, she earned one T4 finish at the Dana Open presented by Marathon and three additional top-20 finishes
  • She finished T4 in the LPGA Q-Series to earn LPGA Tour membership for the 2022 season
• Yin won her first three events in a row on the CLPGA after she turned professional in 2020, a record for the tour

Linn Grant (Rolex Rankings No. 15)

“I think I’m pretty good at every week kind of reset and figure out how I’m feeling, how my game is feeling, and kind of adjust to that. My weeks do not look the same every week. They’re very different in terms of practice round, practicing, just depending on what I feel would get me the best result. I think I’m quite good at just being like calm with that and not stress over the fact that things can change and it’s fine.” – Grant on the consistency of her game in the last few weeks

• This is Grant’s first appearance in the Kroger Queen City Championship
• This is her 11th event of the 2023 LPGA Tour season
  • She became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the Dana Open in July
  • Since her win, Grant has earned six consecutive top-20 finishes
    • Before her win, she had two top-20 results, a T14 finish at the HSBC Women’s World Championship and a solo third result at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play presented by MGM Rewards

• The KPMG Performance Insights highlight some of the keys to Grant’s impressive performance this season:
  • Grant is ranked second on the LPGA Tour this season in strokes gained off-the-tee
  • Grant is ranked seventh or better in both birdie or better rate and bogey avoidance

• This is her second season on the LPGA Tour
  • During her rookie year, she earned four top-10 finishes and one top-20 finish in just six starts
  • She finished T35 in the 2021 LPGA Q-Series to earn LPGA Tour membership for the 2022 season
• Grant is a five-time winner on the Ladies European Tour

Rose Zhang (Rolex Rankings No. 31)

“I’m honestly looking forward to the camaraderie just because this is the U.S. Solheim Cup. Us as athletes, it’s our dreams to be able to represent our countries, and for me to put on the red, white, and blue as a professional, there is no greater honor. At the same time, I’m playing with players that I’ve watched growing up, and to say that we’re teammates is pretty crazy, especially with everything that happened the last couple months.” – Zhang on her upcoming debut at the 2023 Solheim Cup

• This is Zhang’s debut at the Kroger Queen City Championship
• This is the eighth start of her rookie season on the LPGA Tour
  • Zhang won in her professional debut and her first event of the 2023 season, the Mizuho Americas Open
    • She won as a non-member and accepted immediate LPGA Tour membership following her win, becoming a 2023 LPGA Tour Rookie
  • Since her win, Zhang has earned three top-10 finishes on Tour, all in major championships
    • The Amundi Evian Championship – T9
    • U.S. Women’s Open – T9
    • KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – T8
  • In her eight starts this year she has missed the cut twice, at the Dana Open and the Portland Classic
  • According to the KPMG Performance Insights, Zhang has been one of the elite ball strikers on Tour since she arrived earlier this year:

• Zhang is one of twelve 2023 Solheim Cup participants in the field this week
  • Zhang earned a spot on the U.S. Team via the Rolex Rankings along with Solheim Cup veteran Lexi Thompson
  • She will make her debut in the Solheim Cup in two weeks time
  • As an amateur, Zhang participated as a member of the U.S. team in the Junior Solheim Cup, Junior Ryder Cup, Curtis Cup, Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship, Arnold Palmer Cup and Espirito Santo Trophy

Ally Ewing (Rolex Rankings No. 34)

“I know the worst thing you can do — being in this position before, the worst thing you can do is kind of lean on your expectations for last year. This year is a completely new year. While I have good memories, if I compare last year it’ll only hinder my performance. It’s kind of a blank slate for me. I’ll lean on those memories as good things, but I’m not going to put any like high expectation or just set the standard at winning. That’s what we tee it up hoping to do and setting the mark for when we want to do, but I’m going to show up and try to put together — start out with two really consistent rounds and hopefully play two more over the weekend if given the opportunity. So that’s kind of where my head is at. And like I said, I do feel confident, I feel like I’m playing some really solid golf.” – Ewing on defending her title this week in Cincinnati

• Ewing is the defending champion of the Kroger Queen City Championship
• She won the inaugural playing of the event by one stroke over Xiyu Lin, setting a new career-low 72-hole scoring record of 266 (-22)
• According to the KPMG Performance Insights, in her 2022 victory Ewing was outstanding from tee to green, gaining 16.5 shots on the field
  • Her 16.5 strokes gained tee-to-green was the third-highest sum for any player in a single event in 2022
  • More than half of her strokes gained total for the week came from her approach play
  • She led the field in both strokes gained approach and tee to green

• Ewing is one of twelve 2023 Solheim Cup participants in the field this week
  • USA Team captain Stacy Lewis selected Ewing as one of her three captain’s picks
  • Ewing is a three-time Solheim Cup participant, having represented the U.S. 2019 and 2021
  • In the run-up to her selection for the U.S. Solheim Cup team, Ewing has played some strong golf, with a pair of top-10s in her last four tournaments

• This is Ewing’s 16th event of the 2023 season
  • She has made 12 of 16 cuts this season, with four top-10 finishes and two additional top-20 finishes
  • Ewing’s had two top-11 results at major championships this season
    • She finished T6 at the AIG Women’s Open after leading the first and second rounds
    • Ewing earned a solo 11th place result at the U.S. Women’s Open
• This is her eighth season on the LPGA Tour
  • She is a three-time LPGA Tour winner and has earned a win in each of the past three seasons (2020-2022)
  • She has 18 career top-10 results on the LPGA
  • Following her T34 result at last week’s Portland Classic, Ewing surpassed the $4 million mark in career earnings
  • She finished T22 at the 2015 LPGA Q-Series to earn Membership for the 2016 season

ON LPGA.COM

Field Breakdown: Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G

Five Things to Know About the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G

Who Can Capitalize on a Return Trip to Kenwood Country Club?

How to Watch the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G

LPGA Wraps Up Busy Summer Stretch with Second Trip to the Queen City

Making Moves: Chanettee Wannasaen Rockets Up Rankings

LPGA Tour Features: Jane Park’s Return to the LPGA Tour

Pebble Beach Company Goes All in to Grow the Girl’s Game

SOCIAL SNAPSHOT

The LPGA Returns Back to Cincinnati, Ohio

Swings From the Range at the Kroger Queen City Championship

#AonRiskReward Challenge Hole No. 12 Review

Smuckers Jam Cam

#OneMillionMOREGirls with Mariah Stackhouse

A Week Jane Park Will Never Forget

SOCIAL MEDIA: #DRIVEON

Tournament – @QueenCityLPGA (X, Instagram)

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

TV/STREAMING TIMES

(all times EDT)

Thursday, September 7

Round 1

4:00-7:00 p.m. – NBC GOLF Channel, Peacock, International

Friday, September 8

Round 2

4:00-7:00 p.m. – NBC GOLF Channel, Peacock, International

Saturday, September 9

Round 3

2:00-5:00 p.m. – NBC GOLF Channel, Peacock, International

Sunday, September 10

Final Round

2:00-5:00 p.m. – NBC GOLF Channel, International

Live Coverage can also be found on Digital:

NBC – NBC Sports App, NBCSports.com, golfchannel.com

COURTESY NFLmedia.com