The third major on the women’s calendar sees the top LPGA and LET stars head for the west coast of the United States and the suburbs of Seattle, Washington for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club.
The course last welcomed the game’s elite players back in 2016 when then 18-year-old Canadian Brooke Henderson edged Lydia Ko in a playoff, and prior to that hosted the PGA Championship in 1998 where Vijay Singh won the first of his three major titles.
In total, there are nine past Women’s PGA Championship winners in the field, including world number one Nelly Korda, Greene and defending champion Ruoning Yin.
Here are the five big talking points ahead of what is sure to be another week of explosive action on the women’s circuit.
The Irish angle?
Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow are the only two Irish competitors in the field of 156 and both can draw on fond memories of the 2023 Championship at Baltusrol in New Jersey where Maguire held the 54-hole lead and was joined by her compatriot and close friend in the final group.
Weather delays upset Maguire’s rhythm on the final day, and, having secured her second LPGA victory at the LPGA Meijer Classic the week prior, finally ran out of steam on Sunday. Meadow, however, kept her foot on the gas and reached the 72nd hole needing at least a birdie to force a playoff.
When Yin birdied up ahead, the tariff was raised and eagle was then required. Unfortunately, it would’ve taken the 3-wood of her life to reach the putting surface, but she went for it nonetheless, but caught the ball a little too close to the equator and couldn’t get close. A closing par still secured her best major championship finish in almost a decade.
This year, neither of the two Irish have been in particularly scintillating form, and Maguire has drifted out to number 32 in the world, her lowest ranking since prior to winning the LPGA Drive On Championship back in 2022, her maiden LPGA victory.
There is good news, however, and that comes in the form of talking point number two.
The Course?
Sahalee is tough. There aren’t many courses that are as heavily treelined as Sahalee, and the premium is very much on accuracy, with approach shots often having to be threaded through tight windows.
Neither of the three major championships that have been held at Sahalee (the 1998 PGA Championship, 2010 U.S. Senior Open and 2016 Women’s PGA Championship) have seen the winner post double digits under par.
Meadow and Maguire are both players that thrive on tough courses and whoever wins this week will hit a very high percentage of fairways and keep the ball out of the hazards that surround six of the 18 greens.
The World Number One?
For a little while it looked as though nobody could stop Nelly Korda. Six wins in seven starts – including five-in-a-row that culminated with her second major title at the Chevron Championship back in April – saw her arrive at Lancaster Country Club for the U.S. Women’s Open as the red-hot favourite, but her challenge quickly ended in a watery grave on her third hole of the tournament as she hit three balls into the hazard and walked off with a 10 on the par-3.
Since then, she missed the cut at her following start, meaning she arrives at Sahalee with back-to-back MCs. It was always going to be tough to maintain the pace she’d set, but few could’ve envisaged the run being stopped in such excruciating fashion.
What’s more, world number two Lilia Vu, who missed both the first two majors of the year through injury, returned to action and was immediately back to winning ways last week. It’s hard to imagine that Korda won’t quickly rediscover her form, but a battle for the top spot in the rankings could be reignited if Vu was to follow up and add to the two major titles she won in 2023.
Late drama
Stretching back to the 2016 tournament at Sahalee, six of the eight Women’s PGA Championships have been decided by a single stroke or less, with playoffs required at the 2018 Championship at Kemper Lakes and the 2016 staging at the current venue.
Last year, Ruoning Yin holed a 15-footer on the 72nd hole to take sole possession of the lead, in 2022 Chun In Gee held a seven-stroke lead at one point, conspired to fall behind Lexi Thompson on the back nine, who in turn handed the lead back and missed a 15-footer for birdie on the last to force a playoff.
In 2016, Henderson who was 18 but playing in her 10th major, hit her approach to three feet on the first playoff hole to defeat then world number one Lydia Ko who she’d run down on the final day with a 65.
The Olympics angle
Lastly, it’s a huge week for many in the KPMG field because the respective Olympic teams will be finalized on Monday. Only 60 players make up the field for the event later this summer in Paris and the top-15 ranked players in the world will be eligible, with only a limit of four players being eligible from a given country. Beyond that, there will be a maximum on two players that qualify from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top 15.
Korda (No. 1), Vu (No. 2) and Rose Zhang (No. 7) are all safely in for the Americans, although no one else from the U.S. is ranked inside the top 15. Megan Khang is 16th, however, and Alison Lee is No. 18. It’s a big week for both women looking to find their way into Olympic eligibility.
Yuka Saso is the top-ranked player from Japan, ranked No. 8 in the world. The second-ranked player from the country is Ayaka Furue at 19th. But Nasa Hataoka and Miyu Yamashita are immediately after Furue at Nos. 20 and 21 in the world. Only Furure, Hataoka or Yamashita can qualify to join Saso because it’s unlikely that those three can all find their respective ways into the top 15 by the end of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
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