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LPGA: Jutanugarn ready to defend title at Volvik Championship

By Mike Randleman

Nov 17, 2016; Naples, FL, USA; Ariya Jutanugarn waves to the crowd after sinking a putt on the ninth hole during the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club. Jutanugarn finished tied for sixteenth place at the end of the first round with a score of one-under par. Mandatory Credit: Luke Franke/Naples Daily News via USA TODAY NETWORK
Nov 17, 2016; Naples, FL, USA; Ariya Jutanugarn waves to the crowd after sinking a putt on the ninth hole during the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club. Jutanugarn finished tied for sixteenth place at the end of the first round with a score of one-under par. Mandatory Credit: Luke Franke/Naples Daily News via USA TODAY NETWORK /
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A strong field highlights the second edition of the LPGA Tour’s Volvik Championship.

Fourteen of the world’s top 20 are assembled this week for the LPGA’s Volvik Championship at Travis Pointe Country Club in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The tournament got off to a nice start in its first running in 2016. Current world No. 3 Ariya Jutanugarn picked up her third of four wins last season, also her third consecutive victory, with a five-stroke victory over Christina Kim.

The Field

Volvik Championship
April 2, 2017; Rancho Mirage, CA, USA; Lexi Thompson reacts after she putts for birdie on the fourth course green during the final round of the ANA Inspiration golf tournament at Mission Hills CC – Dinah Shore Tournament Cou. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /

World No. 1 Lydia Ko is sitting out the Volvik Championship but there’s still a healthy amount of stars looking to get some reps in with bigger events on the horizon. World No. 2 and 2017 ANA Inspiration champ So Yeon Ryu is the highest-ranked player in the field this week, followed by Jutanugarn. Five other 2017 tournament winners are also making their way to Michigan’s lower peninsula: Brittany Lincicome, Anna Nordqvist, Haru Nomura, Sei Young Kim and Lexi Thompson.

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Thompson may be playing the best of anyone entering the week. She posted four rounds in the 60s to finish at 20-under, five better than the second-place finisher, In Gee Chun, and nine better than third-place finisher Angela Stanford at last week’s Kingsmill Championship. Thompson’s climbed to world No. 4 and has just one missed cut in 2017 against the win and two runner-up finishes. Taking away the missed cut, she hasn’t finished out of the top 25 all year. Eight of the top 10 from last year’s leaderboard will tee it up, including Kim and 19-year-old Brooke Henderson.

The Course

Travis Pointe Country Club played about normal as far as scores go in the 2016 Volvik Championship. Jutanugarn (-15) and Kim (-10) were the only two to reach double-digits under par. Kim’s 8-under 64 was the low round of the tournament.

According to TPCC’s website, the course was built in 1977 and was designed by Michigan native Bill Newcomb.

The signature hole is the par-5 fourth with tree-lined fairways and water guarding the front and left sides of the green. The tournament will close on the par-5 18th, where a risk-reward second shot will be in play with a stream leading to a pond to the right of the green.

TPCC is a par-72 traditional parkland-style track playing at 6,734 yards this week. Cool temperatures and showers are in the forecast for Thursday but the rest of the weekend projects to be dry and in the 70s.

Notes

Volvik Championship
Jan 7, 2017; Maui, HI, USA; PGA golfer Bubba Watson tees off with a pink Volvik golf ball on the first tee during the third round of the Tournament of Champions golf tournament at Kapalua Resort – The Plantation Course. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
  • Purse: $1,300,000 USD — Winner’s share: $195,000
  • Race to CME Globe points: 500 to the winner
  • Format: 72 holes of stroke play (36-hole cut)
  • 144 players, 83 of the top 100 in the Rolex Ranking.
  • TV coverage on Golf Channel (all times Eastern) — Thursday 7 – 8:30 p.m. (tape delay), Friday 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 2:30 – 5:30 p.m.
  • This week is the first of two stops in Michigan in 2017.  The LPGA heads to Blythefield Country Club in Grand Rapids for the Meijer LPGA Classic on June 15-18.
  • Title sponsor Volvik is a colored golf ball manufacturer based in South Korea. Its most visible sponsored golfer is Bubba Watson on the PGA TOUR.

Next: Volvik Championship fantasy picks

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