This Week on the LPGA Tour: Walmart NW Arkanas Championship
July 9, 2011; Colorado Springs, CO, USA; Inbee Park (KOR) attempts a par putt on the thirteenth hole during the second round of the 2011 U.S. Womens Open at The Broadmoor, East Course. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
The LPGA Tour heads to the Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, Arkanas this week for the 2013 Walmart NW Arkanas Championship Presented by P&G from June 21-23. Headlining the field is Inbee Park who is coming off her third-career major championship victory at the Wegmans LPGA Championship two weeks ago.
The 54-hole tournament will be played on the Par 71 Arkanas layout with this week’s purse at $2,000,000.
TV Times-Golf Channel (ET)
June 21 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
June 22 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
June 23 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m
On a Roll
After Inbee Park’s third-career major championship victory at the Wegmans LPGA Championship two weeks ago, it was made very clear that the 24-year old South Korean has officially taken the LPGA Tour by storm.
After her win, Park said ‘it was a miracle’ that she won and was lucky to have been forced into a playoff with Catriona Matthew after a 3-over 75 in the final round. Park would eventually beat Matthew on the third playoff hole, but even on a day where she didn’t perform her best, the No. 1 ranked player in the world has the game to beat the best on Tour. The victory in Rochester, NY marked her fourth win of the 2013 season and sixth in the past 22 starts dating back to the 2012 Evian Masters. She’s taken a tighter grip on the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Rankings and shows no signs of letting go. Park extended her lead to 2.62 average points over Stacy Lewis, the largest margin since she took over the top spot on April 15 earlier this year.
She has already crossed the $1 million mark in season earnings as the Tour’s schedule hits the halfway point this week in Arkansas. To put things in perspective on just how good Park has been in the past 12 months, she’s made $3,328,763 which is more than half of her career earnings ($6,489,551) in her seven-year stint on Tour. It’d be no surprise to anyone to see Park in contention this week as she prepares for the next week’s U.S. Women’s Open. Park will be seeking her third major win this season and hopes to become only the second player in LPGA history to win the first three majors on the schedule. Babe Zaharias won three in a row in 1950, a year when the Tour had three designated majors.
Ai Defends Again
Rolex Rankings No. 10 Ai Miyazato returns to Rogers, Ark., seeking to defend her second title she earned last year. The Okinawa, Japan native notched her first win of the 2012 season at the inaugural LOTTE LPGA Championship Presented by J Golf and went on the win the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G just two months later. It marked her second multi-win season of her eight-year tenure on the LPGA Tour.
A nine-time winner on Tour, Miyazato has distinguished herself as one of the top players in the world. She has continued to prove that this season with a runner-up finish to Stacy Lewis at the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup and tied for sixth in Hawaii earlier this year. With top-20 finishes in the last three events, Miyazato hopes to get in contention this week for a successful title defense.
Players to Watch This Week
Rolex Rankings No. 3 Suzann Pettersen is coming in hot this week after notching her fifth top-3 finish in seven events at the Wegmans LPGA Championship. Pettersen, who won her 11th-career victory at the LOTTE LPGA Championship in April, has steadily moved up the Rolex Rankings this season jumping from No. 8 at the beginning of the year to No. 3 after a tie for third at the season’s second major. She is closing in on No. 2 Stacy Lewis and has narrowed the gap to just .31 in points average.
Morgan Pressel also made a statement earlier this month in Pittsford, N.Y. when she was leading the field heading into the final round but couldn’t stave off a Sunday surge from South Korea’s Inbee Park and Catriona Matthew. She finished in a tie for third along with Pettersen. Since her latest win at the 2008 Kapalua LPGA Classic, Pressel has tallied 22 top-10 finishes including four runner-ups. With a solid finish last week there’s no question she’ll be on the radar this week.
Let’s Go Hogs!
University of Arkansas alum Stacy Lewis will be a fan-favorite this week as she returns to Hog country. The former Razorback made a name for herself during college as she won 12 collegiate events and was a four-time All-American. She has carried that success to the LPGA Tour has she now has seven victories and a Rolex Player of the Year award to her name. She comes to Arkansas this week with two victories so far this season at the HSBC Women’s Champions and the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup. With her return to Arkansas this week, the “Calling of the Hogs” chant on the 17th green will be sure to give her the momentum she needs to get back in the winner’s circle.
Rogers Gets Rowdy!
This year’s Walmart NW Arkansas LPGA Championship Presented by P&G will feature a revamped 17th green that will make the crowds in Rogers, Ark. go wild. With “stadium-style” grandstands surrounding the shortened par-3, spectators will be able to interact with their LPGA Tour favorites and cheer them on for some fascinating finishes on the “loudest hole in golf.”
Stories courtesy of LPGA Tour press release.