Pro Golf Now
Fansided

Kia Classic Field Sprinkled With LPGA Stars

By Mike Randleman

Nov 17, 2016; Naples, FL, USA; Lydia Ko reacts during the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club. At the end of the first round Ko finished tied for sixteenth place with a score of 2-under par. Mandatory Credit: Luke Franke/Naples Daily News via USA TODAY NETWORK
Nov 17, 2016; Naples, FL, USA; Lydia Ko reacts during the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club. At the end of the first round Ko finished tied for sixteenth place with a score of 2-under par. Mandatory Credit: Luke Franke/Naples Daily News via USA TODAY NETWORK /
facebooktwitterreddit

An elite field is assembled for the Kia Classic a week shy of the season’s first major

A championship-caliber field is assembled at Aviara Golf Club in Carlsbad, California to contend the 7th edition of the Tour‘s Kia Classic.

This week’s event is the final chance for players to fine-tune their games before the season’s first Major, the ANA Inspiration, next week at Rancho Mirage.

All of the top 10 in the Rolex Rankings highlight the 144-player field teeing it up at Aviara. World No. 1 Lydia Ko is back to defend her title after she won the tournament’s seventh edition by four over then-No. 2 Inbee Park. Ko birdied her final three holes.

Few would turn down another No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown the way Ko and No. 2 Ariya Jutanugarn have been playing. Jutanugarn enters with four consecutive top-10 finishes and Ko three as each are on the doorstep of their first win in 2017.

Related Story: Ko v Jutanugarn: Waiting for the Shootout

For those familiar with the PGA Tour, this week’s field has sort of a Bridgestone Invitational vibe in its position as a can’t-miss event for players preparing for the big week ahead with a healthy purse, to boot.

The Field

More from LPGA

Going back to the Rolex Rankings, No. 16 Bo-Mee Lee of South Korea is the highest-ranked player not in the field.

All tournament winners from 2016 are in the field. So are six of seven past Kia Classic champions, each who hail from a different country.

Anna Nordqvist could be a name to watch this week. The Swede is fresh off a victory at last week’s Founders Cup where she held off a strong trio of No. 2 Jutanugarn, No. 3 In Gee Chun and No. 14 Stacy Lewis by two.

Nordqvist won at Aviara in 2014 as the only tournament champion to win with an over-par round, rallying from an opening one-over 73 to win by one at 13-under.

The young 2017 LPGA season has produced six unique winners in six events, but winless Jutanugarn is arguably the hottest player in this week’s field.

The 2016 Player of the Year leads the Race to CME Globe standings thanks to a Tour-best four top-10s. Her fine form will be tested this week, though.

Jutanugarn tied for 60th at the Kia Classic last year and missed the cut in 2015 in her two career appearances. But Jutanugarn is a very different golfer coming into this year’s Kia Classic. She’s a well-tested and proven champion, and she know that about herself.

The LPGA touts that all of the top 100 from the 2016 money list will be at Aviara this week.

The Venue

What kind of test will Aviara Golf Club provide? LPGA veterans should know the coastal track that will host its fifth straight Kia Classic well.

More from Pro Golf Now

The Arnold Palmer design plays as a 6,593-yard par-72 that its website says is “uniquely sculpted around rolling hillsides, plenty of bunkers, water features, and landscaped with native wildflowers of Southern California.”

Aviara is the No. 1 golf resort in SoCal according to Condé Nast Traveler and No. 1 in the San Diego area by Golf Digest.

Visit here for a hole-by-hole description of the course.

More Information

  • The tournament-low score is 20-under-par 268 recorded by Cristie Kerr in 2015. Five have recorded the low round at Aviara, an eight-under 64.
  • This week’s purse is $1,800,000 USD with $270,000 to the winner.
  • Standard 72 holes of stroke play, 36-hole cut
  • Winners in 2017 Brittany Lincicome, Ha Na Jang, Amy Yang, Inbee Park and Anna Nordqvist are in the field
  • Tickets for the event start at $20 and can be purchased here.
  • Local vibes: Beth Allen lives in Carlsbad, Tiffany Joh grew up and lives in San Diego and Ha Na Jang resides in San Diego

Golf Channel will provide coverage of all four rounds of the Kia Classic: Thursday, March 23 and Friday, March 24, 8:30-10pm; Saturday, March 25 and Sunday, March 26, 5:30-pm, all times ET.

Next: 10 Spring Golf Getaways

Who are you liking for the Kia Classic? Will Lydia Ko make it back-to-back wins this week or will the Tour have a new 2017 champion?

Home/LPGA