LPGA Tour: U.S. Women’s Open Preview

The U.S. Women’s Open of the LPGA Tour will kick off at CordeValle Golf Club in San Martin, California on Thursday, with several top players set to compete.

LPGA Tour: U.S. Women’s Open Preview

South Korean 21-year-old In Gee Chun is the defending champion, as she won the 2015 Open in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for her first career LPGA Tour victory. Chun defeated countrywoman Amy Yang, 26, by one stroke to earn the win. CordeValle is renown for being a challenging course, and will undoubtedly test the world’s best female golfers.

Eight former champions are in the field this week. South Korean Se Ri Pak (1998), Australian Karrie Webb (2000-01), American Cristie Kerr (2007), South Korean Eun-Hee Ji (2009), American Paula Creamer (2010), South Korean So Yeon Ryu (2011), South Korean Na Yeon Choi (2012) and Korean-American Michelle Wie (2014). 

Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn is also one of the LPGA Tour’s hottest players competing this week. She was on a run of three straight wins before skipping the ShopRite Classic. She will be looking to regain her form from earlier in the season.

Also contending are the top two players in the Rolex Rankings, Korean-born New Zealander Lydia Ko, 19 (World No. 1), and World No. 2 Canadian Brooke Henderson, 18. Henderson won her first major at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in Sammamish, Washington last month.

Ko and Henderson will play the first two rounds with 21-year-old American Lexi Thompson, who is ranked fourth in the world, in the marquee group of the tournament.

The tournament, which will conclude on Sunday, will air on Fox Sports 1 for the first two days and then on Fox Sports the following two days.

PHOTO: SAMMAMISH, WA – JUNE 12: Brooke Henderson of Canada hits a tee shot on the seventh hole during the final round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club on June 12, 2016 in Sammamish, Washington. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)