LPGA gets lead-in to British Open in Scotland (Jul 26, 2017)
A normal and often productive tactic of players on the PGA Tour is to make an early trip across the Atlantic Ocean in advance of the Open Championship to get better acclimated to the time change and playing on links-style courses, either with practice or by first teeing it up at the Scottish Open.
The LPGA has taken a page out of the men's professional golf book by affording its players the same opportunity with the addition of the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open to the LPGA Tour schedule for 2017.
The event will be contested at Dundonald Links in North Ayrshire, Scotland, the same track the men played two weeks ago. It begins Thursday and will be sanctioned, for the first time, by both the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour (LET).
A 156-player field will take on the elements and the 6,390-yard, par-72 course designed by Kyle Phillips while they vie for the total purse of $1.5 million, with $225,000 and 500 Race to the CME Globe points going to the winner.
Phillips also designed Kingsbarns, the site of next week's Ricoh Women's British Open.
While the Ladies Scottish Open may be new to the LPGA, it has been a mainstay on the Ladies European Tour schedule since 2009.
World No. 1 So Yeon Ryu of South Korea headlines the field and makes her first start since the U.S. Women's Open, where she posted her eighth top-10 finish of the year.
"I think on a links golf course, it's very different than any other golf course, and you have to get used to it," Ryu said. "Maybe only one week could be not enough time to get used to links-style golf course. This is the Home of Golf and how golf started the first time, so I really like to get a feel for it."
The world's second-ranked player, Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, also returns to play for the first time since the U.S. Women's Open and looks to regain the form that earned her the world's top-ranking and her first victory of the season.
That win, in the Manulife LPGA Classic in Canada, came seven weeks ago. Since then, Jutanugarn's game has taken a dramatic downward turn, with her last four starts resulting in a tie for 22nd, a withdrawal and two missed cuts.
Other players currently ranked in the world top 10 in the field are former No. 1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand (who is currently ranked fourth), seventh-ranked Shanshan Feng of China and No. 8 Inbee Park of South Korea.
Defending Ladies Scottish Open champion Caroline Hedwall of Sweden, who posted a course-record final-round 64 to win in 2016 at Dundonald Links, also has to be considered a force with which to be reckoned this week.
Winners from this season on the LPGA Tour who will tee it up this week in Scotland include Cristie Kerr, Haru Nomura of Japan, Sei Young Kim and In-Kyung Kim of South Korea, and Australia's Katherine Kirk.
Also making her return to action in this event is American Michelle Wie, who was forced to withdraw from the U.S. Women's Open just one hole into her second round because of neck spasms. Wie says she is "feeling good" after rest, recuperation and treatment over the past two weeks.
"(I'm) feeling good and (I'm) really excited to be out here playing," Wie said. "I just went into the doctor's office (in my time off) and pretty much just got a lot of rehab, physio, a lot of ice and rest.
"I've always wanted to do this, to spend two weeks here," Wie added. "It's so much fun. I don't think one week is long enough to really understand links golf and try to do well here. But it's amazing. It's just completely different. Hopefully the weather stays OK. But the rain and the wind is what we're here for, so we're prepared for anything."
This week's Ladies Scottish Open is the 21st event in the LPGA's season-long Race to CME Globe. With her runner-up finish last week at the Marathon Classic in suburban Toledo, Lexi Thompson (2,554 points) has narrowly taken over the top spot from Ryu (2,504 points). She is followed closely by reigning Race to the CME Globe winner Jutanugarn (2,177).
