LPGA Tour heads to New Zealand for the first time (Sep 26, 2017)
The LPGA Tour heads below the equator and then some to the southwestern Pacific island nation of New Zealand for the first time this week for the inaugural McKayson New Zealand Women's Open.
The tournament begins Thursday at Windross Farm Golf Course in Auckland.
Hometown favorite and former world No. 1 Lydia Ko headlines a field of golfers from 25 different countries who will compete for a purse of $1.3 million at the last of the four new events added to the 2017 LPGA schedule.
Ko has won this event three times and finished runner-up in 2014. Until this season, The New Zealand Women's Open was formerly part of the Ladies European Tour and the Australian LPGA Tour.
Also in the field is Brittany Lincicome, who won the season opening Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic when she defeated fellow American Lexi Thompson in a playoff. The world No. 47 has just one other top 10 finish in 2017.
Australian veteran Katherine Kirk, who won the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic in July for her first victory in seven years, is also in the field this week and will be one of the favorites. The 35-year-old will look to carry the momentum she found two weeks ago in France, where she finished tied for third at the Evian Championship.
Kirk has played well in 2017, garnering three top 10 finishes, her most in a season since 2012.
"I've been working pretty hard," Kirk said. "I changed coaches at the end of the 2015 and I guess the changes are finally kicking in. When your confidence is high that helps in this game, and I have finally got a little bit of confidence."
Ko, current ranked No. 8 in the world, is seeking to return to the winner's circle for the first time in more than a year. She hopes the partisan Kiwi support can help her improve on the top-three finishes she's recorded in her last two starts.
Danielle Kang, the 2017 KPMG Women's PGA champion and the No. 22 player in the world, has her own secret weapon this week. Veteran caddie Steve Williams, the former caddie for Tiger Woods and Australian Adam Scott on the PGA Tour, will be on the bag for Kang this week in his home country of New Zealand.
Kang admitted she thought it was a joke when she was informed Williams had offered to caddy for her this week.
"I needed someone because my caddy isn't able to be here so I said 'OK, I'll just hire a local,'" Kang said. "Someone said, 'Would you mind having Steve Williams on the bag?' I thought it was a joke at first. He knows this course -- he's like a walking yardage book. It'll be fun."
Kang said she was impressed with the tournament setup at Windross Farm, which will play to a par of 72 and at 6,416 yards for this event.
"We're waiting to see how they set it up," Kang said of the course. "There are places where you can go for it and places where you can't. It'll be interesting. The greens are in really great condition and it is beautiful. I'm hoping that the wind blows a little and the rain comes.
"You don't enter a tournament without winning in mind so I am hoping to play really well out here. I hope to take that trophy home."
This week's McKayson New Zealand Women's Open is the 27th event in the season-long Race to the CME Globe.
Thompson, the world No. 3, currently leads the standings with 3,221 points, followed by two South Korean players, World No. 1 So Yeon Ryu (2,691 points) and world No. 2 Sung Hyun Park (2,619 points).
Players are still battling to make it into the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, where the top 72 LPGA Tour members (plus ties) on the Race to the CME Globe standings make up the field at the Tour's season finale.
After the McKayson New Zealand Women's Open, the LPGA Tour will take a week off and then begin a five-event Asian swing featuring limited field events beginning at the LPGA KEB HanaBank Championship in Incheon, South Korea.
