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USA Today
17-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
How many U.S. Girls' Junior winners have success as a pro? A look back on last 25 years
The 76th U.S. Girls' Junior is underway at Atlanta Athletic Club, where 156 players hoped to join an elite list of past champions that includes Mickey Wright, JoAnne Carner, Nancy Lopez and Lexi Thompson. This year's championship is a global affair, with 16 different countries represented, including six from Thailand and Australia. The average age of the field: 16.42. The adage "anything can happen" is often applied to match play, and success at the Girls' Junior certainly doesn't guarantee future success. And yet, it takes something special to survive and advance over the course of two rounds of stroke play and six matches. Plenty of past champions have gone on to win some of the biggest titles in golf. Over the past 25 years, nine U.S. Girls' Junior champions have won a total of 67 LPGA titles, including 14 majors. The impressive list includes LPGA Hall of Famer Inbee Park, who her first USGA title in 2002 and then finished runner-up to Sukjin-Lee Wuesthoff in 2003 and In-Kyung Kim in 2005. Girls' Junior winners who went on to win majors in that timeframe include In-Kyung Kim (1), Lexi Thompson (1), Ariya Jutanugarn (2), Minjee Lee (3) and Park (7). Four of the nine have won more than 10 LPGA titles: Park (21), Jutanugarn (12), Lee (11) and Thompson (11). Yealimi Noh (2018) became the latest Junior champion to break through on the LPGA last February at the LPGA Founders Cup. Rose Zhang, who won in 2021, claimed her first LPGA title two years after she beat Bailey Davis at Columbia Country Club. Julieta Granada won only once on the LPGA, but it was a big one. In her rookie season on tour, Granada won the season-ending ADT Championship and the tour's first $1 million prize. Notable runner-ups who have also won the LPGA include Alexa Pano (2018), Andrea Lee (2016) and Angel Yin (2015).
USA Today
12-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Nelly Korda praises pace-of-play at LPGA Founders after new penalty system was announced
Nelly Korda praises pace-of-play at LPGA Founders after new penalty system was announced When it comes to speed, the LPGA got off to a strong start at the LPGA Founders Cup. While the tour's new pace-of-play policy doesn't go into effect until late March, players made good time at Bradenton Country Club. 'There was not one round that we sniffed 4:45,' said the uber-quick Nelly Korda. 'It was very nice.' Indeed, the median time for threesomes in Rounds 1 and 2 in sunny Florida was 4 hours, 31 minutes on Thursday and 4 hours, 23 minutes on Friday. For Sunday's final round of twosomes, the tour played in a median time of 3 hours and 48 minutes. 'I just think everybody knows that we need to play faster,' said Stacy Lewis, who was on the small committee that helped shape the changes. Pace of play 2/3 - # of Tees 1st In Last In Median Time 1st Round 3; #1 & #10 Tees 4:13 4:38 4:31 2nd Round 3; #1 & #10 Tees 4:00 4:30 4:23 3rd Round 2; #1 Tee 3:25 3:43 3:48 4th Round 2; #1 Tee 3:29 3:50 3:42 It helped, of course, that the weather was nice and the Donald Ross design is an easy walk from green to tee. It's also one of the tour's smaller full-field events, with 120 players, due to daylight. Last November, slow play became a hot topic once again after the tour missed its TV window at The Annika by 51 minutes on Saturday with two of the fastest players in the game – Charley Hull and Nelly Korda – in the last group. Hull blasted the pace of 5 hours and 28 minutes, saying players should lose their cards for repeat offenses. While that didn't exactly happen, the incident did spur the tour into action. A committee was formed during the offseason and changes were put in place for 2025. Essentially, players who are taking too much time when on the clock will soon receive strokes instead of fines, with the tour introducing a 1-shot penalty for those who are 6 to 15 seconds over the time allotted and two strokes for those who are 16 seconds or more over. 'I can speak about myself because I am not the fastest player out there,' said Gaby Lopez, who thought the new policy was fair. 'I'm trying my best, and I do make an effort. I really work on timing myself out there on the golf course. The thing is we have to take more serious the warnings they are giving us so that avoids us getting on the clock.' Lewis said the feedback she received from players last week was positive. The goal, she continued, is for players to be more aware of where they are on the golf course. What they found in the research was that the time it takes for the first few groups to play versus the last groups was astronomically different at times. In Bradenton, there was a 25-minute difference between the first-in and last-in times during the first round. That reduced to a 21-minute gap in the final round. There were times, last year, it was a 45-minute difference. Lewis would like to see players walk faster. Angela Stanford, who retired from the tour last year, said she believes the problem comes after people get to their ball. 'I think people are losing their time in their process that leads up to their routine,' said Stanford. 'The process of selecting a club can take anywhere from two to six minutes for some of these girls. Their routine might take 20 or 30 seconds. 'It's just my opinion that it's always one of two clubs.'
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Noh seizes LPGA Founders Cup lead as Korda, Khang charge
Yealimi Noh birdied eight of the last 11 holes to grab the lead after Saturday's third round of the LPGA Founders Cup while top-ranked Nelly Korda charged into contention. Noh, a 23-year-old American chasing her first LPGA victory, opened with seven pars before a sizzling back nine produced an eight-under par 63 to stand on 18-under 195 after 54 holes at Florida's Bradenton Country Club. "Just the first few holes they were slow and I was hitting it well but not making many putts," Noh said. "I guess I just needed a birdie and that one at eight just helped me get going." South Korea's Ko Jin-young, who led by two when the round began, fired a 66 to stand second on 196 with South Korean Im Jin-hee and American Megan Khang, who fired a course-record 62, sharing a distant third on 200. Korda fired a 65 to share fifth on 201 with Australian Hannah Green. Noh began a three-hole birdie run at eight, added another at 12 and birdied four of the last five holes, including a tap-in at 18 after landing her approach within three feet of the hole. "I really just want to focus on my tempo and my game tomorrow," Noh said. "I tell myself that every time I'm in this position because you end up thinking about other scores, other people around you. Three-time Founders Cup winner Ko, a two-time major winner who birdied two of the last three holes, has a similar attitude. "She made a lot of birdies and that was good motivation to me," Ko said. "We had so much fun. Looking forward to tomorrow. I have a good chance. I just want to think about myself and do my best." Khang birdied eight of the first 11 holes and broke Ko's day-old course record with the lowest LPGA round of her career. "Having a day like this gives myself a little reminder that I'm pretty good at this sport," Khang said. "Happy I could get it on a Saturday to hopefully give myself a run on Sunday. I expect to be chasing tomorrow, but if I can just keep the same mentality... that's all I can ask for, just try not to get ahead of myself and stay in the moment." Khang opened with back-to-back birdies, added another at the fourth then reeled off four in a row to close the front nine and added another at 11. She answered a bogey at the par-3 15th with a birdie at the par-5 17th and sank a short birdie putt at 18. In all she had 25 putts, reached 16 of 18 greens and found 12 of 14 fairways. "Coming out with a birdie on the first and the second, always a good feeling," she said. "Everything felt kind of dialed in. Happy that putts were starting to drop and hopefully it continues tomorrow." - 'Just got to battle' - Korda, who won last year here on her hometown course, opened with a birdie and made another at four, briefly led after a run of five birdies in a row starting at the par-5 eighth. "You just keep firing at pins and choosing your lines and try to narrow your targets down and then you just shoot at them," Korda said. Korda made bogeys at the par-3 15th and par-4 16th to fall back but closed with a birdie. "You've just got to battle," she said. js/bb
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Madsen, Kupcho share lead at LPGA Founders Cup
Denmark's Nanna Koerstz Madsen and American Jennifer Kupcho each fired a six-under par 65 to share the lead after Thursday's first round of the LPGA Founders Cup. Kupcho birdied three of the last six holes while Madsen birdied two of her last three at Bradenton Country Club in Florida. "I was very pleased with the round," Madsen said. "I think my iron game was the better part. I did make some good putts here and there. "I think biggest key for me is to be good mentally out there, just stay happy, not let the bad shots get too much to your head." The 30-year-old Dane won her only LPGA title at the 2022 LPGA Thailand event, beating China's Lin Xiyu with an eagle on the second playoff hole. Madsen also won the 2016 Tipsport Masters on the Ladies European Tour. Kupcho, a 27-year-old American, seeks her fourth LPGA crown but her first since 2022, when she won a major at the Chevron Championship, the Meijer LPGA Classic and the Great Lakes Bay Invitational pairs event with Lizette Salas. "It was pretty solid," Kupcho said of her first 18 holes. "I hit the ball pretty well. I think when I needed to not hit an iron shot as well it worked out, and when I needed to smash one, the ball went as far as it needed to go. It just was a day of everything was going right." Madsen, a back-nine starter, reeled off five birdies in a row from the 16th hole. She sandwiched bogeys at the third and fifth holes around a birdie and closed with birdies at the par-3 seventh and par-5 eighth and a par at the par-3 ninth. "There's a lot of the space off the tee and I needed that," Madsen said. "It was overall really solid golf." Kupcho birdied the second but took her lone bogey at the third hole. She answered with birdies at the par-5 sixth and par-3 ninth then birdied the par-3 11th, 13, the par-3 15th and par-4 16th before closing with back-to-back pars. "My ball flights were all real good," she said. "I switched golf balls in the offseason, so just to see the consistency of the golf ball was really nice, especially in wind." Americans Angel Yin and Lauren Coughlin and South Korea's Im Jin-hee were one stroke back on 66. Top-ranked Nelly Korda, who won last year here on her hometown course, shot 68 to share 12th. js/mlm
USA Today
04-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
This former No. 1 amateur makes her LPGA rookie debut at Founders Cup
This former No. 1 amateur makes her LPGA rookie debut at Founders Cup Show Caption Hide Caption Ping G440 Max, G440 LST, G440 SFT drivers Ping designed all three G440 drivers with carbon fiber crowns and new weight-saving adjustable hosels, then used the saved weight to enhance stability Ingrid Lindblad, one of the winningest players in college golf history, makes her debut as an LPGA member at this week's LPGA Founders Cup, and the expectations are high. 'I don't think winning is that kind of a crazy goal,' said Lindblad of her 2025 rookie season. When Lindblad first visited LSU, coaches asked "How good do you want to be?" No. 1 in the world, she replied. Lindblad won 15 times at LSU and spent more than 50 weeks atop the World Amateur Golf Ranking. She won the 2024 Ping WGCA Player of the Year title, the 2024 Annika Award and the 2024 Juli Inkster Award. "One of her superpowers, if you will, is her ability to do the little things to get to the big goals," said longtime LSU assistant coach Alexis Rather. "I think she's an incredibly process-oriented person. She knows her game, knows what she needs to do to get where she wants to go." There are 21 rookies on the LPGA this season, hailing from 12 different countries. While Lindblad will no doubt want to make a run at Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year honors, she'll have her work cut out as five members of this year's rookie class are already ranked in the top 50 of the Rolex Rankings. Many in this year's rookie class will debut at the LPGA Founders Cup, played Feb. 6-9 at Bradenton Country Club in Florida. At 24 years old, LSU's Lindblad comes to the LPGA with a boatload of experience, having played five years of college golf along with six years of major championship experience. She knows what it's like to hold the spotlight at Augusta National and the U.S. Women's Open, having held a share of the early lead at the latter three years ago. Lindblad's opening 65 at the 2022 Women's Open at Pine Needles, playing alongside Annika Sorenstam, set an amateur record for the championship. Sorenstam called her fearless. Lindblad ultimately tied for 11th, earning low amateur honors. The decision to come back to school for a fifth season surprised many, but there were goals Lindblad still wanted to pursue. It was another year of maturity, and another year of team golf, two things that carried great value to the Swede. The LPGA was an inevitability, and veteran players like Anna Nordqvist told her not to stress, the tour would be there when she was ready. Lindblad joined the Epson Tour last summer midseason and managed to earn her card in only nine starts. She finished sixth on the Epson Tour's Race for the Card on the strength of a victory at the Tuscaloosa Toyota Classic and two runner-up showings. The start, however, wasn't exactly smooth. She missed the cut in her first event on the developmental circuit as a pro and spent two hours on the range that Sunday with her swing coach, who happened to be caddying, searching for answers. 'I would either shut the face and it went straight left, or it was kind of high right with no power – especially with the driver,' said Lindblad of those mid-year struggles. With the help of a water bottle as her guide, Lindblad made some adjustments and found immediate improvement. That emergency lesson ended up being one of the best of the year, and a rain-shortened event at her third stop gave her a rare opportunity to sleep in. The extra rest helped propel her to a share of second and she never looked back. Lindblad will have a large contingent of supporters in her first year on the LPGA, with her childhood swing coach, Thomas Lindstrom, and putting coach, Peter Franzen, hailing from her home club in Sweden. She can also call on the national team coaches who have been by her side for years as well as her college coaches, Garrett Runion and Rather. Scott Leonard will continue to be her caddie. During off weeks in the U.S., she'll head back to Baton Rouge to reset in a place that's familiar. "She's gained a lot of perspective on how difficult the game can be – the ups and downs that you kind of go through – and has gotten better at looking at the big picture," said Rather. "She has the potential to have a really long career out there ... I think she's ready, and her game is ready, for the biggest stage in women's in golf."
