It’s another Major week, this time at Sahalee Country Club in Washington for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Not only will players be competing for a Major championship title and a winner’s cheque of $1.5m, it’s the last chance they will have to qualify for this summer’s Olympic Games.
The tournament is returning to Sahalee Country Club for the first time in eight years, coinciding with the championship’s 10th anniversary of the KPMG and PGA of America partnership. This alliance has significantly elevated the Major’s profile, including an increasing purse that has now reached $10 million.
In 2023, at the tender age of 20, Chinese sensation Ruoning Yin lifted the trophy and I’m not ruling her out this year, nor Brooke Henderson, who won the title when it was last played at Sahalee in 2016. Can Nelly Korda return to a winning streak? We’ll have to wait and see who will win the third Women’s Major of the year, but here are my top picks.
Ally Ewing
This week’s KPMG Women’s Championship marks Ally Ewing’s 11th start of the 2024 season, and in her 10 previous events, she has missed no cuts and earned three top-15 finishes. Tied for the second round lead at last week’s Meijer LPGA Classic, which included a blistering bogey-free 9-under 63 in the second round, the 31-year-old American eventually finished 4th, missing out by one shot to join a three-way playoff for the title.
This is not the first time she’s held the lead in a Major. At the 2023 AIG Women’s Open, she fired a superb 66 on the Friday, the lowest round of the week, to earn a five-shot lead at the halfway stage. Earlier this month at the US Women’s Open, she achieved her best finish in a Major to date, tying 3rd, so she’s definitely one to watch.
Ruoning Yin
Ruoning Yin claimed her first Major title at the 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, rolling in her fourth birdie of the final round on the par-5 18th to win by one shot from the 2024 US Women’s Open winner Yuka Saso. This victory along with half-a-dozen top 5 results led Yin to a brief spell as World No1.
The 21-year-old defending champion has had a fairly consistent season so far, and while she did retire from injury prior to the second round of the Mizhuho Americas Open, the World No. 4 was back in business a couple of weeks later at the US Women’s Open where she tied 12th. She is an incredible ball striker, so is likely to be less punished than…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golf Monthly…