The LPGA Tour gets up for its second major of the year as the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is slated to go off at Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Illinois. It was first held in 1955 and has moved through a number of different venues, and this year at Olympia Fields will be the fifth different venue in five years. Defending champion Brooke Henderson will be back to defend her title alongside So Yeon Ryu, who won the first major of the year, the ANA Inspiration and she is coming off a victory at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.
Details
Event: KPMG PGA Championship
Category: LPGA
Date: June 29 – July 2
Location: Olympia Fields Country Club
Three players have set the mark for score-to-par in the Women’s PGA Championship, which is -19: Christie Kerr in 2010, Yani Tseng in 2011 and Inbee Park in 2015. However, some courses can play very tough for this even and three of the last five winners have failed to get out of single digits.
Past Five Winners
2016: Brooke Henderson -6
2015: Inbee Park -19
2014: Inbee Park -11
2013: Inbee Park -5
2012: Shanshan Feng -6
The Field
It’s hard to argue with American Lexi Thompson being the favorite these days. She’s been absolutely crushing it. We’re talking about a player that has one win and three second-place results in her last six starts. Ariya Jutanugarn is right behind her. She’s been very consistent this year as she has 13 straight Top 25 results. That gives you a pretty good idea that she’ll at least compete. She has nine Top 10’s in that span, which includes a second-place result at the Lorena Ochoa Match Play and a win at the Manulife LPGA Classic two weeks ago. The other players in the top five are So Yeon Ryu, In Gee Chun and Inbee Park.
Ryu is now the No. 1 player in the Rolex Rankings (as of this week). While she is coming off a win at the Arkansas Championship, she has struggled a bit of late. She placed 56th at the LPGA Volvik Championship and then missed the cut completely at the ShopRite Classic. We’ll see if she can win for a second straight week at the Women’s PGA Championship.
What To Know About The Course
Olympia Fields’ North Course is one of the toughest in the country and has hosted two PGA Championships, two U.S. Opens and one U.S. Amateur. To put it in perspective, the best score to par in any of the PGA events was Jim Furyk at -8 when he won the 2003 U.S. Open, so don’t expect a double-digit score for this event. It plays 6,588 yards and is a par-71and while some of the trees that lined the fairway are gone, there will still be an emphasis on finding the fairway off the tee. The bunkers have also been deepened, so players would do well to stay away from there.
A Good Matchup To Bet: Inbee Park over Sung Hyun Park
Park’s three wins puts her in the company of the likes of Annika Sorenstam, Se Ri, Kathy Whitworth, Patty Sheehan and Nancy Lopez for this tournament (Mickey Wright leads the way with four), but she hasn’t won a major since the 2015 Women’s British Open and missed the cut in this tournament last year. She did finish T-3 at the Ana Inspiration while Sung Hyun Park finished T-14. She has finished in the top 20 in 10 of 12 events in her rookie season, but the edge goes to the experienced Inbee Park here.
Top-Five Pick: Lexi Thompson
Thompson’s distance off the tee makes her a favorite in virtually every tournament she enters. However, she can be scattered with her driver, ranking 117th in driving accuracy. She still leads the LPGA Tour in scoring average and if Thompson is even decent with her driver, she is going to score a lot of birdies, where she ranks third on the LPGA Tour. She just has to limit the bogeys to have a chance to win her second major after the 2014 ANA Inspiration.
Odds To Win 2017 LPGA Championship
Lexi Thompson +750
Ariya Jutanugarn +1050
So Yeon Ryu +1050
In Gee Chun +1250
Inbee Park +1250
Sung Hyun Park +1850
Mirijee Lee +2050
Moriya Jutanugarn +2050
Shanshan Feng +2250
Stacy Lewis +2250
Lydia Ko +2250
Brooke M Henderson +2550
Michelle Wie +2550
Amy Yang +2850
Anna Nordqvist +2850
Carlota Ciganda +3250
Suzann Pettersen +3550
Cristie Kerr +4050
Jeong Eun Lee +4550
Lizette Salas +5050
Mirim Lee +5050
Mi Jung Hur +5500
Sei Young Kim +5500
Gerina Piller +6550
Chella Choi +6550
Click here to get all of the latest golf betting lines at BetDSI including head-to-head matchups, props and odds to win each tournament!
