Large Australasian representation at women’s first major
Lydia Ko – currently second on Race to the Globe – image LPGA
Just a few days after the first major of the year for men’s golf was completed at Augusta National, women’s golf gets its major season underway with the staging of the Chevron Championship at the Woodlands just outside of Houston in Texas.
The event moved to Texas in 2023 after being held at Mission Hills in California since its inception in 1972 but moved east after the introduction of a new naming rights sponsor Chevron Corporation who are headquartered in the Houston area.
Australia has won the event on two occasions with Karrie Webb succeeding in 2000 and 2006 and, in 2016, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko won the second of her two majors to date.
In 2024 nine Australians and one New Zealander will tee it up on Thursday, one of the strongest representations for our region in the history of the event.
Minjee Lee, Lydia Ko, Hannah Green, Grace Kim, Gabi Ruffels, Stephanie Kyriacou, Sarah Kemp, Hira Naveed, Karis Davidson and Robyn Choi are those players, taking on a red hot Nelly Korda and she attempts to win her 5th straight LPGA event.
Korda trails only Nancy Lopex and Annika Sorenstam who have each won five consecutive events on the LPGA Tour but given that Korda finished 3rd in this event at this venue last year, and is clearly playing even better now, then the chance of her adding a 5th title seems high.
It wasn’t a great year for the Australasians in the event and this venue last year with Minjee the best in 41st place, although, with both Lydia Ko and Hannah Green winning already this season, chances seem high of a significant improvement.
Prizemoney for the event has reached an all-time high with a purse of US$7.9 million up for grabs of which the winner will receive US$ 1.185 million.
