After a thrilling month of golf in Europe, the LPGA Tour returns to America for the inaugural edition of the FM Championship. The newest event on the schedule will be staged at TPC Boston, about 25 miles south of Boston, and features 144 of the world’s best players competing for a share of one of the year’s largest purses, $3.8 million. Here are five things to know about this week’s tour stop in Massachusetts.
field
Former Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking No. 1 Jin Young Ko headlines the field at TPC Boston this week, looking to reclaim her first win of the season. Ko has 6 top-10 finishes so far this year, but Corriere is in danger of going without an LPGA Tour win for the first time since 2016 as the tour schedule begins late in the 2024 season. He is coming. A missed cut at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews.
Traveling to Boston from Scotland, Olympic bronze medalist Shiu Lin tied for 55th with Lexi Thompson, who played her last AIG Women’s Open at age 29 last week at the home of golf. -Old intends to retire from full-time competition at the end of the season.
Lauren Coughlin is another player playing in the debut FM Championship, and she comes into Boston as one of the hottest players on the LPGA Tour this season, having won the CPKC Women’s Open and the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open two times out of three. . Coughlin’s game cooled off last week, however, as she missed out on Katlin at the AIG Women’s Open for the third year in a row. Already a two-time winner this season on the LPGA Tour, Hannah Green travels to Massachusetts along with Rose Zhang, who won the Cognizant Founders Cup earlier this year.
Course
Opened in 2002, TPC Boston was designed by Arnold Palmer and, for the first time this week, will welcome the best in the women’s game to the FM Championship. The course was redesigned by Gil Hance and Brad Foxon in 2007 and has a long history of hosting PGA Tour events beginning with the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2003. Later known as the Dell Technologies Championship, the tournament was held at TPC Boston until 2018. . The facility hosted the Northern Trust Championship in 2020. Over the past two decades, TPC Boston has produced some of the greatest champions in men’s golf, including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy. For this week’s FM Championship, it will be a par of 72 at 6,598 yards.
Massachusetts Connections
For members of the LPGA Tour who travel the world on a weekly basis, there’s nothing like a home game, as it gives these athletes a chance to hug it out in front of friends and family and return to their roots. . This week, Massachusetts’ own Megan Kang returns to her home state for the FM Championship. Kong was born in Brockton, Mass., and grew up in Rockland, a 40-minute drive from TPC Boston. Kang earned her breakthrough win on the LPGA Tour last season at the CPKC Women’s Open and this year is closing in on a second title with three top-three finishes so far in 2024.
Like Kong, Alexa Pano was born in the Bay State and grew up in Westborough, Mass., located northwest of TPC Boston. Although Pano currently calls Florida home, he has enjoyed the distinction of being the first golfer to be sponsored by the New England Patriots, a nod to his Northeastern heritage. At last week’s AIG Women’s Open, Bano played in a third-to-last group with eventual champion Lydia Ko, eventually finishing in a tie for 10th.
The Solheim Cup teams have been finalised
A thrilling finish at the AIG Women’s Open determined who would qualify for the US and European Solheim Cup teams, as both teams were finalized after the final major of the season. Qualifying for the U.S. team based on Solheim Cup points are Nellie Korta, Lilia Wu, Lauren Collin, Alisen Corpus, Allie Ewing, Megan Kang and Andrea Lee. Rose Zhang and Allison qualified as the two highest-ranked players in the Rolex Rankings. US Solheim Cup captain Stacey Lewis will announce her three captain choices on Tuesday in Boston.
The European Solheim Cup team, captained by Suzanne Petersen, confirmed its automatic qualification on Sunday, with Charlie Hull and Olympic silver medalist Esther Henselid earning their spots through LET Solheim Cup points. Céline Boutier, Maja Stark, Lynn Grant, Leona Maguire, Carlotta Siganda and Madeleine Sackström qualified for the European team through the Rolex Rankings. Petersen named Georgia Hall, Anna Nordqvist, Emily Christine Pedersen and Alban Valenzuela as her four captain picks on Monday.
American team members Kang, Corpus, Zhang, Coughlin, Alison Lee and Andrea Lee and European members Boutier, Siganda and Sackstrom compete in the FM Championship this week. This year’s Solheim Cup begins in two weeks at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club located outside of Washington DC.
ESPN+ Special Team Coverage
The inaugural FM Championship will have special team coverage on ESPN+, which will stream all four rounds of the tournament live. Special panel coverage of the first and second rounds on August 29 and August 30 will be available from approximately 8:00 am to 6:30 pm. Third-round special teams coverage will be available from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. Special panel coverage of the final round will be streamed from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm.
Tournament coverage for all four rounds will be available on both the Golf Channel and Peacock. The first and second rounds will be broadcast live on August 29 and August 30, from 3:30 to 6:30 pm ET. The third round will be broadcast live on August 31 on the Golf Channel and will air on Peacock from 2:30 to 5:30 pm ET. Coverage of the final round on September 1st will air from 1:30 to 4:30 pm ET on Golf Channel, while streaming on Peacock.