Special Groups: Dana Open | LPGA

There’s a $1.75 million purse up for grabs at this week’s Dana Open at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio. Five of the top 10 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking and six past champions are in the field, along with four 2023 LPGA Tour winners and 26 of the 32 LPGA Tour rookies. Here’s a look at some of this week’s featured groups looking to join the storied list of Dana Open winners alongside Che Ri Bach, Annika Sorenstam and Dame Laura Davies.

Thursday, 8:26 a.m.* Jin Young Go/Rose Zhang/Lynn Grant

Rolex Rankings No. 1 Jin Young Ko will play the Dana Open for the first time in her LPGA Tour career this week, having exited with a missed cut at last week’s US Women’s Open. The Republic of Korea native has won twice this season, successfully defending her title at the HSBC Women’s World Championship and winning her third Cognizant Founders Cup in five years at Upper Montclair Country Club. Like Upper Montclair, Highland Meadows Golf Club is a parkland-style golf course that Cove is familiar with and has had plenty of success with in the past.

Ross Zhang is in his first two weeks of golf as an LPGA Tour professional and is still riding that momentum since winning the Mizuho Americas Open. She finished T8 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. After shooting a 5-under 67 in the final round, she again carded rounds of 74-71-72-72 at the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Second consecutive major top-10 result. Maintaining consistency after starting on such a high note can be challenging, but Zhang is a player who knows how to do it. Look for her to top the leaderboard this week with a chance to win her second Tour title.

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One player everyone was looking forward to competing on the LPGA Tour this season was Sweden’s Lin Grand. He finished third in the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play presented by MGM Rewards, his first event in the United States since gaining membership in the 2021 LPGA Q-Series. Since then, Grant has played very little, finishing T20 and T53 in the last two months at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the US Women’s Open, respectively. However, the five-time Ladies European Tour winner is scheduled to compete in all four events that are part of the LPGA’s European swing this summer, so we’ll have plenty of Lynn Grand golf in the coming weeks. Dana Open.

Thursday, 1:10 pm – Xiu Lin/In Gee Chun/Gaby Lopez

Xiyu Lin of the People’s Republic of China is set to play her fourth event in five weeks this week in Sylvania, Ohio, as she looks to regain her first LPGA Tour title. The 26-year-old had another top-15 finish at the US Women’s Open last week, with a 4-under 68 around Pebble Beach over the final three rounds to give her a share of the early lead. Lin has three top-five finishes so far this season — and he posted back-to-back T3 performances at the Major LPGA Classic. Simply give and the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship — and she will lean on the confidence gained from those results as she prepares to play at Highland Meadows Golf Club in 2022, where she finished T7.

Jie Chun made her second ace of the 2023 season at the 154-yard, par-3 5th hole Sunday at Pebble Beach, finishing tied for 27th. It’s been a tough season for the major champion, who opted to take time off to rehabilitate a lingering injury following the Hanwha LifePlus International crown. He was one stroke back, missed two cuts and posted a career-best finish of T18 at The Chevron Championship, a respectable showing considering it was his first event of the year elsewhere. Chun, who is playing in his fourth Dana Open at Highland Meadows Golf Club, hopes this week will help him pursue two major championships in the next month and a half.

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Gabby Lopez cruised to her third career LPGA Tour victory at last year’s Dana Open, rolling in a long birdie putt on the final green and shooting a final-round 63 to beat Megan Kang by one. He played solidly throughout the 2022 season, missing any cuts and scoring another top-five finish aboard the Gainbridge-driven Annika at Pelican, where he finished fourth. Lopez has only cracked the top 10 once, as this year has been a slightly different story, posting a T6 finish at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and missing four cuts in 12 total starts. Like last year, this week’s Dana Open will be a turning point for the Mexico native, and the second half of the 2023 season will be big.

Thursday, 1:21 PM – Lydia Ko/Alysen Corpus/Minjie Lee

Lydia Ko is a two-time winner of the Dana Open, winning the title in 2014 and 2016, and has never finished outside the top 20 at the event in her seven previous appearances. This week will mark the 26-year-old’s eighth time at Highland Meadows in Sylvania, Ohio and Co. after the 2023 season. He uncharacteristically missed two cuts and recorded just one top-10 finish, a T6 at the Honda LPGA Thailand, his first event of the year. This week’s Dana Open is her third event in four weeks, and Ko will be looking to improve on performances of T57 and T33 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and US Women’s Open, respectively.

Allison Corpus finally broke through on Sunday, becoming Rolex’s first-ever winner with a three-shot victory at the US Women’s Open. While the newly crowned major winners may have next week off, Corpus chose to ride his hot streak this week at the Dana Open and hopes to have a better week this year than last season’s loss in Sylvania. In his introduction. Despite the lack of success, the 25-year-old has a solid 2023, posting top-15 finishes at the HSBC Women’s World Championship (T3) and The Chevron Championship (T4) and the KPMG Women’s PGA. Championship (T15).

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Australian Minjee Lee will play in her second consecutive Dana Open this week, showing T13 at the US Women’s Open. This will be his fifth appearance at Highland Meadows, and in his previous four appearances, Lee has never finished worse than T49, posting a solo fourth-place finish in 2020. Lee finished in the top five this season, earning a runner-up finish. honor after falling to Jin Young Go in the playoffs of the Cognizant Founders Cup. He also posted four additional top-20 finishes, all of which came in his last four starts. Along with her T13 at Pebble Beach, Lee has two T13 finishes at the Mizuho Americas Open and the Meijer LPGA Classic. Simply give and a T20 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

To view all other special groups and tee times for the 2023 Dana Open, please Click here.

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