SAMMAMISH, Washington — The 2024 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will be contested at Sahalee Country Club, a visually intimidating grand event that will challenge the world’s best players this week in Sammamish, Washington. championships, leveling the playing field for the 156 athletes competing, but some players still have slight statistical advantages that they hope to capitalize on as they work to capture some of the biggest titles in all of women’s golf.
Take a look at some of those athletes competing this week in Sahalee for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship:
Allisen Corpuz
Allisen Corpuz currently leads the LPGA Tour in putting accuracy this season, hitting the fairway off the tee 86.6 percent of the time, a number that equates to her finding the short grass on 518 of 598 total shots. Sahalee has incredibly tight views off the tee, views that are intimidating even to the most storied veterans of the LPGA Tour. But with tee shots as straight as Corpuz’s, the Hawaii native should be able to consistently find the fairway throughout the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, something that should translate into more greens hit in regulation and birdie opportunities for the 26 years old.
According to KPMG Performance Insights, Corpuz has hit the ball well in major championships over the past two seasons, ranking fifth in strokes gained (+1.46), sixth in strokes gained on approach (+1.06) and sixth in total strokes gained since the main season began in 2023. She became a first-time Rolex winner at the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links last July and finished in the top 15 of three other major championships last season , tying for fourth at the Chevron Championship, tying for 15th at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and tying for sixth at the AIG Women’s Open.
Her strong 2023 prowess has yet to translate into the 2024 season, but considering her success on some of golf’s most challenging courses, Corpuz is a player who shouldn’t be left out of the contention conversation this week in Washington.
Brooke Henderson
Brooke Henderson may seem like an obvious player to watch at Sahalee Country Club, particularly since she won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship the last time the championship was contested there in 2016. But her statistics indicate that a third major title could be within reach. corner for the Canadian, and why couldn’t she come in a place where Henderson has a resoundingly positive history?
According to KPMG Performance Insights, the 26-year-old leading striker has won a total per round in every major championship since the start of the 2021 season, taking an average of 2.15 shots on the field in each round of the top five of the LPGA Tour. tournaments in the last four years. In that span, Henderson won the second major title of his career at the 2022 Amundi Evian Championship and earned nine additional top-15 finishes, one of which came earlier this season when he tied for third in the Chevron Championship. He also leads the pack in major championships when it comes to scoring average and par scores, posting a 70.60 stroke average and shooting 59 under par in the 17 majors that have been played since the start of the tournament season. LPGA Tour 2021. .
As far as Sahalee goes, Henderson is quite long and quite accurate off the tee, hitting an average of 264,375 yards with her driver and finding the fairway 74.1 percent of the time while doing so. She ranks ninth in strokes gained driving (+0.63), 10th in total strokes gained (+1.39) and 17th in strokes gained from tee to green (+1.14) on the LPGA Tour in so far this season, according to data provided by KPMG Performance Insights. . Combine that excellent ball-striking with a place where Henderson knows how to win, and the Canadian could be lethal this week at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Rosa Zhang
Rose Zhang recently captured her second career LPGA Tour title last month at the Cognizant Founders Cup, winning by two strokes over Madelene Sagstrom at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, New Jersey. Although it doesn’t even slightly compare to the tightness that Zhang and the rest have. of the field face off the tee this week at Sahalee Country Club, Upper Montclair is pretty tight in spots, making her recent success in the Garden State a potential weapon for Zhang to wield in Washington State.
Zhang ranks 16th on the LPGA Tour in driving accuracy, hitting 279 of her 350 total fairways this season, a 79.7 percent conversion rate. According to KPMG Performance Insights, the 21-year-old is tied for fifth in most strokes gained from tee to green per round in major championships over the past two seasons, as Zhang has taken 1.62 shots on the course with his long game. Additionally, Zhang ranks second in strokes gained on approach (+1.34), third in total strokes gained (+1.98) and fifth in strokes gained from tee to green (+1.46) in the this year, a combination of statistics that could be deadly. combination on a course like Sahalee that requires precise ball striking.
The No. 9 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings is another player who seems to thrive in difficult conditions, as Zhang finished in a tie for eighth at last year’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship on the lower course at Baltusrol Golf Club and then tied for ninth place at the US Open Women’s World Golf Championship at Pebble Beach Golf Links, and could compete again this week at Sahalee considering that fact.
Madelene Sagstrom
It was Madelene Sagstrom who went toe-to-toe with Zhang last month in New Jersey, and although the Swede ultimately fell to the American at the Cognizant Founders Cup, her performance in the Garden State could be a good indicator of how she fares in this. her week at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Although Sahalee is much tighter off the tee than Upper Montclair, her ability to keep the ball in the fairway that week led to a litany of birdie and eagle opportunities, many of which the 31-year-old capitalized on en route to annotate. She totaled four rounds of 22 under par to finish 13 strokes ahead of her next closest competitor.
Sahalee likely won’t give up as many shots to the 156-man field this week, but Sagstrom is a player who, on paper, could throw some punches in this formidable spot. She’s not exceptional when it comes to driving accuracy, only finding the fairway 66.9 percent of the time off the tee, but Sagstrom ranks 10th on the LPGA Tour in average driving distance (273.640 yards), length which is usually a benefit during important championships. He also ranks 12th in strokes gained driving, according to KPMG Performance Insights, scoring 0.59 shots on the course with his shots off the tee.
Sagstrom has also been lethal with her putter this year, ranking fifth on the LPGA Tour in strokes gained (+0.96), and if she can combine solid ball striking with a hot putter, we could see the Swede compete for the second LPGA of her career. Tour title at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
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