USA vs. Canada hockey gold medal game: highlights and analysis from Canada’s 3-2 win

By Feb 17, 2022, 3:30 AM EST
USA vs Canada in the women's hockey gold medal game at the 2022 Winter Olympics; Hannah Brandt's shot hits the post in the first period
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For the sixth time in Olympic history, the women’s hockey gold medal game at the 2022 Winter Olympics featured the United States and Canada. The two teams have combined to win every world and Olympic title in women’s hockey history. And that streak didn’t end in Beijing.

Canada won the gold medal game 3-2, despite a late effort from the United States. Canada’s “Captain Clutch” Marie-Philip Poulin scored two goals (including the game-winner).

WOMEN’S HOCKEY UPDATE: USA-Canada ‘Rivalry Rematch’ highlights historic underinvestment, and future potential, of women’s hockey

During the gold medal game, On Her Turf provided live updates. Here’s how the latest chapter of the USA vs. Canada rivalry unfolded:

Women’s Hockey – Olympic Gold Medal Game – Live Updates and Score:

FIRST PERIOD:

11:05pm ET: It’s time! The U.S. and Canada have stepped on the ice at Wukesong Sports Center. Fun fact: During the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, the venue hosted basketball.

11:09pm ET: Another fun fact: all four officials for this game are women: referees Kelley Cooke and Anna Wiegand, and lineswomen Anna Hammar and Kendall Hanley.

11:12pm ET: In goal for Canada is Ann-Renee Desbiens. Four years after sitting on the bench during the 2018 gold medal final, she has been so solid in this tournament.

11:13pm ET: American Hannah Brandt with a fantastic opportunity, but it bounces off the post.

Video of Hannah Brandt’s near goal in the women’s hockey gold medal game:

11:19pm ET: Canada goes up 1-0. If you leave Natalie Spooner open in front of the net, that’s what’s going to happen….

11:20pm ET: But wait! U.S. coach Joel Johnson challenges the goal, arguing that Canada was offside prior to the goal. And the challenge goes in favor of the United States. It’s a 0-0 game again.

11:23pm ET: CANADA SCORES. 1-0 game. That was a really nice goal. Sarah Nurse was in the perfect spot, tipping the puck in past U.S. goalie Alex Cavallini. Claire Thompson and Marie-Philip Poulin credited with the assist.

Video of Sarah Nurse’s goal to put Canada up 1-0 in the women’s Olympic gold medal game:

11:30pm ET: Canada entered the game with a much deeper bench than the United States. And 12 minutes into the first period, every Canadian player – except for back-up goalie Emerance Maschmeyer and defender Ella Shelton – has stepped on the ice. The same can’t be said for the U.S.: defenders Caroline Harvey and Jincy Dunne have played zero minutes in the last two games… and that trend appears likely to continue in the gold medal game. The Americans are also, of course, playing without Brianna Decker, who was injured in the first game of the tournament.

11:36pm ET: CANADA SCORES, 2-0 GAME. Would it be a gold medal game without a goal from Marie-Philip Poulin? She does a fantastic job of taking the puck away from Kelly Pannek as the U.S. was working it out of the zone. U.S. goalie Alex Cavallini looks like she was caught off guard, either by a screen in front or the quick turnaround.

Video of Marie-Philip Poulin’s goal to make it 2-0 for Canada:

11:45pm ET: First period ends with Canada leading the U.S. 2-0. The Americans finished the period by killing off a penalty by Kendall Coyne Schofield (delay of game).

SECOND PERIOD: 

12:00am ET: Looking through those first period stats… let’s talk about bench depth/roster utilization. At the end of the first period, only one Canadian player (Renata Fast) has spent more than eight minutes on the ice. The U.S. has four players with 9+ minutes time on ice (TOI).

12:10am ET: Wow. CANADA GOAL, 3-0. Marie-Philip Poulin again (video below). Get this: this is Poulin’s FOURTH STRAIGHT GOLD MEDAL game scoring at least one goal: two in 2010, two in 2014, one in 2018, two today…

12:22am ET: In some ways, Canada leading 3-0 was completely predictable… The Canadians blazed their way through the Olympic tournament, outscoring their opponents in Beijing by a combined 54-8 (ahead of today’s gold medal final). That said, despite the struggles the U.S. team has had in the tournament, it always felt possible that today’s game could be a 0-0 overtime battle given the storied rivalry between the two teams.

12:29am ET: HILARY KNIGHT SCORES (video below). 3-1 game. A short-handed goal, even, after Megan Keller took a holding penalty. Hannah Brandt with the assist.

12:35am ET: That’s the end of the second period. Canada currently leads the U.S. 3-1. If the result holds, Canada will win its fifth gold medal in women’s hockey. As we’ve seen in previous games at these 2022 Winter Olympics, the U.S. is getting shots, but not finishing, except for that master class from Knight. The Americans currently lead the Canadians 24-17 in shots on goal.

THIRD PERIOD: 

12:45am: Something to keep in mind as the third period gets underway. The team that was leading in the 2014 and 2018 gold medal game at the end of the second period? Not the team that ultimately won. The U.S. was leading 1-0 in 2014 (ultimately lost 3-2 in OT). Canada was leading 2-1 in 2018 (ultimately lost 3-2 GWS).

12:53am: CLINK! You can hear the sound as a shot from Alex Carpenter bounces off the post (video below).

1:04am ET: Team USA will go on the power play after Canada’s Jocelyne Larocque is called for hooking on Savannah Harmon.

1:05am ET: And the U.S. isn’t able to capitalize on the power play… again. Not a new storyline at these 2022 Beijing Winter Games. Ann-Renee Desbiens has to make just one save as Canada’s penalty kill holds strong.

1:14am ET: The U.S. is peppering shots on Desbiens but isn’t able to make a dent.

1:15am ET: With 3:08 remaining, the U.S. pulls goalie Alex Cavallini to add the extra player.

1:18am ET: U.S. will go back on the power play after Marie-Philip Poulin gets called for a penalty.

1:20am ET: !!!!!! AMANDA KESSEL SCORES. 2-3. 13.5 SECONDS REMAINING, AFTER OFFICIALS ADJUST THE CLOCK. WOW.

1:23am ET: And just like that, it’s over. Canada wins 3-2. Felt like the U.S. woke up too late, though they did record nearly twice as many shots on goal as Canada (41 to 20).

Ice Hockey - Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Day 13
BEIJING, CHINA – FEBRUARY 17: Marie-Philip Poulin #29, Sarah Nurse #20, Renata Fast #14 and Ann-Renee Desbiens #35 of Team Canada celebrate after winning the women’s hockey gold medal game. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

2:22am ET: There is gonna be a lot to unpack from this one, but it certainly lived up to the hype. While looking through the game stats / tournament stats, a couple things that stood out:

USA vs Canada Rivalry History – Olympic and World Championship History (Finals only)

Year Event Winner and Score
1990 World Championship Canada, 5-2
1992 World Championship Canada, 8-0
1994 World Championship Canada, 6-3
1997 World Championship Canada, 4-3 (OT)
1998 Nagano Winter Olympics USA, 3-1
1999 World Championship Canada, 3-1
2000 World Championship Canada, 3-2 (OT)
2001 World Championship Canada, 3-2
2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics Canada, 3-2
2003 World Championship Cancelled due to SARS
2004 World Championship Canada, 2-0
2005 World Championship USA, 1-0 (SO)
2006 Torino Winter Olympics Canada defeated Sweden, 4-1
2007 World Championship Canada, 5-1
2008 World Championship USA, 4-3
2009 World Championship USA, 4-1
2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Canada, 2-0
2011 World Championship USA, 3-2 (OT)
2012 World Championship Canada, 5-4 (OT)
2013 World Championship USA, 3-2
2014 Sochi Winter Olympics Canada, 3-2 (OT)
2015 World Championship USA, 7-5
2016 World Championship USA, 1-0 (OT)
2017 World Championship USA, 3-2 (OT)
2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics USA, 3-2 (SO)
2019 World Championship United States defeated Finland, 2-1 (SO)
2020 World Championship Cancelled due to Covid-19
2021 World Championship Canada, 3-2 (OT)
2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Canada, 3-2

Follow Alex Azzi on Twitter @AlexAzziNBC

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2023 March Madness: What to watch for as South Carolina faces Iowa, LSU takes on Virginia Tech in women’s NCAA Final Four

By Mar 30, 2023, 8:01 PM EDT
South Carolina Gamecocks players react during the third quarter of the game against the Maryland Terrapins in the Elite Eight.
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This year’s March Madness has lived up to the hype, with defending NCAA champions — No. 1-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks — riding a 42-game win streak dating back to the 2022 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. Also back for this weekend’s tournament finale are the Louisiana State Tigers, back in the women’s Final Four for the first time in 15 years, and the Iowa Hawkeyes, who are dancing for the first time in three decades and boast the nation’s top player in Caitlin Clark. The top-seeded Virginia Tech Hokies round out the Final Four, where they’ll play in the semis for the first time ever.

Of note, this year’s Final Four, set for Friday at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, marks the first time in 38 years without any of the sport’s longtime powerhouses — Tennessee, Stanford and UConn. Even South Carolina, who also won the title in 2017 and are making its third consecutive Final Four appearance, is a relative newcomer to tournament greatness: The Gamecocks made their first-ever Final Four appearance just eight years ago.

The fresh lineup — headlined by a matchup of the game’s top stars in South Carolina forward Aliyah Boston and Iowa guard Clark — is an opportunity to celebrate the women’s game and its depth of talent more widely, said Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley on Thursday.

“It’s great,” she told media from Dallas. “It’s been building towards this for a long time. Fortunately for us — not just South Carolina, but us as women’s basketball — we’ve got a lot of star power behind our sport. It increases. [Along with Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark), you’ve got Angel Reese; you’ve got [Georgia] Amoore; you’ve got [Elizabeth] Kitley. You’ve got all these players who have been incredible, just incredible — creating incredible stories for our game.”

Speaking of storylines to follow, Friday’s double-header kicks off at 7 p.m. ET (ESPN) with No. 1 seed Virginia Tech squaring off vs. No. 3 LSU. The Hokies haven’t lost a game since January, while the Tigers will aim to match the lowest seed ever to win the women’s tournament. The only two teams to have won before as the No. 3 seed are North Carolina in 1994 and Tennessee in 1997.

Drawing the biggest buzz to date is Friday night’s second semifinal, where the overall No. 1 seed South Carolina faces the formidable No. 2-seeded Iowa. In the Hawkeyes’ last game against Louisville, Clark set a new tournament record when she notched 41 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in the first-ever, 40-point triple-double in the NCAA tournament — women’s or men’s.

Clark said afterward that Iowa’s first Final Four since 1993 was the product of a very “Ted Lasso” principle: “When I came here, I said I wanted to take this program to the Final Four, and all you gotta do is dream,” she said. “Then all you gotta do is believe and work your butt off to get there.”

RELATED: Updated bracket, scores and schedule for NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship

No. 3 LSU

Current record: 32-2

Season wrap: LSU finished the regular season 27-1, tying the best regular-season record in program history, matching the 2004-05 team. That LSU team reached the Final Four, but fell to Kim Mulkey’s Baylor team en route to her first national championship as a head coach.

Final Four outlook: LSU is making its sixth Final Four appearance in program history and its first since 2008, which marked the last of five consecutive Final Four appearances for the Tigers with players like Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles. Despite all of LSU’s previous success in reaching the Final Four, the Tigers have never won a national semifinal.

Probable starters: Angel Reese (F), LaDazhia Williams (F), Flau’jae Johnson (G), Kateri Poole (G), Alexis Morris (G)

About coach Kim Mulkey: This year marks Mulkey’s fourth Final Four appearance as a head coach. She holds a 3-1 record in national semifinal games and won three national championships as the head coach at Baylor. She’s the only person in men’s or women’s DI history to win national championships as a player, assistant coach and head coach.

Spotlight on… Angel Reese: Reese, a transfer from Maryland, set an SEC record with her 32nd double-double of the season in the Elite Eight. Through four games in the NCAA Tournament, she’s averaging 22.3 points and 17.3 rebounds. She was extra dominant in the first two rounds, where she averaged 29.5 points, 19.5 rebounds, 4.5 blocks, 3.0 assists and 3.0 steals. In LSU’s opening-round game against Hawaii, Reese tied Fowles’ LSU NCAA Tournament record with 34 points. In the second round, she became the first player to ever record 25 points and 24 rebounds (an LSU NCAA Tournament record) in a NCAA Tournament game.

Coach’s last word: “Last thing I shared with them in the middle of the floor was, you’re getting ready to play a No. 1 seed. We’ve not done that,” Mulkey told reporters in Dallas on Tuesday. “You’re getting ready to play a young lady who is the finalist for not one but two awards. We don’t have anybody on our team that’s a finalist for any award. Are we satisfied? Are we patting ourselves on the back and saying, ‘Hey, this is as far as we can go, or are you still hungry?’ And the responses that I received are, ‘Coach, we’re ready to move on and get to the next game.’

“When you have kids that are hungry and not satisfied to just be there, you’re going to go compete. Whether we win or lose, I know we will compete.”

No. 1 Virginia Tech

Current record: 31-4

Season wrap: This was a season of firsts for the Hokies, who are making their first Final Four appearance in program history after making their Elite Eight debut this past Monday night. The season also marked the first time recording 31 wins in a single season and the first time that Tech has had a two-time ACC Player of the Year.

Final Four outlook: The Hokies’s win in the Elite Eight over Ohio State moved VT to 13-11 in NCAA Tournament games (12 appearances) and marked their 15th consecutive victory, tying their longest win streak since they won 15 straight to open head coach Kenny Brooks‘ tenure at Virginia Tech. Tech is a No. 1 seed for the first time in program history, and their semifinal matchup vs. LSU will be their fourth. Tech owns a 1-2 record all-time vs. the Tigers, and the two sides last met Nov. 14, 2006, with LSU winning 70-40 in Baton Rouge, La.

Probable starters: Taylor Soule (F), Elizabeth Kitley (C), Georgia Amoore (G), Cayla King (G), Kayan Taylor (G)

About coach Kenny Brooks: Brooks is closing out his seventh season with Virginia Tech, which is 155-73 since he joined as head coach in March 2016 and 5-2 in NCAA Tournament games. Brooks is just the third Black male coach to lead a team to the Final Four, joining Winthrop “Windy” McGriff with Cheyney in 1984 and Syracuse’s Quentin Hillsman in 2016. In 2022, Brooks led the Hokies to a program record with 13 ACC victories and five ranked wins, and the team advanced to the ACC Tournament Semifinals for the first time ever.

Spotlight on… Elizabeth Kitley: In her last outing, Kitley scored a game-high 25 points, 11 rebounds and had three blocks, marking her 21st double-double of the season and 56th of her career. She now owns the program record for double-doubles and was recently named second-team All-American. On the season, the two-time ACC Player of the Year, who hails from Summerfield, N.C., is averaging 18.2 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game this season while shooting 56% from the floor.

Coach’s last word: “I knew we had the talent this summer, and watching them and how quickly they were starting to gel,” Brooks told reporters Tuesday. “They weren’t a cohesive unit during the summer, but we knew we had the makings of it just because we had so many mature kids. And then really we hit our stride obviously with the winning streak (10-0 to start the season), but when we lost to Duke (on Jan. 26), we learned a lot about ourselves. There was no yelling in the locker room after that game. I told the kids, ‘Let this sting. We’ll get another opportunity to play them,’ and I said, ‘Don’t let it bother us. Let it kick us forward.’

“From that moment, the look in their eyes, they’ve been pure professionals. They’ve gone out, everyone understands their roles, and they’ve done them, and they’ve starred in their roles. The way these kids play for each other is something special.”

Past champions of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship

YEAR CHAMPION (record) COACH SCORE RUNNER-UP SITE
2022 South Carolina (36-2) Dawn Staley 64-49 Connecticut Minneapolis, Minnesota
2021 Stanford (31-2) Tara VanderVeer 54-53 Arizona San Antonio, Texas
2020 Baylor (37-1) Kim Mulkey 82-81 Notre Dame Tampa, Florida
2019 Notre Dame (34-3) Muffet McGraw 61-58 Mississippi State Columbus, Ohio
2018 South Carolina (33-4) Dawn Staley 67-55 Mississippi State Dallas, Texas

For a complete list of champions, visit NCAA.com.

No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes

Current record: 30-6

Season wrap: With its win over Louisville in the Elite Eight, Iowa set a program record for the most wins in a single season as the Hawkeyes prepare for their second Final Four in school history. Earlier this season, Iowa won its third Big Ten Tournament title since 2019, beating Ohio State by largest margin of victory in BTT Championship history (33 points). Iowa’s 87.6 points per game this regular season is the best in program history, and the Hawkeyes’ made 313 three-pointers this season set a Big Ten Conference record, eclipsing the prior mark set by Ohio State (300) in 2017-18. Iowa leads the nation in points per game, assists per game (21.1) and field goal percentage (50.9).

Final Four outlook: The Hawkeyes were tabbed a No. 2 seed for the fifth time in school history, and they hold a 13-4 record in the NCAA Tournament on the No. 2 Seed line.This will be the second meeting between the two programs, which met on Dec. 28, 1989, in the “Super Shootout Basketball Tournament” in Hilton Head, S.C. No. 20 ranked South Carolina beat No. 4 Iowa 82-76. 

Probable starters: McKenna Warnock (F), Monika Czinano (F), Caitlin Clark (G), Gabbie Marshall (G), Kate Martin (G)

About coach Lisa Bluder: Bluder ranks fourth all-time among Division I active coaches with 849 career wins (first among Big Ten active coaches), and she’s also the all-time leader for Big Ten regular season conference wins with 247.  The Hawkeyes have made postseason tournament appearances in 21 of Bluder’s 23 seasons at Iowa, receiving 17 NCAA Tournament and four WNIT (2003, 2005, 2016, 2017) bids, including four Sweet 16 appearances.

Spotlight on… Caitlin Clark: Tabbed as the Naismith National Player of the Year on Wednesday, Clark became the first player in DI women’s basketball history to notch a 950-point and 300-assist single season. This season, Clark added to her Big Ten Conference record with her 11th career triple-double in Iowa’s Elite Eight win over Louisville, tying for second-most in NCAA women’s basketball history. She joined Marquette men’s basketball All-American Dwyane Wade as the only NCAA Division I players since 1999-2000 with a triple-double against an AP Top-2 opponent when she accomplished the feat in January vs. a then-No. 2-ranked Ohio State (Wade did it vs. No. 1 Kentucky in the 2003 NCAA Tournament), finishing with 28 points, 10 rebounds and a season-high 15 assists, the latter total tying for the third-most assists ever in a conference game. Clark’s stretch this season of four consecutive 20-point, 10-assist games is the most by a Division I player in the past 20 seasons (Jan. 11-23). Her 11 career triple-doubles is the most by a male or female in Big Ten history.

Coach’s last word: “America gets to see two fabulous, spectacular basketball players in the same 40 minutes with (Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston). It doesn’t get a lot better than that,” Bluder told media earlier this week. She followed up Thursday by adding, “I’ve been coming to the Final Four for a long, long time, but my seats are finally going to be pretty good tonight. So I’m excited about that. … I’m just trying to convince my team 40 minutes of basketball and a lifetime of memories, and that’s all we have to focus on.”

No. 1 South Carolina

Current record: 36-0

Season wrap: The Gamecocks opened this season atop both the AP and the USA Today/WBCA Coaches’ Polls for the third time in as many seasons and have remained there. Going wire-to-wire in the AP Poll in back-to-back seasons, South Carolina joins UConn and Louisiana Tech as the only programs to do so in the history of that poll.

Final Four outlook: The Gamecocks have played in the NCAA Final Four five times in the last eight NCAA Tournaments, including winning the 2017 and 2022 National Championships. This year marks South Carolina’s 19th NCAA Tournament appearance and its 11th straight under head coach Dawn Staley. They hold 44-16 record overall in the tournament with 13 Sweet 16 appearances and seven Elite Eight showings.

Probable starters: Aliya Boston (F), Victaria Saxton (F), Brea Beal (G), Zia Cooke (G), Kierra Fletcher (G)

About coach Dawn Staley: In her 23rd season as a head coach, Staley has a .756 (574-185) winning percentage, which ranks ninth in the nation among active head coaches with at least 10 seasons of experience and seventh among those with at least 20 years in the position. The unanimous 2020 National Coach of the Year, she became the first person to win both a Naismith Player of the Year and a Naismith Coach of the Year and the first Black head coach to win multiple national championships in men’s or women’s basketball. She has been named national coach of the year by at least one organization four times, including three times in the last four seasons.

Spotlight on… Aliya Boston: Boston, who earned Naismith Defensive Player of the Year honors this week, is just the fifth four-time AP All-American in the history of the award and just the 10th player to earn first-team honors at least three times. She is the first multi-year winner of the Lisa Leslie Award, vying for the award for a fourth time this season. She’s also a four-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year and two-time SEC Player of the Year.  Additionally, Boston is the GAmecocks’ record holder with 1,483 rebounds (fourth in the SEC, 16th in NCAA), 514 offensive rebounds, 969 defensive rebounds, 82 double-doubles (second in the SEC; eighth in NCAA) and 137 consecutive games started. Her 329 career blocked shots are second in program history and sixth in the SEC.

Coach’s last word: “I feel pressure,” Staley told reporters Tuesday. “Pressure for our team to be successful, pressure to have our team perform as they performed all season long, pressure as a Black coach to win. Then just the pressures that come with being the No. 1 team, being the No. 1 overall seed. You don’t think it impacts you, but it does. It’s not the driving force, though. It’s not the very thing that I say, ‘I feel this pressure.’ I don’t feel it in that way. I feel it in that I don’t want to let whoever’s looking at us in a way that lends hope to them.  I don’t want to let our fans down. I want what this team is supposed to have. Obviously we think it’s a national championship, and there lies more pressure to win.”

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2023 DIO Implant LA Open: How to watch, who’s in the LPGA tourney at Palos Verdes GC

By Mar 29, 2023, 12:39 PM EDT
Lydia Ko of New Zealand tees off on the second hole during Day Three of the HSBC Women's World Championship.
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The LPGA’s fifth stop of the season features the fifth edition of DIO Implant LA Open, which moves to Palos Verdes Golf Club this year after being played at Wilshire Country Club since its debut in 2018. Japan’s Nasa Hataoka looks to defend her 2022 title, however, two-time LPGA winner Marina Alex is the reigning champion of last year’s event played at Palos Verdes GC, and the two will play together in the first two rounds.

World No. 1 Lydia Ko will make her first start in the United States this season. The New Zealander finished T-6 in her season debut in February at the Honda LPGA Thailand, and that same month she won the LET’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International for the second time, taking home the $750,000 first-place prize. Skipping this week is last week’s LPGA Drive On champion, France’s Celine Boutier, who bested Solheim Cup teammate Georgia Hall of England in a playoff at Superstition Mountain in Arizona to secure her third LPGA title. Hall will play in the LA Open, no doubt looking to keep the momentum rolling as the 144-player field competes for the $1.75 million prize purse, with the winner earning $262,500.

How to watch the 2023 DIO Implant LA Open

You can watch the 2023 DIO Implant LA Open on Golf Channel, Peacock, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. Check out the complete TV and streaming schedule:

  • Thursday, March 30: 6:30-10:30 p.m. ET, Peacock; 7-9:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel
  • Friday, March 31: 6:30-10:30 p.m. ET, Peacock; 7-9:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel
  • Saturday, April 1: 6-10 p.m. ET, Peacock; 6-9 p.m. ET, Golf Channel
  • Sunday, April 2: 6-10 p.m. ET, Peacock; 6-9 p.m. ET, Golf Channel

Who’s playing in the 2023 DIO Implant LA Open

The field includes six of the top 10 players on the Rolex Rankings:

  • No. 1 Lydia Ko
  • No. 2 Nelly Korda
  • No. 3 Jin Young Ko
  • No. 4 Atthaya Thitikul
  • No. 9 In Gee Chun
  • No. 10 Hyo Joo Kim

Winners and local Southern California connections: Also playing this week are two of the four winners on tour so far this season — Jin Young Ko and Lilia Vu — and two past champions of this event, Moriya Jutanugarn and Nasa Hataoka. Seven players in the field attended nearby attended USC — Jennifer Chang, Karen Chung, Allisen Corpuz, Annie Park, Lizette Salas, Jennifer Song and Gabriella Then — while six attended UCLA: Bronte Law, Allison Lee, Ryann O’Toole, Patty Tavatanakit, Mariajo Urib, and Vu). World No. 15 Danielle Kang, who grew up in Southern California, attended Pepperdine.

Past winners of the LA Open

YEAR WINNER SCORE MARGIN RUNNERUP
2022 Nasa Hataoka (Japan) 15-under 269 5 strokes Hannah Green  (Australia)
2021 Brooke Henderson (Canada) 16-under 268 1 stroke Jessica Korda (USA)
2020 No event N/A N/A N/A
2019 Minjee Lee (Australia) 14-under 270 4 strokes Sei Young Kim (South Korea)
2018 Moriya Jutanugarn (Thailand) 12-under 272 2 strokes Inbee Park (South Korea), Jin Young Ko (South Korea)

Last year at the DIO Implant LA Open

Japan’s Nasa Hataoka shot rounds of 67-67 over the weekend at Wilshire Country Club to win by five strokes over Australian Hannah Green. The then-23-year-old Hataoka opened with rounds of 67-68 and was tied with Jin Young Ko after 36 holes, but Hataoka broke through on Saturday when her third-round 67 gave her a four-stroke lead over Green heading into the final round. Ko fell back following a 72 on Sunday that included a quadruple-bogey on the 17th hole. The win marked LPGA title No. 6 for Hataoka, who was the only player to card all four rounds in the 60s, and she finished just one off the tournament scoring record at 15-under 269.

Of note, Wilshire CC is hosting a different LPGA event this season — the JM Eagle LA Championship set for April 27-30.

The last player to win an LPGA event at the Palos Verdes Golf Club was New Jersey native Marina Alex, who won the 2022 Palos Verdes Championship by a single stroke over Ko. Alex posted rounds of 70-68-70-66 to finish at 10-under 274, marking her second win on tour and breaking a four-year win drought.

More about Palos Verdes Golf Club

Located in Palos Verdes Estates, California, Palos Verdes Golf Club was originally designed in 1924 by George C. Thomas and William P. “Billy” Bell, who also designed Riviera Country Club, Bel Air Country Club and Los Angeles Country Club North. The tournament’s back nine is known to members as a “perfect nine,” as there are no two consecutive holes of the same par. In 2013, the course underwent a renovation overseen by Todd Eckenrode that included several new greens, tees and chipping areas, all new bunkers, and the removal of hundreds of trees to restore the ocean views. Par is 71 (36-35), and the official scorecard yardage is 6,258 yards.

The NBC golf research team contributed to this report. 

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