2023 Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown: How to watch, who’s playing at TPC Harding Park in global team match-play event

By Lisa AntonucciMay 2, 2023, 5:00 PM EDT

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The Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown returns to the LPGA calendar this week for the first time since 2018, as eight countries gear up for team match play in this biennial competition that began in 2014. Hosted this year at venerable TPC Harding Park, located in the southwest corner of San Francisco along Lake Merced, the International Crown marks the first elite women’s competition to be held at this historic venue.

South Korea looks to defend its 2018 title and is led by current world No. 3 Jin Young Ko, while 2016 champion USA fields a strong roster boasting world No. 1 Nelly Korda and No. 7 Lexi Thompson, one of four players in the field (along with Thailand’s Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn and Australia’s Minjee Lee) who have played in all three previous editions of the International Crown. Spain, winners of the inaugural International Crown in 2014, did not qualify for this year’s event.

The eight countries competing at Harding Park — United States, South Korea, Japan, Sweden, England, Thailand, Australia and China — were determined based on the combined Rolex Rankings of the top four players from each country following the conclusion of the 2022 CME Group Tour Championship in November. The team seedings and individual qualifiers (32 total) were determined by the rankings as of April 3.

The 32-player field features seven of the top 10 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings — No. 1 Korda, No. 3 Ko, No. 4 Lilia Vu (USA), No. 5 Atthaya Thitikul (Thailand), No. 6 Lee, No. 7 Thompson and No. 9 Hyo Joo Kim (South Korea) – and 21 players inside the top 50, including four LPGA winners in 2023 (Ko, Vu, Australia’s Hannah Green and China’s Ruoning Yin). Twenty of the 32 players are making their first event appearance.

The teams are competing for a $2 million prize purse, with $500,000 going to the winning team ($125,000 to each player). However, the International Crown does not count as an official LPGA victory for members of the winning team and earnings are unofficial.

How to watch the 2023 Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown

You can watch the 2023 Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown on Golf Channel, Peacock, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. Check out the complete TV and streaming schedule:

Thursday, May 4: 6-9 p.m. ET, Golf Channel and Peacock
Friday, May 5: 6-9 p.m. ET, Golf Channel and Peacock
Saturday, May 6: 6-9 p.m. ET, Golf Channel and Peacock
Sunday, May 7: 6-9 p.m. ET, Golf Channel and Peacock

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Who’s playing in the 2023 Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown

The eight countries in the International Crown field were determined by the combined Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings of the top four players from each country as of the Nov. 21, 2022, immediately following the CME Group Tour Championship. The final field of 32 players was determined via rankings published April 3, immediately following the DIO Implant LA Open. If a player ranked in the top four of a pre-qualified country does not/cannot compete, the spot will be filled by the country’s next highest ranked player available from the April 3 rankings. Note: England had to take advantage of this provision recently, as Georgia Hall and Charley Hull withdrew on May 1 due to injury and illness, respectively. They were replaced by Alice Hewson and Liz Young.

Team USA (No. 1)

PLAYER	RANKING (as of April 3)	PREVIOUS IC APPEARANCES	OVERALL RECORD	FOUR-BALL RECORD	SINGLES RECORD
Nelly Korda	2	none	n/a	n/a	n/a
Lexi Thompson	6	2014, 2016, 2018	7-3-1	7-2-0	0-1-1
Lilia Vu	12	none	n/a	n/a	n/a
Danielle Kang	14	none	n/a	n/a	n/a

Team Republic of Korea (No. 2)

PLAYER	RANKING (as of April 3)	PREVIOUS IC APPEARANCES	OVERALL RECORD	FOUR-BALL RECORD	SINGLES RECORD
Jin Young Ko	3	none	n/a	n/a	n/a
Hyo-Joo Kim	9	none	n/a	n/a	n/a
In Gee Chun	11	2016, 2018	6-2-0	5-1-0	1-1-0
Hye Jin Choi	25	none	n/a	n/a	n/a

Team Japan (No. 3)

PLAYER	RANKING (as of April 3)	PREVIOUS IC APPEARANCES	OVERALL RECORD	FOUR-BALL RECORD	SINGLES RECORD
Nasa Hataoka	13	2018	2-0-1	2-0-1
Ayaka Furue	19	none	n/a	n/a	n/a
Yuka Saso	30	none	n/a	n/a	n/a
Hinako Shibuno	38	none	n/a	n/a	n/a

Team Sweden (No. 4)

PLAYER	RANKING (as of April 3)	PREVIOUS IC APPEARANCES	OVERALL RECORD	FOUR-BALL RECORD	SINGLES RECORD
Maja Stark	27	none	n/a	n/a	n/a
Madelene Sagstrom	28	2018	1-3-0	1-2-0	0-1-0
Anna Nordqvist	34	2014, 2018	5-2-1	4-1-1	1-1-0
Caroline Hedwall	117	2014, 2018	4-2-2	4-1-1	0-1-1

Team England (No. 5)

PLAYER	RANKING (as of April 3)	PREVIOUS IC APPEARANCES	OVERALL RECORD	FOUR-BALL RECORD	SINGLES RECORD
Jodi Ewart Shadoff	45	2016, 2018	5-2-1	4-1-1	1-1-0
Bronte Law	103	2018	2-2-0	2-1-0	0-1-0
Alice Hewson	165	none	n/a	n/a	n/a
Liz Young	207	none	n/a	n/a	n/a

Team Thailand (No. 6)

PLAYER	RANKING (as of April 3)	PREVIOUS IC APPEARANCES	OVERALL RECORD	FOUR-BALL RECORD	SINGLES RECORD
Atthaya Thitikul	4	none	n/a	n/a	n/a
Patty Tavatanakit	57	none	n/a	n/a	n/a
Moriya Jutanugarn	71	2014, 2016, 2018	4-4-3	3-3-3	1-1-0
Ariya Jutanugarn	81	2014, 2016, 2018	4-5-2	3-4-2	1-1-0

Team Australia (No. 7)

PLAYER	RANKING (as of April 3)	PREVIOUS IC APPEARANCES	OVERALL RECORD	FOUR-BALL RECORD	SINGLES RECORD
Minjee Lee	5	2014, 2016, 2018	2-5-2	2-5-2
Hanna Green	23	none	n/a	n/a	n/a
Steph Kyriacou	107	none	n/a	n/a	n/a
Sarah Kemp	174	none	n/a	n/a	n/a

Team China (No. 8)

PLAYER	RANKING (as of April 3)	PREVIOUS IC APPEARANCES	OVERALL RECORD	FOUR-BALL RECORD	SINGLES RECORD
Xiyu Lin	17	2016	1-1-1	1-1-1
Ruoning Yin	32	none	n/a	n/a	n/a
Yu Liu	181	none	n/a	n/a	n/a
Ruixin Liu	144	none	n/a	n/a	n/a

How does the 2023 Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown work?

Seeding and pools: The four-day event will feature eight teams divided into two pools for a round-robin competition over the first three days (Thursday-Saturday), with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the semifinals on Sunday.

POOL	COUNTRY 1	COUNTRY 2	COUNTRY 3	COUNTRY 4
A	USA (No. 1)	Sweden (No. 4)	England (No. 5)	China (No. 8)
B	Korea (No. 2)	Japan (No. 3)	Thailand (No. 6)	Australia (No. 7)

Format: The pool play portion of the competition will feature four-ball matches on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The top two countries from each pool will advance to Sunday morning’s semifinal matches. Each semifinal will consist of two singles matches and one foursomes match. The winning countries from each semi will advance to the final on Sunday afternoon, with the two losing countries competing for third place. Both finals matches will use the same format as the semifinals.

Days 1-3 (Group play): Each country will play two four-ball matches against each of the other three countries in their pool. At the conclusion of the three days of four-ball competition, the two countries with the most points from each pool will advance to Sunday.
Day 4 (semifinals and finals): The winning country from Pool A will play the second-place country from Pool B. The first-place country from Pool B will play the second-place country from Pool A. Each matchup will consist of two singles matches and one foursomes match (lineup determined by each respective country). The first country to reach two points wins their match. The winning countries from the semifinals will face off in the finals, while the losing countries will play each other in a third-place match. All matches will be played to a conclusion (no ties).

Scoring: Teams are awarded one point for a win, one half-point for a tie and zero points for a loss. All points from the four-ball matches are cumulative and will determine the top two countries advancing from each pool. On Sunday, the first country to four points will win the head-to-head matchup.

Breaking ties: If two countries tie for first place in a pool, the following formula will be used to break ties:

Total points accumulated in head-to-head matchups between the tied countries;
Total number of matches won in all six four-ball matches;
Highest seeded country entering the competition.

If three or more countries are tied for first place, or two or more countries are tied for second place within each group, a playoff will be used to determine the countries advancing to Sunday. If only two countries are in the playoff, the format will be hole-by-hole, four-ball match play. If more than two countries are in the playoff, the format will be hole-by-hole, four-ball stroke play.

Match-play refresher: Four-ball vs. foursomes

Match play: Unlike stroke play, where scoring uses the total number of strokes taken over one or more rounds of golf, match play scoring consists of individual holes won, halved or lost. On each hole, the most that can be gained is one point. Golfers play as normal, counting the strokes taken on a given hole, with the golfer recording the lowest score on a given hole earning one point. If the golfers tie, then the hole is tied (or halved).

Foursomes: Also known as alternate shot, foursomes is a form of team match play where two players compete as a side, with the partners playing one ball in alternating order on each hole. The playing partners also must alternate in teeing off to start each hole.

Four-ball: Also called best ball, four-ball also involves two competitors playing as partners and competing together as a side. However, each player plays their own ball, with lower score being recorded as the team’s score on that hole.

Past winners of the International Crown

YEAR	*WINNER (score, team members)**	RUNNER(S)-UP	COURSE	LOCATION
2018	Korea, 15 points (In Gee Chun, In-Kyung Kim, Sung Hyun Park, So Yeon Ryu)	USA, 11 points (Cristie Kerr, Jessica Korda, Lexi Thompson, Michelle Wie West); England, 11 points (Georgia Hall, Charley Hull, Bronte Law, Jodi Ewart Shadoff)	Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea (36-36=72; 6,508 yards)	Incheon, Republic of Korea
2016	USA, 13 points (Cristie Kerr, Stacy Lewis, Gerina Mendoza, Lexi Thompson)	South Korea, 12 points (In Gee Chun, Sei Young Kim, So Yeon Ryu, Amy Yang)	Merit Club (35-37=72; 6,668 yards)	Gurnee, Illinois
2014	Spain, 15 points (Carlota Ciganda, Belen Mozo, Azahara Munoz, Beatriz Recari)	Sweden, 11 points (Caroline Hedwall, Pernilla Lindberg, Anna Nordqvist, Mikaela Parmlid)	Caves Valley Golf Club (35-36=71; 6,628 yards)	Owings Mills, Maryland

*NOTE: The points structure for the 2014, 2016 and 2018 International Crowns was two points for a win, one point for a tie and zero points for a loss. Starting in 2023, the points structure is one point for a win, a half-point for a tie and zero points for a loss.

Last time at the International Crown

South Korea capitalized on its “home-course advantage” at the 2018 International Crown, where 2017 AIG Women’s Open champion In-Kyung Kim defeated England’s Bronte Law 2 up in the penultimate singles match on the final day at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon. Kim’s teammates included three major champions in then-No. 1 Sung Hyun Park, So Yeon Ryu and In Gee Chun. Of note, Tropical Storm Kong-Rey forced tournament organizers to move up third-round action, originally scheduled for Saturday, to Friday afternoon. Play resumed on Sunday morning with completion of the third round and the entire fourth round.

More about TPC Harding Park

Named after U.S. President Warren G. Harding, Harding Park Golf Course first opened on July 18, 1925, in San Francisco and was designed by Willie Watson and Sam Whiting, who also designed the Lake Course at nearby The Olympic Club.

Harding Park quickly became a favorite site for major amateur tournaments, including the 1937 and 1956 USGA National Public Links Championship, and the San Francisco City Championship, the oldest consecutively played competition in the world (held at Harding Park since it opened in 1925). In 1944, the course hosted its first PGA Tour event with the Victory Open, and it became a regular Tour stop until the end of the decade, when budgetary cuts caused the course to fall into poor condition. The course reached its lowest point in 1998, when it was used as a parking lot during the U.S. Open at The Olympic Club.

The course underwent a $16 million restoration in 2002-03 and has since hosted the 2005 WGC-American Express Championship, the 2009 Presidents Cup, three Charles Schwab Cup Championships (2010, 2011, 2013), the 2015 WGC Dell Technologies Match Play and the 2020 PGA Championship. The 2023 Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown, however, marks the first elite women’s competition to be held at Harding Park.

The NBC Sports golf research team contributed to this report.

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Li Li Leung talks USA Gymnastics’ cultural transformation, challenges still to come and embracing her AAPI heritage

By Lisa AntonucciMay 31, 2023, 9:59 AM EDT

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Li Li Leung joined USA Gymnastics as president and CEO in March 2019, when the organization was reeling from the fallout of Larry Nassar’s widespread sexual abuse and the subsequent revelations of larger cultural issues within the sport. Since then, Leung has seen USAG through an ongoing transformation, one that hinges on the work of the survivors and staff around her, whom she is quick to credit. That evolution, as she calls it, has included instituting new norms and standards at all levels of the sport, particularly in matters related to athlete safety.

Among the notable USAG initiatives that Leung has brought to fruition is the Athlete Bill of Rights, established in December 2020 as a tool “to unite the full gymnastics community around a shared vision of behavioral expectations.” At the same time, USAG instituted a protest policy for national team members aimed at supporting athletes who choose to use their voice on public platforms. Both initiatives were among the first of their kind in sport.

Prior to joining USAG, Leung served as a vice president at the National Basketball Association (NBA), where she was responsible for building and managing key partner relationships around the world. She continues to use that experience in her roles as vice chair of the National Governing Bodies Council of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and a member of the International Gymnastics Federation’s Executive Committee.

Leung, who began competing in gymnastics at age 7, was a member of the U.S. junior national training team and represented the U.S. at the 1988 Junior Pan American Games. She was a four-year member of the four-time Big 10 champion University of Michigan gymnastics team and was an NCAA Championships participant.

In honor of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, On Her Turf sat down with Leung to talk about her journey with USAG, the challenges still to come and how being a member of the AAPI community has shaped the person she is today.

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This Q+A has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

On Her Turf: Let’s start by talking about your journey since joining USA Gymnastics in 2019. What have the last four years been like for you?

Li Li Leung: This was just an incredible opportunity to give back to the sport that has given so much to me. And I really mean that because I started in the sport when I was 7 years old and did it for 15 years. It’s taught me all of these different skills that I apply to my daily life, both professional and personal. It feels a little bit like I’ve come full circle, and honestly, never in a million years did I think I would find myself in this role. … I joined at a time when it was a tumultuous time for the organization. It’s been just a little a little over four years now, and it has been an incredible journey — and believe it or not, I have enjoyed it. While it hasn’t been easy, I actually have enjoyed it, because I’ve been able to make it not just me. One thing that’s important to note is that — I had even said on my first interview with the board — it will take a village to accomplish what we need to accomplish. This is not a one-person job. And I was lucky enough to be able to bring on a leadership team that has been incredible, and also retain the staff that we have retained, as well as hire other new staff members. And it’s because of them and some really key volunteers that we’ve been able to accomplish what we’ve been able to do.

OHT: Can you talk a little more about this cultural transformation that the organization has experienced and your approach to tackling this all-encompassing change?

Leung: When I was interviewing for the position, I actually met every single board member. It was really critical to both sides that they felt that I matched the role and their needs and also I had to be confident in the board believing in the ultimate mission of the organization and what we wanted to achieve. So that the culture really does stem from the well – from the top down and everything in between as well. And when I was looking for leadership team, … one of the characteristics I was really looking for was they couldn’t have an ego. The job couldn’t be about themselves or about what they would personally get out of the role. It had to be about them believing in the bigger picture and believing in what we collectively wanted to achieve. I knew that we would only be able to accomplish what we need to accomplish if people were willing to roll up their sleeves and just do whatever needed to be done, so that was one of the key things in terms of having no ego.

Since 2018, we’ve turned over more than 70 percent of our staff. We’ve been able to retain the really key members of our staff, who have been critical to our success, but also have been able to really bring in new thinking, new blood, new perspectives. Because the other thing I was looking for when I was hiring for the leadership team was diversity in perspectives. That was critical because I did not want to be surrounded by “yes people.” I wanted to be surrounded by people who would be willing to have really robust conversations and engage in difficult conversations, because ultimately, you end up in a better place because of that.

In 2020, we reset our mission to be about building a community and culture of health, safety and excellence, with athletes who thrive in sport and in life. So we were no longer about developing technically superior gymnasts who perform well in gym. We reset our focus to be about helping set our athletes up for success with the skill sets that you learn in gymnastics, and when we come to the office each day, that’s what we’re thinking about. …

The other piece is we also know from a community standpoint that our national team coaches are the most visible representation (of USAG), and a lot of coaches model them. So we’ve been working really hard in terms of working on educating our national team coaches. We work with Positive Coaching Alliance to do educational training with them as well. And we also have introduced training specifically for young coaches coming in, because we know when they come in and they’re new, that they’re eager to learn, and that’s when you can start training and moving them in a way. So our thinking is with this top-down and bottom-up strategy, eventually the middle will meet.

OHT: You noted how the coaches can be some of the most visible representatives of USAG. Regarding the addition of 2008 Olympic silver medalists Chellsie Memmel (USAG technical lead) and Alicia Sacramone Quinn (USAG strategic lead), how have those women impacted the program?

Leung: The addition of Chellsie and Alicia has been fantastic. They have been phenomenal to work with, and the fact that they have firsthand experience of having gone through it themselves – that also gives them a very good idea of what they would change and what they wouldn’t change, at the same time. It has been a phenomenal addition to be able to have this perspective of firsthand, high-level, high-performing athletes to be able to lead our high-performance team. And the athletes are saying it as well. They’re saying, “We trust them; we feel confident in their decisions; we can relate to them” — all of those things that historically haven’t really happened before.

Then in terms of the athletes who are going to college and coming back to compete with USA Gymnastics – there are so many aspects that I think are great about this. One: It’s showing a lengthened career in a sport that historically has not been very long because it’s so demanding on the body. So that means that our athletes are physically healthier, as well, that they can train and compete at a high level for a longer period of time. It also means that they’re enjoying it more because they’re staying in the sport. From an emotional standpoint, they’re finding a lot more joy in the sport, and they’re talking about it, too. And we love the fact that they’re talking about it. We want them to talk about it, and we want them to have voices and feel open and free about sharing what they’re thinking about. I have to say I’ve been really enjoying seeing almost like — I’m not sure if I can go as far as a new era in the sport maybe — but just this evolution of the sport and the athletes changing in front of my eyes.

OHT: What do you consider now to still be the biggest challenge or obstacle for USAG?

Leung: There are a couple of big initiatives on the list. One is we want to build a training and wellness center where all of our disciplines will train under one roof. This is a long-term project, obviously, but my vision around it is that it will be the heart and hub of gymnastics in America. And while this is where national team athletes will ultimately train to some extent, it is going to be a welcoming place for athletes of all different disciplines and all different levels. We want it to be a place where young athletes can come through and see their role models training. We want this to be a place of education for our community and judges. We want to be able to run clinics there for all different levels. We just want this to be a gathering place of gymnastics and to be able to celebrate the sport there at the same time.

We’re also going to reset our foundation. There’s been the National Gymnastics Foundation, but we are going to reset it and basically be much more proactive on fundraising and development to grow the sport and also to raise more money for athletes in their training.

OHT: Turning to AAPI Heritage Month and being named to the 2023 Gold House A100 List (the A100 is named each May honoring 100 Asian Pacific leaders who made the greatest impact on culture and society over the past year). What did that honor mean to you?

Leung: It was such an incredible honor to be recognized by them, and my fellow honorees — when I read the list, I thought to myself, “I don’t belong.” There are some incredible names on that list. But again, I go back to what I said earlier: I owe this honor to a lot of the other people who work [at USAG]. I think the really important thing to recognize is that this was not done by just me. It was done by a lot of other people who are on staff and who aren’t getting the accolades or the recognition. But it was an incredible experience to be, and I’m very, very touched and honored to be on that list.

OHT: How do you identify within the Asian American Pacific Islander community? Did you embrace your heritage growing up and how has that shaped who you are today?

Leung: So I’ll tell you a story that I’ve mentioned to other people recently. I grew up in a town called Ridgewood in Bergen County, New Jersey, and most of my friends had blond hair and blue eyes. When I was growing up, I wanted the name “Nancy Smith,” and I wanted blue eyes. I wanted to fit in. As a kid, you always want to fit in. Then when you get older and wizen up a little bit, you realize that it’s okay and it’s good to be different, that you can use that to your advantage. And so upon growing up, I realized that it’s pretty special to be Asian American and there are benefits to being Asian American, and you should embrace the fact that you are different. In fact, I recently lectured to a women-in-sports-business class, and one of the questions they asked me was about impostor syndrome. I said the same thing that I’m saying to you now, which is absolutely embrace who you are. Absolutely embrace your differences, because those ultimately are embedded advantages to who you are and make you stand out from the rest of the crowd. So that’s my philosophy now.

OHT: Do you or your family have any traditions that are especially important to you?

Leung: I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a tradition, but in the Chinese culture, food is really important. Food is what brings people together. It’s a sign of respect, and that is the ultimate unifying language in a way. So when we do get together as a family, it’s really important for us to get together around a meal, because that’s when we share our stories. That’s when we connect with one another.

OHT: You might have just answered my next question, but I want to ask: What brings you joy about your heritage and culture?

Leung: It’s funny, I was actually at a conference last week and you were supposed to find someone you didn’t know in the conference and share a secret talent that you have. I shared that I can eat a lot more than most people think. Food is a really important part of our culture and in my upbringing and family.

OHT: Lastly, I wanted to ask, as we’ve seen an increase in hate-filled actions toward the AAPI community, what does supporting the AAPI community look like for you?

Leung: Well, I think kind of going back to my other answer, it’s just about embracing who you are and embracing your differences. I think part of it is being unafraid of it at the same time, which I know is really difficult. But if you’re going to truly embrace it, and then you can’t be afraid about embracing it at the same time.

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2023 Mizuho Americas Open: How to watch, who’s playing in inaugural LPGA event at Liberty National GC

By Lisa AntonucciMay 30, 2023, 5:03 PM EDT

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The Statue of Liberty is the backdrop for this week’s inaugural Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey. The tournament boasts a theme of mentorship and education, and includes a girls’ 72-hole, modified Stableford tournament featuring 24 juniors to go along with the 72-hole stroke-play event for 120 LPGA professionals.

The field is led by seven of the top 10 players on the Rolex Rankings including world No. 1 Jin Young Ko, No. 3 Lydia Ko, No. 4 Lilia Vu and No. 5 Minjee Lee. Also teeing it up this week are the finalists from Sunday’s Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play, where Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn captured her second LPGA title with a 3-and-1 victory over Japan’s Ayaka Furue.

Michelle Wie West is serving as the tournament host, and she’ll be on hand to welcome fellow Stanford alum Rose Zhang, who’s fresh off her second straight NCAA individual title and turned professional just last week. Zhang will have her first go at an LPGA prize purse, which tops out at $2.75 million this week with the winner taking home $412,500.

How to watch the 2023 Mizuho Americas Open

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

Thursday, June 1: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. ET, Golf Channel and Peacock
Friday, June 2: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. ET, Golf Channel and Peacock
Saturday, June 3: 5-8 p.m. ET, Golf Channel and Peacock
Sunday, June 4: 4:30-5 p.m. ET (streaming only on Peacock); 5-7:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel and Peacock

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Who’s playing in the 2023 Mizuho Americas Open?

The 120-player field features seven of the top 10 players (and 16 of the top 25 player) on the Rolex Rankings:

No. 1 Jin Young Ko
No. 3 Lydia Ko
No. 4 Lilia Vu
No. 5 Minjee Lee
No. 6 Atthaya Thitikul
No. 8 Brooke Henderson
No. 9 Georgia Hall

Also in the field are 2023 winners Celine Boutier (LPGA Drive On Championship), Ruoning Yin (DIO Implant LA Open) and Grace Kim (LOTTE Championship), plus several sponsor exemptions including reigning NCAA individual champion Rose Zhang and her Stanford teammate Megha Ganne. Ganne, a native of Holmdel, N.J., finished T-21 at the recent NCAAs and is playing as an amateur. Joining them as an exemption is fellow Cardinal Mariah Stackhouse, who has conditional status on tour in 2023. Monday qualifiers include tour rookie Alexa Pano and Australia’s Sarah Jane Smith.

Among the notable juniors expected to play are 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur winner Anna Davis, 2022 U.S. Girls’ Junior winner Yana Wilson and 2022 U.S. Junior Girls’ runnerup Gianna Clemente. The 24 junior players were invited through their standings in the Rolex AJGA Rankings.

What’s the format for the Mizuho Americas Open?

The professionals will play a 72-hole stroke-play competition, with a cut to the top 50 and ties after 36 holes. The 24 juniors will play a 72-hole, no-cut competition using the modified Stableford scoring format and a different yardage than the pros.

During the first two rounds, the AJGA players will all be paired together. During the final two rounds, one junior player will play with two LPGA pros with groupings based on scores. This unique format marks the first time the AJGA and LPGA have partnered to showcase junior and professional competitors playing together.

Stableford scoring refresher: “Stableford” is a scoring system that awards points for the number of strokes taken on each hole in relation to par, rather than simply counting strokes like in stroke play. Unlike in stroke play, where players want the lowest score, the goal in Stableford scoring is to have the highest score. Standard Stableford points values are:

0 Points – Double bogey or worse (two strokes or more over par)
1 Point – Bogey (one stroke over par)
2 Points – Par
3 Points – Birdie (one stroke under par)
4 Points – Eagle (two strokes under par)
5 Points – Albatross or double eagle (three strokes under par)
6 Points – Condor (four strokes under par)

More about Liberty National Golf Club

Located on the shore of the Upper Bay of New York Harbor, Liberty National Golf Club was designed by Bob Cupp and Tom Kite and officially opened on July 4, 2006. After the course received mixed reviews following the PGA Tour’s Northern Trust in 2009, the course underwent a renovation led by Steve Wenzloff of PGA Tour Design Services. Of note, the course hosted an event during the PGA Tour Playoffs four times (2009, 2013, 2019 and 2021) as well as the 2017 Presidents Cup, where the U.S. defeated the Internationals 19-11 for the Americans’ seventh consecutive victory in the competition and its 10th straight win overall. For this week’s event, the course will play to a par of 72 with an unofficial scorecard yardage of 6,671 yards.

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