HOUSTON — The LPGA Tour’s first major of the year, the Chevron Championship, tees off at a new course this week, so it’s a level playing field for everyone.
The municipal Memorial Park Golf Course is the new home, replacing The Club at Carlton Woods, though it’s not unfamiliar to professional golf, with the PGA Tour’s Texas Children’s Houston Open having been played there since 2021.
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On new grounds, those who are in current strong form should be considered favorites to win. That includes the top three players in the world—Jeeno Thitikul, Nelly Korda and Hyo-Joo Kim—who have already won thi season. Meantime, nobody has won more than Australian Hannah Green, who already has four worldwide victories.
Knowledge of the course will be hampered because of rain on Tuesday, so this will be a real test with limited on-course time to prepare for the major. It’s not unlike last year, when rain on Tuesday and Wednesday meant players were limited in their practice.
15. Auston Kim
Rolex Rankings: 21; Chevron starts: 2; Best finish: T-30, 2024; ’25 finish: T-40
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The former Vanderbilt star has two top-10s this year and has made five cuts in six starts. She’s looking for her first win on the LPGA Tour. Last year, Mao Saigo won her first event at the Chevron. Kim finished T-2 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship one year ago, so she’s been in contention at a major.
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14. A Lim Kim
Rolex Rankings: 27; Chevron starts: 5; Best finish: T-4, 2023; ’25 finish: T-40
She has three top-10 finishes, all on the Asia swing and finished T-12 in the Fortinet Founders Cup after a final-round 66. She is a major winner (U.S. Women’s Open in 2020) and will look to put herself in contention again.
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13. Nasa Hataoka
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Stuart Franklin
Rolex Rankings: 15; Chevron starts: 8; Best finish: T-7, 2020; ’25 finish: T-52
She has three top-10s and has made five cuts in six starts this season. Hataoka has made the cut in all eight starts in this major. She has seven career LPGA wins and is still looking for her first win in a major.
12. Haeran Ryu
Rolex Rankings: 13; Chevron starts: 8; Best finish: T-6, 2025; ’25 finish: T-6
She leads the LPGA with the most top-10s this season at five. She was in the five-player playoff last year at the Chevron a year ago, so she’d surely like to get another crack at it. . She birdied four of the last five holes at the JM Eagle LA Championship on Sunday and shot 68-66 over the weekend to finish T-5.
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11. Charley Hull
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Rolex Rankings: 4; Chevron starts: 12; Best finish: T-2, 2016; ’25 finish: MC
Hull has three career wins, but she’s still searching for a major victory. She won the PIF Saudi Ladies International in February and reached a career-high No. 3 world ranking. She made three of four cuts this season with one top-10. She finished inside the top 20 in the two other events. She’s finished in the top 25 in this event nine times, spanning California and Texas. You know she’d do something extra with that pool jump if she won.
10. Lottie Woad
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Harry How
Rolex Rankings: 10; Chevron starts: 2; Best finish: T-23, 2024; ’25 finish: MC
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The 22-year-old is in her first full season on tour and already has two top-10s and made all seven cuts. She won the ISPS Women’s Scottish Open in her professional debut last year and hopes to channel some of that winning energy in Texas. She comes into this week after firing a third-round 65 and finishing T-36 at the JM Eagle LA Championship.
9. Lydia Ko
Rolex Rankings: 8; Chevron starts: 13; Best finish: Won, 2016; ’25 finish: T-52
The Hall of Famer just keeps adding to her impressive resume. She has three top-10s this year and has made all six cuts. She’s looking for her 24th career victory. She won this major in 2016 and has three top-10 finishes here, so we’re sure she’d love to try that jump in the different body of water.
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8. Chizzy Iwai
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Christian Petersen
Rolex Rankings: 19; Chevron starts: 1; Best finish: T-30, 2025; ’25 finish: T-30
She has three top-10s this year and made all seven cuts. She tied a course record in the JM Eagle LA Championship with a first-round 63 and finished tied for seventh. She’s looking to add that second career victory. Last season as rookies, Chizzy won her first tournament before twin sister Akie and no doubt she’d love to do that, in all fun, for a first major win as well.
7. Miyu Yamashita
Rolex Rankings: 6; Chevron starts: 2; Best finish: T-17, 2024; ’25 finish: T-30
Yamashita has played a lot of golf this season and has four top-10s in seven starts. She won the AIG Women’s Open and Maybank Championship last year and plays well in the spotlight.
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6. Minjee Lee
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Valerio Pennicino
Rolex Rankings: 7; Chevron starts: 11; Best finish: T-3, 2017; ’25 finish: T-14
She has two top-10s in four starts this season but withdrew from last weekend’s JM Eagle LA Championship for undisclosed reasons. Lee is still looking for the career Grand Slam, which is four of the five majors in women’s golf. She could earn that accomplishment with a win in Houston. She can lean on brother Min Woo Lee for tips at Memorial Park, since he plays there at the PGA Tour stop and won the Texas Children’s Houston Open last year and tied for third this year.
5. Jeeno Thitikul
Rolex Rankings: 1; Chevron starts: 3; Best finish: T-12, 2024; ’25 finish: T-24
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She started the season with two top-10s in her first two events and had a special win in her home country at the LPGA Thailand. She has eight career wins, but she’s still missing a victory in a major. She’s arguably the best player to not win a major right now, and she’s only 23 years old.
4. Lauren Coughlin
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David Becker
Rolex Rankings: 12; Chevron starts: 3; Best finish: T-3, 2024; ’25 finish: T-18
She won the Aramco Championship by five shots earlier this month for her third victory. She’s made all five cuts this year and shot a first-round 66 at the JM Eagle LA Championship before finishing T-28. Coughlin is a known coffee aficionado, and if she finds a good spot in Houston, it might be the caffeine boost she needs to win her first major.
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3. Nelly Korda
Rolex Rankings: 2; Chevron starts: 10; Best finish: Won, 2024; ’25 finish: T-14
Korda is on a heater this year. After not winning a tournament in 2025, she started the season with a victory in the weather-shortened Tournament of Champions and her other three finishes are second place. She leads the tour in scoring average at 68.27. She played in L.A. the week before Chevron last year and had a poor first round, struggling to make the cut. She’ll see this year if not playing the week before Chevron helps.
2. Hyo-Joo Kim
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Rolex Rankings: 3; Chevron starts: 10; Best finish: T-2, 2025; ’25 finish: T-2
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Kim is playing some of the best golf of her career and won back-to-back tournaments this season in the Fortinet Founders Cup and Ford Championship. She has three top-10s and has had awesome duels with Korda. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see those two battle it out for the trophy. She withdrew from the JM Eagle LA Championship last week, so we’ll see if she can shake off whatever it was that caused her to end that tournament early.
1. Hannah Green
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Kate McShane
Rolex Rankings: 5; Chevron starts: 8; Best finish: T-8, 2022; ’25 finish: MC
She typically starts the year slow but not this year. She’s won four times worldwide already and it’s mid-April! She won the HSBC Women’s World Championship, then won the Women’s Australian Open and Australian WPGA Championship on the LET. And on Sunday, she came from five shots back after 11 holes to win the JM Eagle LA Championship for the third time. She has three top-10s in four LPGA events. She’s playing the most confident golf of her career, so she could be wading into the new “kiddie” pool at Chevron.
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