For the first time this season, the top 10 players in the world will gather in one place at the LPGA’s Ford Championship. World No. 1 Nelly Korda took a month-and-half-long break, skipping the tour’s entire Asia swing, and returns to defend her title March 27-30 at a new site, Whirlwind Golf Club, in Chandler, Arizona.
World No. 2 Lydia Ko is back in action after clinching her 23rd career LPGA title at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore. Rounding out the top 10 are Jeeno Thitikul, Ruoning Yin, Hannah Green, Lilia Vu, Ayake Furue, Jin Young Ko, Haeran Roy and Charley Hull.
Australia’s Minjee Lee is the only top-20 player who won’t be in the field.
Another player returning from a long break is Rose Zhang, who competed in the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and then went back to Stanford to finish up the winter quarter.
A semi-retired Lexi Thompson is in the field as is Arizona resident Cristie Kerr, who’s teeing it up for the first time since last summer’s KPMG Women’s PGA.
A total of 18 rookies from the class of 2025 will be at Whirlwind, including Rio Takeda of Japan, who won her second LPGA title at the Blue Bay LPGA event in China.
The two sponsor exemptions for the Ford are Mexico’s Maria Fassi and Gabby Barker, the first female Native American professional golfer. Barker’s selection comes from the Thunderbirds, who run the PGA Tour’s WM Phoenix Open and who are a founding partner of the Ford.
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