Topic: DANA-OPEN KPMG PERFORMANCE INSIGHTS TOURNAMENT NEWS TOURNAMENT PREVIEW
Written By:
Sarah Kellam
@sarahkellam
KPMG
The 39th playing of the Dana Open will be held this week at Highland Meadows Golf Club, and after an exciting week at The Amundi Evian Championship, the world’s best are ready to contend for another LPGA Tour title in Sylvania, Ohio. Lexi Thompson highlights the field and is joined by four past champions in the Buckeye State, including last year’s winner Linn Grant and 2022 champion Gaby Lopez, as well as 20 of this year’s LPGA Tour rookies. Major champion Karrie Webb and LPGA Tour winner Natalie Gulbis are also set to tee it up just outside of Toledo, with a share of a $1.75 million purse and 500 Race to the CME Globe points on the line.
Take a look at just some of the featured groups this week at the Dana Open, using KPMG Performance Insights:
Thursday, 7:59 a.m. – Lexi Thompson/Gaby Lopez/Hinako Shibuno
Lexi Thompson will be making her final start in the Dana Open this week in Sylvania, Ohio, having announced her plans to retire from full-time professional golf at the end of the 2024 season. This is her ninth time competing at Highland Meadows Golf Club, and while she has yet to pick up a victory at this venue, Thompson has never missed the cut at the Dana Open, earning three top-three results in 2013 (T3), 2017 (2) and 2019 (2). But 2024 just might be the year that the 29-year-old finally breaks through just outside of Toledo. She comes to the Dana Open off three straight top-10 finishes, tying for second at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, tying for ninth at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and tying for eighth at the Dow Championship alongside her playing partner Brooke Henderson. She has one other top 10 to her 2024 credit – a tie for third that came at the Ford Championship presented by KCC in March. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Thompson has earned 25 top-10 results since the beginning of the 2020 season, the most of any player in that span without a victory, and she only ranks in the top 20 on the LPGA Tour this season in strokes gained putting (14, +0.69) and in greens in regulation (17, 70.94%).
Gaby Lopez won the Dana Open by just a single stroke over Megan Khang in 2022 and has yet to find victory lane again on the LPGA Tour since her triumph in Sylvania, Ohio. This is her fifth start at Highland Meadows Golf Club, and in addition to that victory two years ago, she has earned one other top-10 result at this venue, tying for seventh in her title defense in 2023. This is her 15th event of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and she has collected four top-15 results so far this year, the best of which was a tie for eighth at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro and the most notable of which was a tie for 14th at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Lopez only ranks in the top 20 in one key strokes gained category this year, currently sitting at 20th in strokes gained driving (+0.46). Lopez qualified for her third Olympic Games after that top-15 result at the year’s third major championship and will once again represent Mexico in Paris in less than a month at Le Golf National.
Hinako Shibuno is teeing it up in her third Dana Open this week at Highland Meadows Golf Club and will be working to make the cut in this event for the first time in her LPGA Tour career in Sylvania, Ohio. She had a slow start to her third season as a Tour member, but Shibuno has rounded into form as of late, finishing solo second at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally at Lancaster Country Club and then tying for seventh at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship after missing six cuts in her first nine starts of the 2024 season. She has just two other top-25 results on her 2024 resume, a tie for 21st that came at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer and a tie for 20th that came at the Dow Championship alongside her playing partner Minami Katsu. Statistically, Shibuno is ranked in the top 20 in strokes gained putting on the LPGA Tour this season (20, +0.61), according to KPMG Performance Insights, and is sixth in sand saves (56.60%). She recorded a hole-in-one in the second round of the Dow Championship, acing the par-3 18th hole from 145 yards with her 7-iron to help her team make the cut on Friday in Midland, Mich.
Thursday, 8:10 a.m. – Stephanie Kyriacou/Esther Henseleit/Gemma Dryburgh
Stephanie Kyriacou earned her career-best finish on the LPGA Tour last week at The Amundi Evian Championship, ultimately finishing solo second to Ayaka Furue after a gritty battle down the stretch at Evian Resort Golf Club, and will be hoping to ride that momentum into this week’s Dana Open. And considering she gained 18.4 strokes on the field last week at The Amundi Evian Championship, according to KPMG Performance Insights, it just might be Kyriacou’s number that comes up on Sunday in Sylvania, Ohio. The Australian is making her third start at Highland Meadows Golf Club and has never missed the cut at this event, tying for 45th in her tournament debut in 2022 and then tying for fourth last year, her season-best result on the LPGA Tour in 2023. This is her 15th start of the 2024 season, and in addition to that runner-up showing in France, the 23-year-old has earned two other top-20 results, tying for 18th at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards and tying for 12th at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer. She is ranked inside the top 20 in just one statistical category this year, currently sitting at 18th in strokes gained driving on the LPGA Tour.
Esther Henseleit collected her third top-10 result of the 2024 season last week at The Amundi Evian Championship, ultimately tying for seventh at Evian Resort Golf Club, and will be working to continue her recent form at Highland Meadows Golf Club. The Germany native also finished solo seventh earlier this season at The Chevron Championship, her career-best finish in a major championship, and then tied for eighth the next week at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro. This week’s Dana Open is Henseleit’s 16th tournament of the 2024 season, and along with her three top 10s, the 25-year-old also tied for 14th at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club this year. Sylvania, Ohio is somewhere that Henseleit has played well at in her three previous Dana Open appearances, finishing solo fourth in her tournament debut in 2021 and then tying for 16th in the 2023 edition of the event. The future Olympian, who will make her Olympic debut in Paris in just under a month, ranks in the top 20 on the LPGA Tour in just one statistical category so far this year, currently sitting at 19th in rounds in the 60s (14).
Things have been quiet for Gemma Dryburgh this season on the LPGA Tour. She finished in a tie for 17th last week at The Amundi Evian Championship, her first time making the cut on Tour in her last five starts, dating back to the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro in April. Despite the recent struggles, the Scotswoman has still managed to collect three top-10 results this year, tying for ninth at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, tying for 13 at the LPGA Drive On Championship and then tying for 10th at the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship. This week’s Dana Open will mark her sixth start in the event, and in her five previous appearances, she has missed two cuts and earned a best result of T19, which came last year at Highland Meadows Golf Club.
Thursday, 1:04 p.m.* – Linn Grant/Aditi Ashok/Xiyu Lin
Linn Grant became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the 2023 Dana Open and will be looking to recreate that same magic as she continues to chase her second career LPGA Tour victory and first successful title defense at Highland Meadows Golf Club this week. According to KPMG Performance Insights, it was Grant’s ball-striking that led to her win last season, as she gained over two strokes on the field per round with her approach play and also gained 1.27 shots off the tee. That strength off the tee has carried over to the 2024 season, as Grant currently ranks fourth in strokes gained driving (+0.70) and is 17th in average driving distance (270.02 yards) so far this year. She is also 15th in rounds in the 60s (15) and 15th in birdies (175). Her title defense at the Dana Open marks her 15th event of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and Grant has earned five top-20 finishes this year, the most notable of which are a tie for ninth at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and a tie for 17th at The Chevron Championship. While she is still working to secure a spot on her second European Solheim Cup team, the 25-year-old recently qualified for her first Olympic Games and will be representing Paris in August.
Like Grant, Aditi Ashok will also be in Paris for the Olympics, set to play for India in her third straight Games. The five-time Ladies European Tour winner nearly medaled at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, ultimately finishing solo fourth, and came 41st in 2016 at the Rio Olympics, but she is still searching for that elusive first LPGA Tour victory, one that just might come at Highland Meadows Golf Club. Before 2023, the 26-year-old had an up-and-down relationship with the Dana Open, tying for eighth in her tournament debut and then missing three cuts and tying for 59th in her next four starts. But last year, Ashok finally regained her footing in Sylvania, Ohio, recording a four-day total of 12-under to ultimately finish in a tie for seventh. This year’s Dana Open marks her 16th start of the 2024 season, and it’s been a mixed bag of results for Ashok so far this year. She has missed four cuts and earned just three top-25 finishes, but two of those were a pair of T17s that came in two major championships at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club and at last week’s Amundi Evian Championship. Statistically, Ashok is ninth in strokes gained putting this year (+0.92), according to KPMG Performance Insights, and also ranks second in sand saves (61.76%) and seventh in putting average (29.04) on the LPGA Tour.
Xiyu Lin of the People’s Republic of China rounds out Olympic-bound group 34 and is another player who is more than due for her first LPGA Tour victory at Highland Meadows Golf Club. She has only ever missed the cut once in the Dana Open and has finished in the top 25 in her last five starts in Sylvania, Ohio, most notably tying for seventh in 2022 and then tying for fourth in the 2023 edition of the tournament. This is her ninth time competing in this event, and this week marks her 15th start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season. She has recorded five top-15 results so far this year, the best of which is a tie for fourth that came at the Cognizant Founders Cup and the most notable of which is a tie for 13th that came in April at The Chevron Championship. Using data provided by KPMG Performance Insights, the 28-year-old is ranked inside the top 20 in strokes gained around the green (7, +0.43), strokes gained total (15, +1.27) and strokes gained tee to green (17, +1.06). She is also seventh in greens in regulation (72%), ninth in rounds under par (27) and ninth in rounds in the 60s (16). Lin qualified for her third straight Olympics after finishing 15th in the Olympic Golf Ranking and will be representing China once again in Paris as she looks to find the podium for her county at Le Golf National and join Shanshan Feng as the second-ever Chinese medal winner in the women’s golf competition.
*Off No. 10
For a full list of tee times, please click here.
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