If last year’s season-opening event on the LPGA is any indication of what’s to come, buckle up for the newly renamed Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, now held at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando.
World No. 1 and Olympic gold medalist Nelly Korda and defending champion Jessica Korda, who shot 60 last year en route to victory, will be on hand Jan. 20-23 along with Michelle Wie West, Danielle Kang, Brooke Henderson, Lydia Ko, Inbee Park, Ariya Jutanugarn, Anna Nordqvist and Stacy Lewis. Nelly Korda won the Gainbridge LPGA event at Lake Nona in 2021.
Wie West qualified for the event by winning the 2018 HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore. She did not play the 2021 tournament while on maternity leave after giving birth to daughter Makenna in 2020.
Notably absent from the field is last year’s LPGA Player of the Year, Jin Young Ko, Sei Young Kim and Minjee Lee. Florida resident Lexi Thompson did not qualify.
The LPGA stars will be joined by approximately 50 celebrities including 2021 champion Mardy Fish, 2019 and 2020 champion John Smoltz, Annika Sorenstam, Marcus Allen, Charles Woodson, Jack Wagner and Blair O’Neal. The celebrity field will compete for a $500,000 purse using a modified Stableford format.
Meanwhile, the LPGA purse will increase by 25 percent from 2021 to $1.5 million. All four rounds will be televised live on Golf Channel, with weekend coverage extending to NBC.
Nasa Hataoka, Sorenstam, Ko and Jutanugarn and are all members at Nona.
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