After two weeks in Scotland including a dramatic victory by Sophia Popov at the Women’s British Open,
the ladies of the LPGA Tour headed back to the United States for the Walmart NW Arkansas
Championship. There would be a new champion this year at this 54-hole event, as defending champion
Sung Hyun Park was not in the field.
Scoring was excellent during Friday’s first round on the par 71 layout. Esther Lee, Anna Nordqvist, and
Jackie Stoelting set the pace with rounds of 64 to tie for the lead. Six players were bunched at six under
par, while Stacy Lewis, Lizette Salas, and Angela Stanford were part of a five-way group at minus five.
The stellar scores kept coming in, with ten players including Nelly Korda at minus-four. Notables
included Ariya Jutanugarn and Jessica Korda at one under, and Lydia Ko and Brooke Henderson at even.
The players continued to fire at the pins on Saturday and it became increasingly obvious an under-par
score was needed to make the 36-hole cut. Anna Nordqvist got off to a sizzling hot start, posting six
under for the day at the turn. She finished with a 62 to vault into the lead at minus-16. Sei Young Kim
shot a 64 and was just one off the pace. Nelly Korda, with help from an eagle on 18 shot a 63. Jenny Shin
matches Korda’s 63 and both were at 12-under for the tournament. Austin Ernst was extremely steady,
firing her second consecutive 65 and was also at 12-under. All told, 81 players shot under par for the
first two rounds. Danielle Kang, Brooke Henderson and Lydia Ko made the cut, while Ariya Jutanugarn
struggled to a 73 and missed the cut at +1.
The ladies continued to scorch the golf course in Sunday’s final round, as only eight of the 80 players
shot over par. To illustrate how great the scores were, Brooke Henderson shot a 69 and dropped 21
places on the leaderboard. The day belonged to 28-year old Austin Ernst. She fired at the pins and rolled
in birdie after birdie for a round of 63. She finished 20 under par to win by 2 over Anna Nordqvist,
who shot just 2 under par on the day. Nelly Korda and Angela Stanford finished four off the pace,
while Sei Young Kim and Jenny Shin post 15-under par. Worth noting was the round of Thailand’s
Parajee Anannarukarn, who jumped 36 spots to 21st after a round of 64.
The LPGA Tour heads to Rancho Mirage, California for the ANA Inspiration, September 10-13. Jin Young
Ko is the defending champion of this event with has a purse of $3.1 million and 625 points up for grabs
for the CME Race to the Globe.
