Have a conversation with any competition coordinator and what they’re looking for is a reason for contrast, something they can sell about their opportunity alongside the day-to-day game. For more prestigious titles, it’s usually a course or a set of experiences, while for others it’s more overt promotion (such as the Phoenix Open on PGA Visit).
Zenith Golf Club’s standard opening 3rd 17th has over the long term turned into the otherworldly home of this rather surprising and particularly Arkansas “custom” where the call is run as a gathering. The ‘Hoard call’ requires those required to raise their hands and serenade boisterously ‘Wooo’ at the heels of ‘Pig Sooie’ as they cut their hands.
The moment it is done as one in a large gathering, it tends to stand up a bit, but generally the players accept it and some even play. TV inclusion will almost certainly rule this year as well, but ideally it won’t get into that frame of mind.
DEFENDING CHAMPION
Nasa Hataoka won here for her second championship by beating Eun Hee Ji and Minjee Lee in 2021.
This was closer than her success in 2018, when she won by six shots with a staggering 21 under par in 54 starts, still a competition record.
COURSE
The Apex Nation Club began life as the Champions Club in 1990, a luxury accommodation upgrade that is home to a significant number of Walmart (clearly the world’s largest public company) title support chiefs.
When the name changed to Apex is confused, but it is known that the first Wear Sechrest/Bruce Lietzke configuration underwent significant changes in 2008 due to Randy Heckenkemper.
Although the course has been the home of this LPGA event since it was introduced to the schedule in 2007, the owners clearly care about their year-round market and that is reflected in the scoring.
The main time the winning absolute wasn’t in double digits by standard was the primary year of the opportunity, when it was reduced to 18 holes as a result of the terrible climate.
The moment you realize that it’s been 54 openings forever, that’s a pretty dazzling measurement.
That first year, Stacy Lewis, then a freshman out of the College of Arkansas, was declared champion with a seven-under 65.
The standard of the course has since been changed to a standard 71, but at less than 6,000 meters the field of this type has been steadily declining.
The championship holes at Zenith are the wild par 5 fourteenth (570 meters if possible, but generally more like 490 meters is played for competition) and the island green par 3 fifteenth.
The 17th gets its fair share of attention after the fact, but that has more to do with the previously mentioned “hoarding call” than anything to do with merit building.
Price
PRICE: $2,300,000
PLAYERS TO WATCH
In any case, the debutant may be among her biggest dangers on this occasion with Thai star Atthaya Thitikul, the main other golfer with more than 300 birdies on the season.
The 19-year-old is ranked fifth in the world but has just one LPGA win to her name, a situation that is likely to change sooner rather than later.
Thitikul is sharp in every branch of the game and looks set to turn into a world number one player sooner or later in her profession.
Ahead of her runner-up finish last year is our own Minjee Lee, whose structure has fallen somewhat since her US Open ranking.
That could change this week, her eighth appearance at the competition, where she has finished in the top 10 just twice.
2016 winner Lydio Ko is the standard on this occasion, having played every competition since 2013. While her last five appearances have produced just one top-10, she has finished T4, T2 and T6 in the three years leading up to her triumph, so she feels comfortable in the environment.
they have been one of the most consistent entertainers of 2022 with 10 top-10 finishes in 17 starts but only one win to show and January returned. With three top-5s and four top-10s in her last five starts, it may be time for Ko to move to the winner’s circle again.
- 72 – Starts RECORD: 192 (- 21, Nasa Hataoka, 2018)
- 72- OPENING RECORD: 61 (- 10, So Yeon Ryu, 2017)
- PAST AUSSIE Victors: No Australian has won this competition.
- AUSTRALIANS IN THE FIELD: Minjee Lee, Su Gracious, Sarah Kemp, Steph Kyriacou and Karis Davidson.
Where to watch
- Round 1: Saturday (Fox Sports 503 10:00-11:00)
- Round 2: Sunday (Fox Sports 503 2:00-5:00)
- Cycle 3: Monday (Fox Sports 503 2:00-5:00)