Articles by Kent Paisley

November 25th, 2024

This year-long LPGA honor came down to the second-to-last hole

A first for the Vare Trophy was in play late Sunday at the CME Group Tour Championship. Since the LPGA started handing out the low-scoring award in 1953, there had never been multiple winners in its history. But with an infinitesimally slight difference down to the millionths decimal point, the LPGA projected that if Hae Read more…

November 25th, 2024

Forget the $6 million payday. Jeeno Thitikul’s latest LPGA win comes with something even more valuable

Thitikul’s talent-affirming fourth career LPGA title solidifies the 21-year-old as a rising foil amid the tour turning a new chapter with a rash of past winners retiring.

November 24th, 2024

$4 million up for grabs as Thitikul, Yin battle for season-finale title

It’s a good day to have a good day. The philosophy is embroidered into the side of 54-hole CME Group Tour Championship co-leader Angel Yin’s golf bag, turned towards the fans cheering her on as her caddie Michelle Simpson walks around Tiburon Golf Club. Yin’s third-round five-under 67 has her tied with Jeeno Thitikul, who Read more…

November 23rd, 2024

Aside from a late rules scare, Angel Yin is in control at CME Group with $4 million on the line

The outgoing Angel Yin couldn’t help but notice the extra attention on her late Friday at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples. Rules officials met with her following a second-round 69 in the CME Group Tour Championship to review television footage of her drop on the par-4 fourth hole. Media waited for the 36-hole leader and Read more…

November 23rd, 2024

Three of the LPGA’s biggest stars (yes, including Nelly Korda) make massive moves at CME Group with $4 million on the line

The usual suspects fought back into contention Friday in the CME Group Tour Championship. After Nelly Korda, Jeeno Thitikul and Charley Hull combined to go even par Thursday at scorable Tiburon Golf Club, the trio nearly averaged 66 on Friday to move into the top 10 going into the weekend. Hull got off to a Read more…

November 20th, 2024

Lexi Thompson will miss giving away … her shoes? … and other thoughts as she steps away from LPGA

Lexi Thompson’s retirement from full-time golf is bringing a level of openness from her that has only been seen in spurts during her career. With Thompson, 29, announcing over the summer that she’d step away from a full LPGA schedule—though she isn’t ruling out playing in selected events—this week’s CME Group Tour Championship is a Read more…

November 20th, 2024

The LPGA’s top two scorers aren’t going to win the season scoring award. Why?

What was once an oddity has turned into a recent commonality, because for the third time in five years, the lowest scoring average on tour won’t win the Vare and its coveted LPGA Hall of Fame point.

November 18th, 2024

Nelly Korda hadn’t competed in two months but shows up at Annika’s event and dominates to earn record seventh win

This is the first time since Yani Tseng in 2011 that someone has won seven times in a year, and Korda is the first American to accomplish the feat since Hall of Famer Beth Daniel did so in 1990.

November 18th, 2024

With tears in her eyes and family by her side, Brittany Lincicome walks into retirement after a beautiful 20-year ride

Lincicome realised she wanted to retire only a few months ago. As recently as July, she told friends that she still had 10 years left in the tank, feeling she still had the game even though her head often got in the way.

November 16th, 2024

Competing for 28th time this season, Alexa Pano is learning some tour lessons the hard way

An LPGA sophomore season is usually defined by players picking and choosing their events after sampling as many courses as possible during their rookie year. They start finding a season-long rhythm, discovering a daily routine, how to book their travel, when to practice, how many events in a row their body can handle before taking Read more…

November 10th, 2024

A Lim Kim finally backs up major win with Lotte Championship triumph

Kim’s win ensures the 29-year-old South Korean’s spot in the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, jumping her from 65th to 22nd in the points standings.

November 10th, 2024

LPGA stalwart Angela Stanford goes into retirement battling to the end

As Angela Stanford’s putt trickled towards the hole, she couldn’t help but smile. Her 20-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole of the Lotte Championship on Saturday tracked to the cup, but slowed its roll, ending up two feet shy. Had her ball fallen in, Stanford would have earned her way into next week’s Pelican Read more…

November 6th, 2024

A major champion in danger of losing her card and six other pros in the hot seat as the LPGA season hits its home stretch

For many players, the magic number is 100, as in making sure to be inside the top 100 in CME points to keep full status on the LPGA Tour in 2025.

November 5th, 2024

Although 3 events remain, Nelly Korda has wrapped up the LPGA’s Player of the Year award

It’s the first time she’s won the award, this one for her impressive, yet sometimes turbulent, six-win campaign.

November 4th, 2024

Japan LPGA’s top player erases late three-shot deficit to claim eighth season title on sixth playoff hole

The Toto Japan Classic, which is co-sanctioned by the LPGA and Japan LPGA, came down to a marathon six-hole playoff, with one representative from each tour vying for the title.

November 2nd, 2024

LPGA’s Toto Japan Classic reduced to 54 holes after tropical storm wipes out third round

The LPGA released a joint statement with the Japan LPGA, who co-sanctions the event, that due to the postponement, the tournament will be reduced to 54 holes.

October 28th, 2024

With a birdie on the last hole in Malaysia, Ruoning Yin captures her second LPGA title this month

The LPGA’s Maybank Championship in Malaysia came down to a pair of former world No.1s.

October 26th, 2024

LPGA sets up 96-yard par 3, and of course there were holes-in-one

Three aces came in a flurry during the third round of the LPGA Tour’s Maybank Championship on one of the shortest par-3s the tour plays. The 96-yard par-3 fourth at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club in Malaysia was playing 32 yards shorter than in the second round. MORE: College stars make different decisions after Read more…

October 26th, 2024

College stars finish high in LPGA Q School second stage and take different paths in their decisions to turn pro

Two of the top amateur finishers at the second stage of the LPGA Tour’s qualifying school walked off Plantation Golf Club in Venice, Fla., on Friday facing career-altering decisions. Adela Cernousek, the 2024 NCAA individual champion out of Texas A&M, and UCLA’s Zoe Campos, No. 10 in the Women’s Amateur Golf Ranking, have to give Read more…

October 20th, 2024

Hannah Green hangs on at the BMW Ladies Championship while continuing to etch her name in Australian golf history

The BMW Ladies Championship remains in Australian hands. After Minjee Lee won the LPGA’s lone tournament in South Korea last year, Hannah Green went wire-to-wire at Seowon Hills Country Club for her third win of 2024, closing with a 71 to hang on for a one-stroke victory for her sixth career title. Leaderboard Win: Hannah Read more…

October 13th, 2024

How a long-distance phone led to a runaway victory for this major champion at the Buick LPGA Shanghai

The former world No.1 went bogey-free for her final 50 holes in front of her hometown fans to shatter the tournament-scoring record by nine shots.

October 7th, 2024

Australia’s Cassie Porter one of 15 to secure LPGA status at the Epson Tour Championship

Australia’s Cassie Porter finished T-17 at the Epson Tour Championship to improve from 11th to 10th on the season-long standings.