Arizona LPGA event shaping up as showdown between Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko

Since 1950, the LPGA has played a tournament in Arizona more than 70 times. After a five-year absence, the tour returned last year with the Drive On event at Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club in Gold Canyon. The tour is back in 2024 but on the move again and this week, a first-time venue is hosting a new event, with Seville Golf and Country Club in Gilbert staging the inaugural Ford Championship presented by KCC.

This is the sixth event on the LPGA this season and the middle of three straight on the West Coast. Here are five other things to know about the tournament.

Nelly Korda vs. Lydia Ko, round 2
Lydia Ko and Nelly Korda are two of the biggest names on the circuit and they took turns winning to start the 2024 campaign. Ko won the season opener and then Korda beat Ko in a playoff a week later. This week marks the first LPGA stop they’re back together in the same field, so expect fireworks at Seville.

Ko, 26, has 20 career wins and is one point away from clinching a spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame, one of the toughest Halls to enter in all of professional sports. There are 34 members of the Hall, including the 13 LPGA founders, and Ko is the seventh to reach the 20-win plateau before the age of 27.

Korda, meanwhile, is fresh off her 10th career win Sunday near Los Angeles. The 25-year-old also needed a playoff to secure that one.
Field is loaded for LPGA event in Gilbert
The top five golfers in the Rolex Rankings — No. 1 Lilia Vu, No. 2 Nelly Korda, No. 3 Celine Boutier, No. 4 Ruoning Yin, No. 5 Minjee Lee — are in the field this week.

Boutier of France needed extra holes a year ago to knock out England’s Georgia Hall at Superstition Mountain in the Drive On Championship, which shifted to Florida this season. Those two would later become victorious teammates on the 2023 European Solheim Cup team.

Among the 144 players in the field this week all five tournament winners from 2024. Along with Korda and Ko they are Patty Tavatanakit, Hannah Green and Bailey Tardy. The field also features No. 6 Jin Young Ko, No. 7 Charley Hull, No. 12 Brooke Henderson and No. 22 Rose Zhang.

The golfers will vie for a $2 million purse, with $300,000 going to the winner.

Moms teeing it up in LPGA tournament
There will be nine mothers competing this week, including Lindsey Weaver-Wright, who is making her first start since giving birth. Weaver-Wright played high school golf at Cave Creek Cactus Shadows and then, after a season at Notre Dame, finished her college career at Arizona.

In her last tournament before taking leave, she holed out for eagle on her final hole at a tournament in Texas last October.

The two sponsor exemptions went to Canada’s Alena Sharp, who has made Seville her home club since 2009, and Peoria’s Kim Paez, who in 2023 became the first female winner in the Southwest PGA Championship’s 66-year history.

There are several other locals in the field as well, including Scottsdale’s Cristie Kerr as well as former Arizona State golfers Anna Nordqvist, Linn Grant, Carlota Ciganda, Linnea Strom and Azahara Munoz.

What to know about the Seville course
Seville will play as a 6,615-yard, par-72 this week. The course is known for its 145-yard, par-3 17th hole, which features an island green.

The Gary Panks design opened in 2002.

LPGA ticket, parking information
Daily general admisstion tickets are $40 and a four-day general admission pass is $95. For an upgraded experience, fans can buy tickets to the Trophy Bar at 17th Green, which features a pavilion with views of the 16th green and the 17th-hole island green. These cost $175 for single-day passes or $600 for four-day access. The Trophy Bar at 17th Green includes a shared food and beverage service as well as access to an upgraded restroom.

Current and former members of the U.S. Armed Forces will get free tickets, all juniors 17 and under get in free, and everyone gets in free on Wednesday as part of the Ford Free Day promotion. Fans still need a ticket to get in on Wednesday. Go to seatgeek.com for more information.

The course’s address is 6683 S. Clubhouse Dr., Gilbert, but parking for fans attending the tournament will be at Gilbert Regional Park, 3005 E. Queen Creek Road, Gilbert. Parking is $15 with free shuttles taking fans to the course starting Thursday and running through Sunday. The option for parking will appear on the seatgeek.com site as an add-on to the ticket purchase. Parking can also be a separate transaction.