The LPGA Tour has met its match.
Match play, that is.
For the first time since 2017 there will be a match-play event on the LPGA Tour’s schedule, taking place May 26-30 from the iconic Shadow Creek in Las Vegas.
The Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play Hosted by Shadow Creek sees the top 64 golfers on the LPGA Tour compete for a $1.5-million purse.
Not unlike the PGA Tour’s WGC-Match Play event, the 64-player field will be divided into 16 groups of four players, with three days of round-robin matches deciding the final 16-player bracket. Once that 16-player bracket is determined, the tournament will continue with single-elimination matches.
Two players will compete head-to-head in Sunday’s finale for the first-place prize.
“This will also be an incredibly exciting week for our players, who have long told us that they wanted to add a match-play competition to our schedule,” said Ricki Lasky, the LPGA’s Chief Tournament Business Officer.
Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesThe last match-play event on the LPGA Tour’s schedule was the Lorena Ochoa Match Play – so named after the legendary Mexican star. The event had been a stroke-play event from 2008-2016 but pivoted to match play in 2017. Sei-Young Kim defeated Ariya Jutanugarn in the finale, 1-up.
Kim, now a 12-time LPGA Tour winner (including twice in 2020), and Jutanugarn, now an 11-time LPGA Tour winner (including earlier in May, her first victory since 2018) would make for a riveting rematch if they met in this year’s finale in Las Vegas!
Shadow Creek, long known has one of the most exclusive courses in the United States, hosted ‘The Match’ between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in 2018, plus the PGA Tour’s CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek last fall.
This is the first time the LPGA Tour has visited Shadow Creek, but MGM Resorts – which owns the golf course – has included female golfers as part of its ambassador program for many years including Michelle Wie West. Wie West will be teeing it up at Shadow Creek as she makes her gradual return to action after the birth of her first child.
Other recent LPGA Tour match-play competitions include the 2010-2012 Sybase LPGA Match Play Championship and the 2005-2007 HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship.
“This event combines the top female golfers with one of the most exclusive golf courses in the country in a unique match-play format. We look forward to working closely with the LPGA and Shadow Creek to create one of the Tour’s most exciting and successful events of 2021 and beyond,” said Kevin S. Kim, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Hope.
Golf Town Athlete Brooke Henderson will be the lone Canadian in the field.
She played in the Lorena Ochoa event in 2017 defeating Katherine Kirk in 20 holes in the first round and Ryan O’Toole 2&1 in the second round. She bowed out in the third round, losing 1-up to Shanshan Feng.
Brooke is back in action and in the midst of a busy stretch on the LPGA Tour. After the match-play event in Las Vegas is the U.S. Women’s Open, the second major championship of the year.