Lydia Ko hoping one other CPKC Ladies's Open title will convey honourary Canadian crown with it

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The CPKC Ladies’s Open entry listing reads like a who’s who of what’s what within the LPGA.

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The event, which will get happening Thursday on the Shaughnessy Golf and Nation Membership, options 9 of the top-10 gamers on the Rolex World Rankings, led by new No. 1 Lilia Vu, 25, the Fountain Valley, Calif., product who gained the AIG Ladies’s Open in Surrey, England a few weeks in the past. 

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There are 16 of the LPGA’s in-season event winners in whole, together with Brooke Henderson.

Henderson, 25, the 13-time LPGA Tour winner from Smith Falls, Ont., highlights 15 Canadian entries in addition to eight previous CPKC Ladies’s Open champs collaborating. She took prime spot at this occasion in 2018, when it was hosted by the Wascana Nation Membership in Regina.

There may be heaps to trace over the subsequent few days. Listed here are simply 5 gamers to keep watch over:

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Brooke Henderson

She’s the media darling. She’s the fan favorite. She’ll be a centre of consideration all through.

“It’s the spotlight of my 12 months, just about yearly,” Henderson stated earlier within the week of the event. “It’s thrilling to be so near so many followers and, no matter the place we’re within the nation, the followers and the crowds come to observe. 

“Simply to really feel that type of love and assist, it’s actually particular. I attempt to do my finest and attempt to signal a bunch of autographs and take photos, however I additionally attempt to make it possible for I give the correct quantity of time for myself to essentially put together and get the correct quantity of relaxation so I can exit and carry out on Thursday by way of Sunday.

“Profitable this championship again in 2018 is certainly a spotlight of my profession, so I’d like to in a position to try this once more some day.”

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Lydia Ko

The 26-year-old, who was born in Seoul, South Korea and moved to New Zealand together with her household when she was 4, is a three-time CPKC Ladies’s Open champion. Her first got here in 2012 on the Vancouver Golf Membership when she was simply 15. That set the mark for youngest winner on the LPGA Tour.

She raved about Canada in a Wednesday media occasion, speaking up Henderson and joking about how she appeared up whether or not New Zealand passport holders acquired any particular privileges right here.

“It’s at all times going to be a really particular for me. Possibly if I win a fourth time, I’ll be an honourary Canadian,” Ko stated.

Lilia Vu

Followers who wish to observe each Henderson and Vu are in luck. They are going to be taking part in in a bunch collectively Thursday, together with American Nelly Korda, 25. They’re slated to tee off at 1:21 p.m. 

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Vu stated that successful AIG Ladies’s Open, which is likely one of the LPGA’s Majors, has allowed her to “view golf differently and simply have enjoyable and know that my sport is nice sufficient to be out right here and simply hold doing what I’m doing.”

And the No. 1 rating? 

“I don’t know if I’ll ever really feel like I deserve that, however I do know that I’ve put in lots of work and I discovered that my sport works finest after I’m having enjoyable and simply doing my factor and never pondering an excessive amount of about it,” she stated. “Simply taking part in one shot at a time and realizing that I can win.”

There was one change away from the course, although, it appears, with Vu admitting, “My dad tried to bribe me. He was mainly saying if I gained one other main we will get a cat, so I’ve been looking for that.”

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Stacy Lewis

The 38-year-old from Toledo, Ohio, can be doing double responsibility this week. She can be taking pictures for a fifteenth profession LPGA Tour win, and she or he can be the American captain for the Solheim Cup. She’s set to announce that 12-woman roster on the shut of this weekend.

The Solheim Cup is between groups from the U.S. and Europe and goes each two years. This subsequent event is ready for Sept. 22-24 in Finca Cortesin, Andalucia, Spain.

“There may be lots of operating by way of my mind proper now,” Lewis stated Wednesday. “It’s exhausting to deal with the golf course with simply all the opposite issues which might be happening. However I’m okay with that. It’s been a lot enjoyable to date, simply to have the ability to be on the market this week to speak to the ladies, actually understand how they’re taking part in.

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“It’s been overwhelming and I’m hoping issues cool down, however I feel the subsequent couple, three, 4 weeks can be fairly loopy as effectively.”

She additionally spoke about how a lot she has relied on analytics as a part of engaged on her choices.

“If you happen to give me some folks’s stats with out names I may most likely let you know who they’re,” Lewis stated.

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Maddie and Ellie Szeryk

The sisters from London, Ont., are taking part in in a bunch Thursday, slated to tee off alongside Aussie Su-Hyun Oh at 12:26 p.m. 

Maddie, 27, performs on the LPGA full time. Ellie, 21, who’s preparing for her senior season at Southern Methodist College in Dallas, acquired a sponsor’s exemption.

She admits that she didn’t anticipate the invite from organizers. She did play within the occasion in 2018. Maddie has performed in 5 CPKC Ladies’s Opens, however missed that one. 

“It was fairly cool yesterday placing subsequent to her on the inexperienced. It’s comforting as a result of if she wasn’t right here I’d be a nervous wreck. Simply having Maddie right here, it’s positively an enormous consolation and fairly cool,” Ellie stated earlier this week.

@SteveEwen

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