THE WOODLANDS, Texas — The first major of the LPGA Tour season gets underway on Thursday in The Woodlands, Texas, as 132 players tackle the challenging Club at Carlton Woods for The Chevron Championship. With a field chock full of the world’s top talent, it can be easy to overlook players who may not be making as many headlines as some of their counterparts when deciding who might fare well at a particular event.
That said, here are a few players worth watching this week at The Chevron Championship:
Ariya Jutanugarn
Even though Ariya Jutanugarn has missed three cuts in her six total starts this year, she’s had some solid finishes thus far in her 10th season on the LPGA Tour, tying for 13th in her home country at the Honda LPGA Thailand and tying for 22nd at the HSBC Women’s World Championship at a challenging Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore. But maybe a better indicator of success at The Chevron Championship than her recent form is Jutanugarn’s past performances at Jack Nicklaus-designed golf courses. The Club at Carlton Woods was created by the Golden Bear, and the 12-time LPGA Tour winner played well in the first edition of The Chevron Championship held at the venue, carding four straight 71s en route to a T14 finish in 2023, which was her best major result last year. And funny enough, the two-time major champion captured her second and most recent major victory on a Jack Nicklaus design, winning the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open at Shoal Creek Golf Club in Shoal Creek, Ala., after defeating Hyo Joo Kim in a four-hole playoff. While that win came during one of the high points of Jutanugarn’s professional golf career, an era that saw her ascend to No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings for the second time not long after her U.S. Women’s Open victory, it still proves that she definitely knows how to tackle these types of golf courses and indicates that she could be a force to be reckoned with this week at The Chevron Championship.
Megan Khang
Megan Khang threatened to become a Rolex First-Time Winner early at the 2023 Chevron Championship, sitting in a tie for second through 36 holes and a tie for third through 54 holes at The Club at Carlton Woods. But she ultimately finished in a tie for ninth, her second-best result in a major championship last season and an early momentum boost that helped her stay the course in search of her first LPGA Tour title later that year. In August 2023, Khang went on to win the CPKC Women’s Open at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club in Vancouver, Canada, outlasting former Rolex Rankings No. 1 Jin Young Ko in a playoff to become a Rolex First-Time Winner. Who’s to definitively say that Khang’s early success at The Chevron in April lifted her to victory in August, but, according to KPMG Performance Insights, Khang was tied for fourth in most strokes gained total in major championships last season, all of which took place before she won in Canada. That success can be attributed to her long game, as the Massachusetts native ranked third in strokes gained ball striking in majors last season (+1.72) and was ranked eighth in both strokes gained off the tee (+0.70) and strokes gained approach (+1.02) in those five events, according to KPMG Performance Insights. She also ended the 2023 LPGA Tour season ranked fourth in strokes gained approach (+1.10), a metric she is currently ranked fifth in through five events so far in 2024 (+1.21).
Atthaya Thitikul
Atthaya Thitikul is making her 2024 debut this week at The Chevron Championship after dealing with a left thumb injury that drastically extended her offseason. And while she’s certainly lacking competitive reps, don’t count the 21-year-old out at The Club at Carlton Woods. She finished in a tie for fourth in this tournament last year, carding four under-par rounds over the four tournament days in The Woodlands, Texas, a rare feat considering how challenging this venue can play depending upon the conditions. Statistically, the Thailand native ended her 2023 LPGA Tour season ranked second in strokes gained total, also ranking in the top 20 in both strokes gained off the tee (17) and strokes gained putting (12). But even though she didn’t win a tournament in 2023, Thitikul still earned a whopping 13 top-10 finishes, seven of which were top-five results and the most notable of which besides her T4 in Houston last year was her runner-up finish at the Maybank Championship in Malaysia, when she ultimately fell to Celine Boutier after a nine-hole playoff. Forecasting how she’ll play this week at The Chevron Championship might be a little unpredictable considering the physical challenges she’s faced in recent months, but with a solid history at The Club at Carlton Woods and that kind of 2023 resume in her back pocket, Thitikul just might be able to pull out a third LPGA Tour victory this week outside of Houston.
Albane Valenzuela
Switzerland native Albane Valenzuela might seem like a little bit of a wild card pick at The Chevron Championship, but the 26-year-old was another player who finished in a tie for fourth at The Club at Carlton Woods last April, firing rounds of 72-67-68-73 to earn her career-best finish in a major championship. This week marks her seventh career start in this event and fourth since she became an LPGA Tour member in 2020. It’s also her seventh tournament of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and in her six previous events, she’s earned two top-15 results, finishing runner-up to Patty Tavatanakit at the Honda LPGA Thailand and tying for 15th at the Blue Bay LPGA. Statistically, her long game is in great shape heading into the major season, as Valenzuela currently ranks fourth in both strokes gained tee to green (+1.55) and strokes gained approach (+1.28), according to KPMG Performance Insights, strong performances in two metrics that should benefit her this week in The Woodlands, Texas as she works to become the season’s second Rolex First-Time Winner.
