The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will be starting this week at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Some may remember this as the course where Rory McIlroy won the U.S. Open back in 2011. It’s great to see the venue hosting its first women’s major this year, which is also scheduled to return there in 2027.
If you read our predictions blog on the US PGA Championship in May when the event was held at Southern Hills Championship Course in Tulsa you would have seen some of the drama that has taken place out of the golf course. The Congressional Country Club also has a great history. During the second world war, The Office of Strategic Services needed somewhere for recruits to practice skills in preparation for infiltrating Nazi-occupied France and the Congressional Country Club became the place to train. Explosive testing was done in sand traps and live fire exercises on the fairways.
Looking forward to the forthcoming event, we can’t wait to see what drama unfolds. Here are our top 5 picks:
Leona Maguire
The 27 year old from Ireland has had some great form recently, runner up in her last tournament at Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. Many believe her time to really shine is just around the corner. She was World Amateur No 1 for 135 weeks, youngest Curtis Cup player when she was 15 and huge success on the US College circuit. Could this week’s championship be her time to shine? We can’t wait to see how the tournament progresses for Leona.
Lydia Ko
The 25 year old, world number 4 who finished two places behind Leona at the Meijer LPGA Classic has been extremely consistent over her last 5 tournaments, finishing in the top 5 of all except 1. So far this year she has had 185 birdies, the 5th best on the tour. We have an eagle eye on her to see how she will perform in the leader board, but our bet is top 5.
Jennifer Kupcho
The winner of the LPGA Classic last week, the American who also claimed a win at the Chevron Championship back in March is looking like a strong contender. However her results are not always consistent especially when compared to Lydia.
Charley Hull
The question is can Charley break her major championship duck this week? We would love the answer to be yes. Charley, whose only tour victory was at the the CME Group Tour Championship in 2016 has the ability. Her best stats result is having 17 rounds under par, 15th best on the women’s tour.
Gemma Dryburgh
Our wild card is the Scottish golfer, Gemma Dryburgh. The 29 year old has never won on the LPGA tour, never finished higher than T43 at a major. Her best result this year so far was finishing 5T at Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play presented by MGM Rewards in May. But with all professional sports you should never dismiss an underdog as we have seen surprise results not just in golf.
Let us know who your top picks are in the comments below and don’t forget, you can get out on the golf course and join a club with PlayMoreGolf. Explore your local course here or join now.