Founders Cup 2025 Tips: Can 225/1 shot win in Florida?

The 2025 LPGA season began in much the same way the 2024 season unfolded, with Nelly Korda in contention and Lydia Ko not far from the top of the leaderboard in last week’s Tournament of Champions.

However, Nelly had to settle for a runner-up finish as Korea’s A Lim Kim continued her strong form, recording her second win in four starts having won the LOTTE Championship in November last year.

The tour stays in Florida this week for our first full-field event of the season: the Founders Cup at Bradenton Country Club.

Our expert golf tipster Jamie Worsley has previewed theis event, sharing five selections in his Founders Cup 2025 Tips.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

The Founders Cup debuted on the LPGA in 2011 at Wildfire Golf Club in Arizona, where it stayed until 2019. It was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, but returned in 2021 at Mountain Ridge Golf Course, before switching to Upper Montclair Country Club in 2022.

Having predominantly been staged in either March or May, the event now moves to this earlier time slot, replacing the LPGA Drive On Championship and with that, it moves to the host of that tournament in 2024, Bradenton Country Club.

This is a tournament that is synonymous with high-class winners, as each of the first 12 champions either were or became major champions.

Jin Young Ko is the most decorated player in the event’s history, taking the title in 2019, 2021 in 2023. She is one of only two players to win multiple Founders Cup titles, after Australia’s Karrie Webb collected the trophy in 2011 and 2014.

Last five winners:

• 2024 – Winner: Rose Zhang (-24)

Runner-up: Madelene Sagstrom (-22)

• 2023 – Winner: Jin Young Ko (-13, playoff)

Runner-up: Minjee Lee (-13)

• 2022 – Winner: Minjee Lee (-19)

Runner-up: Lexi Thompson (-17)

• 2021 – Winner: Jin Young Ko (-18)

Runner-up: Caroline Masson (-14)

• 2019 – Winner: Jin Young Ko (-22)

Runners-up: Carlota Ciganda, Nelly Korda, Jessica Korda, Yu Liu (-21)

Rose Zhang won her second LPGA title in under 12 months in last year’s Founders Cup, beating Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom by two shots. Unfortunately, she doesn’t return to defend this week.

THE COURSE

Bradenton Country Club opened for play in 1924 and was designed by the iconic Donald Ross. It has been renovated several times since, most recently in 2018, as Tony Jacklin oversaw a project that used original sketches to try and recapture the magic of Ross’ original.

It hosted an LPGA event for the first time last year, as Nelly Korda beat Lydia Ko in a playoff in the LPGA Drive On Championship after both players finished tied on -11. However, many players will have already had previous experience of Bradenton, as it hosted qualifying tournaments for the US Women’s Open seven times between 2015 and 2024.

The two nines are flipped for this event, but it still plays as a par 71 and measures 6465 yards – almost 100yds shorter than in last year’s Drive On Championship. It possesses 4x par 3s (162-188 yards), 11x par 4s (350-415 yards) and 3x par 5s (484-535 yards).

This flat parkland course is reasonably spacious and can play firm if conditions allow. It is framed by numerous water hazards – that are in-play on 12 holes – and imposingly large oak and palm trees, which though not especially dense are smartly placed and require players to be somewhat strategic from the tee.

The fairways are around average in width overall, though many bottleneck the further you go, whilst large and strategic bunkering offers additional protection.

Bermudagrass covers the course, including the average-sized greens, which rate as the most challenging design feature of Bradenton. They won’t play quite as quick as last year due to some uncooperative weather but built in Ross’ signature “turtleback” style and dramatically undulating, they will still be demanding to putt. With run-offs aplenty and penal greenside bunkering, getting up-and-down is also no guarantee.

The course finishes with water in-play on each of the last five holes, which makes for a very nervy finish. This includes the 492-yard par 5 17^th, which has water guarding the right-hand side of the entire hole and the 373-yard par 4 18^th, where a creek sits to the left of the fairway.

Bradenton CC is a lot of fun, with each of the par 5s gettable and several shorter par 4s that can be got at with some high-class ball-striking. That being said, the majority of these come with an element of risk/reward and it’s not too difficult to turn a potential birdie chance into disaster.

THE WEATHER

Strong winds and some relatively chilly weekend temperatures contributed to the tough scoring conditions at Bradenton last year, but fortunately for the players, the forecast looks borderline perfect this week.

Warm and bright weather is predicted for the whole week, both preceding and during the tournament days. Alongside generally gentle winds and those slower greens, I’d expect better scoring if the forecast comes to fruition.

KEY STATS

• SG: Approach/Greens-in-Regulation

Despite just one LPGA event being staged at Bradenton, it was striking how the top of last year’s leaderboard was littered with quality iron players.

Winner, Nelly Korda ranked 28^th in approach and 3^rd in greens-in-regulation on the LPGA last year; runner-up, Lydia Ko ranked 16^th in approach.

3^rd-place finisher, Megan Khang ranked 6^th in approach and 15^th in GIR in 2024; meanwhile, Ayaka Furue and Lucy Li in 4^th each excel with their irons, with Furue ranking 8^th in approach and 7^th in GIR, and Li ranking 13^th in approach and 22^nd in GIR.

• SG: Putting (bermudagrass)
• SG: Off-the-Tee

Although not as prevalent as approach play, quality on these tough bermudagrass greens and off-the-tee are other assets that will take a player far.

Lydia Ko and Ayaka Furue both ranked inside the top 15 in putting on the LPGA in 2024; Nelly Korda was the 3^rd-ranked driver on tour, with other top-6 finishers, Auston Kim and Xiyu Lin also strong off-the-tee.

CORRELATING EVENTS

I spoke last year about two other Donald Ross originals offering clues as to this week, in the shape of Pelican Golf Club, host of THE ANNIKA and home of the Shoprite Classic, Seaview’s Bay Course.

Each of those courses appeared to work, with Nelly Korda now a three-time winner of THE ANNIKA and Lydia Ko possessing top 5s at each, whilst Ayaka Furue and Megan Khang have each finished runner-up in the Shoprite Classic. All of whom finished 4^th or better at Bradenton CC last year.

In addition to that, I thought the Dana Open at Highland Meadows Golf Club could be worth a look. It has a similar ball-striking test to this week’s course and Lydia Ko is a two-time winner there; Megan Khang has finished runner-up, whilst 4^th and 6^th-place finishers in last year’s Drive On Championship, Lucy Li and Xiyu Lin have each recorded top 5s.

THE FIELD

The LPGA’s first full-field event of the season means we’re introduced to a whole host of new faces this week.

There is bags of quality at the top, with world #1 Nelly Korda and #2 Lydia Ko resuming their rivalry from last year. They are joined by a further four of the world’s top 10 and there are 15 of the top 25 in total in this week’s field.

Without Rose Zhang, there are just four former winners in attendance: Jin Young Ko (2023, 2021, 2019), Minjee Lee (2022), Hyo Joo Kim (2015) and Stacy Lewis (2013).

Nine of the 15 players to earn their LPGA tour cards via the Epson Tour last year will tee it up, including the top-ranked player, Lauren Stephenson and former #1 amateur, Ingrid Lindblad.

In addition, we have 23 of the 26 players who won a place on tour at Q School in action. This includes 13-time Japanese LPGA winner, Miyu Yamashita, who topped the leaderboard there; the leading player on the Korean LPGA in 2024, Ina Yoon; and former #1 amateur, Julia Lopez Ramirez will make her professional debut after turning pro at the end of last year.

Founders Cup 2025 Odds

SELECTIONS

Market leaders: Nelly Korda 9/2, Lydia Ko 8/1, Jin Young Ko 14/1, Miyu Yamashita 16/1, Charley Hull 20/1, Minjee Lee 20/1

Those starts from Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko last week were ominous, and they make up a very hard-to-beat duo at the top of the betting, especially at a course where they finished tied at the top last year.

That being said, this is a new season and whilst contending, they were still ultimately defeated and with so many other variables in our first full-field of 2025, we’ll try and get them beat.

I’m also happy to take a watching brief on those newly-promoted players and my main focus will instead be on some proven LPGA stars. Having found some form at the end of last year, Celine Boutier is the headline pick this week.

1.75 pts Celine Boutier each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 25/1

Following the brilliance of her 2023 campaign, that saw her win four times, including picking up a major in the Evian Championship, Boutier had a poor start to last year, recording just one top 10 across her first 19 events.

She had shown a little bit of form as major season ended, recording top-25 finishes in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and Women’s Open. She then capitalised on this by winning her first title of the year in the Aramco Series – Shenzhen on the Ladies European Tour.

The Frenchwoman was able to maintain this level of form thereafter, finishing 2^nd in the BMW Ladies Championship two starts later and she enters this week having finished 14^th or better on her last seven starts.

Her strength lies in the quality of her approach play, ranking 5^th on tour last season. Whilst after a poor year with the putter in 2024, it was a positive to see her rediscover her touch on the greens last week.

Boutier finished a solid 16^th here last season and as a former winner of the Shoprite Classic, she has some very encouraging Donald Ross form to her name.

1.25 pts Hannah Green each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 35/1

Hannah Green enjoyed a superb three-win season on the LPGA last year and as one of the strongest combined iron players/putters on tour, she can follow her solid 20^th-place finish last week by adding another early victory in 2025.

Green was ultra-consistent last year, missing four cuts in 22 starts and recording 10 top-10 finishes. She won the first of her trio of titles in the HSBC Women’s World Championship on just her second start of the year, and doubled up four starts later in the LA Championship. However, it was a six-month wait before she picked up victory number three – her sixth on the LPGA overall – in the BMW Ladies Championship on her fourth-last LPGA start of the year.

The Aussie is at her best with her irons, ranking 13^th in greens-in-regulation and 18^th in approach in 2024. Complementing this with a ranking of 21^st on the greens, she’s an ideal match for Bradenton.

Green didn’t play here last year but she does have a 4^th-place finish in THE ANNIKA, which strengthens her case.

1.25 pts Megan Khang each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 35/1

Megan Khang was an excellent 3^rd at this course last year and having started the season in good ball-striking form at Lake Nona G&CC last week, she is taken to go two better this time around.

Khang was somewhat inconsistent in 2024, missing as many cuts as she had in the previous two seasons combined, though there were positives. Her 3^rd-place finish here was one of five top 10s, including a runner-up finish in the Shoprite Classic and she looked in good shape at the end of the year, recording two of those top 10s across her last four starts.

She was a little slow to get going last week, but she found her stride over the weekend to eventually finish 18^th, and I’m hoping she’ll carry that momentum into this week.

Her iron play was top-class last year, ranking 6^th in approach and 15^th in GIR. It was encouraging to see her continue to show quality in this area last week, as she ranked 2^nd in approach and 1^st in GIR. Although she lacks the power of many of the top drivers, her incredible accuracy is a major asset and saw her rank top 30 off-the-tee in 2024.

Khang shot three rounds in the 60s to finish 3^rd at Bradenton CC last year and with runner-up finishes in both the Shoprite Classic and Dana Open, there is plenty to suggest she’s a great fit for this layout.

1 pt Mao Saigo each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 50/1

Mao Saigo showed lots of promise in her rookie season on the LPGA and as a player with an ideal skillset for Bradenton CC, I’m taking her to get her 2025 season off to the best possible start in Florida.

Saigo made 28 LPGA starts last season, missing five cuts and recording six top 10s. She finished runner-up in the CPKC Women’s Open and Buick LPGA Shanghai, and missed just one cut in her last 12 starts in 2024.

She’s an excellent iron player, ranking 4^th in GIR and 11^th in approach, whilst also a solid top-50 OTT. Sitting just outside the top 50 on the greens, her game possesses little weakness and makes her a good fit for this week’s test.

Saigo finished 32^nd here in 2024, bookending middle rounds in the 60s with a 73 in round one and a 75 in round four. Having hit the top 25 in both the Dana Open and Shoprite Classic, her comp form is strong and indicates that she can improve on her result from last year.

0.75 pts Andrea Lee each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 225/1

Finally, having gone well here last year and possessing quality in several of the relevant areas required this week, Andrea Lee looks a huge price at 200/1+.

That price is no doubt impacted by a relatively unremarkable 2024 campaign. One that saw Lee record just one top 5, five top 10s and finish the season with some poor results. However, she began last year well – after a similarly uninspiring end to 2023 – recording three of those top 10s across her first five starts and I’m hoping the fresh beginning will again spark her into life this week.

There are no real weaknesses to her game, as she gained strokes with every club bar driver last year. Though as a short, accuracy-dependent player – ranking 16^th in driving accuracy – that is a stat she is never going to excel in. Her strengths lie in approach, ranking 38^th last season and on the greens, ranking 43^rd.

Lee finished 9^th here last year, closing out with a 67 in round four, which was the best score of that final day. A top-5 finish in the Dana Open provides us with more encouragement and if she starts this year as she did the last, this former #1 amateur could make a that price look massive by Sunday evening.

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