LOTTE Championship 2024 Tips: Jamie’s picks for Hawaii

The Hoakalei Country Club is the place, in picturesque 'Ewa Beach, Hawaii, for the 2024 Lotte Championship. Our resident golf tipster Jamie Worsley offers up his picks for this hotly-contested title. 

We may have witnessed a real star in the making on the LPGA last week, as Rio Takeda transferred her incredible winning talents to a wider audience in the TOTO Japan Classic, coming out on top in a lengthy six-hole playoff for her first LPGA-sanctioned success. It was the Japanese sensation’s eighth win of the calendar year, and should she accept LPGA membership, she’ll be a very exciting addition to the tour next year.

The LPGA heads back to the U.S this week for the LOTTE Championship at Hoakalei Country Club in Hawaii. It’s one of just three official events remaining on this year’s schedule and represents the first of two tournaments at which players will look to secure their status for next year by finishing inside the top 100 on the Race to CME Globe.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

The LOTTE Championship debuted in 2012 and with the exception of 2020, it has been staged every year since. Ko Olina Golf Club hosted from 2012-2019, before the 2021 edition was staged at Kapolei Golf Club. It moved to its current host of Hoakalei Country Club in 2022.

No less than eight of the 10 winners in this event are major champions. However, only one of them has won the event on two occasions, as Brooke Henderson claimed back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019.

Last five winners:

• 2023 – Winner: Grace Kim (-12, playoff); runners-up: Yu Liu, Yujin Sung (-12)
• 2022 – Winner: Hyo Joo Kim (-11); runner-up: Hinako Shibuno (-9)
• 2021 – Winner: Lydia Ko (-28); runners-up: Inbee Park, Sei Young Kim, Nelly Korda, Leona Maguire (-21)
• 2019 – Winner: Brooke Henderson (-16); runner-up: Eun Hee Ji (-12)
• 2018 – Winner: Brooke Henderson (-12); runner-up: Azahara Munoz (-8)

In the 2023 renewal, we witnessed Aussie, Grace Kim win her first LPGA title in a three-woman playoff, making birdie on the first extra hole. She returns to defend this week, aiming to emulate Brooke Henderson in successfully winning consecutive editions.

THE COURSE

This Ernie Els design opened for play in 2013 and is located on the southern coast of the island of Oahu, just a 30-minute drive from Hawaii’s state capital, Honolulu.

It plays as a par 72 and measures 6536 yards, and there are 10x par 4s (341-418 yards), 4x par 5s (495-540 yards) and 4x par 3s (129-280 yards).

Due to its coastal location, which makes it susceptible to wind, and abundance of water – in-play on 13 holes, including every hole on the front nine – the scoring here has been difficult, with neither winner surpassing 12-under-par.

Palm trees are dotted around the flat, parkland layout but it’s a largely spacious and open venue, covered from head-to-toe in paspalum grass.

The fairways are wide and the rough not too demanding, though a plethora of bunkers – 112 of which can be found around the course in total – litter the fairways, strategically placed to narrow the landing zones.

Meanwhile, the large greens will play at a slow 10-10.5 on the stimp. Despite the size, many of them are elevated and narrow/shallow in shape, making them tricky to find; with numerous and deep greenside bunkers for protection, players will need to be on point with their iron play.

The course has several risk/reward opportunities. Each of the four par 5s are guarded by water and there are two par 4s (the 3^rd and 16^th holes) on which the tee could be pushed up to make them drivable. Again, both of them have water in-play.

It is a course at which we could see some lower scoring if the wind stays away but with the forecast again predicting tricky conditions, it could be another testing week in Hawaii.

THE WEATHER

The players will have to contend with a bit of everything this week. There is rain in the forecast preceding the start of the event and that looks likely to stick around as a threat throughout. With a constantly moderate breeze of 11-15mph and gusts of 30mph+, the winds are strong enough to cause problems on this exposed, water-laden layout.

KEY STATS

• SG: Approach/Greens-in-Regulation

Whilst we’ve only had two renewals of this event at Hoakalei Country Club, it’s quickly become clear what is required to go well here. No area has been more important than iron play.

Grace Kim ranked 3^rd in approach when winning last year and was 4^th in greens-in-regulation. She beat Yu Liu in the playoff, who ranked 1^st in approach and 8^th in GIR.

Hyo Joo Kim also shone in this area when taking the title in 2022, ranking 4^th in approach and 7^th in GIR. Hinako Shibuno in 2^nd ranked 4^th in GIR and 12^th in approach, and 4^th-place finisher, Ashleigh Buhai ranked 2^nd in approach and 8^th in GIR.

• Scrambling/SG: Around-the-Greens

The weather will cause plenty of greens to be missed, as it has done in previous renewals. With that, it’s no surprise to see contenders excel with the short game.

Grace Kim ranked 5^th around-the-greens and 17^th in scrambling last year. Yu Liu in 2^nd ranked 10^th ATG; Linnea Strom in 4^th ranked 2^nd ATG and fellow 4^th-place finisher, Peiyun Chien ranked 6^th in scrambling.

Hyo Joo Kim was 2^nd in scrambling and ATG when taking the trophy in 2022. The next two on the leaderboard, Hinako Shibuno and Hye Jin Choi ranked 3^rd and 1^st in scrambling respectively.

• SG: Putting (paspalum)

Lastly, paspalum is a very rarely used surface on the tour and any prior experience of putting the surface well is a huge positive.

CORRELATING EVENTS (COURSES)

Blue Bay LPGA (Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course)

Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course is the only other venue that uses paspalum from tee-to-green. An exposed, flat course with large greens, wide fairways and lots of water in-play, there are many similarities between the two.

Notable correlating form:

Ashleigh Buhai:

Hoakalei CC (4^th) / Blue Bay (3^rd)

Honda LPGA Thailand (Siam Country Club – Old Course)

Although Siam Country Club’s Old Course uses bermudagrass on the greens, the rest of the course is paspalum. Its generous fairways are strategically protected by bunkers and many of the average-large greens are elevated.

Notable correlating form:

Hyo Joo Kim:

Hoakalei CC (1^st) / Honda LPGA (4^th)

Hinako Shibuno:

Hoakalei CC (2^nd) / Honda LPGA (8^th)

Hye Jin Choi:

Hoakalei CC (3^rd) / Honda LPGA (3^rd)

The Ascendant LPGA (Old American Golf Club)

Old American Golf Club is an exposed venue, with copious bunkers, generous fairways and slow greens.

Notable correlating form:

Hyo Joo Kim:

Hoakalei CC (1^st) / Ascendant (1^st)

Yu Liu:

Hoakalei CC (2^nd) / Ascendant (3^rd)

Georgia Hall:

Hoakalei CC (6^th) / Ascendant (4^th)

Shoprite LPGA Classic (Seaview – Bay Course)

Seaview’s Bay Course is a somewhat exposed coastal venue with strong bunkering, large greens and increasingly spacious fairways. Again, wind is often a factor there.

Notable correlating form:

Yu Liu:

Hoakalei CC (2^nd) / Shoprite (5^th)

Ashleigh Buhai:

Hoakalei CC (4^th) / Shoprite (1^st)

Linnea Strom:

Hoakalei CC (4^th) / Shoprite (1^st)

Ryan O’Toole:

Hoakalei CC (6^th) / Shoprite (6^th)

Mizuho Americas Open (Liberty National Golf Club)

Finally, Liberty National is another flat, exposed course with generous fairways and strikingly ample bunkering. Due to its coastal location, it’s at the mercy of the elements and requires players to be able to perform in the wind.

THE FIELD

We have just two players from the world’s top 10 in attendance this week: Ayaka Furue (#9) and Jin Young Ko (#10). They are joined by just a further two from the top 25, in the shape of former champions, Hyo Joo Kim and Brooke Henderson. Along with last year’s winner, Grace Kim they make up the three-strong group of previous winners.

The fifth-ranked players on the Korea LPGA this year, Youmin Hwang has received a sponsors invite; meanwhile, Stephanie Kyriacou, Cheyenne Knight and Alexandra Forsterling all make their return following six-week absences.

SELECTIONS

Market leaders: Ayaka Furue 8/1, Hye Jin Choi 12/1, Mao Saigo 12/1, Hyo Joo Kim 14/1, Nasa Hataoka 14/1

With many of the top players missing, this is a very winnable event and most teeing it up in Hawaii will feel like they can take advantage of the opportunity.

That being said, there are a number of players from the upper level of the betting in good form, who will no doubt look at this as a great chance to re-enter the winner’s circle and it’s from this area that I’ll begin this week, with Angel Yin.

Angel Yin

Yin has been in superb form over the last three months. She ended a poor run of results eight starts ago with a 2^nd-place finish in the Portland Classic and has finished no worse than 35^th in her subsequent seven starts, adding a further four top 10s.

She’s a player who has always excelled with her short game and the putter has looked especially good this season, ranking 2^nd. However, I’ve been more encouraged by her recent performances with her irons, clubs with which she often struggles.

Her ranking of 5^th in approach two starts ago in the BMW Ladies Championship was her best of the season and two starts prior to that in the Kroger Queen City Championship she produced her second-best display of the season in this area. In addition to that, she’s been hitting lots of greens and her ranking of 51^st in greens-in-regulation shows a considerably improved level of ball-striking compared to previous seasons.

Yin hasn’t played here before but as a 3^rd-place finisher in the Honda LPGA Thailand, she should feel comfortable playing off the paspalum surfaces. Currently hitting the ball as well as she has in several years, she has every chance of walking away with the title this week.