Aramco Championship 2026 Betting Tips: 250/1 shot one of five for Sin City

The LPGA has quickly turned into the Hyo Joo Kim and Nelly Korda show over the past fortnight, with the Korean star again getting the better of the world No. 2 in Arizona, winning the Ford Championship just seven days after beating her to the Founders Cup.

It caps a superb start to the season for the duo, who have just one finish outside the top three in seven combined starts between them. Nelly will get another shot at revenge in Vegas this week, as they both tee it up in the inaugural Aramco Championship at the famous Shadow Creek Golf Course.

Our LPGA golf expert Jamie Worsley is back with his usual long-read preview for the tournament. Check out his Aramco Championship 2026 Betting Tips below, where he has picked out five players to back ranging from 22/1 to 250/1...

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You can bet on the tournament and check out the latest Aramco Championship 2026 Odds over on betfred.com

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

The Aramco Championship is a brand new LPGA event that is co-sanctioned with the Ladies European Tour (LET). It will be played at former LPGA Match Play host Shadow Creek Golf Course and features a $4million purse – one of the largest for a non-major.

THE COURSE

Shadow Creek Golf Course

• Original architect / Year opened: Tom Fazio / 1989
• Latest renovation: Fazio returned to renovate the course in 2008, primarily focusing on opening up playing lines, restoring green sizes, and modernising the layout
• Previous tournaments: Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play (2021-2025)
• Par / Yardage: Par 72 / 6,765 yards
• Hole breakdown:
  • 4x par 3s (140-185 yards)
  • 10x par 4s (324-442 yards)
  • 4x par 5s (480-561 yards)
• Course style: A lush, green and gently rolling parkland course framed by tall pine trees and featuring moderate elevation changes
• Fairways:
  • Average-width fairways overseeded with ryegrass
  • Rough isn't too punishing, but deep, strategically placed bunkers offer protection
• Greens:
  • Small-to-average-sized (5,500 sq. ft.) bentgrass greens
  • These largely elevated and undulating surfaces could run as fast as 12.5 on the Stimpmeter
  • Severe slopes at the edges repel imprecise approaches, leaving some tricky up-and-downs from well below the level of the green
  • Strongly guarded by penal bunkers
• Defences:
  • Water is a regular threat, coming into play on nine holes
  • Length (ranked as the fifth-longest course on the LPGA in 2025)
  • Well contoured green complexes and surrounds

Shadow Creek GC was the most expensive course ever built at the time it opened in 1989, as Tom Fazio took a featureless desert location and transformed it into this spectacular golfing oasis.

It provides a fun yet balanced risk/reward test, delivering an even mix of birdie chances (especially on the four par 5s) and holes where par is a decent score. Ultimately, this is target golf at its most luxurious – put the ball in the correct spots and you can manufacture plenty of scoring opportunities.

THE WEATHER

The conditions are forecast to be pleasantly warm and dry throughout the week in Vegas, with temperatures of around 25°C predicted each day. It will also start off rather breezy on Thursday, blowing at a constant 14mph (and gusting at up to 34mph), but that is scheduled to die down for the rest of the event.

KEY STATS

SG: Approach / Greens-in-Regulation (GIR)

SG: Off-the-Tee (SG: OTT) / Driving Distance

Par 5 Scoring

The run-offs that surround the putting surfaces at Shadow Creek make these already smallish greens all the more difficult to hit. With the greenside surrounds challenging, it places a premium on precise iron play.

That said, the combination of the length of the course, the average-width fairways, and the lack of penal rough makes me want to also side with top-class and lengthy drivers.

In addition, the par 5s are all gettable and players will need to make the most of these opportunities to contend.

CORRELATING EVENTS (COURSES)

I don't think we can take a great deal from the match play event staged here, as performance in that format doesn't necessarily translate to stroke play.

That said, I have selected three layouts that share similarities with Shadow Creek GC and can hopefully be of use as we try to find this week's winner:

FM Championship (TPC Boston)

TPC Boston is a tree-lined yet spacious course, featuring moderate elevation changes and plenty of risk/reward holes. It is strongly bunkered, with water in play throughout, and the similar-sized bentgrass greens also run at a fast 12-12.5 on the Stimpmeter.

Arkansas Championship (Pinnacle Country Club)

As an undulating, tree-lined course with quick bentgrass greens of a comparable size, Pinnacle Country Club can offer further clues. Water is a constant threat – in play on 15 holes – though the lack of rough means that slight waywardness off the tee isn't severely punished.

Buick LPGA Shanghai (Qizhong Garden Golf Club)

Last up is Qizhong Garden Golf Club – another long and extravagant layout manufactured from an unexciting piece of land.

Water comes into play on 10 holes here, and while the fairways are well bunkered, sparse rough allows players to attack with driver. There are also frequent changes in elevation, both into the fairways and the contoured bentgrass greens.

THE FIELD

We have a major-calibre field heading to Nevada, including each of the world's top 10 and 45 of the top 50. Jeeno Thitikul still sits atop the rankings, closely followed by Nelly Korda and new No. 3 Hyo Joo Kim, looking for her third win on the spin.

The last three winners of the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play at Shadow Creek – Madelene Sagstrom (2025), Nelly Korda (2024) and Pajaree Anannarukarn (2023) – will all be in action.

Among the 40 LET entrants is this season's leading player on the Order of Merit, Casandra Alexander, who has yet to finish outside the top six in 2026. In addition, last year's top-ranked player Shannon Tan will also compete in Vegas.

SELECTIONS 

Market leaders: Nelly Korda 5/1, Jeeno Thitikul 9/1, Hyo Joo Kim 12/1, Minjee Lee 14/1, Sei Young Kim 20/1, Hannah Green 20/1

2 pts Haeran Ryu each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 22/1

Focusing on powerful, high-class ball strikers who do some of their best work on bentgrass greens, few players match this description more than Las Vegas resident Haeran Ryu. She's started the season well without quite contending, something I'm expecting her to put right this week.

Ryu finished inside the top 10 in each of her first four appearances in 2026, finishing 9^th at the Tournament of Champions, 10^th at the Honda LPGA Thailand, 6^th at the HSBC Women's World Championship and 5^th at the Founders Cup. Meanwhile, she arrives after a perfectly respectable 29^th-place finish at the Ford Championship.

She's consistently rated among the top ball strikers on tour and that has again been the case this season, sitting 4^th in GIR, 6^th in SG: OTT, 10^th in SG: Approach, and 29^th in driving distance and driving accuracy. The putter is her main weakness, though it is worth noting that each of her three tour victories have come on bentgrass.

Residing in the area since early last year, Ryu is comfortable in these surroundings, and she has played well here before, just missing out on the quarter-final stage of the LPGA Match Play in 2024. When considered alongside wins at the Arkansas Championship and FM Championship, this is clearly a setup that suits the Korean.

1 pt Angel Yin each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 45/1

Angel Yin again showed promise when put up in the Ford Championship and I’m going to give her another shot in Nevada. She was 3^rd here in the LPGA Match Play in 2025, losing to eventual winner Madelene Sagstrom in the semi-finals, and as a reasonably long hitter who has shown improvement in approach, she’s got much in her favour.

Beginning the year with disappointing finishes of 37^th at the Tournament of Champions and 48^th at the Honda LPGA Thailand, Yin’s season came to life with a 3^rd-place finish at the HSBC Women’s World Championship. She was then 19^th at the Founders Cup, before firing four under-par rounds to place 34^th last week.

The putter remains her biggest weapon, ranking 32^nd and while she’s lost a little length in recent years, she still gets it out there, ranking 54^th in driving distance. However, it’s the gains made with the irons, going from 110^th in SG: Approach last year to 49^th this, that offers the most encouragement within her stats.

As well as being a losing semi-finalist at Shadow Creek in 2025, Yin also got to the quarter-final stage in 2024 and reached the last 16 in 2023. That is as consistent a record as most in this field, and with her victory at the 2023 Buick LPGA Shanghai another plus, she ticks most boxes for this test.

1 pt Rio Takeda each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 45/1

I’ve backed Rio Takeda several times in 2026 and she’s twice had every chance with a round to go before disappointing on Sunday. That said, she’s sustaining quality with her long game, and having made progress with the putter on bentgrass surfaces two weeks ago, she’s worth getting on side at this increased price.

Takeda has made seven appearances this year and has yet to miss a cut. She secured top-10s of 5^th at the Blue Bay LPGA and 8^th at the HSBC Women’s World Championship and, while 42^nd last week looks underwhelming, she did start with a promising 66 before fading over the next three rounds.

Iron play was her biggest strength in 2025, ranking 2^nd in SG: Approach and 2^nd in GIR. Although not quite at that level this year, she still sits inside the top 25 in each area. The driver is another asset, combining power and accuracy to rank 42^nd in SG: OTT and, as mentioned, her putting improved for the switch to bentgrass at the Founders Cup.

Although Takeda has had trouble getting over the line in recent months, she is still a player with immense talent, winning twice on the LPGA in around 18 months, as well as finishing inside the top 25 in five of her nine major appearances. With the importance of the long game here, this looks the ideal place for her to show it.

1 pt Auston Kim each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 55/1

Finishing 2^nd and 3^rd during the Asian Swing, Auston Kim has looked right on the cusp of an LPGA breakthrough this year. She did miss her first cut since October last week, but as one of the best drivers on tour and hitting her irons better than ever, she can bounce back in Vegas.

Kim ended 2025 with top-10 finishes at The ANNIKA and CME Group Tour Championship, and it has been more of the same in 2026. She followed an 18^th-place finish at the Honda LPGA Thailand by contending at the HSBC Women’s World Championship and Blue Bay LPGA, finishing 2^nd and 3^rd respectively, while she was then 19^th on her return to the U.S. at the Founders Cup.

Her missed cut last week came as a surprise for a player who ranks 11^th in SG: Tee-to-Green this season. Having said that, she only missed by one, hitting a tonne of greens over those first two rounds and shooting under par both days.

Kim hasn’t made her mark at Shadow Creek in the Match Play, but she’s a completely different prospect at present and, as the fourth-longest hitter on tour who ranks 12^th in SG: OTT and 42^nd in SG: Approach, the way she’s currently performing is tailormade for this layout.

0.75 pts Julia Lopez Ramirez each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 250/1

Julia Lopez Ramirez performed admirably when put up at big odds last week and with this week’s layout potentially even more suitable, this former No. 1 amateur is well worth another shot. She’s marrying her excellence off the tee with quality iron play this year, making her a strong fit for Shadow Creek.

The Spanish youngster improved steadily across her first three appearances this year, following a 51^st-place finish at the Saudi Ladies International with results of 24^th at the Honda LPGA Thailand and 10^th at the HSBC Women’s World Championship.

She did miss the cut at the Founders Cup but responded positively last week, shooting rounds of 69-70-67-68 to finish 15^th.

Lopez Ramirez is one of the best and longest drivers on tour, ranking 17^th in SG: OTT and 3^rd in driving distance. However, it’s the upgrades she’s made in SG: Approach, going from 126^th in the standings last season to 9^th in 2026, that offers the most encouragement. Also sitting inside the top 10 in GIR, her ball-striking profile makes her a dangerous contender in Nevada.

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