My "5 to Watch" at the KPMG

There are two majors to pick out this week, so let's get began with the ladies and the KPMG Women's PGA.

Tony Jesselli has posted his normal ought to-study preview over at his blog, so ensure you pop over and take a look at it out. Danielle Kang is the defending champion -- even though, as we recognize, the KPMG winner never gets to guard at the path wherein she received. This 12 months's occasion may be performed on the venerable Kemper Lakes Golf Club, which has hosted a massive quantity of predominant events over the years.

The huge news at this factor is how a great deal rain has fallen on the route. The LPGA plans to play the path at roughly 6700 yards, because of this it's going to play extraordinarily long -- at the least for the primary couple of rounds, as it will take some time for the course to company up, even supposing the rains forestall before the occasion starts. I, however, am going towards the winning sentiment and am NOT selecting any of the long hitters to win.

A slow path enables long hitters through minimizing run into the difficult, however it could additionally permit the shorter players to hit their long golf equipment and still get controllable shots... And I trust the shorter gamers' accuracy will show to be more critical this week.

• I have to start with Inbee Park . How can you not include one of the best short hitters in the game?  She's played less than almost any other big name player, yet her season's looking pretty good. Even when she doesn't make a "5 to Watch" list, rest assured that I never count her out... but she makes this one for sure.
• I'm also going with defending champ Danielle Kang . She has only one LPGA win -- this event, last year. She's no long hitter and, as I said earlier, she doesn't get to defend on the course where she won. But both KPMGs, 2017 and 2018, are being played in Illinois, which means this is as close as it gets. Danielle's been inconsistent this season, but that's typical for her, and I think she'll be focused this week.
• My flier at the US Women's Open was Nasa Hataoka ; this time she's not a flier. I may have been a bit early with that pick, but she's proven I was right about her finally finding her stride on tour. Coming off a win in Arkansas, she can definitely make some noise this time.
• How can I not pick So Yeon Ryu ? I've been a fan for a long time and she makes these lists more times than not, but I love her game. Her play has been a bit uneven this season, but she has a win in the last month and she always seems to step forward in tough conditions. I think Kemper Lakes qualifies!
• And my flier is... Shanshan Feng . I know, that sounds like a strange flier pick. She's a major winner, after all... and it's THIS major! Plus she's #4 in the Rolex Rankings. But despite three T3s and a T5 this season, she's having a fairly mediocre season (for her) and is flying way underneath the radar. Still, Shanshan has a tendency to show up when you least expect her, and I wouldn't be surprised if she won this event for a second time.

My pick is... So Yeon Ryu. I still remember how So Yeon won her first major, the 2011 US Women's Open at the Broadmoor in Colorado, over 6200 feet above sea level. Bad weather plagued the event -- every round spread out over multiple days, and after the tournament ran into Monday, she still had to play a three-hole aggregate playoff for not just her first major, but her first LPGA win. You want to talk about a grinder? That's So Yeon Ryu.

GC's coverage starts early on Thursday. Officially, it starts at 11am ET but GC will probably do a PreGame Show at 10:30am ET.