CLIFTON, N.J. — This week’s playing of the Cognizant Founders Cup is fittingly the 13th edition of the tournament that was started in 2011 to honor the LPGA’s 13 Founders. The field is star-studded with the world’s top talent, including Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda, 20-time LPGA Tour winner Lydia Ko and three-time Cognizant Founders Cup champion Jin Young Ko. Eighteen 2024 LPGA Tour rookies are also in the field, most notably Australian Gabriela Ruffels and Olympic silver medalist Mone Inami, and they are joined by proud New Jersey native and LPGA Tour winner Marina Alex at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, N.J.
Take a look at just a few of the featured groups this week at the Cognizant Founders Cup using KPMG Performance Insights:
Thursday, 7:59 a.m.* – Nelly Korda/Jin Young Ko/Minjee Lee
Nelly Korda will look to continue her unstoppable tear of excellent golf this week in the Garden State, as the 13-time LPGA Tour winner is pursuing a sixth consecutive LPGA Tour victory at the Cognizant Founders Cup. The 25-year-old collected her fifth straight Tour title at The Chevron Championship just a couple of weeks ago, matching Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam as the only other known player since 1978 to win five tournaments in a row on the LPGA Tour. She also became the first American since Juli Inkster in 1999 to win five times in a single season and is the youngest LPGA Tour member to win her second major title also since Inkster picked up her second major victory in 1984 at 24 years, 1 month and five days. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Korda leads the LPGA Tour in strokes gained total (+3.01), scoring average (69.22), percentage of rounds in the 60s, par-4 scoring, par-5 scoring, greens in regulation, strokes gained tee to green (+2.33), strokes gained around the green (+0.84) and eagles (6). She is also second on Tour in strokes gained driving (+0.81) and is 13th in strokes gained approach (+0.90), the latter of which she has vastly improved upon in 2024 compared to 2023. This is Korda’s sixth start in the Cognizant Founders Cup, and in her five previous appearances, she has missed two cuts, one of which was last year at Upper Montclair Country Club, and earned three top-20 finishes, including a tie for second in 2019 and a pair of T19s that came in 2017 and 2021.
Can anyone top Nelly Korda at this week's @LPGAfounders? We look at the #KPMGInsights ahead of the event.
— KPMG Golf (@KPMGGolf) May 8, 2024
🏆 Nelly goes for six straight wins
📈 Brooke Henderson continues to improve pic.twitter.com/j9qCOC54YL
When it comes to horses for courses, few are better suited for Upper Montclair Country Club and the Cognizant Founders Cup than Jin Young Ko. Three of Ko’s 15 LPGA Tour victories have come at this event, as the Republic of Korea native won the 2019, 2021 and 2023 Cognizant Founders Cups at Wildfire Golf Club in Phoenix, Ariz., Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, N.J., and at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, N.J., respectively. Statistically, Ko’s victory at this tournament last season saw the former Rolex Rankings No. 1 rank first in par-4 scoring (11-under), second in strokes gained tee to green (+3.30), third in strokes gained approach (+2.53) and fourth in proximity to the hole (19 feet), according to KPMG Performance Insights. So far this season, Ko leads the LPGA in strokes gained approach, picking up 1.35 strokes on the field per round with her approach shots, and among players with 10 or more rounds, she is also ranked first in proximity to the hole from 125 to 150 yards (15’8). This is Ko’s sixth start in the Cognizant Founders Cup, and in addition to her three victories, she has one other top-20 result, a tie for 17th that came in 2022.
Minjee Lee won the 2022 edition of the Cognizant Founders Cup, the first year the event was held at Upper Montclair Country Club, defeating Lexi Thompson by two shots with a four-day total of 19-under. That kind of form is something that Lee will be looking to find this week in Clifton, N.J., as it’s been an up-and-down year thus far for the Australian major champion. She has made just three cuts in six total starts this season, recording two top-15 results at the Blue Bay LPGA, where Lee finished in a tie for fourth, and the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards, where she ultimately tied for 15th. Still, the 27-year-old seems to be striking it well as she is averaging 20 feet in proximity to the hole from 125 to 150 yards, over four feet better than the LPGA Tour average, and is ranked eighth in strokes gained approach (+1.04), according to KPMG Performance Insights. This is Lee’s eighth time teeing it up in the Cognizant Founders Cup, and in addition to her victory, she has earned three other T25 or better results, including a solo second in her title defense in 2023.
Thursday, 8:10 a.m.* – Nasa Hataoka/Brooke Henderson/Hannah Green
This week marks Nasa Hataoka’s sixth appearance at the Cognizant Founders Cup, and if her recent performances at Upper Montclair Country Club are any indication, she’s definitely someone to keep an eye on this week in the Garden State. Since the event moved to this venue, Hataoka has recorded back-to-back top-10 finishes in this tournament, tying for sixth in 2022 with a 72-hole score of 14-under and finishing solo eighth in 2023 with a four-day total of 6-under. This is her 10th tournament of the 2024 LPGA Tour season – Hataoka has only skipped the Blue Bay LPGA this year – and she has earned four top-15 results, including back-to-back T13s at The Chevron Championship and JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro and a tie for third at the HSBC Women’s World Championship. Statistically, the Japan native is more than in form, ranking fourth in rounds under par (21), eighth in strokes gained approach (+1.04), ninth in greens in regulation (71.70%) and 12th in strokes gained tee to green (+1.24) so far this season.
Brooke Henderson is teeing it up at Upper Montclair Country Club for the very first time as she makes her first start in the Cognizant Founders Cup since 2021 this week. She has played in this event five times before, four of which were at the tournament’s original venue, Wildfire Golf Club, in Arizona, and the last of which was at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, N.J. In those five previous starts, Henderson has recorded four top-15 finishes, the best of which was a tie for fourth that came in 2016. This week is her ninth start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and she has already earned an impressive five top-10 results, three of which were T3s or better at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions (3), the HSBC Women's World Championship (T3) and The Chevron Championship (T3). According to KPMG Performance Insights, the 13-time LPGA Tour winner is ranked third in strokes gained total (+2.04), fourth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.50) and seventh in strokes gained driving (+0.74). She has also made 68 putts of 10 feet or longer this season, the fourth-most of any player, and is currently second in rounds under par (23), second in scoring average (69.87), third in birdies (127) and fourth in rounds in the 60s (13). While it might be tricky to predict how well an athlete performs at a venue they’ve never seen before, Henderson’s recent form should be a good indicator for success this week at Upper Montclair Country Club.
Hannah Green successfully defended her title a couple of weeks ago at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro, winning by three shots over Maja Stark at Wilshire Country Club. It was her second victory of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, as Green won the HSBC Women’s World Championship in February in Singapore, and the title made this year Green’s first multiple-win season on Tour since she won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the Portland Classic in 2019. With a week off to rest and recuperate, the Australian will be raring to go this week at the Cognizant Founders Cup, an event in which she has played four times before, earning a best finish of T42 in 2021. Statistically, Green is more than in form, ranking 10th in strokes gained total (+1.34), 17th in strokes gained putting (+0.71) and 22nd in strokes gained approach (+0.66). She is also ranked second in putts per green in regulation (1.72), third in scoring average (69.95), 10th in greens in regulation (71.67%) and 12th in rounds in the 60s (10).
Thursday, 1:10 p.m. – Rose Zhang/Megan Khang/Lydia Ko
Mizuho Americas Open winner Rose Zhang is making her tournament debut this week at the Cognizant Founders Cup, just a few days before she works to defend her title for the first time in her young career at Liberty National Golf Club. This is her seventh start so far this year, and in her six previous events, the 20-year-old has missed two cuts and earned two top-10 finishes, tying for seventh at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and tying for fifth at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Zhang is ranked seventh in strokes gained approach (+1.04), ninth in strokes gained total (+1.35) and 14th in strokes gained tee to green (+1.12). While she doesn’t have any prior experience at Upper Montclair Country Club, Zhang’s 2023 victory at Liberty National and her solid showing at last year’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course indicate that she has a pretty good grip on how to play golf in New Jersey, something that should bode well for Zhang this week at the Cognizant Founders Cup.
Megan Khang is a Northeast native, hailing from Rockland, Mass., and has plenty of experience playing the style of golf that a venue like Upper Montclair Country Club will require this week at the Cognizant Founders Cup. It’s her eighth time teeing it up in this tournament, and in her seven previous starts, Khang has finished in the top 15 on four separate occasions, most recently tying for sixth in 2022, the first time the Founders Cup was held in Clifton, N.J. The Rolex Rankings No. 14 has been hitting it well this season, ranking second in strokes gained tee to green (+1.77) and third in strokes gained approach (+1.17), according to KPMG Performance Insights. She’s also 13th on the LPGA Tour in driving accuracy, hitting the fairway 82.92% of the time, a skill that will be critical around a narrow Upper Montclair Country Club. Khang has one LPGA Tour victory to her credit, winning the CPKC Women’s Open in 2023 at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, an event in which she defeated Jin Young Ko en route to victory.
Lydia Ko will have another shot at the LPGA Hall of Fame this week at the Cognizant Founders Cup as she works to track down the 27th point necessary for automatic qualification. The 27-year-old captured her 20th career LPGA Tour title at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in January and has been trying to collect her 21st title so she can gain entry into the Hall. In her pursuit of history, Ko has recorded five top-20 finishes since she won at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, the best of which was a solo second at the LPGA Drive On Championship the week following the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and the most recent of which is a tie for 17th that came at The Chevron Championship a couple of weeks ago. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Ko is ranked second in strokes gained total (+2.15), sixth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.43), 10th in strokes gained approach (+0.96) and 13th in strokes gained around the green (+0.40). She is also second in eagles (5), third in rounds under par (22), fourth in scoring average (70.04) and seventh in rounds in the 60s (11). This is Ko’s ninth start in the Cognizant Founders Cup, and in her eight previous appearances, she has earned a pair of runner-up results in 2014 and 2016 and recorded four additional T12 or better finishes, most recently tying for 12th in 2022.
*Off No. 10
For a full list of tee times, please click here.
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