5 Storylines to Watch at the 2024 KPMG Women's PGA Championship

The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship has provided plenty of drama over the years, but none more than in the most recent years. Since 2016, when the championship was last at Sahalee Country Club, six of the eight championships have ended either in a playoff or with the champion escaping with a one-stroke victory.

There’s no reason to think this year will be any different as many of the game’s top players have been playing well and have shown top form. Also, there’s a lot more than usual on the line during the week in the Pacific Northwest for the third major championship of the year.

Here are five storylines to watch:

Everything in women’s golf starts with Nelly Korda. She’s played 10 times this year. She’s won six. Her first start of the year was a 16^th place tie and last month she tied for seventh place in New Jersey. The other two finishes? Both were missed cuts. Both were in her last two events, the U.S. Women’s Open and the Meijer LPGA Classic.

No, there is no cause for concern. We’re just stating facts here. Korda is the undisputed No. 1 player on the planet and was undone by a 10 on a par 3 during the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open and she battled back with a second-round 70 to have a chance to advance to the weekend. Last week at the Meijer she followed a 76 with a 67 to miss the cut by a shot.

Korda, 25, won the Chevron Championship earlier this year to collect her second major title, to go with the KPMG Women’s PGA in 2021 at Atlanta Athletic Club. She has 11 top-10 major finishes the last six years. She did not play at Sahalee in 2016.

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Speaking of Sahalee. The heralded Washington golf course produced a spectacular finish eight years ago when Brooke Henderson and Lydia Ko went head-to-head down the stretch and landed in a playoff. Ko was the No. 1 player in the world then and had already captured a major earlier in the season.

Henderson, only 18 at the time, shot a final-round 65 while Ko shot 67. Henderson birdied the 17^th hole on Sunday to get into a tie. Ko made seven straight pars to close out her round. In the playoff, Ko had a 20-footer for birdie that just slid by the left side of the cup. Henderson hit her approach to 3 feet and made the putt to capture her first major title.

“I knew I would have to do something special to beat her and I was able to do that,” Henderson said afterward while holding the trophy. She was the first Canadian woman to win a major in 48 years.

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One of the aforementioned close calls in this championship came last year at Baltusrol when 20-year-old Ruoning Yin held off a hard-charging Yuka Saso to win by a shot. Yin made a 15-foot birdie putt on the 72^nd hole to capture her second LPGA title and first major championship.

“It means a lot but it still feels unreal right now,” Yin said that Sunday in New Jersey. “Before today, I didn’t even think about it. After nine holes … I started thinking about, oh, maybe I have a chance to win this championship.”

Yin is currently ranked No. 4 in the world and has played consistently this year despite not collecting a victory. She has tied for fourth place and tied for 12^th place in her last two starts before Sahalee.

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Saso had five birdies on the final nine holes but it was a bogey at 16 that cost her ultimately a chance to win last year’s championship. But she enters Sahalee this year as the game’s most recent major champion, having captured her second U.S. Women’s Open three weeks ago at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club. Yes, she has two Women’s Open titles by age 22 and has four top-three major finishes in the last four years.

It was a tight leaderboard in Pennsylvania with nine holes remaining on Sunday until Saso birdied Nos. 12, 13, 15 and 16 to pull away. She bogeyed the 17^th hole but ultimately signed for a 68 to top Hinako Shibuno by three shots. They were the only two players under par for the week.

Saso gave it a valiant effort the next week at the ShopRite LPGA Classic but was exhausted and missed the cut, only her second of the year.

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Lastly, it’s a huge week for many in the KPMG field because the respective Olympic teams will be finalized on Monday. Only 60 players make up the field for the event later this summer in Paris and the top-15 ranked players in the world will be eligible, with only a limit of four players being eligible from a given country. Beyond that, there will be a maximum on two players that qualify from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top 15.

Korda (No. 1), Lilia Vu (No. 2) and Rose Zhang (No. 7) are all safely in for the Americans, although no one else from the U.S. is ranked inside the top 15. Megan Khang is 16^th, however, and Alison Lee is No. 18. It’s a big week for both women looking to find their way into Olympic eligibility.

Saso is the top-ranked player from Japan, ranked No. 8 in the world. The second-ranked player from the country is Ayaka Furue at 19^th. But Nasa Hataoka and Miyu Yamashita are immediately after Furue at Nos. 20 and 21 in the world. Only Furure, Hataoka or Yamashita can qualify to join Saso because it’s unlikely that those three can all find their respective ways into the top 15 by the end of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.