After an exciting month of golf in Europe, the LPGA Tour returns to the U.S. for the inaugural edition of the FM Championship. The latest event on the schedule takes place at TPC Boston, about 25 miles south of downtown Boston. 144 of the world’s best female players will vie for a share of one of the year’s biggest prize purses at $3.8 million. Here are five things to know about this week’s tour stop in Massachusetts.
The field
Former Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Jin Young Ko is the top player at TPC Boston this week and will again be looking to claim her first win of the season. Ko has six top-10 finishes so far this year, but with the Tour calendar winding down and the second half of the 2024 season approaching, the Korean is in danger of failing to win on the LPGA Tour for the first time since 2016. She just missed the cut at the AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews.
Also travelling to Boston from Scotland is Olympic bronze medallist Xiyu Lin, who finished 55th on the Old Course, along with Lexi Thompson, who played what is likely her final AIG Women’s Open at the Home of Golf last week as the 29-year-old plans to retire from full-time sport at the end of the season.
Lauren Coughlin is another player who will compete in the inaugural FM Championship. She comes to Boston as one of the best players on the LPGA Tour this season, having won the CPKC Women’s Open and the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open twice in three starts. However, Coughlin’s play dropped off last week when she missed the cut at the AIG Women’s Open for the third year in a row. Hannah Green, who has already won twice on the LPGA Tour this season, is also heading to Massachusetts, along with Rose Zhang, who won the Cognizant Founders Cup earlier this year.
The course
Opened in 2002, TPC Boston was designed by Arnold Palmer and this week, for the first time, the venue welcomes the best women’s golfers for the FM Championship. Redesigned in 2007 by Gil Hanse and Brad Faxon, the course has a long history of hosting PGA Tour events, beginning with the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2003. The tournament, later known as the Dell Technologies Championship, was played at TPC Boston until 2018. The facility also hosted the Northern Trust Championship in 2020. Over the past two decades, TPC Boston has produced some of the greatest champions in men’s golf, including the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy. This week’s FM Championship will feature the course playing at a par of 72 and a length of 6,598 yards.
Massachusetts Connections
For LPGA Tour members who travel the world week in and week out, nothing beats a home match as it gives these athletes the opportunity to tee off in front of friends and family and return to their roots. This week, Massachusetts’ Megan Khang returns to her home state for the FM Championship. Khang was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, and grew up in nearby Rockland, which is about a 40-minute drive from TPC Boston. Khang broke out on the LPGA Tour last season at the CPKC Women’s Open and was close to capturing a second title this year, with three top-three finishes so far in 2024.
Like Khang, Alexa Pano was born in the Bay State and hails from Westborough, Mass., which is northwest of TPC Boston. Although Pano currently calls Florida her home, she had the honor of being the first female golfer sponsored by the New England Patriots, a nod to her northeastern origins. At the AIG Women’s Open last week, Pano played in the third-to-last group alongside eventual champion Lydia Ko and finished tied for 10th.
The Solheim Cup teams have been confirmed
The thrilling conclusion of the AIG Women’s Open determined who would qualify for the U.S. and European Solheim Cup teams, as both teams were set following the conclusion of the final major of the season. The qualifiers for the U.S. team via the Solheim Cup points standings are Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu, Lauren Coughlin, Allisen Corpuz, Ally Ewing, Megan Khang and Andrea Lee. Rose Zhang and Alison also qualified as the two highest-ranked players in the Rolex rankings. U.S. Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis will announce her three captain’s picks in Boston on Tuesday.
The European Solheim Cup team, led by captain Suzann Pettersen, also cemented its automatic qualifications on Sunday, with Charley Hull and Olympic silver medalist Esther Henseleit earning their places via the LET Solheim Cup points standings. Celine Boutier, Maja Stark, Linn Grant, Leona Maguire, Carlota Ciganda and Madelene Sagstrom qualified for the European team via the Rolex rankings. Pettersen named Georgia Hall, Anna Nordqvist, Emily Kristine Pedersen and Albane Valenzuela as her four captain candidates on Monday.
U.S. team members Khang, Corpuz, Zhang, Coughlin, Alison Lee and Andrea Lee, and European members Boutier, Ciganda and Sagstrom are competing in the FM Championship this week. This year’s Solheim Cup begins in two weeks at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, just outside Washington DC.
Selected group coverage from ESPN+
The inaugural FM Championship will feature bracket coverage on ESPN+, streamed live during all four rounds of the tournament. First and second round bracket coverage will be available from approximately 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET on August 29 and 30. Third round bracket coverage will be available between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. ET. Final round bracket coverage will be streamed from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET.
Tournament coverage will be available for all four rounds on both Golf Channel and Peacock. The first and second rounds on August 29 and 30 will be streamed live from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET. The third round on August 31 will be broadcast live on Golf Channel and streamed on Peacock from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET. Coverage of the final round on September 1 will be broadcast on Golf Channel from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET and streamed on Peacock at the same time.
