The LPGA is back in New England.
The Tour returns for the first time since 2004 to host the inaugural FM Championship at TPC Boston from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1. The FM Championship is the first women’s professional competition held at the course and features a field of 144 players after the $3.8 million purse.
Of the 144 players, 56 of them are LPGA Tour winners. Plus, there are some hometown headliners in the group. While the world’s top-ranked player Nelly Korda will not compete in the FM Championship, it remains a talented field. Get to know some of the stars of the tournament, below:
Jin Young Ko
Jin Young Ko, 29, comes into the FM Championship ranked third in the world. After turning pro at 18 years old, Ko won the 2018 Australian Women’s Open and was the second player in LPGA history to win on their first start as a Tour member. The Korean golfer has racked up 15 wins and two majors to date. Ko has won the LPGA Tour’s Founders Cup three times, as well as the HSBC Women’s World Championship and Tour Championship twice.
Megan Khang
The FM Championship is somewhat of a homecoming for Megan Khang, 26, who was born in Brockton and grew up in Rockland. Khang is currently ranked 21st in the world and has played on the LPGA Tour since she was 16. She’s a three-time Solheim Cup participant for the U.S. and won the 2023 CPKC Women’s Open. Khang played the TPC Boston course when was 12 and 13 years old in Pro-Ams with PGA athletes Camilo Villegas and Anthony Kim.
Rose Zhang
Rose Zhang is one of the younger talents on the LPGA Tour and has had quick success in her short pro career. Zhang, 21, played at Stanford and won the NCAA Division I Women’s Championship in May 2023 before turning pro. The American golfer has two LPGA Tour wins including the 2023 Mizuho Americas Open and 2024 Cognizant Founders Cup. Zhang also represented the United States in the 2023 Solheim Cup.
Hannah Green
Australian golfer Hannah Green, 27, most recently won the 2024 HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore in March. The four-time LPGA Tour winner comes into the FM Championship ranked a career-best fifth in the world. Green turned pro in 2016 and earned her first title on the LPGA Tour in the 2019 Women’s PGA Championship when she was 22 years old.
Lauren Coughlin
Lauren Coughlin, 31, is having herself a year. The American golfer won the Canadian Women’s Open in late-July, and followed it up with a win at the Women’s Scottish Open earlier in August. The two victories secured Coughlin a spot on Team USA for the 2024 Solheim Cup which will take place in September in Gainesville, VA. Coughlin is ranked 14th in the world and turned pro in 2017.
Coughlin, Green and Zhang are three of 10 players to win a 2024 LPGA Tour that are also competing in the FM Championship. Moriya Jutanugarn, Yuka Saso, Linnea Strom, Bailey Tardy, Jeeno Thitikul, Chanettee Wannasaen and Amy Yang all come into the tournament with a recent victory under their belts.
Practice rounds and the Pro-Am for the FM Championship will be held on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before the event tees off with round one on Thursday morning.
