Charley Hull's aggressive style could make her an ideal fit for a new host venue in the third women's major of the year.
Golf betting tips: KPMG Women’s PGA Championship
3pts e.w. Ruoning Yin at 14/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6)
2pts e.w. Lydia Ko at 25/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6)
1pt e.w. Charley Hull at 35/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6)
1pt e.w. Linn Grant at 55/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6)
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We’re three majors down in the men’s game and there are three to go in the women’s which means, given the latter has five rather than four of them, we’re over halfway through 2025’s championships that define a career. It begs the question: how did it happen so quickly?
The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship takes us north of Dallas to Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco which is yet another unwieldy mouthful of a title so from now on we’ll stick to Fields Ranch. It’s a venue that will be new to many and yet it has quite a hold on the PGA of America at the moment. It hosted the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in 2023 and will be the venue for the PGA Championship in two years time.
The three tournaments return again in 2029, 2031 and 2034, dates that seem too ludicrous to have been scheduled already. Yet another case of time slipping through our fingers at a frightening pace.
So what is it about Fields Ranch? Good question. At first glance (via photos) it is somewhat reminiscent of Erin Hills and Chambers Bay. That’s not necessarily a good thing, of course. The backdrop here has water towers and what appear to be factory units on the horizon. The grass has the look of the unkempt sort that finds itself trapped between motorways and railway lines. I’m not selling it, am I?
Its interest to the PGA of America is simple and straightforward: it’s their headquarters. Gil Hanse designed the course and he’s also responsible for Castle Stuart and the 2016 Olympic Course in Rio. The former is tremendous fun to play and features some unusual angles that he has endeavoured to repeat in Frisco. The latter has a plot of land every bit as visually uninspiring as this one.
What of the challenge? When it he highlighted width from the tee but big trouble with a miss, difficult greenside bunkers, and putting surfaces surrounds that require careful consideration. He summarised: “It will likely produce a number of low scores in its major championships as the space off the tee allows players to easily find fairways. From the fairway, if your approach play is dialled, you’ll have scoring opportunities. But if you get a little loose either off the tee or on approach, things can get quite difficult.”
At the Senior event, Padraig Harrington said: “It’s quite a bit of a mental challenge.” But he wasn’t thinking of Oakmont-style mind games. Instead: “There’s a lot of temptation out there, tempting lines to take off tee shots. It will come down to picking your moments, taking your chances.” The 1-2-3 was Steve Stricker-Harrington-Stewart Cink which suggests that smart plotters prevailed over the chancers.
Two of that top three have won the Open, of course, and Darren Clarke was fifth. Davis Love II even said: “There’s a lot of British Open kind of thinking out there. Linksy course on a big horse farm.”
With that in mind first selection is a repeat of the US Open preview in the shape of the New Zealand star LYDIA KO.
Her putter was red hot that week while her tee-to-green game was a little off but in her previous start it was the other way around. She’s shrewd enough to make good decisions from the tee and into the greens, and she has a fine short game to cope with those tricky surrounds.
She was the silver medallist in the Rio Olympics and noted that week that the course was gusty which suited her since she grew up playing the windy Gulf Harbour. Texan winds blow across Fields Ranch so that’s a tick and she has links savvy, too. She’s the reigning AIG Women’s Open champion after victory on the Old Course last summer and also has a third at Turnberry and seventh at Muirfield.
I was keen on Minjee Lee when she opened at 28/1 but she’s dipped below 20/1 in a rush. Pity, although the fact she’s a local and has only bothered to play the course once makes you wonder. What of the favourites? It feels a bit like a copy and paste from the US Women’s Open: Jeeno Thitikul has no top five in 11 majors and Nelly Korda doesn’t win them often enough. They’re both good enough, of course, but their prices just don’t appeal.
RUONING YIN is a different matter, however. The Chinese 22-year-old won this championship back in 2023 at Baltusrol and has done just about everything but add to that first major triumph in her last three starts.
She was second in August’s AIG Women’s Open, only lost out at the Chevron Championship in extra holes, and was fourth last time out in the US Women’s Open. Her approaches in the Chevron ranked first in the field while at the US Women’s Open she ranked fifth (and also second for Putting). Anything at 12/1 and over seems fair.
CHARLEY HULL has never quite taken to Carlton Woods, the Texas course that hosts the Chevron Championship. But she liked Las Colinas (T16th and ninth) and also The Old American Club (sixth when the first round leader and the winner in 2022). The latter is just around the corner from Fields Ranch so offers potential for good vibes.
Hull also enjoyed the Rio Olympics, finishing seventh and praising the way the course invited her to attack it. That’s always worth noting because she likes a layout that permits her the chance to make the most of her quality ball-striking. True, she’s more chancer than plotter, but this course could play to her strengths.
She ranks top 10 from the tee and was T12th at Erin Hills in the year’s most recent major. She doesn’t much like links tests, but that element of risk and reward should appeal.
As with Lydia Ko, we’ll stick with LINN GRANT after picking her for the US Women’s Open at Erin Hills.
She played nicely that week without quite finding that little element of magic required for a win. She spent all of the last 54 holes in the top 10, finishing ninth herself and then being first on the green to celebrate the victory of her good friend Maja Stark.
Her top 10 that week was a second in a row and she broke that run with a missed cut last week but that’s not a big concern. She should enjoy any linksy vibes because she’s won at Royal Troon and North Berwick as an amateur, and finished T10th and T19th on the links as a professional in the AIG Women’s Open.
Posted at 0915 BST on 17/06/25
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