Lexi Thompson to Las Vegas for PGA Tour as LPGA Tour goes to Shanghai

Lexi Thompson lines up a putt on the third green during the final round of the LPGA The Ascendant golf tournament in The Colony, Texas, Texas, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
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PGA TOUR

SHRINERS CHILDREN'S OPEN

Site: Las Vegas.

Course: TPC Summerlin. Yardage: 7,255. Par: 71.

Prize money: $8.4 million. Winner's share: $1.512 million.

Television: Thursday-Sunday, 5-8 p.m. (Golf Channel).

Defending champion: Tom Kim.

FedEx Cup champion: Viktor Hovland.

Last week: Luke List won the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Notes: Lexi Thompson is playing on a sponsor exemption, making her the seventh woman to compete on the PGA Tour. The most recent was Brittany Lincicome in 2018 at the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky. She missed the cut. ... Thompson has not won on the LPGA Tour since the summer of 2019. ... Luke List had not had a top 10 on the PGA Tour since winning at Torrey Pines until he won again at the Sanderson Farms Championship. ... Tom Kim won last year in a playoff when Patrick Cantlay hooked his tee shot into a ravine. Cantlay is not playing this year. He got married a week ago in Rome and plans to take off the fall. ... Ludvig Aberg is playing for the second straight week after his Ryder Cup debut. ... Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark, who made his Ryder Cup debut in Rome, was given a sponsor's exemption. ... The field features six of the top 50 in the world ranking.

Next week: Zozo Championship.

Online: https://www.pgatour.com/

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LPGA TOUR

BUICK LPGA SHANGHAI

Site: Shanghai.

Course: Qizhong Garden GC. Yardage: 6,691. Par: 72.

Prize money: $2.1 million. Winner's share: $315,000.

Television: Wednesday-Saturday, 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. (Golf Channel).

Defending champion: Danielle Kang (2019).

Race to CME Globe leader: Celine Boutier.

Last week: Hyo Joo Kim won The Ascendant LPGA.

Notes: The LPGA Tour returns to China for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. ... Danielle Kang will be going for her third straight victory in Shanghai. ... The 81-player field features 62 players from the LPGA Tour, 15 from the China Ladies PGA and four sponsor exemptions. ... Women's PGA champion Ruoning Yin was the No. 64 amateur in the world the last time the LPGA was in Shanghai. ... This is the start of a four-tournament Asia swing, with stops in South Korea, Malaysia and Japan to follow. ... Lexi Thompson has moved to No. 82 in the Race to CME Globe. She is not playing this week, taking a sponsor exemption to play on the PGA Tour in Las Vegas. ... The field features the top two players in the women's world ranking, Lilia Vu and Yin, and four of the top 10 with Minjee Lin and Xiyu Lin. ... The field features players from 21 countries.

Next week: BMW Ladies Championship.

Online: https://www.lpga.com/

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EUROPEAN TOUR

ACCIONA SPANISH OPEN

Site: Madrid.

Course: Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. Yardage: 7,112. Par: 71.

Prize money: $3.25 million. Winner's share: $541,667.

Television: Thursday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday, 7:30 a.m. to noon (Golf Channel); Sunday, 7 a.m. to noon (Golf Channel).

Defending champion: Jon Rahm.

Race to CME Globe leader: Rory McIlroy.

Last week: Matt Fitzpatrick won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Notes: Jon Rahm has won three of the last four years at the Spanish Open. ... Rahm and Justin Rose are the only players from the top 50 in the field. ... Three players from Spain — Sergio Garcia, Eugenio Chacarra and David Puig — are committed to LIV Golf's event in Saudi Arabia this week. ... Rahm is still more than 2,000 points behind Rory McIlroy in the Race to Dubai. ... The European tour stays in Spain next week, and that will be the last of its continental European stops for the year. ... The Spanish Open dates to 1912. Angel de la Torre is a five-time winner. Since 1972 and the start of the European tour, Rahm and Seve Ballesteros lead with three wins apiece. ... The prize fund is nearly double what it was a year ago, when more than 40,000 spectators were on hand over the four days. ... No one has won more than two times this year on the European tour.

Next week: Estrella Damm Andalucia Masters.

Online: https://www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tour/

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LIV GOLF LEAGUE

LIV GOLF-JEDDAH

Site: King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia.

Course: Royal Greens Golf & CC. Yardage: 7,048. Par: 70.

Prize money: $20 million. Winner's share: $4 million.

Television: Friday, 4-9 a.m. (The CW App); Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (CW Network-tape delay).

Defending champion: Brooks Koepka.

Points leader: Cameron Smith.

Last tournament: Bryson DeChambeau won LIV Golf-Chicago.

Notes: This is the final regular LIV Golf event ahead of the season-ending team championship next week at Doral. ... Four players from LIV Golf played in the Dunhill Links Championship last week on the European tour. Peter Uihlein tied for 22nd, the best finish among them. ... Brooks Koepka picked up his first LIV Golf title last year in Jeddah. ... Royal Greens also held the Saudi International that attracted the likes of Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau when it was part of the European tour. ... Talor Gooch still leads LIV Golf with three victories this year, while Cameron Smith leads the points list. ... Danny Lee won the second LIV Golf event of the year. He has not finished better than 24th the rest of the season. ... Phil Mickelson is 38th in the points standings, with just one top-10 finish. ... The tournament in Jeddah originally was scheduled for the first week in November.

Next week: LIV Golf Team Championship.

Online: https://www.livgolf.com/

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PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS

SAS CHAMPIONSHIP

Site: Cary, North Carolina.

Course: Prestonwood CC. Yardage: 7,237. Par: 72.

Prize money: $2.1 million. Winner's share: $315,000.

Television: Friday-Sunday, 2-5 p.m. (Golf Channel).

Defending champion: Fred Couples.

Charles Schwab Cup leader: Steve Stricker.

Last week: Brett Quigley won the Constellation Furyk & Friends.

Notes: This is the final event in the regular season. The top 72 players in the Charles Schwab Cup standings qualify for the postseason, starting with the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Virginia. ... Brett Quigley won in his second PGA Tour Champions start in 2020. Then he went 79 starts before winning his next Champions event last week in Florida. ... Steve Stricker tied for 15th last week. His previous worst finish this year was a tie for eighth. ... Among those outside the top 72 going into the SAS Championship are David Duval (No. 78) and Notah Begay (No. 88). Begay received a sponsor's exemption for this week. ... Stricker is planning to play at least one postseason event. He leads Bernhard Langer by more than $2 million. Points are double during the playoffs. ... John Daly is not in the field and well outside the top 72, meaning his PGA Tour Champions season is over.

Next week: Dominion Energy Charity Classic.

Online: https://www.pgatour.com/pgatour-champions

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OTHER TOURS

Japan Golf Tour: Japan Open, Ibaraki CC (West), Ibaraki, Japan. Defending champion: Taiga Semikawa. Online: https://www.jgto.org/en/

Asian Tour: SJM Macao Open, Macau Golf and CC, Macao, China. Previous winner: Gaganjeet Bhullar (2017). Online: https://asiantour.com/

Challenge Tour: Hainan Open, Danzhou Ancient Saltern GC, Hainan Island, China. Defending champion: New tournament. Online: https://www.europeantour.com/challenge-tour/

PGA Tour of Australasia: CKB WA PGA Championship, Kalgoorlie GC, Karlkurla, Australia. Defending champion: Jay Mackenzie. Online: https://pga.org.au/

Sunshine Tour: Blue Label Challenge, Gary Player CC, Sun City GC & Lost City GC, Sun City, South Africa. Defending champion: Stephen Ferreira. Online: https://sunshinetour.com/

Japan LPGA: Fujitsu Ladies, Tokyu Seven Hundred Club, Chiba, Japan. Defending champion: Ayaka Furue. Online: https://www.lpga.or.jp/en/

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf