Ryder Cup stars among Shriners Children’s Open entrants — FULL LIST
Defending champion Tom Kim, LPGA star Lexi Thompson and two members of the winning European Ryder Cup team headline the field for next week’s Shriners Children’s Open.
Ludvig Aberg and Nicolai Hojgaard, who played key roles in Europe’s 16½-11½ win last month in Italy, will be making their debuts in the tournament, which begins Thursday at TPC Summerlin.
Kim, who won in his Shriners debut in 2022 by not making a bogey the entire week, is back to defend against what is by far the strongest field of the fall season so far on the PGA Tour.
Kim is among 13 players who finished the season in the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings and has already qualified for all of the major championships and elevated events on the 2024 schedule. Others from the top 50 coming to Las Vegas are Eric Cole, Cam Davis, Emiliano Grillo, Adam Hadwin, Tom Hoge, Si Woo Kim, J.T. Poston, Andrew Putnam, Patrick Rodgers, Adam Schenk, Adam Svensson and Nick Taylor.
Much of the focus will be on Thompson, who received a sponsor invitation to play and will become the seventh woman to tee it up in a PGA Tour event.
The field also includes four past major championship winners (Stewart Cink, Jason Dufner, Webb Simpson, Jimmy Walker) and a host of Las Vegas-based golfers (Joseph Bramlett, Doug Ghim, Harry Hall, David Lipsky, Taylor Montgomery, Ryan Moore, Scott Piercy, Justin Suh, Nick Watney).
The field stands at 126 players, with three spots being held for winners of a qualifier Monday at Boulder Creek Golf Club and three others for any players who finish in the top 10 this weekend at the Sanderson Farms Championship who aren’t already in the field.
Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review-Journal. Reach him at grobertson@reviewjournal.com.