The 2022 LPGA season gets under way this week with the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Florida.

The field at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club will include 29 LPGA Tour winners from the 2020 and 2021 seasons, featuring defending champion Jessica Korda and sister Nelly Korda, the reigning Olympic gold medalist and Women’s PGA champion.

They will be joined by a bevy of LPGA winners, including 2021 major winners such as Patty Tavatanakit (ANA), Yuko Saso (U.S. Open) and Anna Nordqvist (British).

The Skinny

Tournament: Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions
Dates: Jan. 20-23, 2022
TV Network: GOLF Channel, NBC
Course: Lake Nona Golf and CC
Where: Orlando, Fla.
Distance: 6,645 yards, Par 71
Architect: Tom Fazio
Field: 29 players
Format: 72-hole stroke; no cut
Pro Purse: $1.5 million
Pro Winning Share: $225,000
Defending Champion: Jessica Korda

Tournament History

The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions debuted in 2019 at the Four Seasons Golf & Sports Club Orlando.

Like the season opener for the PGA Tour on Maui, the tournament field is limited to LPGA Tour winners over the previous two years.

There is also a pro-am and celebrity tournament within the LPGA event: top amateurs during the midweek pro-am are invited to play in the main tournament. Each LPGA pro is paired with two celebrities or amateurs in the groupings, and celebrities change per round. A Stableford-based system is used for the celebrities and amateurs.

For 2022, under new corporate ownership of Hilton Grand Vacations and tournament director Aaron Stewart, son of World Golf Hall of Fame member Payne, the event moves to the Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando. The move to Lake Nona also eliminates an issue that the 18th hole, a par 3, caused at Four Seasons where the 2020 tournament was pushed to an extra day on Monday morning as the single playoff hole (the 18th) failed to produce a winner, and it was the seventh playing of the 18th hole that finally created a winner.

Ji Eun-hee won the inaugural event by two strokes over Mirim Lee.

The celebrity division continues to be controlled by Mardy Fish and John Smoltz, who have dominated.

History: Recent Winners

2021: Jessica Korda (-24)*
2020: Gaby Lopez (-13)*
2019: Ji Eun-hee (-14)
* Won in playoff

History: Records

72-Hole Score: 260 (-24) – Jessica Korda (2021)
18-Hole Score: 65 (-6) – Brooke Henderson (2019, Rd 1), Ji Eun-hee (2019, Rd 1), Nelly Korda (2019, Rd 3)

How to Follow the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions

TELEVISION: Thu-Fri: 12-3 p.m. ET (GOLF Channel); Sat: 2-3 p.m. (GOLF Channel), 3-5 p.m. (NBC); Sun: 12-3 p.m. ET (GOLF Channel)

STREAM (GOLF CHANNEL APP): Thu-Sun: 12-3 p.m. ET

LINKS: Website | Facebook | Instagram

The Field

The field in Orlando will feature 29 LPGA Tour winners from the past two seasons, and will be headlined by reigning Olympic gold medalist Nelly Korda, fresh off her record-setting season, and sister Jessica Korda, who enters as the defending champion.

Field: Qualifiers

• Pajaree Anannarukarn
  (2021 ISPS Handa World Invitational)
• Celine Boutier
  (2021 ShopRite LPGA Classic)
• Matilda Castren
  (2021 LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship)
• Austin Ernst
  (2020 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, 2021 LPGA Drive On Championship at Golden Ocala)
• Ally Ewing
  (2020 Drive On Championship at Reynolds Lake Oconee, 2021 Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play Hosted by Shadow Creek)
• Georgia Hall
  (2020 Cambia Portland Classic)
• Nasa Hataoka
  (2021 Dana Open, 2021 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship)
• Brooke Henderson
  (2020 JTBC LA Open)
• Ariya Jutanugarn
  (2021 Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational)
• Moriya Jutanugarn
  (2021 Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational)
• Danielle Kang
  (2020 Drive On Championship at Inverness Club, 2020 Marathon LPGA Classic)
• A Lim Kim
  (2020 U.S. Women’s Open)
• Lydia Ko
  (2021 LOTTE Championship)
• Jessica Korda
  (2021 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions)
• Nelly Korda
  (2021 Gainbridge LPGA at Lake Nona, 2021 Meijer LPGA Classic, 2021 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, 2021 Pelican Women’s Championship)
• Mirim Lee
  (2020 Chevron Championship)
• Stacy Lewis
  (2020 Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open)
• Gaby Lopez
  (2020 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions)
• Anna Nordqvist
  (2021 AIG Women’s Open)
• Inbee Park
  (2020 ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, 2021 JTBC Classic)
• Ryann O’Toole
  (2021 Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open)
• Hee Young Park
  (2020 ISPS Handa Vic Open)
• Sophia Popov
  (2020 AIG Women’s Open)
• Mel Reid
  (2020 ShopRite LPGA Classic)
• Madelene Sagstrom
  (2020 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio)
• Yuka Saso
  (2021 U.S. Women’s Open)
• Angela Stanford
  (2020 Volunteers of America Classic)
• Patty Tavatanakit
  (2021 Chevron Championship)
• Michelle Wie West
  (2018 HSBC Women’s World Championship, in off maternity eligibility)

Field: Betting Odds

1. Nelly Korda 3-1
2. Lydia Ko 5-1
3. Brooke Henderson 11-1
3. Patty Tavatanakit 11-1
5. Inbee Park 14-1
6. Danielle Kang 16-1
6. Jessica Korda 16-1
6. Nasa Hataoka 16-1
9. Yuka Saso 20-1
10. Ariya Jutanugarn 22-1
10. Gaby Lopez 22-1
12. Anna Nordqvist 25-1
12. Celine Boutier 25-1
14. Ally Ewing 33-1
14. Georgia Hall 33-1
14. Moriya Jutanugarn 33-1
17. Madelene Sagstrom 40-1
18. A Lim Kim 50-1
18. Austin Ernst 50-1
20. Matilda Castren 66-1
21. Pajaree Anannarukarn 66-1
21. Stacy Lewis 66-1
23. Mel Reid 80-1
24. Ryann O’Toole 100-1
24. Sophia Popov 100-1
26. Angela Stanford 200-1
27. Hee Young Park 250-1
28. Michelle Wie West 250-1
29. Mirim Lee 300-1

Credits: LPGA Tour Media, Getty Images, Wikipedia