The Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G is the first of five opportunities for players to qualify for the 2020 US Women’s Open. After the final round of the tournament Katherine Kirk (-14) and Jenny Shin (-15) qualified for the major championship, to be held December 10-13 at the Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas.
After this week’s competition, there will be four more play opportunities:
ANA Inspiration (winner)
Change Portland Classic (top two players not already exempt)
ShopRite LPGA Classic (the first two players are not already exempt)
KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (top three players not already exempted)
NOTES FOR PLAYERS
Rolex ranking n. 58 Austin Ernst (65-65-63)
- Ernst’s 54-hole score of 193 is a career best score for five strokes, previously he had recorded 198 to finish second in the 2018 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship
- He hit 13 on 13 fairways and 16 on 18 greens, with 28 putts
- Made 143 starts between his victory at the Change Portland Classic 2014 and today
- Ernst joins Danielle Kang (Drive On Championship, Marathon Classic) and Stacy Lewis (Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open) as American LPGA Tour winners in 2020
- This is Ernst’s eighth season on the LPGA tour; has a career win at the Change Portland Classic 2014
- Member of the US Solheim Cup Team 2017 with a 2-2-0 record
- 2011 NCAA Individual Champion at LSU where she graduated in 2014 in Business Management
- It hosts the annual Austin Ernst Charity Pro-Am to benefit Safe Harbor, a refuge for domestic violence
- Member of the 2012 US Curtis Cup team
- His brother, Drew, played collegiate golf in Coastal Carolina and caddies for Austin
- Dad, Mark, is the general manager and director of golf at Cross Creek Plantation and taught to play in Austin
