Tickets available for LPGA Match Play, for a hefty price

MGM Resorts and the LPGA Tour made it a priority to give the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play at Shadow Creek an exclusive feel its first two years by severely limiting fan access to the tournament.

That’s changing for year three — sort of. Those hoping to attend the tournament May 24-28 will have to pay premium prices to get up close to the world’s best women golfers.

The Birdie Package offers tickets for Wednesday and Thursday ($149), Friday and Saturday ($199), and Sunday ($249). The deal includes course entry, access to all skyboxes and free parking on site. The Eagle Package also includes access to the 19th hole VIP tent and complimentary food and beverages. Eagle Packages will run Wednesday and Thursday ($349), Friday and Saturday ($399), and Sunday ($459).

By comparison, the PGA Tour’s Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin start daily admission tickets at $35.

“Shadow Creek, one of golf’s premier courses, is an exceptional setting for the world’s best women golfers and fans looking to watch their favorite players compete,” Lance Evans, a senior vice president with MGM Resorts, said in a statement. “We all look forward to welcoming the LPGA back to Las Vegas and to having fans on the course for this very special event for the first time. It’s going to be an incredible weekend.”

The tournament will once again feature 64 players divided into 16 pods for round-robin play Wednesday-Friday. The winner of each pod will advance to the round of 16, which will be played Saturday morning with the quarterfinals Saturday afternoon. The semifinals will be played Sunday morning, with the championship match and third-place match held Sunday afternoon.

Eun-Hee Ji won the second edition of the tournament last year after Ally Ewing won the inaugural event in 2021.

Tournament officials are expecting a much stronger field in 2023 due to a change in the LPGA schedule. The first two editions had been played the week prior to the U.S. Women’s Open, leading many of the elite players to skip Las Vegas to prepare for the year’s biggest major.

While the Match Play remains on the final week of May, the U.S. Women’s Open has moved to early July giving players like Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson and Jessica Korda a chance to play in Las Vegas for the first time.

U.S. Open qualifying

The dream of playing in the national championship begins this month with local qualifying for the U.S. Open at 109 sites around the country, including two in Nevada.

Casablanca Golf Club in Mesquite hosts a qualifier on April 26, and Somersett Golf and Country Club in Reno hosts one of the final qualifiers May 15.

A handful of players from each local event will move on to final qualifying at 13 sites in late May and early June. The U.S. Open will be played June 15-18 at Los Angeles Country Club.

Registration for the qualifiers remains open until April 12 at champs.usga.org. Last year, 9,265 players attempted to qualify.

Chip shots

* Las Vegas will be well represented this week at the Masters, with six of the 88 players having Southern Nevada roots. Residents Kurt Kitayama, Collin Morikawa, Kevin Na, Seamus Power and Xander Schauffele, as well as UNLV alum Adam Scott will tee it up this week.

* Herk Herculson beat Chip Miller 2 and 1 in the championship flight of The Legacy Men’s Golf Association match play tournament. Tom Cloine beat John Flanagan in the consolation flight.

Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review Journal. Reach him at grobertson@reviewjournal.com.