Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Las Colinas, TX–
With a bit of stormy weather in the DFW yesterday and a delayed start to the Pro-Am today in Las Colinas, the Texas Shootout is getting off to a slow start to the weekend, but hopes of some of the top talent on the tour will bring golf fans plenty to cheer for during the weekend.
The Texas Shootout, which has a $1.3 million purse, will be Thursday through Sunday. It is the only LPGA tournament in Texas.
Jenny Shin is the defending champion. Shin posted a bogey-free, final-day 67 in windy conditions to finish at 14-under-par 270 to win the 2016 tournament by two strokes.
The tournament, which attracts the world’s 144 top players and an international television broadcast on the Golf Channel, has an elite field, including most of the Rolex Rankings’ top 20 players.
Ranked players include Ariya Jutanugarn (Thailand), Lydia Ko (New Zealand), Brooke M. Henderson (Canada), In Gee Chun (Korea), Shanshan Feng (China), Sei Young Kim (Korea), Anna Nordqvist (Sweden), Ha-Na Jang (Korea), Brittany Lang (USA), So Yeon Ryu (Korea), Minjee Lee (Australia), Amy Yang (Korea), Stacy Lewis (USA), Mirim Lee (Korea), Lexi Thompson (USA) and Gerina Piller (USA).
This past week, VIP’s and Sponsors had a chance to have a little from with a few of the other players on tour, with Gerina Piller helping her Pro team to a friendly victory over the Joes Squad for charity. Piller seemed happy to come back this year to gain some redemption from her 2016 attempt at this course.
“I like playing this course as you can see by our little friendly game here today, but when it comes to the course next week, I will take it day by day and try and play my best round to stay atop of the field, said Piller.
