NAPLES, Fla. — The QBE Shootout will become a true mixed event next season, with more LPGA stars joining their PGA Tour counterparts.
So, besides more men being able to take lessons in tempo and balance and their short game (more on that later), perhaps a few will gain some fashion sense.
That already started this year with Denny McCarthy pairing with Nelly Korda for the first time.
“She sent me a few J.Lindeberg outfits that I don’t quite have the color scheme for, we’re a little different,” McCarthy said before Friday’s first round. “So we were trying to coordinate some outfits. I don’t know if my outfits are going to match up to hers; she’s got some pretty wild color schemes.”
McCarthy and Korda join Maverick McNealy and Lexi Thompson as the only mixed groups in this year’s field of 24. The Associated Press recently reported that the shootout will become a true mixed-team event starting next year, the first one since the JCPenney Classic in 1999.
The only question is: What took so long?
The event falls at the perfect time for both tours with the women on a break and still a month away from the start of the next season, and the men in the middle of the relaxed wraparound portion of their season. Or what is known as the “silly season.”
Adding players such as Thompson, Korda, Annika Sorenstam, Lydia Ko, Brooke Henderson, Danielle Kang, Stacy Lewis, Jessica Korda, Anna Nordqvist, Jennifer Kupcho and others to the field with a PGA Tour teammate would make for a more interesting weekend and more reasons to turn on the TV.
And a lot more fun for the participants.
“I think it’s a nice season finisher,” said Korda, No. 2 in the world. “And for us to be put on a stage with the men I think is also exciting. For viewers, it’s just a little bit something different.”
The 2022 QBE Shootout purse is $3.8 million, modest by PGA standards but topped by just six LPGA events next season. And the more unique an event, the more intrigue to sponsors and the more opportunity to increase the money.
“Golf being such an individual sport, we want more team events but definitely mixed women’s and men’s,” said Thompson, ranked seventh in the world. “I think it will be great for the game of golf. I think team events bring a lot bigger fan base. I think people absolutely love watching us play and fist pump and just be there for each other.”
Sorenstam was a pioneer in mixed golf
The history of women in the shootout starts with Sorenstam in 2006. But then it took 10 years for the next woman to play, Thompson who teamed up with Bryson DeChambeau. Thompson is making her sixth appearance this year, and this is the first year the Shootout includes more than one woman in the field.
Thompson keeps coming back because of the experience and how she has been accepted by her male peers. Besides DeChambeau, she has teamed with Tony Finau, Sean O’Hair and Bubba Watson through the years.
And she is no stranger to playing with the guys, having grown up with two older brothers.
“No other girls being in it (until this year), it was a huge honor to be able to be invited to play in this and give a challenge to my game,” she said.
The biggest challenge for the women is playing the added length. The LPGA’s season finale, held three weeks ago, is on the same Tiburon course with the par-72 playing at 6,556 yards. The yardage for the Shootout is 7,385 yards.
For the women, that means hitting a 6- or 5-iron to the green instead of a 9-iron or pitching wedge. And Thompson welcomes it.
“I don’t want to play forward,” she said. “Let’s just give myself a challenge. I get to hit driver on every single hole, which I absolutely love. I don’t get that opportunity very much when I play (on the LPGA Tour), so I love bombing it off the tee and hitting mid to longer irons.”
Learning from female pros’ chipping, putting
While the women have reason to admire the men’s tee shots, it’s the men who are talking about what they can take away from playing with an elite woman golfer.
Jason Day has benefited from watching women chip and putt during his career. “Women I feel have really solid short games and their putting is great,” he said. “If we do end up playing with them, you can always learn something.”
Day and Billy Horschel — who are teamed up this week and look forward to having an LPGA partner in the future — both admire the tempo and rhythm displayed by the women.
“I watch a lot of LPGA golf,” Horschel said. “A lot of their rhythms are impeccable. Their tempo, their balance, their swing is technically perfection. You can always learn from somebody.”