The Ford Championship brings 144 of the best LPGA Tour players to Whirlwind Golf Club in Phoenix, Arizona. And the format is designed to reward consistency across four days while building toward a thrilling Sunday finish.
All golfers compete in threesomes over Thursday and Friday, split into morning and afternoon waves. To keep things moving, each group starts at both the 1st and 10th holes. The same three players stay together for both rounds, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Only the top 65 players and ties make it through the cut after 36 holes.
Well, it’s the weekend when things get intriguing.
The leaderboard logic changes for Saturday and Sunday pairings. The golfers who are lowest on the leaderboard tee off first, and the leaders tee off last. This makes real drama happen because the front-runners watch everyone else set the target before they play.
And the winner is decided in the simplest way possible.
The lowest total score across all 72 holes wins. No playoffs, no tiebreakers mentioned, just four rounds of straight stroke play. The champion takes home a piece of the $2.25 million purse, making every shot count from the first tee on Thursday.
(this is an developing story…)
