AIG Women’s Open Picks: 12 Players to Consider

It wasn’t so long ago that Nelly Korda won five straight LPGA starts and cemented her place as the undisputed No. 1 player in the world.

Since then, a few big numbers have led to a few big disappointments.

So much so that on the eve of the fifth and final women’s major of the year, this week’s AIG Women’s Open, she’s no longer even the pre-tournament favorite, as that honor has been passed to Evian Championship winner Ayaka Furue.

It’s not the top of the board, though, that we should be so concerned about.

From Mo Martin a decade ago to Hinako Shibuno, Sophia Popov and Ashleigh Buhai since, this event has often been ripe for longshot winners.

I’ll offer up a dozen options of players at various prices to consider for this week’s festivities at the Old Course.

AIG Women’s Open Picks: 12 Players to Consider

Charley Hull (+2800)

Everyone’s favorite on-course lung-darter finished runner-up to Lilia Vu in last year’s edition of this event. That was her first top-10, but she does have five other top-25s in this one, plus three top-25s in four majors so far this year.

Esther Henseleit (+3300)

Few have been hotter recently than Henseleit, who backed up her silver medal at the Olympics with another runner-up result at this past weekend’s ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open. We’ve lost the opportunity to buy low, but there’s a hope that she’s just building up to something bigger.

Celine Boutier (+3300)

Speaking of the Olympics, Boutier raced out to an opening-round lead in her home country, only to finish in a share of 18th place. Last year’s Evian champion, she was ranked as high as third in the world earlier this year.

Linn Grant (+3500)

Admittedly, this Swede has been more of a floor play than ceiling at major championships, as she’s played in 13 of them and owns nine top-30s, but nothing better than eighth place. Even so, the big hitter is good enough to win one and she’s been trending in the right direction for a while now.

Ally Ewing (+4000)

In her last five major championship appearances, Ewing owns four top-10 finishes, including a T-6 at this event last year at Walton Heath. In fact, perhaps no non-winner has played as well as her in the biggest events, which suggests we should see her name on the leaderboard come Sunday afternoon once again.

Madelene Sagstrom (+4000)

We don’t have to go back too far to see the best of what Sagstrom has to offer, with AIG Women’s Open results of T-2 in 2021 and T-4 the next year. Like countrywoman Grant, she might own more value as a finishing position play, but certainly has the chops needed to win a big one.

Nasa Hataoka (+5000)

A six-time winner on the LPGA, Hataoka has done everything at the majors but win one of ‘em, posting two seconds, two thirds and nine top-10s since the beginning of 2018. At this one, she’s gone 7th-11th the past two years.

Leona Maguire (+10000)

While I really like her game, I’ll admit that she’s left a little something to be desired at the majors, posting just three top-10s in 30 career starts. That was enough for me to leave her off this list – until, that is, I saw her triple-digit price and got reeled back in.

Gabi Ruffels (+10000)

Though her performance at this year’s majors has been underwhelming – all four between 40th and 55th – the 24-year-old is coming into her own on the professional level, adding a T-6 result in Scotland last week to a trio of third-place finishes earlier in the year. This is a great number for a player who seems ready to pop at a major.

Sarah Schmelzel (+12500)

A share of ninth place at the recent KPMG Women’s PGA Championship was Schmelzel’s first career top-10 at a major and her solo eighth in Scotland last week was her second top-10 in her last five starts. She could make for a very sneaky FRL and/or top-10 play.

Gemma Dryburgh (+30000)

If you’re going this deep down the board, you’re not going to find any flawless candidates. There are an alarming number of MCs on Dryburgh’s profile, but she finished T-17 at the Evian and the Scotland native could feel right at home playing St. Andrews.

Bronte Law (+40000)

The same could be said for Law, who’s from England and has been playing primarily on the LET this year. There isn’t much that points to the world’s 127th-ranked player winning this week, but at 400/1 she brings some links experience, which is more than we can say for a number of her fellow competitors.