The LPGA Tour kicks off a brand-new season with one of the most exciting and unique events on its schedule – the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
The season opener features winners from the past two years, along with celebrities from stage, screen and field. This year, A Lim Kim is returning to defend her title, having won in 2025 with a thrilling closing stretch that saw her rattle off three birdies in four holes to win by two strokes over Nelly Korda. Here’s a look at what else you need to know about the Tour’s return to action at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, just outside Orlando, Fla.
Who Qualifies?
Each season, the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions welcomes to its field the winners from the past two seasons on the LPGA Tour. With a remarkable 29 different champions collecting titles in 2025, there are quite a few new faces who will tee it up this year for the first time at Lake Nona, including players like Youmin Hwang, Jin Hee Im, Akie and Chizzy Iwai, Somi Lee, Ingrid Lindblad, Yealimi Noh, Mao Saigo, Miranda Wang, Lottie Woad and Miyu Yamashita.
Here are the rest of the LPGA Tour champions who are teeing it up in the limited-field season-opener:
Lauren Coughlin
Austin Ernst
Ayaka Furue
Linn Grant
Nasa Hataoka
Brooke Henderson
Charley Hull
Moriya Jutanugarn
A Lim Kim
Lydia Ko
Nelly Korda
Jennifer Kupcho
Haeran Ryu
Madelene Sagstrom
Yuka Saso
Maja Stark
Linnea Strom
Jasmine Suwannapura
Rio Takeda
Bailey Tardy
Patty Tavatanakit
Jeeno Thitikul
Lilia Vu
Chanettee Wannasaen
Amy Yang
Angel Yin
Ruoning Yin
Rose Zhang
What’s the Format?
The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions is a 72-hole, stroke-play event that counts as an official victory on the LPGA Tour. The no-cut event features a purse of $2.1 million and will see LPGA Tour members compete right alongside celebrities, who will square off in their own competition using a modified Stableford format for a $500,000 purse.
Thitkul Makes Tournament Debut
Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul will make her very first appearance in the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, not because she hadn’t qualified prior to this season, but because she structured her schedule in a way that didn’t allow her to compete in the event in the past. This year, the seven-time LPGA Tour winner will experience for the first time what it’s like to compete with the celebrities in the field. Thitikul made her last start at the 2025 LPGA Tour’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, where she successfully defended her title and collected the $4 million winner’s check for the second consecutive season. The Thailand native also took home the Rolex Player of the Year award as well as the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average of the season.
Celebrity Defending Champion
Last season, former hockey player Joe Pavelski won the Celebrity Division of the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in his tournament debut, and he will be back again this year seeking to defend his title. He’s joined by the NBA’s Blake Griffin and Courtney Lee, Wells Adams and Ben Higgins of “The Bachelor”, actors Don Cheadle and Michael Pena, as well as athletes Brandi Chastain, Victor Cruz, and Mardy Fish, just to name a few. World Golf Hall of Famer and Lake Nona resident Annika Sorenstam will also tee it up again this year in the Celebrity Division and will again try to win the tournament for the first time on her home course.
Austin Ernst Returns
It’s been more than two years since Austin Ernst announced she’d be stepping away from full-time competition on the LPGA Tour. This week, Ernst is making a return to the Tour for the first time since June 2023, when a nagging neck injury sidelined her from professional golf. Ernst has kept busy in her time since leaving the Tour, taking up an assistant coaching role with the women’s golf program at Texas A&M University, completing her degree at Louisiana State University and giving birth to her first child, a son named Charlie. Ernst is a three-time winner on the LPGA Tour, who last hoisted a trophy at the 2021 Drive On Championship.
