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After Team Thailand’s historic first victory in the return of the international crown on Sunday, all four members of the winning team will play in Clifton, New Jersey this week for the 12th edition of the Cognizant Founders Cup. Atthaya Thitikul, Patty Tavatanakits,That’s itJutanugarn and Moriya Jutanugarn arrive at Upper Montclair Country Club fresh off their victory at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, where Nelonen swept Australia in the final to secure the team match title.
Ariya Jutanugarn earning MVP honors after winning all five of her matches with her sister, while 20-year-old Thitikul capped off her perfect weekend with a birdie on the 16th hole that clinched the title for Thailand. Thailand went 6-0-0 in pool play to become the first team in tournament history to lose just one match over four days of play as Team USAs Lilia Vu defeated Tavatanakit in the semi-finals.
While the Thai players will want to keep their momentum rolling, the defending Founders Cup champion Minjee Lee, who was part of Team Australia’s runner-up squad at Harding Park. Last year at Upper Montclair, Lee made three birdies over the final seven holes Lexi Thompson with two strokes.
The Founders Cup, which honors the LPGA’s 13 original founders and their philosophy of leaving the game better than you found it, will begin with four events in New Jersey over the next six weeks, with an extra celebratory start following the World Championship. The Golf Hall of Fame announced in March that the seven founding members of the LPGA Alice Bauer, Bettye Danoff, Helen Dettweiler, Helen Hicks, OpalHill, Sally Sessions and Shirley Spork would join the other six founders as members of the Hall of Fame. Patty Berg, Marlene Bauer Hagge, Betty Jameson, Marilynn Smith, Louise Suggs and Baby Didrikson Zaharias was previously admitted to the hall.
In addition to the tour’s founding members, the event also honors LPGA pioneers each year, with this year’s honorees being six-time LPGA majors. Betsy King and a member of the National Golf Coaches Hall of Fame and former captain of the European Solheim Cup teamPia Nilsson.
The full-field event will see 144 players compete for a $3 million prize pool, with the winner receiving $450,000. This week marks the third consecutive year the tournament will be played in New Jersey after it was held at Mountain Ridge Country Club in East Caldwell in October 2021 and moved to Upper Montclair CC in 2022. The first nine tournaments (2011-2019) were held at Wildfire Golf Club in Scottsdale, in Arizona.
How to watch 2023 Cognizant Founders Cup
You can watch the 2023 Cognizant Founders Cup on Golf Channel, Peacock,NBCSports.comand the NBC Sports app. See the full TV and streaming schedule:
- Thursday, May 11: 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET, Golf Channel and Peacock
- Friday, May 12:10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET, Golf Channel and Peacock
- Saturday, May 13:5-7 PM ET, Golf Channel and Peacock
- Sunday, May 14:5-7 PM ET, Golf Channel and Peacock
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Who will play in 2023Cognizant Founders Cup
The field of 144 players is led by eight of the top 10 players in the Rolex Womens World Golf Ranking, including:
- World number one Nelly Kordawho has Joe LaCava Tiger Woods former caddy in the bag this week in New Jersey.
- No. 2 Lydia Koplaying in her fifth tournament of the season, her best finish in 2023 was T-6 at the Honda LPGA Thailand.
- No. 3 Jin Young Kowon already this season after successfully defending her title at the 2023 HSBC Womens World Championship.
- No. 4 Lilia Vuthe only multiple winner of the season, having won the Chevron Championship and the Honda LPGA Thailand.
- No. 5 Atthaya Thitikulwho has four top-10 finishes in 2023, including a season-best third at the Honda LPGA Thailand.
- No. 6 Minjee Leedefending champion and member of Team Australia who finished second at last weeks International Crown.
- No. 7 Lexi Thompson, who won’t be playing in his third event until 2023 and was part of Team US that finished third at the International Crown last week.
- No. 10 Georgia Hallwho has four top-10 finishes in 2023, including two runner-up finishes at the LPGA Drive On Championship and the DIO Implant LA Open.
There are also four previous champions in the field Stacy Lewis (2013), Se Young Kim (2016), Jin Young Ko (2019, 2021) and Minjee Lee (2022) plus Monday’s qualifiers Haru Nomura and Roberta Litiand three sponsor invitations: amateur Katie Lu, Alison Walshe, Paige Crawfordwho won the John Shippen Cognizant Cup on Monday to earn his place in the field.
Past winnersCognizant Founders Cup
| YEAR | WINNER | SCORE | MARGIN | RUNNERUP |
| 2022 | Minjee Lee (Australia) | 19-under 269 | 2 bets | Lexi Thompson(U.S) |
| 2021 | Jin Young Ko (South Korea) | 18-under 266 | 4 bets | Caroline Masson(Germany) |
| 2020 | No event | as | as | as |
| 2019 | Jin Young Ko(South Korea) | 22-under 266 | 1 bet | Jessica Korda(U.S), Nelly Korda(U.S), Carlotta Ciganda(Spain), Yu Liu(China) |
| 2018 | Inbee Park(South Korea) | 19-under 269 | 5 bets | Marina Alex(U.S), Laura Davies(English), Ariya Jutanugarn(Thailand) |
| 2017 | Anna Nordqvist(Swedish) | 25-under 263 | 2 bets | In the book Gee Chun (South Korea), Stacy Lewis (U.S), Ariya Jutanugarn(Thailand) |
Last year atCognizant Founders Cup
Australian Minjee Lee collected her seventh LPGA win last year at Upper Montclair CC after finishing 19-under 269 and beating Lexi Thompson with two strokes. Lee carded a nine-under 63 in the second round to take the 36-hole lead, and he held rounds of 69-70 for the weekend. Thompson rallied from three down after 54 holes to grab a share of the lead after birdies at the 10th on Sunday, but Lee took the lead for good at the 14th when Thompson parred the rest of the way.
Learn more about Upper Montclair Country Club
Famous golf course architect AW Tillinghast designed the original 18-hole course at Upper Montclair Country Club, established in 1901, which originally featured a rudimentary five-hole course before Tillinghasts design opened in the 1920s. Robert Trent Jones Sr. oversaw course renovations in the 1950s that moved the club to its current 27-hole layout with three nine-hole courses known as the East, West and South Courses. The front nine of the Founders Cup is the club’s south course, while the back nine is the clubs’ west course, which has been targeted for the tournament.
Upper Montclair has hosted several professional events, including the LPGA’s Coca-Cola Classic (1979, 1980), the Chrysler-Plymouth Charity Classic (1983, 1984) and the Sybase Classic (2007-2009). Among the winners of these events were Nancy Lopez (1979), Pat Bradley (1993) and Lorraine Ochoa (2007, 2008). Other notable tournaments include the PGA Tours Thunderbird Classic (1962, 1966-1968) and the PGA Tour Champions NFL Golf Classic (1993-2000).
In the Founders Cup, the course is played as par 72 (36-36), and the scorecard distance is 6,536 yards.
NBC Sports’ golf research team contributed to this report.
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