Tour Report with PROTOCONCEPT - VOL.49

With only four more continental US LPGA events left in this year’s schedule, I was off to Norton Massachusetts for the FM Championship.

The 4.4-million-dollar purse makes playing this event an easy decision for players. The field this week will feature 23 of the top 25 players on the money list.

Designed by Arnold Palmer back in 2002 and renovated by Brad Faxton and Gil Hanse in 2007, this course hosted the PGA Deutsche Bank event for many years. The course will play at 6,533 yards this week and par 72.

Jodi Shadoff is coming off a strong performance last week and is looking forward to this week. We made a few minor adjustments to the lie angles on her irons to fine tune them for this event.

A few more good weeks should solidify her CME ranking for the last event of the year.

The LPGA season is winding down for me. The tour is headed to the Netherlands for the Solheim Cup, then to Arkansas for the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, followed by LOTTE in Hawaii (which I do not attend due to the KF schedule) and then four events in Asia.

I will attend the last two in Florida, the Annika and CME.

Up Next: After a week off, back out with the Korn Ferry Tour as they start the “Finals”. The
first event, Simmons Bank in Franklin, TN., features a full field. Each subsequent week the field will shrink based on accumulative points earned the entire season. The final event, The Tour Championship will be the top 75 players with the most points earned. At the end of that week the top 20 points earners will receive their PGA Tour card for 2027. The remaining 55 players will be fully exempt on the Korn Ferry Tour for 2027. Additional cards will be available through Q-School later in the year.

Steve Loerzel
Director of Operations & Chief Performance Engineer