The 2026 Ford Championship gets underway this week at Whirlwind Golf Club in Phoenix, Arizona, bringing together one of the strongest LPGA Tour fields of the season as the women’s game continues to ride a wave of unprecedented momentum. With world number one Nelly Korda headlining a star-studded field that includes Charley Hull, Lydia Ko, and Jeeno Thitikul, the tournament arrives at a pivotal moment for women’s professional golf — one marked by record broadcasting coverage, growing purses, and a level of competitive depth that rivals anything in the sport’s history.
The tournament runs March 26-29, coinciding with the PGA Tour’s Houston Open, and serves as the latest showcase for an LPGA Tour that has undergone a dramatic transformation in 2026. Under new commissioner Craig Kessler’s leadership, the tour has secured a broadcasting deal that puts every round of every event on live television for the first time in Golf Channel’s history — a development that the Ford Championship will demonstrate in front of a national audience.
Nelly Korda: The Player to Beat
All eyes will be on Nelly Korda, who arrives in Arizona as the dominant force in women’s golf. The 27-year-old American has been the sport’s most consistent performer over the past two seasons, combining prodigious length off the tee with an increasingly refined short game that has made her virtually unbeatable when she’s at her best.
Korda’s game is particularly well-suited to Whirlwind Golf Club’s desert layout, where accuracy off the tee and the ability to manage the course’s firm, fast conditions will be at a premium. Her driving distance advantage allows her to attack par fives that other players must play conservatively, while her improved putting has transformed her from a talented ball-striker who sometimes struggled on the greens into a complete player with no obvious weaknesses.
The question facing Korda this week is whether she can maintain the intensity that has defined her recent run of form while managing the expectations that come with being the clear favorite in every tournament she enters. The mental demands of sustained excellence at the highest level are considerable, and even the best players in history have experienced periods where the weight of expectation becomes a burden rather than a motivator.
Charley Hull’s Major Contention
English star Charley Hull continues to be one of the most compelling figures in women’s golf. The 30-year-old has established herself as a genuine major championship contender while becoming one of the sport’s most popular personalities, her candid demeanor and aggressive playing style resonating with fans who appreciate authenticity in an era of carefully managed sporting personas.
Hull’s game has matured significantly over the past two years, with improvements in course management and scoring efficiency complementing the raw ball-striking talent that has always been her calling card. She arrives at the Ford Championship in strong form and with the kind of confidence that comes from knowing she belongs at the top of leaderboards, not just competing for top-ten finishes.
The Broadcast Revolution in Action
The Ford Championship will benefit from the LPGA’s revolutionary broadcasting deal that has transformed how fans experience women’s professional golf. For the first time, every round of the tournament will be broadcast live on Golf Channel or CNBC, with a 50-percent increase in camera coverage, triple the microphone deployment, additional drones, and quadruple the shot-tracing capabilities compared to previous seasons.
The enhanced production values represent more than just a technical upgrade. They signal a fundamental shift in how the industry values women’s golf as a media product. The LPGA’s partnership with FM and Trackman has brought investment and innovation to broadcasts that have historically been produced with a fraction of the resources allocated to men’s professional golf. The result is a viewing experience that finally matches the quality of the on-course competition.
For fans watching at home, the practical impact is significant. Where previous seasons might have seen Thursday and Friday rounds available only via streaming or not broadcast at all, every shot of every round at the Ford Championship will be accessible on live television. Enhanced storytelling segments, more player walk-and-talks, and improved camera angles will bring viewers closer to the action and the personalities who drive it.
Whirlwind Golf Club: The Desert Test
Whirlwind Golf Club provides a distinctive challenge that sets it apart from many LPGA Tour venues. Located in the Sonoran Desert outside Phoenix, the course demands a combination of precision off the tee, creative shot-making around firm greens, and the ability to manage the psychological challenge of desert golf, where the margins between fairway and waste area are razor-thin and recovery from errant shots can be brutal.
The course’s design rewards intelligent course management over pure aggression. Players who can plot their way around the layout, choosing their moments to attack and accepting pars when the risk-reward calculus doesn’t favor aggressive play, tend to perform well here. This strategic dimension adds an element of tactical intrigue that makes the Ford Championship one of the more cerebral tests on the LPGA Tour schedule.
The Competitive Landscape
Beyond Korda and Hull, the field includes a roster of players capable of winning on any given week. Lydia Ko, the two-time major champion and Olympic gold medalist from New Zealand, brings the kind of veteran savvy and clutch putting ability that makes her dangerous in any tournament format. Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul, still only 23, continues her emergence as one of the tour’s most talented young players, with a complete game that belies her age.
The depth of talent across the LPGA Tour has never been greater. Where previous eras might have seen a handful of dominant players separated by a clear gap from the rest of the field, the current tour features a deep pool of genuinely world-class competitors who can contend week in, week out. This competitive depth makes predicting tournament outcomes increasingly difficult and ensures that every event carries the potential for dramatic, unexpected results.
As the LPGA Tour continues its ascent in 2026, the Ford Championship represents everything that’s working about the women’s game right now: elite competition, star power, enhanced presentation, and a growing audience that’s discovering what dedicated golf fans have known for years — that the LPGA Tour produces some of the most compelling golf on the planet.
