THOMPSON HOPING TO CONTINUE MOMENTUM INTO 2019

This week’s LPGA Tour season-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions presented Insurance Office of America features 26 LPGA Tour winners from the last two seasons, but it is top-ranked American Lexi Thompson with the freshest winner’s circle memory to draw from.

In November, Thompson took home the final trophy of the 2018 LPGA Tour season at the CME Group Tour Championship. After a self-admitted tough year, she ended her season on a high note by extending her yearly winning streak to six years (2013-2018), the longest active streak on the LPGA Tour.

“Last year was a tough year emotionally,” Thompson said on Wednesday at Tranquilo Golf Course, “but I learned a lot, and I took the time for myself that I needed. And just to be refreshed coming into the year.”

A short offseason was in order for Thompson, who estimated she put the clubs away for a week and a half. “I wanted to continue to see what I was working on with CME and the previous tournaments to that,” she said, “if it was continuing to work, and I still wanted to engrave it in my golf swing and be confident coming into this year.”

Although it happened three months ago, Thompson was still smiling about capturing her 10th LPGA victory and hopes to begin her 2019 season on the same high note she finished her 2018 season.

“It was a great week,” Thompson said of the 2018 CME Group Tour Championship. “Just to let it all soak in in the month of December being around my family and celebrating it and realizing my hard work paid off. I think that was the best feeling of it. But it's still sinking in. I still like replay videos of it just to refresh it in my mind and get into this year.”

Thompson will tee off her first round of the 2019 season on Thursday off the first tee at 10:10 a.m. alongside Major League Baseball Hall of Fame members Greg Maddux and John Smoltz.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS – CELEBRITIES ON THE DIAMOND RESORTS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

“This kind of stuff is great for us because it allows us to get back into what we love, and that's the competition, to get those energy – those juices flowing to go out there and compete, and that's what I love the most is to be able to come back out here and focus the way I focused before I played a hockey game or before he played a football game or before he pitched a Major League Baseball game. We miss those days, and when we have great events like the Diamond Resorts that allows us to come out, have some fun with each other, now play with the LPGA champions. I'm really excited for that because, when you play with the best of the best in the sport, that brings the best out in you. So it's going to motivate me to play with some of the LPGA players this week. I think it's a great combination. It's the start of their season. Hopefully, we don't screw them up enough off the start to get them going on their season.” – Jeremy Roenick

“I think the interesting thing that these ladies are going to find out is that, when they're playing competitive golf, they're going to have – if they're playing with two guys, they're going to have two cheerleaders cheering them on and rooting them on and anticipating them to make the putt.” – Mark Rypien

“I think everybody understands that the personalities in your group, when you play with other people, you know who wants to talk and who doesn't. You learn -- you just know to stay out of some people's way and let them do their thing and let them get comfortable. We've done this a bunch, and you just learn that in Pro-Ams or anything like that, you just try to stay out of the way.” – John Smoltz

“We've all played a lot of golf with professional golfers, and we really stay out of the way. We're all playing an event here, and I think even the guys that are not going to be competing for the lead still understand that this is a golf tournament for the professionals. You know, the players that really have a chance to win, we all kind of understand what professional golf is and we all play accordingly. It's going to be fun. Looking forward to it. I think it's really a great testament to NBC that they've really gotten on board here, as well as the Golf Channel, and they've said, we're behind this, and we think this could be a really cool combination.” – Jack Wagner

NOTABLE FIRST-ROUND GROUPINGS

Marina Alex will hit the first ball of the 2019 LPGA Tour season at 8 a.m., playing alongside country music superstar Toby Keith and World Series champion Roger Clemens

Leading the contingent of LPGA mothers, Stacy Lewis and Cristie Kerr tee off back to back at 9 a.m. and 9:10 a.m.; Lewis will play with World Series-winning pitchers Tom Glavine andJon Lester, while Kerr will play with NHL All-Star Jeremy Roenick and fan-favorite actor Jack Wagner

Mardy Fish, who has won this celebrity event two times, tees off at 10:20 a.m., playing with 2018 Rolex First-Time Winner Nelly Korda and two-time MLB All-Star Mark Mulder

DESIGNATED HOLE FOR AON RISK REWARD CHALLENGE

The first-of-its-kind Aon Risk Reward Challenge, which gets underway on the LPGA Tour at this week's season-opening event, will highlight the world’s best professional golfers as they tackle the most strategically challenging holes across both the PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour schedules. The player from each Tour on top of the Aon leaderboard at the end of the regular season will receive a $1 million prize. The Aon Risk Reward Challenge takes the best two scores from every participating event in which a player competes, ensuring that all play is counted and providing a small advantage to those that make the cut with the overall winner having the best average score to par on the designated holes. Players must complete in a minimum of 40 rounds throughout the season.

The designated Aon Risk Reward Challenge hole at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions is the par-4 16th, which will be played this week at 330 yards for two of the four days and at 290 yards for the other two. This hole, a short dogleg right which can be drivable for the longer players, provides a great risk-reward opportunity because of its two-tiered green and the angle at which it sits. To drive the green, the player must clear a bunker and a few trees on the right side of the fairway. The risk off the tee is a miss to the right or a shot that ends up in the bunker. Failure to reach the green can leave a tricky pitch shot into an elevated putting surface guarded by a large bunker on the front left side.

For more information on the Aon Risk Reward Challenge, visit www.lpga.com/statistics/aon-risk-reward-challenge.

WHO’S IN THE DIAMOND RESORTS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS FIELD

26 LPGA Tour Winners from 2017 and 2018

Marina Alex (2018 Cambia Portland Classic), In Gee Chun (2018 LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship), Shanshan Feng (2017 LPGA Volvik Championship, 2017 TOTO Japan Classic, 2017 Blue Bay LPGA), Georgia Hall (2018 Ricoh Women’s British Open), Nasa Hataoka (2018 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, 2018 TOTO Japan Classic), Brooke Henderson (2017 Meijer LPGA Classic, 2017 MCKAYSON New Zealand Women’s Open, 2018 LOTTE Championship, 2018 CP Women’s Open), Eun-Hee Ji (2017 Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship, 2018 Kia Classic), Ariya Jutanugarn (2017 Manulife LPGA Classic, 2017 CME Group Tour Championship, 2018 Kingsmill Championship, 2018 U.S. Women’s Open, 2018 Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open), Moriya Jutanugarn (2018 HUGEL-JTBC LA Open), Danielle Kang (2017 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, 2018 Buick LPGA Shanghai), Cristie Kerr(2017 LOTTE Championship, 2017 Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia), Sei Young Kim (2017 Lorena Ochoa Match, 2018 Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic), Katherine Kirk (2017 Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic), Lydia Ko (2018 LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship), Nelly Korda (2018 Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship), Mi Hyang Lee (2017 Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open), Mirim Lee (2017 Kia Classic), Stacy Lewis (2017 Cambia Portland Classic), Brittany Lincicome (2017 Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic, 2018 Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic), Pernilla Lindberg (2018 ANA Inspiration), Gaby Lopez (2018 Blue Bay LPGA), Anna Nordqvist (2017 Bank of Hope Founders Cup, 2017 The Evian Championship), Annie Park(2018 ShopRite LPGA Classic), Thidapa Suwannapura (2018 Marathon Classic), Lexi Thompson (2017 Kingsmill Championship, 2017 Indy Women in Tech Championship, 2018 CME Group Tour Championship), Amy Yang (2017 Honda LPGA Thailand)

49 Celebrities

Marcus Allen, Ray Allen, Josh Beckett, Lee Brice, Clay Buchholz, Roger Clemens, Richard Dent, Mark DeRosa, Josh Donaldson, Mardy Fish, Michael Flaskey, Colt Ford, Terry Francona, Eric Gagne, Tom Glavine, Denny Hamlin, John Hart, Danny Kanell, Toby Keith, John Lackey, Jon Lester, Ryan Longwell, Derek Lowe, Greg Maddux, Brian McCann, Kevin Millar, Mark Mulder, Phil Nevin, Bud Norris, Blair O’Neal, Carson Palmer, Patrick Peterson, Chad Pfeifer, AJ Pierzynski, Alfonso Ribeiro, Willie Robertson, Ivan Rodriguez, Jeremy Roenick, Joe Don Rooney, Mark Rypien, Sterling Sharpe, John Smoltz, Cole Swindell, Joe Theismann, Brian Urlacher, Jack Wagner, Tim Wakefield, Michael Waltrip, Larry the Cable Guy

SOCIAL MEDIA

Tournament: @DiamondResorts (Twitter and Instagram), #DiamondLPGA

LPGA: @LPGA, @LPGAMedia (Twitter), @lpga_tour (Instagram)

TV TIMES (all times Eastern)

Thursday, Jan. 17 – 12-3 p.m., Golf Channel

Friday, Jan. 18 – 12-3 p.m., Golf Channel

Saturday, Jan. 19 – 2-3 p.m., Golf Channel; 3-5 p.m., NBC

Sunday, Jan. 20 – 2-3 p.m., Golf Channel; 3-5 p.m., NBC

IN OTHER NEWS

NBC SPORTS TO BOOKEND 2019 LPGA TOUR SEASON; 33 LPGA EVENTS ON GOLF CHANNEL IN 2019

NBC Sports Group kicks off its coverage of the 2019 LPGA Tour season this week with the inaugural Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, the first of 33 official events totaling 435 hours of tournament coverage, marking the highest number of events and most hours ever in a single calendar year for the LPGA Tour.

For the first time, NBC will bookend the LPGA Tour season, beginning this week with the inaugural Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions and concluding with live coverage of the CME Group Tour Championship, the season-ending event on the LPGA Tour in November. NBC also will air live coverage of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the AIG Women’s British Open in 2019, nearly doubling the number of live tournament hours on NBC.

For more information, visit www.lpga.com/news/33-lpga-events-on-golf-channel-in-2019.

JOHN KONICEK NAMED AWARD RECIPIENT FOR LPGA’S AXA XL LPGA VOLUNTEER SERVICE AWARD

The AXA XL LPGA Volunteer Service Award is a program launched in 2018 to recognize exemplary volunteers at each LPGA tournament. John Konicek, the general chairman for the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, is this week’s award recipient.