What to watch this week at the LPGA's Kroger Queen City Championship in Kenwood

MADIERA, Ohio − The Kroger Queen City Championship Presented by P&G begins on Thursday and wraps up on Sunday at the Kenwood Country Club. A 144-player field of some of the top names in the LPGA Tour will compete for a $2 million purse (winner gets $300,000) over 72 holes of stroke play.

Here are some of the top storylines to follow this week.

LPGA Kroger Queen City Championship: How to watch, follow, attend

Who is in the field?

Some of the LPGA's best golfers will be in action at the Queen City Championship. Twelve of the different 18 LPGA Tour champions will hit the links, as well as Queen City's only past champion, Ally Ewing. Thirteen of LPGA's CME top 25 are in Cincinnati for the week, and up-and-coming star Rose Zhang (No. 28) will compete, as well.

Among the top-ranked golfers in Cincinnati are No. 2 Ruoning Yin, No. 6 Allisen Corpuz, and No. 15 Linn Grant. Yin, only 20 years old, has two LPGA Tour victories to her name, including a Major. In Cincinnati, Yin has the potential to move to World No. 1 with a finish of fourth place or better individually.

In 2023 Grant won her first event, the Dana Open in Toledo. It's only her second year on tour, and since her victory in July Grant has not finished outside of the top 20 at any of the six events she has competed in. Corpuz won the 2023 U.S. Women's Open.

LPGA's most recent event winner, 19-year-old Chanettee Wannasaen at the Portland Classic less than a week ago, will take the tee box, as well.

Ally Ewing: Returning to Queen City Championship for title defense

LPGA's toughest stretch wraps up in Cincinnati

Cincinnati's Queen City Championship is one of the final eight events of the 2023 LPGA Tour season. The last nine weeks have been some of the most action-packed and travel-heavy of the year.

Since the U.S. Women's Open in early July, the LPGA Tour has held 10 events for its golfers to compete in. The stretch has taken LPGA golfers across the globe into six different countries with two Majors. Some players on tour are pushing as many as 20 events this year while some golfers haven't had a free weekend since June.

After the Queen City Championship, LPGA golfers enjoy a near-month break with the field off until Sep. 29.

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Linn Grant on a hot streak

Grant, a 24-year-old from Sweden, enters her first Kroger Queen City Championship playing the best golf of her career. Currently No. 15 in the Rolex Rankings and No. 17 in the CME Rankings, Grant won her first Rolex event with a Dana Cup title in July.

Since then, she's logged six consecutive top 20 finishes and was top 10 in the CPKC Women's Open and the Portland Classic over the final two weeks of August.

"I feel like it hasn't changed at all. Obviously, I feel a bit more confident playing the regular weeks now, but kind of just kind of shake off that win and still be able to perform after that without being too excited about it," Grant said. "I think I'm pretty good at every week kind of reset and figure out how I'm feeling, how my game is feeling, and kind of adjust to that."

Ohio native Mia Hammond has promising future

Earlier this summer, just five months after her 15th birthday, Mia Hammond made her LPGA debut, winning her qualifier to become the youngest player in the field at the Dana Open.

Hammond, a New Albany, Ohio native and a sophomore at New Albany High School, tied for 26th at the Dana Open as the only amateur in the field. She finished with 6-under 278.

Hammond's father, Tom, is her coach and caddie and will be on the bag this week at the Kenwood Country Club. Hammond was given a sponsor invite.

"My goal remains the same: Just make the cut after the first two rounds and go from there. I'm just trying to take this experience all in and just enjoy it as much as possible," Hammond said. "I don't really have very high expectations for myself going into this week. Just to go out and have fun and just soak it all up."

Xiyu Lin hopes to breakthrough

Last year, a 21-under 267 was not enough for Xiyu Lin of China to hoist the hardware at the inaugural Queen City Championship as she fell by one stroke to Ewing.

Lin, 27, is a top 15 golfer in the world, but has yet to win an LPGA Tour event. In addition to Cincinnati last year, Lin's been a runner-up four times over the last two years (2022 Honda LPGA Thailand, 2022 The Ascendant LPGA, 2023 JM Eagle LA Championship, 2023 Portland Classic). She'll look to break through this week in Kenwood.

Scholarship awarded to two local college students

The Game Changers Scholarship, presented by Always and Kroger Foundation, was awarded to two local students on Wednesday at Kenwood Country Club. The scholarship, which is awarded to 23 students nationally, selected Covington, Kentucky native Ma Villeno and Cincinnati native Laquita Jaouani as 2023 awardees.

"I'm feeling very grateful," Villeno said. "Everyone has their own stories, own ambitions, and having the support now, it makes me feel like I can really do it now."

Villeno, a freshman at Eastern Kentucky University, studies business management and communications in pursuit of her dream to become a talent agent. Jaouani, a senior at Franklin University, studies human resources. The two, along with family and friends, gathered on a practice putting green at Kenwood Country Club to accept their award.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Kroger Queen City Championship: What to watch this week in Kenwood