Michelle Wie West Gets Sponsor Invite into Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play The Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play has presented sponsor invites to Michelle Wie West and Alison Lee, both of whom are MGM Golf Ambassadors. The 64-player tournament, contested at famed Shadow Creek, will be carried live by Golf Channel, May 26-30. It marks the LPGA’s first real foray into match play. Wie West has struggled since returning from maternity leave (three MCs) but is still a crowd favorite. Other familiar names in the Las Vegas field include Inbee Park, Patty Tavatanakit, Danielle Kang, Brooke Henderson, and Stacy Lewis. The PGA Tour is back in action following an epic finish to the season’s second major. They return to Texas for the 75th edition of the Charles Schwab Challenge, the second of two Texas stops in May. After a thrilling week in Virginia, the LPGA heads west for the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. The European Tour heads to Denmark for the Made in HimmerLand event. Meanwhile, the Champions Tour tees it up for the Senior PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa (OK). NOTES: This is the LPGA Tour's first match play event since 2017, which was hosted by Lorena Ochoa in Mexico City and was not televised. The event will feature 16 groups of four. After three days of group play matches, the event moves to a 16-player, single-elimination format. The players are seeded according to their place in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings. ... Michelle Wie West is in the 64-player field on a sponsors exemption, as is fellow MGM ambassador Alison Lee. Wie West has missed all three cuts since returning to the tour from maternity leave. ... Shadow Creek played host to The Match: Tiger vs. Phil in 2018 as well as the rescheduled CJ Cup on the PGA Tour in October. ... There are no two-time winners on tour this year. ... World No. 1 Jin Young Ko and Inbee Park are in the field. Korda and her sister, Jessica, along with Lexi Thompson are among those who did not enter. The LPGA Tour heads to the Silver State for the inaugural Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play. The tournament, which will feature 64 players competing head-to-head for a $1.5 million purse, will be conducted at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, the exclusive golf course owned by MGM Resorts International. All the news and tournament action surrounding the Bank of Hope Match-Play hosted by Visit Shadow Creek can be accessed at any time on any mobile device and online through the help of Golf Channel’s Live Stream. Three days of round-robin matches (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday). After the first three days, 16 players will advance to single-elimination match play on the weekend (Saturday, Sunday). For the first three days (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday), players will play one match against every other player in her group. Two (2) points for a win, one (1) point for a tie, and zero points for a loss. The player with the most points in each of the 16 groups advances to the Round of 16 for single- elimination match play. If there is a tie between two or more than players in a group, the tie will be broken by a sudden- death, hole-by-hole playoff. The winners in each group advance to single-elimination match-play. The Round of 16 will be played Saturday morning. The Quarterfinals will be played Saturday afternoon. The Semifinals will be Sunday morning, followed by the Championship Match (to determine the winner and runner-up) and Consolation Match on Sunday afternoon (to determine 3rd and 4th place). DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 18, 2021) – The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) today announced that the inaugural Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play Hosted by Shadow Creek will be held May 26-30, 2021. The tournament, which will feature 64 players competing head-to-head for a $1.5 million purse, will be conducted at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, the exclusive golf course owned by MGM Resorts International and available only to guests of the company’s resorts. Bank of Hope, based in Los Angeles, is one of the leading Asian-American banks in the United States and was previously associated with the LPGA Tour as title sponsor of the Bank of Hope Founders Cup from 2017 to 2019. “We are extremely pleased to once again partner with the LPGA and inaugurate a highly anticipated LPGA match-play competition as title sponsor of the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play Hosted by Shadow Creek,” said Kevin S. Kim, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Hope. “This event combines the top female golfers with one of the most exclusive golf courses in the country in a unique match-play format. We look forward to working closely with the LPGA and Shadow Creek to create one of the Tour’s most exciting and successful events of 2021 and beyond.” Shadow Creek, built in 1989 by renowned golf architect Tom Fazio, is considered one of the world’s top golfing destinations. In 2018, the course served as host for The Match: Tiger vs. Phil, which saw Phil Mickelson outlast Tiger Woods in a match that stretched to 22 holes. This past October, Shadow Creek hosted the PGA Tour’s CJ CUP, won by Jason Kokrak. While this is the first time the LPGA Tour will visit Shadow Creek, MGM Resorts has supported the women’s game for many years through its Golf Ambassador program, led by popular Tour players Natalie Gulbis, Danielle Kang, Cristie Kerr, Alison Lee, Anna Nordqvist and Michelle Wie West. George Kliavkoff, president of Entertainment & Sports for MGM Resorts International, said, “Shadow Creek, one of golf’s premier courses, will be an ideal setting for the world’s best women golfers. The LPGA Tour’s match-play event in May provides us with another opportunity to demonstrate why MGM Resorts and Las Vegas are the leaders in the sports and entertainment industry.” The 64-player field for the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play Hosted by Shadow Creek will be divided into 16 groups of four players, with three days of round-robin matches deciding the final 16-player bracket. From there, the tournament will proceed in single-elimination matches to determine the two players who will face off in Sunday’s Championship Match. Full qualification and tiebreaker information will be available in the coming weeks.