The golf at the Meijer LPGA Classic is great; the cause is even bigger
By Jeff Babineau
BELMONT, Mich. – Ten years of great golf. That’s how Cathy Cooper, longtime tournament executive director, best describes the history, growth and continued optimism for the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, which continues to make a significant impact across the local community in and around Grand Rapids, Mich.
It's a story that transcends having the greatest LPGA golfers in the land gather in Michigan each summer to compete for a prestigious title in what has become a popular stop on the LPGA. The players realize, and have witnessed firsthand, the difference a golf tournament can make in a community, and that gets lost on none of them. Ten years in, and the Meijer LPGA Classic has raised $10 million, with an ambitious goal to raise $2 million more this week at Blythefield Country Club.
The big names again will be here, led by world No. 1, Nelly Korda, who is in the midst of an LPGA season that ranks among the best in the LPGA’s rich history. In her last seven starts, she has won six times. Lilia Vu, a winner of two major titles in 2023, is headed for Blythefield, as is Celine Boutier, a four-time winner a year ago. The field also features players who have great records through the years at the venue, and continue to build on those records. Players such as Ireland’s Leona Maguire, the defending champion, who prevailed last June after a pair of close calls the two previous years; two-time champion Brooke Henderson of Canada; and 2015 champion Lexi Thompson, who announced that the 2024 LPGA season will be her last.
Beyond the golf and the golfers and the great history at Blythefield is the meaning of it all: the tournament lends strong support to a community program to relieve hunger called Simply Give, the proceeds of the week helping to stock the shelves of local food pantries across the Midwest.
Thompson, one of the LPGA’s most popular stars, got a peak behind the curtain at Simply Give a year ago, and her impression of the impact being made will be a lasting one.
“To be actually there onsite and see what they actually do by stocking up the shelves in the local pantries, it's amazing what they do,” Thompson said. “It's very special, and I was happy to be a part of it and actually get a firsthand look at it all, because we can hear about it all day ... but to be there and see the difference that they make, it's unbelievable.”
Henderson first won at Blythefield in 2017, the first of her two titles here, as she won again two years later. For Henderson, the tournament is special for several reasons. She loves the way the community shows up to support the event, annually giving the LPGA a huge boost to kick off summer, and her personal galleries tend to deliver plenty of support from Canada, Michigan’s neighbor to the north. Henderson loves the golf course, its beauty reminding her of courses she played in her youth back home. In addition, Sunday’s final round falls on Father’s Day, allowing Brooke and her sister, Brit, who doubles as her caddie, a chance to thank their father, Dave, who introduced them to the game and still teaches Brooke.
The overarching mission of the week, which is lending a hand to others in difficult circumstances, does not get lost on the players.
“When you come into an event and you see the goal and then when you see them reach the goal of donating millions of dollars to allow good things to happen in the community, it makes you feel really great,” Henderson said. “It makes you feel like you're playing a small role in a very big thing, and very meaningful thing.”
A year ago, Maguire started slowly on Sunday and then finished in grand style, fashioning a final-round 64 that carried her to her second LPGA title. She won by two shots, shooting 21 under par. Her victory came on the heels of being the tournament’s hard-luck runner-up in each of the previous two years. She enjoys Blythefield, where she knew heading into the final round a year ago she would need to go low to win.
“It's a lot of fun. You can be quite aggressive, and you get to do that some weeks on Tour, not a lot of weeks on Tour, but it's a lot of fun to make a lot of birdies,” Maguire said. “And you kind of have to putt well. I feel like on those greens, the greens aren't the biggest greens on Tour, so if you hit a lot of greens you're going to have a lot of chances.
“It really comes down to on sort of the back nine on Sunday who holes the right putts at the right time.”
For Cooper, who watches closely from her busy post all week, the great golf is an added bonus to what already is a meaningful week. The reality is that the tournament’s end-game mission is to help feed a community that feels the pressures of fighting hunger each and every day.
“We talked to one partner just recently,” Cooper said, “and he said their numbers have gone up incredibly just this year. There's one pantry we work with that feeds over 400 families a week. A week.
“You take the multiplier on that and you look at what this tournament does to support that ... it's great to hear Leona and Brooke really talking about how important it is and how they see it, too. It means a lot to us.”
The tournament’s venue, Blythefield Country Club, winds around the Rogue River, and is fast approaching its 100-year anniversary, which takes place in 2028. Blythefield has seen its share of golf history, playing host to the 1953 Western Amateur, 1961 Western Open (won by Arnold Palmer), and the 2014 Western Junior (Rickie Fowler). The Meijer LPGA Classic made its debut at Blythefield a decade ago, in 2014. It has become not a one-week tournament each year, but a can’t-miss local event.
A new edition that writes a new chapter in history begins on Thursday. Special place. Special cause.
