Out of the Rough: Aramco Championship (2026)

Like most of the golf world, the LPGA will be idle next week with the Masters Tournament taking place but before that, the Tour takes to Las Vegas for this week’s Aramco Championship.

This will be the inaugural playing of the Aramco Championship at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, Nevada.

We can sort of put an asterisk next to the ‘inaugural playing’ as Shadow Creek previously hosted the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards as recently as last year.

Now, the event will switch to stroke play and feature a $4 million purse, up from the $2 million purse for the match-play event. Outside of the FM Championship and the majors, this event holds the largest purse of the season.

The Field

With a week off next week and part of the early-season stretch within the United States, a star-studded field is line to play one of the most breathtaking venues the world of golf has to offer.

Each of the top-ten of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings will be in attendance this week. Those names include, in order, Jeeno Thitikul, Nelly Korda, Charley Hull, Hyo Joo Kim, Minjee Lee, Miyu Yamashita, Hannah Green, Lydia Ko, Sei Young Kim and Lottie Woad.

Although under a different format, Madelene Sagstrom won the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards at this golf course a season ago and will be playing this week as well.

The Course

Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, Nevada is one of the most breathtaking, stunning and improbable pieces of golf architecture in the world.

It is a Tom Fazio design and opened in 1989.

Shadow Creek is regarded as the most expensive golf course to ever be built in America with an estimated price tag of $47 million, or in today’s dollars, $120 million.

An entire environment was crafted in the flat-desert just north of Las Vegas. Millions of cubic yards of dirt was moved to construct hills, creeks, lakes, ponds and canyons.

Mature pine trees were also planted to isolate holes from one another.

In the end, a perfectly pristine golf course, comparable to Augusta National, now stands in the midst of the desert.

Shadow Creek plays as a par-72 at 6,765 yards.

It features tree-lined fairways with water in play on seven holes - holes 1, 3, 4, 9, 13, 17 and 18.

Many of the holes dogleg in opposite directions, forcing golfers to change their ball flight from hole-to-hole.

The course is laid in a Tifway 2 Bermuda with a Rygrass overseeded for the fairways and rough.

The greens are bentgrass, a grass not typical to this area of the country so therefore, one the golfers of the LPGA haven’t seen in some time. 

The par-three 17th is the course’s signature hole. It is virtually an island green with a backdrop of an impressive waterfall that runs into a pond that guards the front of the green.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, there is a zero-percent chane of precipitation across all four days. Temperatures will begin the week at 78-degrees on Thursday before falling to 72-degrees on Friday and 73-degrees on Saturday. Temperatures will rebound to 79-degrees on Sunday. Winds are set for 14 miles-per-hour on Thursday, ten miles-per-hour on Friday, 12 miles-per-hour on Saturday and eight miles-per-hour on Sunday. 

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (SG: TTG)

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT) 

• Average Driving Distance

• Ball Striking

• Scrambling

• Par 5 Scoring Average

Betting Card

Haeran Ryu (+2200)

Ryu is currently first on Tour in ball striking, fourth in SG: TTG, 14th in par-five average scoring, 28th in scrambling, 29th in average driving distance and 118th in SG: PUTT. It will always come down to the putter for Ryu but despite how bad the number is, it is already better than a season ago. She placed 29th last week at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass. Prior to that, she placed fifth at the Fortinet Founders Cup, sixth at the HSBC Women’s World championship, tenth at the Honda LPGA Classic and ninth at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. The ball striking and tee-to-green game will carry Ryu, we just hope she can spike with the putter.

Gaby Lopez (+5000)

Lopez placed 25th last week at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass. Prior to that she placed fifth at the Fortinet Founders Cup, 27th at the HSBC Women’s World Championship and 38th at the Honda LPGA Classic. She is currently 14th on Tour in par-five average scoring, 20th in scrambling, 28th in both SG: PUTT and average driving distance, 35th in ball striking and 73rd in SG: TTG. None of those stats jump off the page at you but what does is the consistency. There is no glaring weakness in her game. 

Auston Kim (+5500)

This is the name I had circled for this event. Kim is currently fourth on Tour in average driving distance, ninth in SG: TTG, seventh in par-five average scoring, ninth in SG: TTG, 20th in scrambling, 25th in ball striking and 56th in SG: PUTT. She missed the cut last week at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass which helps her number this week. She also placed 18th at the Fortinet Founders Cup, third at the Blue Bay LPGA, second at the HSBC Women’s World Championship and 18th at the Honda LPGA Classic. 

Erika Hara (+12500)

My long shot this week is Hara. When I ran my model, I was blown away by the stats she has produced through the early part of the season. She is currently seventh on Tour in par-five average scoring, 12th in SG: PUTT, 17th in ball striking, 20th in SG: TTG, 24th in average driving distance and 34th in scrambling. Those stats alone should warrant a wager this week, especially at 125/1. She missed the cut last week at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass but placed 19th at the Fortinet Founders Cup and tenth at the Blue Bay LPGA.