Out of the Rough: Fortinet Founders Cup (2026)

The LPGA returns to action following a week off after an early season stay in Asia for this week’s Fortinet Founders Cup.

The Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club will take center stage this week as it hosts its first LPGA event.

This is a nomadic event, being played at various courses across the United States since its inception in 2011.

This tournament is designed to pay tribute to the founders of the LPGA.

The Field

This week’s event will be the first official full-field event of the 2026 season as the first portion of the schedule featured limited field events. With that being said, 144 of the world’s best women golfers will tee it up this week

World No.1 Jeeno Thikul will highlight this week’s field. Thitikul already has a victory on the season, winning the LPGA Honda Classic on home soil last month.

She’ll be joined by Nelly Korda (No. 2,) Minjee Lee (No. 4,) Miyu Yamashita (No. 5,) Lydia Ko (No. 6,) Hyo Joo Kim (No. 7) and Lottie Woad (No. 8) as members of the top ten of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings to be playing this week.

Yealimi Noh comes in as the defending champion, who won last year’s installment at the Bradenton Country Club in Florida.

The Course

The Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club plays as a par-72 at roughly 6,542 yards.

It was built during the first major wave of golf courses in California. Like many courses of the time, the land didn’t allow for expansion to adapt to the modern game as trees matured and already narrow corridors became even narrower.

A recent renovation helped adapt this venue to the modern game, beginning in 2023 to address all tees, fairways, bunkers and greens.

A significant tree management program also took place during the renovation to help improve playing conditions by allowing more sunlight to reach the fairways and greens. The program allowed for the reforesting of native California Oak and Sycamore trees to establish natural meadows and seasonal creeks.

This allowed for more playing space with the removal of non-native trees that allowed for the fairways to be widened. 

Additionally, a new irrigation system was installed along with drought-tolerant grass that was seeded throughout the course. Additionally, nearly 20 acres of turf was replaced to help showcase the beauty of the golf course.

In the end, we still have a vintage California golf course with tight tree-lined fairways with quirky landing areas and undulating greens.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, there is essentially a zero-percent chance of precipitation between Thursday and Saturday. Sunday currently calls for just a ten-percent chance of precipitation as well. Temperatures will begin the week at 87-degrees on Thursday before peaking at 88-degrees on Friday. From there, temperatures will drop to 80-degrees on Saturday and will finish the week at 72-degrees on Sunday. Winds will begin the week at eight miles-per-hour on Thursday before dropping to seven miles-per-hour on Friday. Winds will pick back up to nine miles-per-hour on Saturday before peaking at ten miles-per-hour on Sunday.

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Driving (SG: DRIVE)

• Driving Accuracy

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Par Five Average Scoring

• Strokes Gained: Around the Green (SG: ATG)

• Stokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

• Ball Striking

• Scrambling

Betting Card

Check back later for my full betting card!