Out of the Rough: Mizuho Americas Open (2026)

The LPGA heads from Mexico to New Jersey for this week’s Mizuho Americas Open.

This event was founded in 2023 and each of the previous three installments have been played at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey.

This season, the Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, New Jersey will play host. Mountain Ridge Country Club will also host the 2027 edition.

The event will move back to Liberty National Golf Club for 2028 through 2030.

This five-year agreement allows for the LPGA to showcase different premier courses in the area.

Additionally, the purse for this event was increased to $3.25 million for this season.

The Field

The rest of the LPGA Tour can take a deep breath as Nelly Korda will not be teeing it up this week.

World No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul headlines this week’s field. She was recently dethroned from the top spot by Korda. Thitikul will look to keep pace with Korda this week.

The field overall features 120 professional golfers as well as 24 top-ranked junior girls on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Tour. 

Thitikul won this event a season ago, although at Liberty National Golf Club. This is also the event that Rose Zhang won the inaugural playing in 2023, seeing her claim victory in her professional debut.

Jin Young Ko won the 2021 Cognizant Founders Cup at Mountain Ridge Country Club. She will also be playing this week.

The Course

Mountain Ridge Country Club was founded in 1912 by a couple of prominent local Jewish businessmen who had been refused playing privileges at nearby golf clubs.

It originally featured a nine-hole course shortly after its formation. A second nine was added by A.W. Tillinghast, the man behind some of the most prestigious and challenging golf courses in the world.

The club moved to a 250-acre property to the north where Donald Ross designed the current layout, beginning in 1929.

Ron Prichard performed a long-term restoration project of this course in 2010. From there, the club brought in Andrew Green in 2022 to complete a comprehensive restoration, allowing the property and Ross’ architecture to shine once again.

It plays as a par-72 at 6,690 yards.

Both nines start parallel to each other but quickly separate. The front-nine half circles anti-clockwise as the back-nine circles clockwise. The closing holes on each nine conclude with a hole playing upwards to the finish.

Off-the-tee golfers will face rather wide fairways that can show their teeth at times. Strategically placed bunkers and varied terrain can quickly derail any hole right off-the-tee.

From there, golfers will attack pure, undulating and lighting fast greens. Some of the greens do feature lost corners. A hot flat stick will be needed to win at this golf course.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, Thursday is calling for a 75-percent chance of rain. Friday is calling for just a ten-percent chance of precipitation as the chance increased to a 40-percent chance of rain showers on Saturday. Sunday is calling for a 20-percent chance. Temperatures will begin the week at 60-degrees before bumping up to 62-degrees for both Friday and Saturday. Sunday will be the warmest day at 69-degrees. Winds are set at ten miles-per-hour on Thursday before peaking at 11 miles-per-hour on Friday. Winds will settle to eight miles-per-hour across the weekend.

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Strokes Gained: Driving (SG: DRIVE)

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

• Three-Putt Avoidance

• Scrambling Percentage

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

• Par-Five Average Scoring

Betting Card

Lydia Ko (+2500)

This may be my overall favorite play this week. As these greens are set to be extremely firm and fast as well as featuring lost corners, I believe around-the-green play will be important this week. Luckily for us, Ko is a wizard around-the-greens. She currently ranks seventh on Tour in scrambling and 12th in SG: ATG. She is also seventh in three-putt avoidance and 24th in SG: PUTT. That short game could be the difference this week. She is also 51st on Tour in par five average scoring, 62nd in SG: DIVE and 72nd in SG: APP. What also appeals to me from Ko is that we know her to be a better iron player than what her 2026 numbers suggest. With the elite short game and her coming around with the irons, she has what it takes to win this event. Ko also played last week at the Riviera Maya Open where she placed 20th. Prior to that she placed 12th at The Chevron Championship.

Minami Katsu (+4000)

Katsu was my favorite a week ago in Mexico as she came in with a 13th place finish. I’m back on her again this week after another strong performance. She also placed 12th at The Chevron Championship and seventh at the JM Eagle LA Championship. She also missed the cut at the Aramco Championship but placed third at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass. She is currently sixth on Tour in three-putt avoidance, ninth in scrambling, 21st in SG: ATG, 23rd in SG: PUTT, 27th in SG: DRIVE, 44th in par-five average scoring and 113th in SG: APP. Like Ko, Katsu brings an elite short game and is quality off-the-tee. We’ll need her irons to show up this week if she wants to compete for a title.

Allisen Corpuz (+5000)

Corpuz is in some great form coming into this week. She did not play last week in Mexico but was 27th at The Chevron Championship, 13th at the JM Eagle LA Championship and 11th at the Aramco Championship. She is currently 14th on Tour in scrambling, 24th in SG: APP, 30th in SG: DRIVE, 38th in par-five average scoring, 57th in SG: PUTT, 65th in three-putt avoidance and 84th in SG: ATG. She is my first player who is a better iron player than short game player. We’ll see if the above-average approach play can carry her this week. 

Ryan O’toole (+13000)

This is an amazing price for O’toole. Now I know she hasn’t won on the LPGA Tour since she claimed the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open in August of 2021, but she has been great so far this season. She placed seventh in her latest outing at The Chevron Championship. She also placed 51st at the JM Eagle LA Championship, 25th at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass and 27th at the Fortinet Founders Cup. She is trending in the right direction. O’toole is currently third on Tour in par-five average scoring, 12th in three-putt avoidance, 13th in scrambling, 28th in SG: PUTT, 35th in SG: DRIVE, 44th in SG: APP and 80th in SG: ATG.