ORLANDO, FLORIDA | It sits alone, bracketed between the post-CME Group Tour Championship goodbyes and the first LPGA Tour Asian swing that kicks off in Thailand in late February. Like Midway or Malta, the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions is an island between two worlds, buffeted to the rear by the Sea of Exhaustion, where everyone promised to put the clubs away until after Christmas, and in the front by the Ocean of Hope, where promise always springs fresh and new.
Most players sail right by HGV Island. Only 29 are in the field at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club, winners from the past two seasons on the LPGA Tour. Some LPGA Tour players won’t tee it up again in competition until March 23, when the first full-field event kicks off at Superstition Mountain in Arizona. But for those who docked at this January outpost – the second time Hilton Grand Vacations has hosted the event at Lake Nona, arguably the best golf course in Orlando – expectations vary.
“No golf,” Moriya Jutanugarn said when asked how she spent her off-season. “I did everything but golf.”
Everything included flying from Bangkok to Seoul the week after Christmas to attend Lydia Ko’s wedding. “It was a good trip,” Jutanugarn said. “Too short, but fun.”
Defending HGV TOC champion Danielle Kang also traveled to Seoul. “Four days,” Kang said when asked how long she stayed in Korea. “I got into some trouble with friends because I didn’t go to their weddings and they saw the pictures and said, ‘You flew to Korea for a wedding?’” She smiled, shrugged, and said, “Yeah, well…”
“I didn’t have to get on a plane, so that was my kind of travel. And I didn’t hit a golf ball, which was nice.” – Paula Reto
It wasn’t the defending champion’s only trip. She also went on an African safari. “I loved it. It’s been on my bucket list all my life,” Kang said. “I actually learned from the injury (where she said she had a tumor on her spine last summer and was out for almost three months) that I don’t really need to play golf every single day. I surprised myself on how well I played (last year) when I came back. I wasn’t expecting to be contending or finishing top 10. I thought I was just being a brat and wanted to compete just to see where I was.
“That gave me confidence to be like, Hey, I don’t need to play golf every day. I was able to take a nine-day trip to Kenya, and it was incredible. I experienced a family of elephants for about an hour. It was wonderful. They never disappointed me. Any time I wanted to see an animal, boom, there was an elephant.
“And giraffes are like dogs. They’re everywhere. I saw a lion hunt a zebra and eat it. That was fun and a little scary. But it was fun.”
World No. 2 Nelly Korda didn’t get much of a break. She played the QBE Shootout in Naples and then joined her father, Petr, in the PNC Championship for the second year in a row. In the meantime, Korda signed an apparel deal with Nike and a full equipment deal with TaylorMade.
“In that sense, yeah, I really have not had much of an off-season,” Korda said. “I’ve been playing a lot, QBE, PNC, which are opportunities I’m so grateful for. I would never turn those down, especially being able to showcase women’s golf. If I’m a slight bit part of that I’m super happy and super grateful to even be on that stage.
“Honestly, I put my clubs away for a week. I didn’t see the gym for a week. I have been training in the gym a lot, actually. I took the time this off-season to focus on the gym to strengthen just for the year, to build a base in a sense to learn more about my body.
“I started testing (equipment), gosh, in October. I used to play TaylorMade growing up actually, so throughout my entire junior career I played TaylorMade. (This fall) they were amazing when it came to how diligent they were with the whole process. Obviously, it was a lot of extensive testing, because to make the switch I wanted to be 100 percent sure. Everything honestly went really smoothly. I was hitting every club really well.
“The golf ball is really good, too. It was very similar to the old one I used to play. I’m playing the TP5; I kind of tested the (TP5) X a little, but I preferred the 5 around the greens. I was still seeing really great control with my irons, with my driver, and I saw a little bit of distance as well.
“Honestly, the technology is so good in every company that I just thought that TaylorMade was the best option for me going forward.
“But, yeah, it was definitely a different off-season. I have four weeks off after this event. It’s going to be, again, like a mini off-season, which to me doesn’t really bother me.”
Others took time away here and there. Ally Ewing went bow hunting with her husband, Charlie. They have a lot of acreage in Mississippi and hunted a good bit behind their house. But they also went to the Texas border where Ally took her first buck with a bow.
“I went on a cruise to the Bahamas,” Paula Reto said. “It was my first. I wouldn’t have gone, but my sister wanted to go so I went with her. I didn’t have to get on a plane, so that was my kind of travel. And I didn’t hit a golf ball, which was nice.”
That seemed to be a recurring theme. Sure, they want to win, but this is a knock-the-rust-off week for most of the pros.
So, it’s an island, a place where players can test their games between two breaks in a relaxed atmosphere on a good golf course.
“I hit a few balls, but (Thursday) will be my first round of golf (since before Christmas),” Yuka Saso said.
“Yeah, I love being able to play in this event,” Reto said. “It lets you see where you are with your game and what you need to do before the rest of the season.”
So, it’s an island, a place where players can test their games between two breaks in a relaxed atmosphere on a good golf course.
“Nona is not an easy golf course, not an easy track,” Kang said. “You have to have your game tuned all around. Bunker shots to chip shots, pitch shots, irons off the tee, and it’s fun. It’s fun to play. It’s going to be tough. When you take your mind off it for one second, the bogeys are just around the corner.
“I believe that winning at good golf courses means you’re a good player. Winning anywhere does. But it’s extra meaningful for me because I’m very particular about golf courses. It makes me feel really good to be able to take a trophy home from caliber golf courses.”