By: Max Bechtoldt
Three prominent LPGA players will be making their season debuts this week on tour at the FIR Hills Seri Pak Championship, Lizette Salas, Sophia Popov and Caroline Masson.
Lizette Salas will be making her first start since the first week of July in 2023. The popular American will be back in action close to home, as she is originally from the Los Angeles area and played at USC. Salas hasn’t played since she announced an injury before the 2023 Dow partner tournament, for which she was the defending champion. Salas is a two-time winner on the LPGA tour and has three career major runner-up finishes.
Also back in action are maybe the two most popular German players on tour, both making their return after pregnancies.
Salas’ college teammate and major champion Sophia Popov will be making her first LPGA start since August of 2022. Popov has dipped to 896 in the Rolex Rankings, but expect a quick ascension out of the 2020 AIG Women’s Open champion. Popov made the cut at the LET Aramco event in Tampa, so she seems to be in solid form.
Fellow German Caroline Masson is also back in action. Masson is four-time Solheim Cup member who has been out of action on the LPGA Tour since the CME Championship in 2022. She and Nelly Korda’s caddie Jason McDede’s son was born last May.
The absence of all three of these players has been well noticed by all LPGA supporters, and it will be great to see them all back on the course.
