NORTON, Mass. -- The LPGA makes its long-awaited return to Massachusetts this week, and there are plenty of local ties in the field.
The inaugural FM Championship tees off Thursday morning at TPC Boston in Norton, Mass. It's the first professional women's event in the area since the 2004 U.S. Open in South Hadley, Mass.
It's a long overdue return for the handful of players in the field who have local ties to the area.
Megan Khang headlines that group. The Brockton, Mass., native grew up going to PGA Tour tournaments at TPC Boston, and she has been the face of this new tournament. She represented the players at a media day press conference in July, and she was on hand Tuesday night to throw out the ceremonial first pitch ahead of the Red Sox-Blue Jays game at Fenway Park.
Here are the other local players joining Khang in this week's field.
Alexa Pano: The Foxboro, Mass., native is coming off maybe her most impressive performance as a professional, finishing tied for 10th place last week in the AIG Women's Open on the Old Course at St. Andrews. Pano, who was featured in the 2013 documentary "The Short Game," has a list of sponsors headlined by one very familiar brand: the New England Patriots. Local fans will likely flock to the 20-year-old who wears the Patriots' logo on the course.
"The organization is always supporting me," Pano said during a Tuesday press conference at TPC Boston. "They text me after a lot of events and are always kind of watching how I'm doing. I'm very lucky to have a sponsor that cares about me the way they do. They just want me to do the best I can and that's a great thing and I'm very blessed to have that."
Xiyu Lin: The 2024 Olympic silver medalist hails from China, and like a lot of professional golfers, spends a lot of time in Florida. However, her fiancé, Barney Wang, lives and works in Boston. She now considers herself a big Boston sports fan, too.
"(When LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux told) us we were working on on a tournament in Boston area, we were all every excited," she said Tuesday. "I heard that we use to have a tournament here long time ago, and I'm just glad we can bring it back. Boston has such good sports fans, and then they (are) always very supportive."
Alison Walshe: The 39-year-old is playing on a sponsor invite this week. The Westford, Mass., native turned pro in 2009 after four seasons at Arizona where she was a three-time All-American. The best season of her career came in 2013 when she made 18 of 24 cuts to finish 53rd on the LPGA money list, a year after posting a top-10 finish at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
"This is a dream come true," Walshe said Tuesday. " … I love how great the crowds are here and how passionate people are about golf. Just going to be a big showing for the tour in general, and playing in front of friends and family is going to be a lot of fun."
Sophia Popov is also in the field this week. The 2020 AIG Women's Open champion was born in Framingham, Mass., where she spent the first few years of her life. She moved to Germany at a young age, but she returned every year to visit family and friends. Her family has a house on Nantucket that her young family, which includes her husband and caddie, Max Mehles, visit often.
There's also a local flare to one of the week's more fascinating stories. Dover, N.H., high school star Carys Fennessy will make her professional debut after getting in through a Mass Golf invitational qualifier.
For fans who can't make it to TPC Boston to start the weekend, ESPN+ will stream featured groups on Thursday and Friday. Khang and Pano will both be prominently featured in the Friday morning wave in separate star-studded groupings.
