The Walmart NW Arkansas Championship is celebrating 20 years this week.
The NWA Championship Has Spent 20 Years Producing Stars. Its Winners List Is the Evidence.
Its champions list explains why it has lasted. Stacy Lewis. Yani Tseng. Inbee Park. Lydia Ko. Ryu So-yeon. Nasa Hataoka. Sung Hyun Park. Atthaya Thitikul. Thidapa “Jasmine” Suwannapura. For two decades, Pinnacle Country Club has been a place where elite players have come to win. The names are not a regional collection. They are a timeline of modern women’s golf.
The Champions Put Pinnacle on the Map
Lewis won the inaugural edition in 2007 and returned to win again in 2014. Her victories connected the event to Arkansas and to one of the defining American players of her era.
Tseng won back-to-back in 2010 and 2011 during one of the sport’s most dominant stretches. Inbee Park won in 2013. Ko claimed the title in 2016. The event has never depended on one generation to prove it matters.
Ryu So-yeon won in 2017. Hataoka won in 2018 and 2021. Sung Hyun Park won in 2019. Austin Ernst won in 2020. Thitikul won in 2022. Ryu Hae-ran won in 2023. Suwannapura won the most recent official tournament in 2024. The 2025 event ended after one completed round because of weather, leaving Suwannapura as the most recent official champion.
Birdies Have Been the Entry Fee
Hataoka’s 2018 win remains the tournament benchmark. She finished at 21-under par, the NWA Championship’s 54-hole scoring record. Ernst won at 20-under in 2020. Ryu Hae-ran won at 19-under in 2023. Suwannapura reached 17-under in 2024.
Pinnacle is not automatically easy. Wind, rain, green firmness and pin locations can quickly change the course’s personality. But the history is clear. When conditions allow, cautious golf will not be enough.
Players must make birdies. They must recognize the moments where a safe par means losing ground. They must be willing to attack without making the reckless decision that can erase a round. That balance is why the winners list looks the way it does.
The 20th Winner Joins Real Company
The 2026 winner will take home a trophy, a major share of the $3 million purse and 500 Race to CME Globe points.
But the name will matter longer than the check. The player who wins this week will join major champions, former world No. 1 players and a group of champions who made Pinnacle a meaningful part of their careers. This year’s field adds 18 Solheim Cup participants, including Charley Hull, Rose Zhang, Céline Boutier, Linn Grant, Leona Maguire, Angel Yin and Jennifer Kupcho.
Arkansas players will add their own layers. Gaby Lopez, Brooke Matthews, Maria Fassi and Maria José Marin give the event local connection without reducing it to a local story.
The NWA Championship is not asking whether it belongs at the center of the LPGA conversation. Its past winners answered that question years ago. Now, in its 20th edition, it is ready to find out who comes next. The tournament’s champions include Lewis, Tseng, Inbee Park, Ko, Hataoka, Sung Hyun Park, Thitikul and Suwannapura. Hataoka owns the 54-hole record at 21-under.
