Ariya Jutanugarn will begin the defence of her Canadian Women's Open title today following a string of poor results.
The 21-year-old Thai won her first tournament of the year, the Manulife Classic, in Canada in June, taking the world No.1 spot in the process.
The win marked the beginning of her current slump in which she soon lost the top ranking and has since missed the cut in three successive majors -- the Women's PGA Championship, US Women's Open and Women's British Open.
Canada may be a good place for Ariya, now ranked third in the world, to regain her form as she has won two tournaments there.
But it may not be easy for her to retain the title as the Canadian Women's Open features 92 of the top 100 players on the LPGA Tour's money list.
Ariya is paired with China's Feng Shanshan and Women's PGA Championship winner Danielle Kang in the first two rounds.
In 19 starts this year, Ariya has one win (Manulife Classic), three runner-up finishes (HSBC Women's Champions, Founders Cup and Lorena Ochoa Match Play) and five other top-10 finishes.
Her older sister Moriya will be trying to win her first LPGA title.
The field is led by world No.1 Ryu So-yeon of South Korea, the 2014 Canadian Women's Open champion.
Joining Ariya and Ryu are former champions Lydia Ko, who has won the tournament three times, Karrie Webb, Katherine Kirk, Crisite Kerr, Michelle Wie and Brittany Lincicome.
World No.10 Brooke Henderson of Canada is among the favourites at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club.
Henderson lives in Smiths Falls, just 60km away from the course.
"I would love to hoist that trophy, and especially here in Ottawa... This is one of the strongest fields of the year," said the 19-year-old.