Ko Returns To Defend Well Rested
Rolex Rankings No. 1 Lydia Ko took the past two weeks off to rest for the season-ending event this week at the CME Group Tour Championship and has much more to play for than just her title defense. Last year Ko finished the 2014 season with an exclamation point, winning the season finale and also the inaugural Race to the CME Globe with the $1 million bonus check to boot. The $1,500,000 payout for the purse and bonus was the single largest payout in women’s golf history. Ko tapped in for par on the fourth playoff to defeat Carlota Ciganda and Julieta Granada for her fifth LPGA Tour win.
Park Delivers Once Again
Inbee Park showed once again why she’s one of the most clutch performers in the game with her three-shot victory last week at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational and with so much on the line. Park started the final round with a three-shot lead and posted an 8-under 64 to fend off a charging Carlota Ciganda who closed with a 63.
The win marked her 17th career victory and Park now leads the Tour, alongside Lydia Ko, with five wins in 2015. With her victory, Park closed the gap on Lydia Ko in several of the season-ending awards to make things very interesting in Naples. She also earned another point toward her LPGA Hall of Fame qualification and now has 26 of the 27 points needed to be eligible. She is in her ninth year as an LPGA member and must be an active member for 10 years to be eligible to be inducted. She has three opportunities to earn a point this week: a victory at the CME Group Tour Championship, winning Player of the Year or winning the Vare Trophy.
One-Two Punch
Lydia Ko and Inbee Park will be a two-woman show this week as they battle for several of the Tour’s top honors which will come down to their performances in Naples. Park’s win in Mexico made the fight for the season-ending awards much tighter and will build plenty of enough drama. She closed the gap in Player of the Year to just 3 points, trails in Official Money by just $188,321 and took the lead in the Vare Trophy race with only a .016 stroke/round average separating the two.
The top spot in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings will also be up for grabs this week. Ko leads Park by just .09 average points in the rankings. Scenarios will be set once pairings are finalized on Tuesday.
If Ko and Park finished tied for points in the Rolex Player of the Year, they will share the award and no tie breaker will be applied.
| Inbee Park | Lydia Ko | |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd (4500 reset points) | Race to CME Globe | 1st (5000 reset points) |
| 2nd (12.31 avg. points) | Rolex Ranking | 1st (12.40 avg. points) |
| 1st (69.433) | Vare Trophy (Scoring Average) | 2nd (69.449) |
| 2nd (273 points) | Rolex Player of the Year | 1st (276) |
| 2nd ($2,570,096) | Official Money List | 1st (2,758,417) |
The Race Ends Here
LPGA Tour players have been battling week-in and week-out for this moment. The Race to the CME Globe will conclude in Naples for the second-consecutive year and nine players have secured their spots to have a chance to win the $1 million bonus check. The top 9 players in the points standings through last week’s Lorena Ochoa Invitational will receive reset points based on their position in the standings, ensuring the winner to be decided this week.
The top 3 (Lydia Ko, Inbee Park and Stacy Lewis) control their own destiny; if they win the event, they will win the Race. The trio was also the top 3 ranked players heading into the season-finale last year as well.
The top 9 are as follows:
| Rank | Player | Reset Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lydia Ko | 5000 |
| 2 | Inbee Park | 4500 |
| 3 | Stacy Lewis | 4000 |
| 4 | Sei Young Kim | 3600 |
| 5 | Lexi Thompson | 3200 |
| 6 | So Yeon Ryu | 2800 |
| 7 | Amy Yang | 2400 |
| 8 | Anna Norqvist | 2000 |
| 9 | Shanshan Feng | 1600 |
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