There’s no rest when you’re at the top of the Race to the CME Globe. Lydia Ko is aware of that as the LPGA season continues this week at the Kingsmill Championship.
Three weeks ago, Ko had a seemingly secure lead in the race after winning the Swinging Skirts LPGA Championship in a playoff. But the following week, Inbee Park won the Volunteers of America North Texas Shootout to jump to second and close the gap in the standings.
Park is only 224 points behind – and with 500 points awarded for first place and 300 for second, she could bump up to first place in the season-long race this week. Ko leads Park by 224, rookie Sei Young Kim by 456 and Stacy Lewis by 469. Ko, Park and Kim are the only multiple winners this season on the LPGA.
The importance of summer golf is also soon to be recognized. Four of the season’s five major championships are scheduled from early June to early September, beginning with the June 11-14 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Westchester, N.Y., Country Club. Major championships award 25 percent more points, topped by 625 going to the winner.
Eleven tournaments have been completed in the second season of the Race to the CME Globe. The top three seeds entering November’s CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla., can win it all. The top nine have a chance to capture the season-long title with a victory and help from those ahead of them.
The Race to the CME Globe is a season-long points competition in which LPGA Members accumulate points in every Official LPGA Tournament. At the end of the season, the winning player will be named the “Race to the CME Globe Champion.” The competition began at the Coates Golf Championship, continues through the Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex in Mexico and concludes with a points reset for the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida the week before Thanksgiving.