The final event of the 2023 regular season is here: the CME Group Tour Championship. The top 60 players in the Race to the CME Globe will tee off at Tiburón Golf Club this week to compete for a trophy, the coveted $2 million winner’s check and a bevy of end-of-season awards.
A Field to Remember
Only the best of the best in the world are admitted into the CME Group Tour Championship field, and while every year boasts elevated competition, this year’s attendees are truly extraordinary. All major champions – Lilia Vu (The Chevron Championship and AIG Women’s Open), Ruoning Yin (KPMG Women’s PGA Championship), Allisen Corpuz (U.S. Women’s Open) and Celine Boutier (The Amundi Evian Championship) – are in the field as well as 18 additional winners from the 2023 season. Vu, who recently returned to No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, and Boutier are this year’s headliners, each claiming four victories in 2023 including their major wins. In total, the 60-player field claims a whopping 163 career LPGA victories – 27 of which are major titles. Four former CME Group Tour champions are also in the field: Charley Hull (2016), Ariya Jutanugarn (2017), Jin Young Ko (2020, 2021) and Sei Young Kim (2019).
Award Season
With the season-ending tournament also comes the season-long awards, three of which have already been decided. Vu clinched the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award with her second major victory at the AIG Women’s Open, Hae Ran Ryu locked up the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award after a tie for 12th at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican last week and Angel Yin has claimed the $1 million prize from the Aon Risk Reward Challenge. But there are still three awards up for grabs: the money title, the Vare Trophy and the Rolex Player of the Year award. With a $2 million winner’s check up for grabs, the top 19 players on the official money list have a shot at winning the money title. Vu currently leads the Tour with $3,252,303 in earnings. Awarded annually to the player with the lowest scoring average on Tour, the Vare Trophy is being tightly contested by Atthaya Thitikul and Hyo Joo Kim. Thitikul has a very slim lead of just 0.013 stokes, meaning Kim would need to shoot just one to two strokes better than Thitikul this week. After her win at The ANNIKA, Vu has taken a 27-point lead in the Rolex Player of the Year race over Celine Boutier, meaning Boutier would need to win and Vu would have to finish eighth place or worse for Boutier to earn the honor. In fact, Vu just needs a seventh-place finish or better to clinch the award outright – not a very tall task for someone coming off their fourth win of the season.
Making their Debut
Nine players will be making their CME Group Tour Championship debuts this week and there’s hardly been a more accomplished group of first-timers at Tiburón Golf Club. Of the nine, seven became Rolex First-Time Winners this season: Linn Grant (Dana Open), Grace Kim (LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei), Alexa Pano (ISPS Handa World Invitational), Ryu (Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G), Chanettee Wannasaen (Portland Classic), Yin (DIO Implant LA Open, KPMG Women’s PGA Championship) and Rose Zhang (Mizuho Americas Open). It’s hard to pick just one headliner from such a standout crew. Yin is not only a major champion, but also became just the second player from the People’s Republic of China to ascend to No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and is currently ranked No. 2. Having clinched Rookie of the Year honors, Ryu is an obvious name to look out for on the leaderboard. And, of course, young superstar Zhang is unforgettable after her historic win in her professional debut. The final two players also making their CME Group Tour Championship debuts are Stephanie Kyriacou and Yuna Nishimura.
Last Minute Entries
With a $7 million purse, just getting into the CME Group Tour Championship is a win in and of itself, and earning a berth in the season-ending event often comes down to the final putts on Sunday at The ANNIKA. It certainly wasn’t over until the final putts dropped for Kyriacou and Patty Tavatanakit whose finishes at The ANNIKA helped them jump inside the top 60. Kyriacou started last week at No. 71 in the Race to the CME Globe, but an impressive T5 result boosted her to 56th, allowing her to make her debut at the season finale. Meanwhile, Tavatanakit was sitting just outside the number at 61st. The 24-year-old just needed a little boost to move up in the standings, but ever the over-achiever, Tavatanakit carded a T15 result to jump to No. 57 in the rankings. After such exhilarating finishes under intense pressure last week, Kyriacou and Tavatanakit are more than ready to handle the stress of competing for a $2 million winner’s check. Plus, they’ve got some good momentum going that they can carry with them on the short trip from Belleair down to Naples.
ESPN+ Coverage
For the first time, ESPN+ will provide exclusive coverage of the CME Group Tour Championship with a live featured groups stream starting on Thursday at 7:30 a.m. Eastern time. The groups featured on the ESPN+ stream will be Andrea Lee/Madelene Sagstrom, Danielle Kang/Perrine Delacour, Cheyenne Knight/Rose Zhang and Nelly Korda/Yuka Saso. Of the eight, seven are LPGA Tour winners, five are Olympians and three are major champions. ESPN+ will provide 30 hours of coverage over four rounds of competition, allowing fans to follow every shot of the featured groups. This is the second consecutive year ESPN+ has streamed exclusive coverage of an LPGA Tour event. The first event was the 2022 Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G followed by the 2022 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G.
)
)
)
)
