NAPLES, Fla. – They used to put a million in a Plexiglas cube, with rolls of hundreds like you’d see in a bank vault or a casino displayed on the first tee under armed guard. At the time, the winner of the Race to the CME Globe took home a cool million dollars. If that person won both the Race and the CME Group Tour Championship, the prize was $1.4 million.

At the end of the 2024 edition, CME Group CEO Terry Duffy will stand on the 18th green at Tiburón Golf Club and hand out $4 million to the winner of the CME Group Tour Championship. It’s the largest prize in the history of women’s golf and a bigger first-place check than three men’s major championships. Second place on Sunday will receive $1 million, and the person finishing 60th will take home $55,000. Granted, in the broader universe of golf, numbers have gotten silly. But on the LPGA Tour, where player gratitude remains one of the more attractive features for fans, what Duffy and CME Group have done brings a tear to the eye.

Solidifying that commitment, the day before the opening tee shots, Duffy announced that CME Group was extending its title sponsorship of the Tour Championship through 2027. After the announcement, Duffy held a roundtable with a few journalists. One of the most emphatic points he made was almost the most telling.

“I cherish my brand,” Duffy said. “I've spent years building this brand. I told the story earlier, but I'll repeat it: Charlie Rose from PBS used to do these late-night public television (talk) shows. He had on Larry Ellison of Oracle, Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway, and Steve Jobs of Apple. And after these hour-and-a-half long table-session conversations, his last question (to each of them) was: ‘What is the most important thing to you?’ And all three of them answered the same way. They said, ‘Brand.’ Charlie Rose, surprised, said: ‘Why would you say that?’ They said, ‘Because, if you lose your brand, you can't get it back.’

“It's almost impossible, no matter how much money you have, to buy back your brand. So, I cherish my brand, and having it partner with the LPGA is very important to me.”

Beyond the money in the game, which, as Duffy said, will always ebb and flow with the ups and downs of the market, there’s the joy of changing lives and elevating women. His voice rose, and the passion came through as he talked about the history of the LPGA and what it means to him to hand out the largest check in its nearly 75 years of existence.

“I think these women deserve it, and they deserve more,” Duffy said. “It's exciting for a company like ours that has been around for 180-plus years to participate in a game that I think has transformed itself over the last 20 years.

“I was blessed to know some of the Founders,” Duffy continued. “What they were able to do, when you look at what the LPGA did, and what the Founders did, and where the Tour is today, it reminds me of a really well-run business. Sometimes it takes time to get to where you need to go. And I think the beauty of (the LPGA) is they're not even where they need to go yet. They're just getting started. And that's exciting.

“It's exciting for me to give away that $4 million, and I hope I'm turning on the TV in a few years and see someone give them 10 (million). That's what I hope happens. That would be really exciting. That will continue this trajectory.”

CME Group is the most recognized exchange in the world, more so than the New York Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ. Duffy is a big part of that success. And beyond the commitment to the LPGA Tour, his passion for helping children knows no bounds.

The charity associated with the CME Group Tour Championship is St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. In addition to a concert by Keith Urban – held adjacent to the 18th fairway on Tuesday night, which raised funds for St. Jude, Duffy created the CME Group Cares Challenge, a year-long commitment under the banner “Score 1 for St. Jude,” which donates $20,000 for every hole-in-one made throughout the LPGA Tour season. By Friday morning of the CME Group Tour Championship, the 2024 total was $580,000.

“Money can’t buy health,” Duffy said.

That’s when he took a philosophical tone, giving advice that can apply to life as well as business and golf, everyone leaned forward.

“Do the right things along the way, and you will be successful in the long run,” Duffy said. “That's why I run an 189-year-old company that I took public only 22 years ago. So, we've taken our time. I'm hopeful that what happens in the future is in the best interest (of the LPGA) in the long run for the players and the brand.

“Every single member, Nelly Korda, Carlota Ciganda, every single member that I know out there gives me great hope that this (extension and commitment) is the right thing for us to do. These are wonderful people, really good people. When you can see your clients, like I saw a bunch before I walked in here, after just playing in a pro-am, and they look like jack-o-lanterns, all smiles stuck on their faces, they're so excited, so happy, that, to me, is exciting.

“Every single player means the world to me.”

CME Group and Terry Duffy Believe in the LPGA

Related Articles