NAPLES, Fla. — The CME Group Tour Championship will be played in Naples, Fla., this week at Tiburón Golf Club, marking the end of what has been a spectacular season on the LPGA Tour. The 60 players in this year’s field comprise some of the top talent in all of women’s golf, as athletes like seven-time 2024 champion Nelly Korda, Olympic gold medalist Lydia Ko and 2024 Aon Risk Reward Challenge winner Jeeno Thitikul are all set to compete at the year’s final event. An $11 million purse is up for grabs, with a record-breaking $4 million going to this year’s winner, who will also take home the coveted title of Race to the CME Globe champion.

Take a look at just some of the featured groups this week at the CME Group Tour Championship using data provided by KPMG Performance Insights:

Thursday, 12:05 p.m. – Jeeno Thitikul/Lauren Coughlin

Jeeno Thitikul kicked off her week at the CME Group Tour Championship by winning the Aon Risk Reward Challenge and the award’s $1 million prize before teeing it up in competition at Tiburón Golf Club, and she will now be looking to take home the $4 million first-place prize that is up for grabs in Naples, Fla. It’s been a stellar year for Thitikul, who got off to a bit of a slow start because of a lingering thumb injury. The Thailand native earned her third career LPGA Tour title in June at the Dow Championship alongside her playing partner Ruoning Yin and has collected a whopping 10 other top-10 results, six of which have come in her last six starts on the LPGA Tour, dating back to the FM Championship in August. Five of those top 10s have actually seen Thitikul finish in the top five, and she most recently did so in October at the Maybank Championship, coming solo second at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This is the 21-year-old’s third time playing at Tiburón Golf Club, and she has come close to winning the CME Group Tour Championship in both of her previous appearances at the event, tying for 10th in 2022 as a rookie in her tournament debut and then tying for fifth in 2023, a year that also saw Thitikul earn Vare Trophy honors. According to KPMG Performance Insights, the Rolex Rankings No. 7 is second in strokes gained total (+2.30), second in strokes gained putting (+1.05), 13th in strokes gained tee to green (+1.05), 22nd in strokes gained driving (+0.43) and 23rd in strokes gained approach (+0.65) on the LPGA Tour this season. She also leads the Tour in scoring average (69.54), greens in regulation (77.26%), birdie or better percentage (25.10%) and birdie or better average per round (4.52). However, because she did not play in the minimum number of required Official Tournament rounds, Thitikul is not able to win the Vare Trophy for a second consecutive season in 2024.

Lauren Coughlin was one of the breakout stars of the 2024 season, becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner at the CPKC Women’s Open and then earning her second career LPGA Tour title just 21 days later at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open, a victory that helped her secure a spot on her first U.S. Solheim Cup Team in her home state. Coughlin has collected six additional top-10 finishes this year, most notably tying for third at The Chevron Championship in April and finishing solo fourth at The Amundi Evian Championship in July, a slate of performances that has the Virginian currently sitting at eighth in the Race to the CME Globe point standings and 15th in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. Coughlin is making her tournament debut this week at the CME Group Tour Championship, and like everyone else in the field, is hoping for a big payday at Tiburón Golf Club, a dream that could become a reality considering how strong she has played this year. Statistically, Coughlin is in the top 26 of five strokes gained categories after competing in 24 tournaments before this week in Naples, Fla. She is ranked seventh in strokes gained total (+1.62), 15th in strokes gained putting (+0.68), 22nd in strokes gained tee to green (+0.91), 25th in strokes gained approach (+0.57) and 26th in strokes gained driving (+0.41). The 32-year-old is also tied for fifth in rounds in the 60s (33), eighth in scoring average (70.35) and 10th in birdie or better percentage (22.01%).

Thursday, 12:25 p.m. – Lydia Ko/Ayaka Furue

Lydia Ko is teeing it up in her 10th CME Group Tour Championship this week at Tiburón Golf Club, having won this event in 2014 and 2022, but it’s her first time competing in Naples, Fla., since earning her second victory at this venue as she failed to qualify for the season-ending event in 2023. She did compete at Tiburón Golf Club last year, however, teeing it up and winning the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational alongside the PGA Tour’s Jason Day in December, which counts as an unofficial victory on the LPGA Tour. Along with her two wins, Ko has earned five other top-10 finishes at this event since it became the CME Group Tour Championship, tying for seventh in 2015, tying for 10th in 2016, tying for fifth in 2018, tying for fifth in 2020 and tying for ninth in 2021. This is her 20th start in what has been an excellent 2024 LPGA Tour season for Ko, as she won gold at the Paris Olympics to earn the final point she needed for automatic qualification into the LPGA Hall of Fame, captured her second career major title at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews and also recorded victories at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G. She has also collected seven other top-15 results along with her wins, most recently finishing in a tie for 14th last week at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Ko is picking up shots on the field in five major strokes gained categories this season, a slate of metrics that includes strokes gained total (3, +1.92), strokes gained around the green (9, +0.36), strokes gained putting (16, +0.67), strokes gained tee to green (17, +0.94) and strokes gained approach (18, +0.72). She is the only player on the LPGA Tour who is currently in the top 20 of strokes gained approach, around the green and putting. Additionally, the three-time Race to the CME Globe champion is also third in bogey avoidance (12.60%), 10th in scoring average (70.40) and tied for 10th in subpar rounds (47).

Ayaka Furue is competing for the third time at the CME Group Tour Championship since joining the LPGA Tour in 2022. The Japan native finished in a tie for 25th and a tie for 16th in her previous two appearances in 2022 and 2023, respectively, and will be working to improve upon those performances this week at Tiburón Golf Club. This is her 24th event of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and in her 23 prior tournaments, the 24-year-old picked up her second career title and first major victory at The Amundi Evian Championship back in July, an event that saw her eagle the par-5 18th hole at Evian Resort Golf Club to win by one stroke over Stephanie Kyriacou. Along with that win, Furue has earned 10 additional top-10 finishes, most notably tying for sixth at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally and most recently tying for 10th at the TOTO Japan Classic in her home country. Data provided by KPMG Performance Insights shows Furue gaining strokes in four metrics this season, as she currently ranks fifth in strokes gained total (+1.90), ninth in strokes gained approach (+0.90), 11th in strokes gained putting (+0.80) and 18th in strokes gained tee to green (+0.93). Furue is also ranked first in bogey-free rounds (15), first in bogey avoidance (11.11%), second in subpar rounds (60), is tied for second in rounds in the 60s (36) and is fourth in scoring average. Currently sitting behind Haeran Ryu by just 0.07 strokes, Furue has a good shot at taking home the Vare Trophy after the conclusion of the CME Group Tour Championship, as both Jeeno Thitikul and Nelly Korda are not eligible to win the award.

Thursday, 12:35 p.m. – Nelly Korda/Haeran Ryu

Currently ranked first in the Race to the CME Globe, Nelly Korda comes to her eighth CME Group Tour Championship having just collected her seventh 2024 LPGA Tour title last week at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. The Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 won by three shots at Pelican Golf Club to become the first player since Yani Tseng in 2011 to earn seven victories in a single season and the first American to do so since Beth Daniel in 1990. Her putting was a big key to her victory last week, according to KPMG Performance Insights, as Korda ended the week ranked ninth in the field in strokes gained putting, the best she has finished a tournament in that metric all season. Korda is sitting in the top 30 of all six major strokes gained categories on the LPGA Tour this year, ranking first in strokes gained total (+2.49), second in strokes gained driving (+0.88), fifth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.52), sixth in strokes gained around the green (+0.40), 19th in strokes gained putting (+0.57) and 28th in strokes gained approach (+0.54). She is also second in scoring average (69.66), second in ball striking (5), second in birdie or better percentage (25.05%) and fifth in rounds in the 60s (33). Korda is not eligible to win the Vare Trophy because she will not have played in the minimum required amount of Official Tournament rounds this season. The 26-year-old has already won the Rolex Player of the Year award, locking up one of the LPGA Tour’s biggest awards after the conclusion of the TOTO Japan Classic for the first time in her career. Korda has competed in seven previous editions of the CME Group Tour Championship, never finishing worse than T19 at Tiburón Golf Club and racking up six top-10 finishes, three of which were top fives that Korda recorded in 2018 (2), 2019 (T3) and 2021 (T5). In addition to her seven victories, the two-time major champion has earned three other top-10 results this season, tying for seventh at the Cognizant Founders Cup, tying for second at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews and tying for fifth at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G.

Haeran Ryu is currently ranked second in the Race to the CME Globe after an impressive 2024 season that has seen her consistently at the top of the leaderboard in nearly every LPGA Tour event in which she has played. After becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner last year at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, Ryu outlasted former Rolex Rankings No. 1 Jin Young Ko in a playoff at the inaugural FM Championship in August to pick up her second career LPGA Tour victory at TPC Boston in Norton, Mass. In addition to that win, the Republic of Korea native has collected 12 other top-10 finishes, eight of which were actually top-five results and the most notable of which are two solo fifths that Ryu recorded at The Chevron Championship in April and The Amundi Evian Championship in July. She most recently finished in the top five after coming solo third at the TOTO Japan Classic just a couple of weeks ago in Shiga, Japan. Looking at data provided by KPMG Performance Insights, the 23-year-old is ranked first in strokes gained tee to green (+1.97), second in strokes gained approach (+1.55), fourth in strokes gained total (+1.92) and ninth in strokes gained driving (+0.62). In 27 rounds this year, Ryu has gained more than three shots on the field with her long game, eight more rounds than any other player this season, and she is currently second in proximity to the hole in 2024, hitting it 23 feet 1 inch from the hole on average with her approach shots. The two-time LPGA Tour winner is also leading the LPGA Tour in birdies (367) and rounds in the 60s (38), additionally ranking third in subpar rounds (52), birdie or better percentage (23.95%) and scoring average. While Jeeno Thitikul and Nelly Korda both lead Ryu in scoring average, neither player met the minimum number of Official Tournament rounds required to win the award. Ryu currently leads major champion Ayaka Furue by 0.07 shots, and it’s likely that the race to earn the Vare Trophy will come down to the final round this week at Tiburón Golf Club. This is Ryu’s second consecutive appearance at the CME Group Tour Championship, and the young talent will be working to improve upon the T36 finish she recorded in her tournament debut as a rookie in 2023.

For a full list of tee times, please click here.

Featured Groups: 2024 CME Group Tour Championship

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