For 11 months, the best in women’s golf have crisscrossed the globe, competing in 32 events, the Solheim Cup and the Paris Olympics. And this week, the LPGA Tour’s season wraps up with its final official event of the year at the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Fla. The stakes couldn’t be higher at the season finale, where players will vie for not just the biggest payday in the history of women’s golf, but also some of the biggest awards of the year, as those winners will also be determined over the course of 72 holes at the season finale. Here’s a closer look at what you need to know about the Tour’s final stop of the 2024 season.

The Field

Throughout the entire season, players competing week to week on the LPGA Tour earned points in the Race to the CME Globe. The top 60 in the season-long points standings qualified for the CME Group Tour Championship upon the conclusion of last week’s tournament, The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. Once in the field, the points completely reset, and each and every player has a chance to win the season-long race.

Headlining the field is Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda, who also leads the Race to the CME Globe and who is the most recent LPGA Tour winner as she triumphed on Sunday at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. Korda picked up her seventh victory of the 2024 season with a thrilling, final-round 67 that saw her birdie five consecutive holes on her back nine. In pursuit of an eighth victory in 2024, Korda returns to the CME Group Tour Championship, where she has top-10 finishes in her last three appearances.

Korda is joined in Naples by three three-time winners this season – Lydia Ko, Hannah Green and Ruoning Yin. Ko captured the CME Group Tour Championship in its first edition in 2014 and again in 2022. Lauren Coughlin, who won twice in 21 days on the LPGA Tour this season, will be chasing her first victory at Tiburón Golf Club in her tournament debut. Rose Zhang, who won earlier this season at the Cognizant Founders Cup, along with Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give champion Lilia Vu are also in the field. Charley Hull, who led for most of the week at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican and ultimately finished in a share of second, will seek to win for the second time at Tiburón where she hoisted the trophy in 2016. Each of the season’s five major winners are also poised to compete - including Korda, Ko, Yuka Saso, Ayaka Furue and Amy Yang.

Carlota Ciganda was the last player to get into the field in Naples, Fla., at 60th in the Race to the CME Globe point standings. By finishing in a tie for 14th at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, Ciganda climbed the three spots she needed to get into the field at the CME Group Tour Championship. Ciganda has never missed playing in the season finale since 2013.

A Record-Setting Payday

The CME Group Tour Championship has been at the forefront of driving purses higher on the LPGA Tour since coming on board as title sponsor of the season-ending event in 2011. That year, the purse was $1.5 million and has enjoyed a steady increase ever since. In 2014, the season finale, previously known as the CME Group Titleholders, evolved into the championship we have come to know today and will this year celebrate its 11th edition. This season, the top 60 players in the Race to the CME Globe point standings will compete for the largest single payday in women’s golf, with $4 million going to the winner. Come Sunday, the runner-up will receive $1 million, and every single player in the field is guaranteed to take home at least $55,000. The total purse for the CME Group Tour Championship is $11 million, and the only purse larger on the LPGA Tour is that of the U.S. Women’s Open, which was $12 million in 2024.

Amy Yang Defends

Last season, Amy Yang recorded four rounds in the 60s to win the CME Group Tour Championship by three strokes ahead of Alison Lee. Yang posted scores of 68-63-64-66 to win for the first time in four years on the LPGA Tour and did so after posting the new tournament 72-hole scoring record of 27-under. Yang’s win at Tiburón Golf Club marked the fifth of her career on the LPGA Tour, and she used the victory as a springboard to her long-awaited first major title, which she secured this past June at Sahalee Golf Club at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Yang’s major victory is her only top-10 finish this season as she returns to Naples, Fla., seeking to defend her title.

And The Award Goes To…

As if competing for a record $4 million winner’s check wasn’t enough pressure, many of the world’s top-ranked players will also be vying for the season’s biggest honors, which won't be determined until the final putt drops on Sunday.

Korda already locked up the Rolex Player of the Year award before the season was over, but the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award has yet to be determined. The race has come down to Mao Saigo of Japan and Jin Hee Im of the Republic of Korea. Saigo leads Im by a mere 66 points, and a number of different outcomes and scenarios in Naples could determine who will ultimately be named the 2024 Rookie of the Year.

The other awards that will be determined this week in Naples include the Vare Trophy, which is given to the player with the lowest scoring average at season’s end. Leaders Jeeno Thitikul and Korda are ineligible because they won’t have completed enough rounds this year to qualify. Haeran Ryu currently leads Ayaka Furue by a narrow margin, and Hannah Green is also in the hunt.

The winner of the Money Title will also be named after play wraps up on Sunday, but with $11 million in prize money up for grabs, it's too early to say who will be the most lucrative player this season on Tour.

A Fond Farewell

On Sunday at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, the LPGA Tour and its fans said farewell to Brittany Lincicome, who wrapped up her final, full year of competition on the LPGA Tour. Lincicome, who is an eight-time winner and two-time major champion, didn’t qualify for the CME Group Tour Championship, but she is one of nearly a dozen players in 2024 to announce their retirement or plans to play a more reduced schedule in the future.

Lexi Thompson and Ally Ewing are two of those players who are walking away from competition at the end of this week’s CME Group Tour Championship. Thompson missed the cut last week at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican in what was her first start on Tour since September. Thompson is back in the field at the CME Group Tour Championship for the first time since 2022, having missed out on qualifying last year for the first time in her career.

If Thompson is looking to close out her career on a high note, there aren’t many places she’s played better than Tiburón Golf Club, where she has five top 10s in addition to her victory in 2018. This won't be the absolute and final time that fans will see Thompson compete, as she is also scheduled to tee it up at the Grant Thornton Invitational alongside teammate Rickie Fowler in three weeks’ time, but this will likely be her final appearance at the CME Group Tour Championship.

Unlike Thompson, who has kept the door open for future competition, Ewing announced her full retirement at the end of this week’s CME Group Tour Championship. Ewing is a three-time winner on the LPGA Tour, who caught fire this summer with five consecutive top-10 finishes that nearly earned her a spot on Team USA at the Paris Olympics. Ewing is coming into her final start on the LPGA Tour off a tie for 29th last week at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.

Five Things to Know About the 2024 CME Group Tour Championship

Related Articles