In April, Clark was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever. She became the seventh WNBA rookie to be named a starter in the All-Star game, and was later named the league’s Rookie of the Year. Clark also became the fifth rookie ever to make the All-WNBA First Team.
Some of the notable duos include Tony Finau and Nelly Korda, defending champions Jason Day and Lydia Ko, Rickie Fowler and Lexi Thompson, and Sahith Theegala and Allisen Corpuz.
Tiburon Golf Club will play host, and if that name sounds familiar to you, this Greg Norman-designed track is the annual home of the LPGA’s CME Group Tour Championship. This year’s CME winner, Jeeno Thitikul, is in the Grant Thornton field and paired with fan-favorite Tom Kim.
Each round of the three-day tournament — action gets underway Friday — will feature a different format. Friday will be a scramble, Saturday will be foursomes and Sunday will be modified four-ball.
Golf course
Tiburon Golf Club | Par 72 | 7,382 yards
Lydia Ko of New Zealand and Jason Day of Australia walk from the third tee during the second round of the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club on December 09, 2023, in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)
Grant Thornton Invitational betting odds
Team
Odds
Team
Odds
Korda/Finau
(+450)
Thitikul/Kim
(+500)
Ko/Day
(+700)
Henderson/Conners
(+800)
Corpuz/Theegala
(+1100)
Kupcho/Bhatia
(+1200)
Coughlin/Young
(+1400)
Boutier/Pavon
(+1400)
Thompson/Fowler
(+1400)
Lee/Greyserman
(+1600)
Khang/Kuchar
(+1600)
Stark/Poston
(+1800)
Ruffels/Dunlap
(+1800)
Vu/List
(+2200)
Tavatanakit/Knapp
(+2500)
Reid/Champ
(+5500)
[gambcom-standard rankid=”3413″ ]
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Grant Thornton Invitational picks to win
Jeeno Thitikul and Tom Kim
Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand poses with the trophy after winning the CME Group Tour Championship 2024 at Tiburon Golf Club on November 24, 2024, in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Odds: 5/1
Analysis: This pick may seem obvious — and that’s because it is. Thitikul won on this very golf course just a few weeks ago, and Kim is fresh off a runner-up finish to Scottie Scheffler at the Hero World Challenge. Tough not to pick the hot hands.
Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners
Corey Conners of Canada and Brooke M. Henderson of Canada walk from the second tee during the second round of the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club on December 09, 2023, in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
Odds: 8/1
Analysis: The Canadian duo is a great team to add to your card. Conners was in South Africa last week for the Nedbank Golf Challenge and finished the event in a tie for sixth. Henderson made it to the LPGA finale and tied for eighth. This team finished second to Day/Ko last year.
Jennifer Kupcho and Akshay Bhatia
Akshay Bhatia of the United States follows a shot on the third hole during the final round of the Hero World Challenge 2024 at Albany Golf Course on December 08, 2024, in Nassau, Bahamas. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Odds: 12/1
Analysis: Kupcho didn’t quite have the week Thitikul did at Tiburon in November, but she did finish in a tie for 12th. Her teammate Bhatia, like Kim, played in the Hero last week and grabbed solo fourth. Another partnership featuring two players in good form.
The fifth and final round of LPGA Qualifying was suspended on Monday due to unplayable conditions. Rain started falling early in Mobile, Alabama, and never relented. Play was initially suspended at 9:30 a.m. local time and called for the day at 1 p.m.
The final round will resume at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
A pair of Japanese players pace the field with Chisato Iwai (21 under) and Miyu Yamashita (19 under) both through two holes on the Crossings Course at Magnolia Grove. Iwai’s twin sister, Akie, holds a share of seventh.
The top-25 players and ties will earn LPGA cards for 2025. Everyone else will earn Epson Tour status.
Texas A&M’s Adela Cernousek, the 2024 NCAA champion, currently holds a share of 12th. Cernousek turned professional in order to compete in the final stage. Former U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Saki Baba is on the bubble in a share of 21st along with former Solheim Cup player Azahara Munoz.
It’s time for the stars of the PGA Tour and LPGA to team up.
It’s time for the stars of the PGA Tour and LPGA to team up.
The 2024 Grant Thornton Invitational gets underway Friday in Naples, Florida, at Tiburon Golf Club. Sixteen teams comprised of the best players from the PGA Tour and LPGA will battle it out over 54 holes for the title. Jason Day and Lydia Ko are the defending champions of the mixed-team competition, which is in its second year.
The Grant Thornton Invitational will feature three different formats: scramble, foursomes and modified four-ball.
From TV coverage to field information and prize money, here’s what you need to know about the 2024 Grant Thornton Invitational.
Grant Thornton Invitational course information
Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida, is a par-72 layout measuring 7,382 yards for the men and 6,595 yards for the women. Greg Norman was the architect.
Grant Thornton Invitational purse, prize money
The purse at the 2024 Grant Thornton Invitational is $4 million. The winning team will evenly split a $1 million prize.
Grant Thornton Invitational TV coverage
Friday, Dec. 13: 1-4 p.m. ET (Golf Channel) Saturday, Dec. 14: 2-3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 3-5 p.m. ET (NBC) Sunday, Dec. 15: 1-2 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 2-4 p.m. ET (NBC)
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Korda, Jeeno Thitikul and Lydia Ko, three of the biggest stars on the LPGA, ranked inside the top 15: Korda (eighth), Thitikul (12th) and Ko (15th).
The world No. 1 made $10 million in endorsements, bringing her total to $14.4 million. Thitikul made $7.1 million on the course and $2 million in endorsements, while Ko took home $3.2 million on the course and $3.5 million in endorsements.
Other names on the list included tennis sensation Coco Gauff (first, $30.4), Olympic gymnast Simone Biles (ninth, ~$11 million) and WNBA star Caitlin Clark (10th, ~$11 million).
It’s not quite the grind it used to be but there’s also fewer spots up for grabs.
It’s not quite the grind it used to be but it’s still no walk in the park. There’s also fewer spots up for grabs this time around.
The 2024 LPGA Q-Series: Final Qualifying Stage is in Mobile, Alabama. Thursday marked the first day of a five-day, 90-hole test of perseverance. The top 25 and ties after five days will earn status on the LPGA in 2025. There will be a cut to the top 65 and ties following the fourth round.
The Falls and the Crossings courses at Magnolia Grove Golf Course are the venues for the event.
Yu Liu paced the field on Day 1 with a 9-under 62 on the Crossings course. Isa Gabsa had the best first day on the Falls course with an 8-under 64.
Day 2 saw Liu, an LPGA rookie in 2018, maintain her lead with a second-round 67. She’s now at 14 under, seven shots clear of the field. Maria Fassi made a big jump on the board with a Friday 64. She’s tied with four others – Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, Manon De Roey and Chisato Iwai – for second after 36 holes at 7 under.
While 90 holes over five-pressure packed days seems like a lot, LPGA Q school used to be even more demanding.
In 2023, golfers had to go through 108 holes of stroke play with six rounds over six straight days.
From 2018 to 2022, it was 144 holes with two 72-hole stroke play events over consecutive weeks.
From 2009 to 2017, the event was called Stage III, and it was similar to how it is now, with 90 holes of stroke play over the span of a week.
In February, the tour announced that change, which was implemented to allow all golfers earning LPGA membership from Q-Series more access into LPGA tournaments while placing greater emphasis on rewarding full-season performance for players in Category 15 (LPGA 101-125 and Epson 11-15). Previously, players who finished in the top 45 and ties at LPGA Q-Series would earn LPGA status in Categories 14 (Nos. 1-20) or 15 (Nos. 21-45). Players who complete all rounds before the cut at LPGA Q-Series will earn Epson Tour status.
Notables in the field include Saki Baba, Alena Sharp, Gina Kim, Azahara Munoz, Sarah White, Ana Belac, Pernilla Lindberg, Bronte Law, Latanna Stone, Sophia Popov and Adela Cernousek.
Other honorary members include Dame Laura Davies, Rory McIlroy, Annika Sorenstam and Tiger Woods.
Karrie Webb is the newest honorary member at St. Andrews.
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club made the announcement Friday morning that she accepted the invitation.
A World Golf Hall of Fame member with 57 professional wins worldwide, including 41 LPGA titles, received the invitation “in recognition of her successful playing career and the substantial contribution she has made in helping to develop the next generation of professional golfers,” according to a release sent by the R&A.
Webb has a Super Career Grand Slam on her resume for winning each of the five major championships in women’s golf. She has seven major championship victories in all. She was the Ladies European Tour Rookie of the Year in 1995 and the LPGA Rookie of the Year the following year.
She became the first LPGA player to win $1 million in a season and has earned just shy of $20.3 million on the LPGA, second on the all-time list.
Karrie Webb joins Dame Laura Davies, Catriona Matthew and Annika Sorenstam as honorary members of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. (The R&A)
“It is a privilege to be made an Honorary Member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and I am humbled to be joining such an esteemed group of golfers on the honorary membership roll,” said Webb in the news release. “Simply put, I love golf and to be connected with a Club which holds so much history and also shares my passion for the development of the sport is something I am very proud of.”
Webb founded the Karrie Webb Series and scholarship alongside Golf Australia. Each year, Webb mentors the top two Australian women amateur players. Past recipients include Minjee Lee and Hannah Green.
“I would like to congratulate Karrie on becoming an Honorary Member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews,” said Ian Pattinson, the Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. “Karrie’s numerous victories and accolades are a testament to her talent, but more than being a great champion herself, Karrie is a role model to many young golfers and takes an active interest in the development of the next generation of Australian champions.”
Honorary membership was previously extended to Dame Laura Davies, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie, Catriona Matthew, Rory McIlroy, Nick Price, Belle Robertson, Annika Sorenstam and Tiger Woods.
That the tour could lose money at a time of unprecedented growth in women’s sports set off alarm bells for some.
The grade of an LPGA commissioner is largely attached to one thing: the schedule.
How many tournaments are being staged and how big are the purses?
But there’s another bottom line that’s important and less public, and that’s the tour’s operating budget. Multiple sources have confirmed to Golfweek that the tour is slated to lose around $2 million this year. LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said two weeks ago in her annual address that the tour’s total staff had increased by 35 percent in recent years.
The commissioner, who announced on Monday that she’s stepping down on Jan. 9, invested heavily on increasing exposure for the tour but, so far, has come up short in the return. The former Princeton athletic director said she was “building the infrastructure in order to build our global fan base.”
That the tour could lose money at a time of unprecedented growth in women’s sports – especially during a lucrative Solheim Cup year – set off alarm bells for some.
LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan speaks to the media prior to the CME Group Tour Championship 2024 at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
LPGA Player Director Ashleigh Buhai wasn’t too concerned about the loss, however, saying “you’ve got to spend money to make money.”
“Everybody who comes into a lead position is going to try to do things their own way to make their own mark,” said Buhai, “and sometimes you pull it off, and sometimes you don’t.”
Given the starry headlines of 2024 – with the dynamic one-two punch of Nelly Korda’s seven-win season and Lydia Ko’s fairy-tale run into the LPGA Hall of Fame – some players were surprised to see a schedule come out that showed little growth. Official money for 2025, thus far, is up $3.6 million from last season.
“We’re moving in the right direction all the time, but the schedule is very much major heavy,” Ireland’s Leona Maguire said two weeks ago at the CME Group Tour Championship.
“The purses in the majors do disguise some things, I feel like, and the gap between us and the men seems to be growing rather than us catching up. … There couldn’t possibly have been any better golf played. I’ll just say that.”
Nelly Korda poses with the winner’s trophy after winning The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican 2024 at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida. (Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)
As the tour sets out to find new leadership, Tim Erensen of Outlyr, a global sports, event management and lifestyle marketing agency that runs a number of LPGA events, said it’s important to find a leader who can drive corporate support to the tour and its tournaments.
“We need help with marketing partners,” said Erensen, noting the wide gap between the LPGA and PGA Tour in this area.
For former World No. 1 Stacy Lewis, communication needs to be a priority in whoever comes in next.
“You’ve got to make the tournament sponsors, the players, the tournament directors be on the same page more,” said Lewis, “more cohesiveness, more working together across the board. … Everybody’s got to work together for the same goal, and knowing what that goal is is important.”
For Buhai, the three most important areas for players in a commissioner are the ability to build trust, communication and set forth a vision for players.
Stanford grad Andrea Lee was recently elected to the LPGA Board and hopes that as a player-director she can help the tour capitalize more on the moment.
“How can we market the tour better; how can we market the top players in the world a bit better?” Lee asked last month while at the CME.
“With women’s sports overall growing exponentially, the LPGA kind of needs to do the same.”
“It was all based on competitive fairness as the north star,” USGA CEO Mike Whan told Golfweek.
The LPGA and U.S. Golf Association have announced changes to their transgender policies, effective for the 2025 season. The policies, which were announced in tandem on Wednesday, prohibit athletes who have experienced male puberty from competing in women’s events.
Hailey Davidson, a transgender athlete who competed in the second stage of LPGA Qualifying in October, fell short of an LPGA card but did earn limited Epson Tour status for 2025. She became the second transgender golfer to earn status on the developmental circuit. Bobbi Lancaster earned status in 2013 through Stage I of LPGA Q-School but never actually competed in an official event.
The LPGA’s new policy states that players whose sex assigned at birth is male must establish to the tour’s medical manager and expert panel that they have not experienced any part of male puberty, either beyond Tanner Stage 2 or after age 12 (whichever comes first). They must also maintain a concentration of testosterone in their serum below 2.5 nmol/L.
An LPGA statement read in part:
The policy—informed by a working group of top experts in medicine, science, sport physiology, golf performance and gender policy law—was developed with input from a broad array of stakeholders and prioritizes the competitive integrity of women’s professional tournaments and elite amateur competitions This working group has advised that the effects of male puberty confer competitive advantages in golf performance compared to players who have not undergone male puberty.
The LPGA’s updated Gender Policy extends to the Ladies European Tour, Epson Tour and any other elite LPGA competitions.
“Our policy is reflective of an extensive, science-based and inclusive approach,” said outgoing LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan in a statement. “The policy represents our continued commitment to ensuring that all feel welcome within our organization, while preserving the fairness and competitive equity of our elite competitions.”
Under these updated guidelines, Davidson, who played men’s college golf at Wilmington University, an NCAA Division II school in Delaware, before transferring to the men’s team at Christopher Newport, an NCAA Division III school in Virginia, would be ineligible. Davidson began transitioning in 2015 and underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2021.
In August, the Independent Women’s Forum sent a letter to the LPGA, USGA and IGF (International Golf Federation) signed by more than 275 female golfers that called for the organizations to repeal all policies and rules that allow biological males to compete in women’s events.
The USGA’s new policy, now called the Competitive Fairness Gender Policy, largely mirrors that of the LPGA with only minor differences.
Hailey Davidson poses with a trophy after winning on the NXXT. (courtesy Hailey Davidson)
Golf’s new transgender rules align with those of World Aquatics and the World Athletics Council, which oversees track and field. In June, transgender swimmer Lia Thomas lost a legal challenge against World Aquatics that argued its policies were discriminatory. In 2022, Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title.
“It was all based on competitive fairness as the north star,” USGA CEO Mike Whan told Golfweek of the process. “Right or wrong, let’s be able to look ourselves in the face and any competitor in one our women’s events in the face and say if you’re in this event, nobody has a competitive advantage relative to their gender.”
Recently retired LPGA player Amy Olson, a former USGA champion, has been one of the few publicly vocal players about the need for organizations to return to a female-at-birth policy. Olson told Golfweek in October that she was cautiously optimistic that the tour would do the right thing.
“I am very, very sad that women’s organizations have waited so long to change their gender policies,” said Olson.
“There are people, human beings in the middle of these situations that it effects. I wish that it could’ve been dealt with before there was a face and a name involved.”
Marcoux Samaan, the tour’s ninth commissioner, was hired in May 2021 to replace the now-current USGA CEO Mike Whan. Her five-year contract ran until the summer of 2026.
Now, the largest professional women’s tour is looking for new leadership at a time when women’s sports across the United States are at an all-time high in terms of viewership, fan interest and engagement.
As news of Samaan’s decision spread on social media, fans and others chimed in with their thoughts.
Here’s what social media had to say about the LPGA’s commissioner calling it quits.:
As expected. Bummed it didn’t work out – I like Mollie and think she meant well. Tough gig on many different fronts. https://t.co/YhRZeRKpn2
Great news, this is the perfect chance for the LPGA to get the right person in & make the correct changes to finally start getting them the coverage they deserve
I’m a big LPGA fan, and IMO the next commissioner has a huge opportunity to build on the investments in women’s sports leagues. It’s in no way simple. The great news is the potential is clear to an outstanding candidate.
