2022 CME Group Tour Championship

Lydia Ko’s win at CME Group Tour Championship sends message to her harshest critic

“My mom does joke to me at times. She’s, like, ‘You played so much better when you were, like, 15.'”

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NAPLES, Fla. — Take that, mom!

Despite playing some of the best golf since she broke onto the LPGA nearly 10 years ago, Lydia Ko still had to confront her most vocal critic throughout the year … her mom, Tina.

“My mom does joke to me at times,” Ko said before playing Sunday’s final round at the CME Group Tour Championship. “She’s, like, ‘You played so much better when you were, like, 15.’

“I was, like, ‘Thanks, Mom. What am I meant to do with that information?’ ”

Perhaps take it and prove her wrong?

Because that’s just what the 25-year-old from New Zealand did at the final event of the LPGA season.

Ko capped a comeback year by winning the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club and the $2 million first-place prize money. The win was her third this season and her 14th top 10.

And just in case mom is not paying attention, Ko may have to build a new case in her Orlando home just for the hardware she took home Sunday.

Aside from the glass globe for Sunday’s win, she adds the Rolex Player of the Year trophy for the second time in her career and the Vare Trophy – a silver bowl that goes to the golfer with the low season-long scoring average – for the second consecutive year.

Now will mom give her some credit?

“Oh, hell no,” she said. “I’m like 5 in my mom’s eyes.”

But Ko would not have it any other way. She credits her mom for keeping her “super grounded,” like when she asked about one shot Sunday, her worst of the day.

“Remember that thing you hit on 14 and it went in the water?” her mom said. “I was like, yes, thanks mom.”

The significance of Ko’s reward for shooting 2-under 70 and finishing the weekend 17-under par, two shots better then Ireland’s Leona Maguire, cannot be understated.

Big check for Ko, bigger checks to come on LPGA Tour

Ko will cash the biggest check in the history of the game, a prelude of what is to come on the LPGA.

Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan announced the tour will distribute more than $100 million in prize money for the first time next season.

And although Ko’s final earnings for the season, $4,364,403, falls $591 short of the record set by Lorena Ochoa in 2007, she moves into the fifth spot in career earnings with just less than $16.7 million.

Two more years close to what she’s done in 2022 and Ko will pass Annika Sorenstam as the career money leader in women’s golf.

Ko’s season was highlighted by bookend wins at the Gainbridge LPGA in Boca Raton and the Tour Championship. Her other victory was at the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea, which was as special as any win in her career coming in her native country.

“A bucket list thing,” she said.

This is her first multiple win season since 2016, the year after she became the youngest golfer, man or woman, to reach No. 1 in the world. She was 17.

“This year has been special,” she said.

Ko and Maguire started the cool, damp, windy day at 15-under, five shots ahead of the field. Maguire was one shot clear of Ko twice in the first seven holes before a birdie on the par-3 No. 8 gave Ko a lead she never relinquished

Birdies on 16 and 17 sealed the win.

“I wanted to not set too high expectations,” Ko said. “I want to end the season on a high, but know that whatever happens, and even though there’s a lot of things on the line, just know that it’s been a great season.”

Even mom can agree.

“She might be one of my toughest critics but I know that she wants me to just keep growing,” Ko said. “I should say ‘thank you’ more often, but I don’t end up saying that. It’s easier to say it when she’s not here, but I have to thank her because she does everything for me.”

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Prize money payouts for each LPGA player at 2022 CME Group Tour Championship

The 2022 LPGA season finale featured the largest first-place paycheck in women’s golf history.

Another record payday in women’s golf took place at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.

Lydia Ko took home the $2 million first-place prize, moving her to fifth on the career money list, passing Suzann Pettersen ($14,837,579) and Lorena Ochoa ($14,863,331) with $16,695,357 in official earnings. She has won $4,364,403 total this season.

Lorena Ochoa still owns the single-season earnings record of $4,364,994, 2007, just $591 more than Ko in 2022.

Seven-figure checks remain rare in women’s golf. This year, seven will be handed out, though the Aon Risk Reward Challenge $1 million prize is unofficial money. Minjee Lee won both the $1.8 million winner’s check at the U.S. Women’s Open and Aon race this year.

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Check out the final money payouts from the 2022 CME Group Tour Championship.

Finish	Golfer	Score	Earnings
1	Lydia Ko	-17	$2,000,000
2	Leona Maguire	-15	$550,000
3	Anna Nordqvist	-14	$340,000
T4	Georgia Hall	-12	$222,500
T4	Jeongeun Lee	-12	$222,500
6	Pajaree Anannarukarn	-10	$150,000
T7	Brooke Henderson	-9	$105,667
T7	Hyo Joo Kim	-9	$105,667
T7	Gemma Dryburgh	-9	$105,667
T10	Atthaya Thitikul	-8	$83,500
T10	Celine Boutier	-8	$83,500
T10	Nelly Korda	-8	$83,500
T13	Madelene Sagstrom	-7	$76,000
T13	Moriya Jutanugarn	-7	$76,000
T15	Danielle Kang	-6	$72,000
T15	Jodi Ewart Shadoff	-6	$72,000
T17	Andrea Lee	-5	$67,250
T17	Allisen Corpuz	-5	$67,250
T17	Lizette Salas	-5	$67,250
T17	Chella Choi	-5	$67,250
T21	Xiyu Lin	-4	$62,500
T21	Lexi Thompson	-4	$62,500
T21	Megan Khang	-4	$62,500
T21	Amy Yang	-4	$62,500
T25	Ayaka Furue	-3	$58,000
T25	Marina Alex	-3	$58,000
T25	Sei Young Kim	-3	$58,000
T25	Caroline Masson	-3	$58,000
T25	Stacy Lewis	-3	$58,000
T30	Lilia Vu	-2	$54,250
T30	Charley Hull	-2	$54,250
T30	Sophia Schubert	-2	$54,250
T33	Jennifer Kupcho	-1	$50,125
T33	Minjee Lee	-1	$50,125
T33	In-gee Chun	-1	$50,125
T33	Hannah Green	-1	$50,125
T33	Jin Young Ko	-1	$50,125
T33	Ashleigh Buhai	-1	$50,125
T33	Nanna Koerstz Madsen	-1	$50,125
T33	Na Rin An	-1	$50,125
T41	Nasa Hataoka	E	$46,250
T41	Eun-Hee Ji	E	$46,250
T41	Sarah Schmelzel	E	$46,250
T41	Alison Lee	E	$46,250
T45	Ally Ewing	1	$44,250
T45	Cheyenne Knight	1	$44,250
T45	Ryann O’Toole	1	$44,250
T45	Maja Stark	1	$44,250
T49	Hinako Shibuno	2	$42,750
T49	Pornanong Phatlum	2	$42,750
51	A Lim Kim	3	$42,250
52	Matilda Castren	4	$42,000
53	Mina Harigae	5	$41,750
T54	Hye Jin Choi	6	$41,125
T54	Paula Reto	6	$41,125
T54	Carlota Ciganda	6	$41,125
T54	Ariya Jutanugarn	6	$41,125
58	Gaby Lopez	7	$40,500
T59	Yuka Saso	8	$40,125
T59	Patty Tavatanakit	8	$40,125

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CME Group CEO ‘exceptionally disappointed’ with LPGA leadership heading into record payday

“I’m concerned about the future of the tour,” said Duffy, who will hand over a $2 million check on Sunday.

NAPLES, Fla. – The seeds of the CME Group Tour Championship began with a pro-am 15 years ago. In those early years, CME Group Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy received note after note from clients who so enjoyed their rounds of golf with LPGA players that they instantly became fans of the tour.

Beginning in 2011, CME began title-sponsoring the LPGA’s year-ending event, eventually integrating the firm’s Global Financial Leadership Conference in Naples, Florida, with the LPGA’s season-ending event at the Ritz-Carlton’s Tiburon Golf Club. This week, Duffy will hand over the biggest check in the history of the women’s game – $2 million. The overall purse of $7 million is the largest on the LPGA outside of the majors (and is bigger than the purses at two of the five majors). The last player in the field of 60 will make $40,000, close to what 10th place made last week.

Former U.S. presidents, secretaries of state and business tycoons have presented at CME’s conference, and for Tuesday night’s dinner, the firm typically invites a select number of players to attend. Earlier this week, when Duffy asked for the houselights to be turned on so that he could applaud the players in the room, the only people standing were those serving the tables.

Not a single player showed up.

“It’s an embarrassment to a company of my size and an embarrassment to me personally,” said Duffy, two days after the event.

Duffy’s beef isn’t with the players, though — it’s with who’s at the helm.

“I am exceptionally disappointed with the leadership of the LPGA,” he continued. “They better get their act together because they’re going to lose people like me over stuff like this.”

When CME first sponsored the Titleholders event in 2011, the purse was $1.5 million and the winner received $500,000. Three years later, the Race to the CME Globe season-long points race was introduced with a $1 million bonus. That bonus has since been folded into the official prize money with a winner-take-all format. In 2018, it was announced that the winner would receive $1.5 million, which at the time was more than what most PGA Tour winners received.

“This announcement is really about setting a new standard in women’s golf,” said then-commissioner Mike Whan four years ago. “I would love to lie to you guys and say that I called Terry 16 times and pushed and pushed him for it, but it was his idea.”

Duffy aimed to blaze a trail that he hoped other organizations would follow. His influence today is similar to what David Foster did at Mission Hills in the 1970s to elevate the women’s tour with the Colgate-Dinah Shore Winner’s Circle.

LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan speaks with the media during a roundtable during the second round of the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club on Nov. 18, 2022, in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Mollie Marcoux Samaan was named commissioner of the LPGA 18 months ago, and she was at the dinner that players skipped.

“There hasn’t been any greater supporter of the LPGA than CME Group and Terry Duffy,” Marcoux Samaan told Golfweek on Friday when asked about the incident.

“There was clearly a disconnect, and it’s my responsibility to make sure that this doesn’t happen. So on this particular issue, I’m taking full responsibility as a leader of the organization to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

This week, the LPGA announced that the total prize fund in 2023 will cross the $100 million mark for the first time, despite losing three full-field events and only adding one (although it’s unknown at this point if players will actually be able to travel to the two events in China that are worth $4.2 million). The majors and CME represent nearly half of the tour’s prize money, with only three additional events on the schedule with a purse of at least $3 million. A dozen events still offer purses below $2 million.

As the LPGA’s big events do the heavy lifting, it’s still a grind to push longtime sponsors to higher purses and fill in the gaps of those who don’t renew. Veteran players, who not too long ago worried that the LPGA might not survive, understand that a culture of appreciation remains vital.

The accessibility and approachability of players is what drove Duffy to take a pro-am event with about 20 players and build it into a benchmark event for women’s sports.

While the LPGA continues to reach new heights financially, the chasm between the men’s and women’s tours only grows deeper as some purses on the PGA Tour’s schedule now reach $20 million. LPGA veteran Karen Stupples believes it’s critical that LPGA players maintain the “act like a Founder” mantra that Whan preached for years.

“They went to baseball parks and did tricks on the fields to bring people in to watch them play golf,” said Stupples of the 13 women who founded the tour in 1950. “The players don’t have to do that anymore, They have to go to a party or two. Just treat it as your job. Your job description is to do this.”

Terry Duffy addresses the crowd with Keith Urban, who performed on the lawn at the Ritz on Wednesday as part of the week’s festivities at CME. (Photo courtesy of CME)

It’s not unusual now for top players to turn down pre-tournament interviews, even at major championships and CME. Some will meet with the print media or Golf Channel, but not both. Sometimes, it’s nothing at all.

When Stacy Lewis became the No. 1 player in the world, a couple of LPGA Hall of Famers sat her down and outlined the expectations.

“They just said, as a top American, as No. 1 in the world, you’re going to be asked to do a lot of things,” said Lewis. “You’re going to be asked to do a lot of interviews that you don’t want to do. You need to do it because it’s what’s best for the tour. It will be productive for you; it will be productive for the tour. It creates more exposure, and that’s your job. Your job as a top player is to help build this tour.”

Stupples believes that players often get so caught up in their own little bubbles that they fail to see the bigger picture. Lewis agrees.

“It’s all these kinds of things that for so long they were unsaid, and people just did it because it’s the right thing to do,” said Lewis, “and the current generation needs to hear it, needs to be taught it.”

For the LPGA to continue on an upward trajectory, player buy-in remains critical, especially when it comes to knowing the expectations of those who write the checks.

“I’m concerned about the future of the tour,” said Duffy, “because the leadership needs to work with their players to make sure that everybody has a clear understanding of how we grow the game together, along with sponsors and others. There’s no one person, no two people who can grow it alone. You need everybody. They say it takes a village, and I think their village is getting a little fractured.”

Marcoux Samaan said she continues to emphasize the “act like a Founder” culture Whan created at staff and player meetings, believing that the organization’s “secret sauce” of hospitality, sponsor engagement and accessibility remains one of its biggest strengths.

“We just need to continue to deliver that message,” said Marcoux Samaan, “and I don’t think anyone disputes it. I think everyone believes it. Sometimes you just miss in the moment.”

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Carefree Lydia Ko in command by five at season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, where the winner earns $2 million

Lydia Ko is in position to finish her season strong.

NAPLES, Fla. – Leona Maguire took a vastly different road to the LPGA than Lydia Ko, ruling the women’s amateur scene for years as a standout at Duke. A dozen years ago, a 27-year-old Maguire teed it up with a 13-year-old Ko at the World Amateur Team Championship in Argentina.

“She was a phenom then getting ready to turn pro,” said Maguire. “I remember her short game was incredible. A wedge shot didn’t go outside 3, 4 feet.”

Players still marvel at Ko, who at 25 is enjoying a magnificent career resurgence. After a second-round 66, Ko leads the field by five at the CME Group Tour Championship at 13-under 131. A victory here would shore up her first LPGA Player of the Year award since 2015, not to mention a $2 million payday.

Ko said she wanted to finish the season with no regrets, playing freely.

“I think when I play freely,” said Ko, “I’m not being tentative. I’m controlling how the shot is going to go. I think that way it’s just a little bit stress-free.

“If I do miss it, hey, like, I’m going to miss one here and there. So it’s just a better place for me to be at. And obviously when the nerves kick in, that bit is a lot harder, but I think when I was struggling, I got more and more tentative and trying to control the ball and trying to make it work.”

While she hasn’t mathematically clinched the Vare Trophy for low scoring average, it’s basically a done deal. To rise to No. 1 in the world again, she’d have to win and have Nelly Korda finish solo 21st or worse. In 2015, Ko became the youngest player to ever reach No. 1 in the world – male or female – at age 17.

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Korda sits in a share of third with Anna Nordqvist, Gemma Dryburgh, and Nasa Hataoka, six strokes back. Hyo Joo Kim sits alone in second at 8 under. Maguire, a first-time winner this season, is at 6 under with Amy Yang and Jeongeun Lee6.

Top-ranked Korda, who is wearing her new signature line with J.Lindeberg this week, made four birdies on the front nine and then parred the last nine holes after the putter went dry.

“They’ve kind of used a lot of the Sunday pins,” said Korda, who won last week’s Pelican LPGA Championship.

“I would say, 16, 17, they kind of put them in the back just over a bunker. When you kind of get on one of those ridges that it can break either way, like, it just happens that occasionally you don’t roll them in.”

Nelly Korda gives a smile on the 18th green during the second round of the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club on Nov. 18, 2022 in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

Ko, a two-time winner on tour this season and the 2014 CME champion, leads the LPGA in strokes gained total per round and strokes gained putting per round this season. Coming into this event she had made 201 putts of 10 feet or longer this season, eight more than any other player on tour.

Ko tops the tour in putts per green in relegation with a 1.72 average. She did the same in 2016 (1.71).

“I think during the times when I wasn’t hitting it as good, my short game improved,” said Ko. “So it’s good and bad, but I don’t feel like I’m the best putter in the world. I feel like there is so much room for improvement.”

Minjee Lee trails Ko by one point in the POY race. The Aussie bogeyed the last hole to shoot 68. She’s 5 under for the tournament in a share of 10th.

Coming into the event, Ko was 26 under at the CME over the past two years compared to Lee at 24 under.

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Will LPGA players be able to say no to a LIV women’s golf league? Some are sending out warning signals

Will a country that continues to discriminate against women save some of that life-changing money for them?

NAPLES, Florida — Billions of dollars in startup money. $20 million purses. $4 million winners’ checks.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund showed it would spare nothing to make sure its controversial LIV Golf Series got a foothold.

Now the focus shifts to a possible women’s LIV Golf series and if a country that continues to discriminate against women will save some of that life-changing money for them.

CEO Greg Norman was asked by the Palm Beach Post in July if LIV Golf would venture into the women’s side.

“One hundred percent. Drop the mic on that,” he said. “We have discussed it internally, the opportunity is there.”

That comment got the attention of LPGA golfers. Some are sending out warning signals to the LPGA.

“I think a lot of women would go because it’s a big difference,” Spaniard Carlota Ciganda said this week from the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club. “If they are asking you to go to Saudi and they are going to pay you $5 million, what would you do? Would you stay here? Would you go and take the money?

“I understand both points. I don’t think it’s right or wrong. You have some political ideas but at the same time this is our job and if you have an opportunity somewhere else why not take advantage and go.”

Madelene Sagstrom, a six-year LPGA veteran from Sweden, has noted the rivalry LIV created with PGA Tour and the friction between those who defected from the tour and those who have remained loyal.

Sagstrom is not sure the LPGA Tour could survive a similar conflict.

“I think the LPGA will have to handle it differently than the PGA Tour,” Sagstrom said. “We’re a little bit more vulnerable I would say.”

Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden looks on during the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield on Aug. 7, 2022, in Gullane, Scotland. (Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images)

Karrie Webb, the seven-time major winner who lives in Boynton Beach, told Golfweek in June she fears a LIV women’s league could “ruin women’s golf.” Webb grew up idolizing Norman, a fellow Aussie, but has posted her disappointment in her “childhood hero”.

Following the Palm Beach Post’s report in July, LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan told the London Times “she would engage in a conversation” with LIV if it means promoting women’s golf, but added a there are “a lot of factors to consider” before the LPGA would do business with LIV Golf.

Marcoux Samaan declined to speculate further when asked this week about LIV entering the women’s golf business.

“As a steward of the game we’re just really listening and learning,” she said. “We don’t know what the intentions are. We’re really just focused on us.”

The golfers’ focus certainly has been on the LPGA and more specifically the $2 million check for this week’s winner. But the disparity in the money on the LPGA Tour compared to the PGA Tour and LIV gets the attention of most women on the tour.

LIV distributed $255 million in prize money and bonuses for eight events this year. That number will jump to $405 million for 14 events next year. The PGA Tour prize purses for a 47-event 2022-23 season will increase to $428.6 million.

The LPGA approached $90 million for 34 tournaments this season. Included is the $7 million purse for this week’s Tour Championship.

World No. 15 Charley Hull of England believes many of her peers would seriously consider a LIV invite if it included life-altering paychecks.

“I think maybe they would,” she said. “I think it would be a very hard one but if the LIV tour did come along and they did offer you something, you’d be mad not to have a look and consider it.”

LIV Golf, which will be rebranded as the LIV Golf League in 2023, has drawn heavy criticism because of Saudi Arabia’s repeated human rights violations. And not only are women repressed, women’s rights activists and political prisoners reportedly have been sexually assaulted, tortured, and killed in Saudi Arabian detention cells.

But unlike the men, women’s golf already has ties to Saudi Arabia. Aramco, the Saudi Arabian petroleum and natural gas company, is in partnership with the Ladies European Tour. The Saudi-backed Aramco Team Series takes place across three continents. A team series aligns with LIV Golf’s team concept that has become the most popular feature of its men’s series.

The Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF is Feb. 16-19 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City and has a $5 million purse, up from $1 million in 2022.

Several LPGA golfers are sponsored by Aramco, some promoting Golf Saudi on shirts and hat. Georgia Hall, ranked 31st in the world, was last year’s winner of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International. She said this week “a lot of factors would matter” if LIV started a women’s league and she was pursued.

Lexi Thompson of the USA during the final round of the Aramco Series. (Contributed photo)

“Investors coming in like they are, putting a lot of money into golf in general is a good thing for women,” she said. “It’s definitely interesting to see if there will be a LIV women’s tour.”

The final Aramco Team Series event for the 2022 season was at Trump Golf Links Ferry Point in New York and won by Lexi Thompson. Thompson’s relationship with Donald Trump could be a factor if she had a decision to make.

Thompson, No. 7 in the world and from Delray Beach, is a longtime member at Trump International in West Palm Beach and golfed with Trump while he was president. Trump has aligned himself with LIV Golf and next year at least three LIV events will be held at his properties.

Thompson and current world No. 1 Nelly Korda of Sarasota were asked about a possible future union with LIV.

“No opportunities have been brought upon us or the tour,” Thompson said. “I know Mollie said that she would have conversations but that’s not in our control. We are just doing what we can on our tour.”

Korda won the individual title at the Aramco Team Series event at Sotogrande in Spain in August.

“My eyes are set on the LPGA,” she said. “That’s all speculation to me. I’m focusing on the LPGA Tour and what’s in front of me and with all the LIV stuff going on, that’s all speculation and I don’t focus on speculations.”

Now, all eyes and ears will be on what Norman and LIV Golf have in store for the women.

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Jin Young Ko endeavors to smile through the pain as she seeks third consecutive CME title

Jin Young Ko hasn’t made a cut since late July.

NAPLES, Fla. – Jin Young Ko has won the past two CME Group Tour Championships at Tiburon Golf Club, and if she were to three-peat and collect the record-breaking $2 million first-place prize, she’d buy a yellow Ferrari.

While Ko, 27, won last year’s CME in heroic fashion, clinching the Rolex Player of the Year award while playing hurt, that Ferrari seems far from a sure thing.

Still plagued by the left wrist injury that kept her from warming up at this event in 2021, Ko comes into this week off a missed cut and a withdrawal from the BMW Ladies Championship after shocking rounds of 80-79. The pain is worse than it was last year at the CME but better than it was last month at the BMW. On a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being the worst), Ko said it’s about a seven or eight now. It was a two at the BMW.

She feels pain from the moment she touches the club, on every shot.

“It’s hard,” she said, “but only (thing) I can do is just medicine and just tape on it. Just trying to play, yeah. Nothing to do.”

Ko wasn’t sure if she even wanted to come back to the U.S. for the last two events in Florida. Ultimately, she changed her flight to come in earlier, arriving the Thursday before the Pelican LPGA Championship. After missing the cut last week, she took more time to rest, getting out on the course for the first time on Tuesday.

A 13-time winner on the LPGA, Ko has been ranked No. 1 for 145 weeks since 2019. She’s understandably concerned how long this injury might last. This week she’s icing it, but when she returns home to South Korea, she might try a blood-spinning treatment, a procedure used to shorten the time it takes for an injury to heal.

“I heard it’s really painful,” she said, “so I’m worried.”

Ko, who won her first event of the season in Singapore at the HSBC Women’s Champions, hasn’t posted a top-10 finish since July at the Amundi Evian Championship when she tied for eighth. She hasn’t made a cut since the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open in late July.

At this time last year, Nelly Korda and Ko were in the midst of a promising budding rivalry, trading blows up til the end of the season, with Ko coming out on top.

Injuries brought that rivalry to a screeching halt, however, with Korda taking months off with a blood clot scare that required surgery. Korda won her first LPGA title of the season on Sunday at the Pelican.

“For me, the uncertainty of that was the scariest,” said Korda of her health scare.

Ko feels the same, noting that her problems were likely caused by overuse.

“I think a lot of players has injury on this tour,” said Ko, “so I don’t want to say, like – I don’t want to say I’m sick more than any player is like this. This is my fault because this is my body.”

Ko, who has dropped to No. 4 in the world, said this is the first time in her life that she has faced such adversity. She believes good things will come from the struggle, but that doesn’t diminish the physical pain.

When asked to name the biggest challenge of the year, Ko laughed as she said, “Just patience with my game and don’t cry – big smile.”

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Bubble breakdown: A look at who kept their LPGA card and qualified for CME Group Tour Championship — and who didn’t

Here’s a look at some of the highs and lows from a dramatic day on the LPGA.

BELLEAIR, Fla. — While the top of the leaderboard at the LPGA’s Pelican Women’s Championship featured a thrilling shootout between America’s best – Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson – the battle going on down the board had just as much at stake, maybe more.

Rookie Morgane Metraux came into the penultimate event of the season in the 101st place on the Race to CME Globe points list, one position outside of keeping her card. When asked whether she feels more pressure playing to win or keep her card, Metraux, who has won on both the LET and Epson Tour, didn’t hesitate.

“Playing to keep your job 100 percent,” said Metraux, who vaulted up the standings with a T-4 finish at Pelican. “The thing is for me, playing to win you already feel like you’re obviously playing really well if you’re in a position to win the tournament, so you can build confidence on that.

“If you’re playing to keep your job it means you haven’t done quite as good. So I think it’s more pressure. It’s like playing to make the cut on the last hole versus playing to win the tournament. They’re both pressure, but I think the pressure of making the cut is actually harder.”

Meanwhile, Gerina Mendoza was projected to finish 100th on the CME when she got to the difficult par-4 18th, but found the water and made double-bogey, dropping to No. 102.

LPGA cards weren’t the only thing on the line. Players were also vying to finish inside the top 63 of the points list to qualify for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. Only 60 qualify for the event, but three players – Jessica Korda, Linn Grant and Inbee Park – will not compete next week. The winner of the CME will earn a record $2 million.

Here’s a look at some of the highs and lows from a dramatic day in Belleaire, Florida (with final CME ranking):

Nelly Korda edges Lexi Thompson in another Pelican LPGA thriller to return to World No. 1

Korda is back on top of the women’s game after surgery earlier this year to remove a blood clot.

BELLEAIR, Fla. — The emotion on Nelly Korda’s face said it all. To win again on the LPGA and once again rise to No. 1 in the world hit differently this time. So much has transpired since the the last time she edged Lexi Thompson to hoist a trophy at the Pelican LPGA Championship.

“We’re just very fortunate she’s alive,” said her father Petr.

The blood clot that required surgery earlier this year and took her out of the game for months was a scary time for the entire Korda family.

“For me, the uncertainty of that was the scariest,” said Nelly. “As a golfer I feel like my life is planned out. I know where I’m going next, I know what to do next, or you would hope to know, but just getting hit with something like this and just not knowing what to do or what my next step was.”

Korda became the first person on the LPGA this season to successfully defend a title, closing with a 64 to finish 14 under in the weather-shortened 54-hole event. The 24-year-old now has eight career LPGA titles and $7,455,977 in her career. She also won an LET event in Spain earlier this season.

Korda began the day two strokes back of rookie Allisen Corpuz. Three players held a two-stroke lead throughout the course of the final round, including Carlota Ciganda, Thompson and Korda.

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As Thompson spoke with the media after the round, several steps away, Megan Khang and Ally Ewing soaked Korda in a champagne shower. Last year, a slew of short missed putts cost Thompson the victory here, but this year’s close call felt decidedly different. Thompson rebounded from back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 11-12 with a pair of birdies and closed with a 66. She was still smiling when it was over, even though she came up one stroke short.

“I think in previous years if that would’ve happened, I would’ve let it get to me,” said Thompson, “or even after hitting it in the water (on No. 12), I could have let that get to me.

“I was like, all right, snap out of it. Yeah, you’re not happy right now, but getting even more upset isn’t going to do me any good.”

Thompson will once again have older brother Nicholas on the bag at next week’s CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon, a place she loves and is a past champion. Later in the year, Thompson and Korda will team up at Tiburon as the first all-female team at the QBE Shootout.

The LPGA’s penultimate event is hardly just about who wins, of course, with tour cards and CME qualifying on the line. Only 60 players can qualify for the season-ending event, where the winner earns a record $2 million paycheck. After a week of play in Belleair, the field didn’t change.

Day 1 leader Maria Fassi certainly gave it a run after opening with a career-best 62. Bogeys on the last two holes, however, dropped her into a share of seventh. All she needed was a par on the last hole to make the CME field.

Lydia Ko heads to the CME, where she won in 2014, with a one-point lead in the Rolex Player of the Year standings over Minjee Lee and a sizable lead in the Vare Trophy race for low scoring.

Ko tied for 26th at the Pelican.

“I don’t think any part of my game was like very sharp this week,” she said, “so I just don’t think I ever got off to like a good momentum.”

Morgane Metraux came into Pelican ranked 101st on the CME points list. The top 100 players retain full status for 2023. The former Florida State player rose to the occasion in a mighty way, closing with a 64 to finish a career-best T-4 to keep her card and avoid Q-Series.

“I was obviously super excited to get my card last year,” said Metraux, an Epson Tour graduate, “and I probably started the year — well, I had a good first event because I had no expectations.

“After that I was just thinking about it a little bit and thinking, ‘Oh, my God this is the best tour in the world; do I really belong here?’ ”

After Sunday, there is no doubt.

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European star Linn Grant unable to travel to U.S. to compete for CME’s record-setting $2 million prize due to vaccination status

“Some people want to know why I am not playing in the U.S. I respect that. The simple reason is that I am not vaccinated.”

Linn Grant has competed in only six events on the LPGA this year but played well enough to rank 51st on the Race to the CME Globe. That means the young Swedish star is well inside the top-60 mark needed to qualify for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship next week, which offers a record-setting $2 million first-place prize and $7 million purse.

Grant currently leads the Race to Costa del Sol ranking on the Ladies European Tour thanks to four victories, including the co-sanctioned Scandinavia Mixed, where she became the first woman to win on the DP World Tour.

Yet Grant, undoubtedly one of the hottest players in golf this year, won’t be making the trip to Naples, Florida, because U.S. travel restrictions won’t let her in the country as she is not vaccinated against COVID-19. Tennis star Novak Djokovic was not able to compete in the U.S. Open over the summer for the same reason.

Grant, 23, gave the following statement to Golfweek through her management team:

“Under normal circumstances I would naturally love to partake in the CME. Like everybody else out there it is a clear goal to play the season-ending event, especially this year when CME is putting out the biggest check in women’s golf history. In isolation it is of course fantastic for us players, but more importantly it is a clear statement that shows direction of the true worth of women’s golf.

Nevertheless, with travel restrictions to enter the U.S. for unvaccinated still remaining, it is still not an option for me to play LPGA events in the U.S. This is the sole reason I am not playing the CME.

I understand some people want to know why I am not playing in the U.S. I respect that. The simple reason is that I am not vaccinated. Regarding why, I ask the same respect back. It is something I want to keep internally with my family and team. What I can say is that currently there are only two scenarios making it possible for me to play events in U.S. – either through a positive outcome on an medical relief process or by U.S. easing up on the travel restrictions.

I will now focus on finishing off nicely on the LET finale in Andalucia. At the end of the day, no matter how I look at it, and despite all joggling, I have had a great year.”

Grant, who is currently No. 25 in the Rolex Rankings, played collegiately at Arizona State. In June, she scripted one of the best storylines in golf when she crushed the field of 78 men and 78 women by nine strokes with a closing 64 at the Scandinavian Mixed, hosted by Henrik and Annika. The nearest woman finished 14 back.

Beating the men, she said, was most important.

“All week, I just felt like it’s the girls against the guys,” she said, “and whoever picks up that trophy represents the field.”

Grant received LPGA status at last year’s Q-Series but has been unable to compete in any U.S. events this season due to travel restrictions. She recently tied for eighth at the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea and finished third at the Toto Japan Classic.

She has 14 top-10 finishes worldwide in 18 starts this season and will tee it up later this month at the Andalucia Costa del Sol Open in Spain.

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Who gets an LPGA card for 2023? Here’s how to read the CME points list and what’s at stake

In 2021, the LPGA switched from using the money list to CME points to determine player status.

With only three events left on the LPGA schedule, the stakes are high heading into the final stretch. Some players are fighting to get into the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship for a chance to earn mega-money. Some are fighting for the chance to keep their cards.

In 2021, the LPGA switched from using the money list to CME points to determine player status. The idea was to level out the finishes given that some purses are astronomically higher than others.

The cutoff to qualify for the CME Group Tour Championship will be the Pelican Women’s Championship, Nov. 10-13. That’s also when players will make their final push toward securing an LPGA card for 2023 without having to go to Q-Series.

Here’s a closer look at how the CME points list breaks down for 2023 status: