Jeeno Thitikul did exactly that. After coming in second the past two years, the 21-year-old LPGA star won the 2024 Aon Risk Reward Challenge and the $1 million prize that comes with it.
The Aon Risk Reward Challenge is a season-long competition that highlights golf’s best strategic decision-makers. To qualify, players must play a minimum of 40 rounds throughout the season.
“It feels really amazing to get this done and also I really feel amazing for high competition level with Aon, as well,” Thitikul said. “It’s really challenging thought, each hole that we had at every tournament.”
This year, Thitikul broke through because of her stellar decision-making with an impressive +0.39 strokes gained on every Challenge hole played and a go-for-green success rate of 35 percent, a figure that places her second overall among the 147 Challenge participants this season.
Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand
speaks with the Golf Central cast during a interview on Golf Channell after winning the 2024 Aonm Risk Reward Challenge ahead of the 2024 CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
“That’s all my plan, that I’m trying to — especially reachable par-5s, par-4s that Aon have been setting, that’s all the plan for me and my coach, trying to play all the par-5s, we’re trying to make birdies,” Thitikul said, “if we can all day long, which really suits the Aon setup, rules kind of thing like that, which is really helping me with all the holes or all the rounds that I have to take advantage of it.”
Thitikul won the Vare Trophy in 2023 on the heels of winning LPGA Rookie of the Year honors in 2022.
She won the Dow Championship with teammate Ruoning Yin and had 11 top-10 finishes, including a streak of six straight.
Angel Yin took a more conservative approach to the season and won big.
NAPLES, Fla. — Angel Yin took a more conservative approach to the season and won big. In addition to claiming her first LPGA title in 159 starts, she won $1 million for clinching the season-long Aon Risk Reward Challenge. Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul finished second.
When Aon introduced the challenge in 2019, the $1 million prize became the largest single monetary prize on the LPGA. The payout is the same on the PGA Tour, where Tyrrell Hatton won.
Yin, 25, said that in previous years she’d come to a reachable hole and automatically want to go for it. This year, however, the power player has learned to embrace her wedge play.
“When you overlook the small things, it doesn’t benefit you,” said Yin. “So what I started doing is I started looking at the small things and cherishing it more and accumulating that more, and I think that’s what really helped.
“(In) Cincinnati I made an eagle. That was huge, but it wasn’t really planned for. It was really lucky. If you really think about it, eagles are (made) with a lot of luck. Birdies are more calculated. If I can just put all my money on my birdies, I can get my return.”
At the Solheim Cup in Spain, the always entertaining Yin wore sunglasses to a Team USA press conference in a nod to Deion Sanders. The LPGA marketing team presented Yin with Sanders T-shirt after her Wednesday press conference in Naples.
For Yin, who has played the past four seasons without a personal sponsor, this money gives her the ability to help others who might find themselves in similar financial situations in other business endeavors.
“I’m very blessed with a lot of people in my life that have been a lot of support,” said Yin, “but let’s just say on the financial side or other support hasn’t been as great. I feel like if I have the ability to do that, I want to be able to reach out.
“Because money makes things go around, and as much as we don’t want to talk about it, it can bring a lot of things in life and create a lot more opportunities. … We’re here for a long time, and I want to find out what my passions are in life. I want to be able to help people that haven’t been helped out.”
Angel Yin of the United States speaks with the media after winning the 2023 AON Risk Reward Challenge at Tiburon Golf Club on November 14, 2023 in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
After coming up short against Lilia Vu in a playoff at the Chevron earlier this season, Yin went head-to-head again against the current World No. 1 at the Buick LPGA Shanghai last month and came out on top.
It’s quite the turnaround for a player who considered writing tournaments on the tour’s spring Asian swing.
Angel Yin currently leads the Aon Risk Reward Challenge, and if she holds on, will earn a $1 million bonus on top of $1,617,216 she’s made on tour this season. That’s without any money made at the no-cut, season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, which boasts a $7 million purse and $2 million winner’s check.
It’s quite the turnaround for a player who, earlier this season, considered writing tournaments on the tour’s spring Asian swing to ask for a sponsor exemption to get an infusion of cash.
Yin ultimately decided against it, thinking it might be good to play a lighter schedule to be more refreshed for CME, but the money situation is striking for a Solheim Cup player who hasn’t had a personal sponsor in four years.
“It’s tough when you have a bad stretch of a few years,” said Yin. “Your bank gets pretty dry.”
Yin, 25, isn’t bitter about the lack of sponsors, however, saying that she’s had a change of heart about the situation in recent months.
“I don’t think I’m as desperate as I used to be,” said Yin. “I used to be really desperate. Now I’m not as desperate. I think throughout this journey of not being sponsored, I think it really helped me learn my own value as a person in life.”
The sponsor situation doesn’t surprise LPGA and World Golf Hall of Famer Juli Inkster, who Yin said became like a second mom to her after she played on Inkster’s 2017 Solheim Cup team. While sponsor money might be increasing for those at the top of the game, Inkster still doesn’t see it filtering down ranks.
“I think a lot of these companies don’t value women’s golf to sell product,” said Inkster, “and I think they’re missing the boat.”
Angel Yin takes a selfie of herself with The United States team with their captain Stacy Lewis and her husband and daughter behind during the official photo call prior to The Solheim Cup at Finca Cortesin Golf Club on September 19, 2023, in Casares, Spain. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Even Yin’s signature headwear, the G/Fore hat with HACI stretched out like a giant billboard on top of her head, came from the pro shop at her home course, Hacienda Golf Club. Yin said G4 started sending her hats because the club’s pro shop couldn’t carry enough. Members like it, she said, because they can easily spot her.
“Exactly, see, it’s in your face,” she said. “You can spot it a mile away. Cameras are not always that close to you, and when you have a small logo, the imperial ones, can’t really see.”
Yin, however, isn’t paid to wear the hats.
Last month in China, Yin’s hat couldn’t be missed as the power player with soft hands won the 2023 Buick LPGA Shanghai for her first LPGA victory in her 159th career start. Yin beat former World No. 1 Lilia Vu in a playoff. The pair squared off against each other earlier this year at the Chevron.
Unfortunately, Yin couldn’t keep the momentum going as she pulled out of Malaysia last week with back pain. She has decided to take off next week’s event, the Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, as well. The Aon winner will be decided after Pelican.
“The truth is everybody is doing math,” said Yin, who had her caddie help her understand how the system worked.
“But the last two months, everybody is just talking to me about Aon. Anyone and their moms are texting me about Aon. It’s hard not to know about and do the math on it because you would be kind of stupid not to. It’s $1 million. Doesn’t matter how much inflation is going on in this world, it’s a lot of money.”
Yin is 28 under par on the 30 holes played over the course of the season. Attahaya Thitikul ranks second to Yin and needs at least two eagles to pass her.
Inkster picked Yin for that 2017 Solheim Cup team and saw a player with a ton of potential who needed maturing in her course management.
“She’s super stubborn,” said Inkster. “It has taken me a while to kind of get to her.”
Angel Yin and Juli Inkster of the United States play with the crowd on the first tee before her match against Karine Icher of Team Europe during the final day singles matches of the Solheim Cup at the Des Moines Golf and Country Club on August 20, 2017, in West Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Inkster, who plays quite a bit of golf with Yin in Palm Springs, also encouraged the outgoing Yin to show more of that personality on the golf course, where she’s often stoic. Yin made a point to do that in Shanghai.
“I think you can show your emotions and also be super successful,” said Inkster. “You could tell if I was shooting 78 or 68.”
While Yin stands to win a boatload of cash this season, she said the most impactful piece of advice Inkster has given her over the years is “Don’t do it for the money.”
“It’s our job; we do it for the money,” Yin said with a laugh. “I mean, everyone is here doing it for the money.
“She always tells me to not look at it like that. If you look at it like that, you don’t really see more than that. Do it for the love of the golf, why I play, why you win, something beyond the money.
Minjee Lee could enjoy the richest season in the history of women’s golf.
NAPLES, Fla. – Minjee Lee collected her second seven-figure check of the season after winning the 2022 Aon Risk Reward Challenge and the $1 million prize.
Seven-figure checks remain rare in women’s golf. This year, seven will be handed out, though the Aon prize is unofficial money.
Earlier this season, Lee, 26, won the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles for her second major title and a record-setting $1.8 million paycheck. A two-time winner this season, Lee currently tops the money list with $3,759,835.
Lee, who already clinched the Rolex Annika Major Award, could actually enjoy the richest season in the history of women’s golf, should she win this week’s $2 million prize at the CME Group Tour Championship. Actually, she could finish second ($687,000) and still beat Lorena Ochoa’s record of $4,354,994 set in 2007. Ochoa won seven times that season, including one major.
“I haven’t really had the time to go shopping yet,” said Lee when asked if she’d splurged. “Maybe this week.”
While Lee started the year off strong, she hasn’t had a top 10 since August. Currently No. 5 in the world, Lee sits one point behind Lydia Ko in the LPGA Player of the Year race, which carries the added bonus of a Hall of Fame point.
Lee played both events in Asia but skipped last week’s Pelican LPGA Championship. After such a strong start to 2022, Lee said she’s learning how to refresh.
“Probably the last few weeks, I haven’t really been quite on top of my game,” she said. “I was striking it so well come, what, like eight, nine months throughout the year. Probably didn’t hit it as well or putted it as well the last couple of weeks, but this is the last event of the season, of the LPGA season. I really want to do well.”
One of the best ball-strikers on the LPGA, Lee has added length to her game in recent years, and she went for the green on the challenge holes 58 percent of the time compared to a tour average of 32 percent. The race tabulates the two best scores on the designated challenge holes from every participating event a player competes in. Players must compete in a minimum of 40 rounds throughout the season to qualify.
“It’s quite life-changing money that Aon puts up,” said Lee, “and it’s really great for the women’s tour and the LPGA. It’s a great opportunity for us on both tours just to be put on kind of the same plane.”
Lee is the second consecutive Aussie to win the title, following Hannah Green. Spain’s Carlota Ciganda won the first Aon race.
Jennifer Bell, Aon’s chief executive officer, North America, said she hopes what they’re doing to support the LPGA equally with the men’s tour will influence other firms to do the same.
“In order to make sure that we’re getting gender equity and making sure that we lift the LPGA Tour and the players up to get to the level of pay that they should, I always say, ‘What is your firm doing?'” said Bell.
“It’s interesting because it puts the pressure, so it’s more of an influence than anything. Hopefully it’s making a difference.”
Minjee Lee and Atthaya Thitikul are dueling it out in the Aon Risk Reward Challenge. The winner of the season-long race earns $1 million.
Minjee Lee and Atthaya Thitikul have much to play for as the LPGA season winds down, including a couple of seven-figure checks. In addition to the CME Group Tour Championship’s record-setting $2 million winner’s check, they currently top the standings in the Aon Risk Reward Challenge.
Both players are in the field at this week’s Toto Japan Classic, where the challenge hole is the par-5 13th at Seta Golf Course, set at 476 yards. The Aon insight says that from the fairway, 27 percent of the field is expected to successfully reach the green.
The winner of the season-long race earns $1 million. When Lee won the U.S. Women’s Open in June, she earned a first-place check of $1,800,000. So far this season, 22 players have crossed the $1 million mark in earnings.
Players take their best two scores from each Aon Risk Reward Challenge hole, with the winners having the best average score to par at the end of the regular season. Only two events remain before a winner will be decided. Neither Lee nor Thitikul will be competing in Pelican LPGA Championship, Nov. 10-13, which means this is their final event to make a move.
Atthaya Thitikul looks on on the 6th hole during day two of the 2021 Amundi Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Lee currently holds the lead with a season-long average score to par of -0.912. Thitikul, who just moved to No. 1 in the world, is at -0.891.
If Lee records two birdies this week, her season-long average would move to -0.917, requiring Thitikul to record an eagle and a birdie to tie her score.
If Lee makes a par and a birdie on the hole, her score will move down to -0.899.
Should Lee make a birdie and an eagle, she’d all but lock up the competition.
Thitikul could move into first place with a pair of eagles. A birdie and an eagle would move her to -0.917, which would tie Lee, should she record two birdies.
China’s Xiyu Lin is not in the field in Japan. She’ll need at least one eagle, possibly two, at the Pelican next week to have a chance.
Thitikul and Lee are tied for 12th on the LPGA in par-5 scoring at 4.62. Lin is second at 4.56 behind Jennifer Kupcho (4.54).
Previous winners of the Aon include Carlota Ciganda and Hannah Green. Scottie Scheffler won the Aon Risk Reward Challenge on the PGA Tour and the $1 million prize a year ago.
Scheffler earned some extra money because of his season-long performance.
Scottie Scheffler has another million reasons to smile after his thrilling PGA Tour regular season.
He claimed the season-long Aon Risk Reward challenge and the corresponding $1 million prize, it was announced Tuesday. That’s on top of the $4 million he earned Sunday for finishing first in the The Comcast Business Tour Top 10, both of which are bonus money on top of the record money he has already earned.
It has been a season to remember for Scheffler, who has won four times, including capturing his first major title, the Masters. He remains first in the FedEx Cup standings as the playoffs get underway Thursday at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
“I love this competition because you have to string together really good scores on some of the most challenging holes in golf – testing your ability and rewarding you for making better decisions,” Scheffler said. “I am excited to win the Aon Risk Reward Challenge as it recognizes the work that my team and I put in throughout the season.”
The Challenge is based around chosen holes at Tour stops throughout the year and designed to test a player’s strategy on what are considered some of the most challenging holes a player will face week to week. For every participating event, a player’s best two scores on the designated hole counts towards the season-long leaderboard. Scheffler had 29 birdies and three eagles on eligible holes this season.
Scheffler has earned $13.176 million thus far this year. Add in the bonus money, that’s $18.176 million. He also has a chance to add another $18 million if he wins the FedEx Cup Playoffs, plus whatever earnings he gets in the next three tournaments.
Safe to say Scheffler’s strong play has paid off for his wallet.
“I actually wanted to buy a house during the off-season, so this gives me an opportunity to actually play comfortably.”
Any day that an LPGA player receives a $1 million paycheck is a monumental occurrence. The fact that it will happen twice this week is a headline-grabbing affair.
Hannah Green joins the PGA Tour’s Matthew Wolff as the 2021 Aon Risk Reward Challenge winners. Both received a $1 million prize. In addition, the winner of this week’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship will receive $1.5 million.
“I actually wanted to buy a house during the off-season,” said Green, “so this gives me an opportunity to actually play comfortably. It is quite difficult to buy houses in Australia, especially as a sports person with the not-frequent income, and as well as foreign income.
“So in a way for me, it will be life-changing.”
Green didn’t score worse than par on any of the single qualifying challenge holes throughout the season. She had a go-for-green success rate of 68 percent compared to the tour average of 46 percent. She birdied 72 percent and eagled almost 10 percent of the Aon Risk Reward Challenge holes that counted within the 40 minimum rounds necessary to qualify for the challenge.
She credited her increased distance for the season with allowing her to get to spots she previously couldn’t reach before and take on more risk.
Green said she didn’t realize she was leading the Aon race until good friend Alison Whitaker mentioned it on the broadcast of the AIG Women’s Open. At the BMW event in South Korea, she and her caddie ran the scenarios and knew that she needed two birdies to improve her position. Pulling it off, she said, was a big moment.
Her ultimate strategic play, however, came when she skipped last week’s Pelican event to protect her sizable lead.
“Just shows how important it is to us LPGA players for me to, yeah, sacrifice an event,” said Green, “and also make decisions on the golf course.”
One of the goals behind the Aon Risk Reward Challenge was to create a platform where achievements could be equally celebrated across the men’s and women’s game, said Aon North America CEO Jennifer Bell.
Wolff joined Green virtually during a press conference at the CME.
“At the end of the day,” said Wolff, “I’m really happy that Hannah and I are making the same amount, because like I said, it’s the same decisions.”
Green, 24, has won $2,262,361 on the LPGA since joining the tour in 2018. She burst onto the scene in a big way by winning the KPMG Women’s PGA at Hazeltine and followed it with a victory later that year at the Cambia Portland Classic.
“I didn’t feel intimidated,” said Green of her early days on tour, “but I just didn’t feel like I quite belonged when I first started because I didn’t have the results. So backing that up kind of the end of the year made a big difference.
“I probably wouldn’t have thought that I would be in this position four, five years ago when I first turned professional.”
The odds are good for Green to take home the money, but two players are in striking distance.
There’s only one event left for the season in the LPGA’s Aon Risk Reward Challenge, and it will take something heroic to knock Australia’s Hannah Green out of the top spot.
Green has withdrawn from next week’s Pelican Women’s Championship, which means that she can’t move from her current average of -0.938. Players take their two best scores from each Aon Risk Reward Challenge hole, with the winner having the best average score at the end of the season.
The winner of the award receives $1 million. For perspective, so far, 13 players on the LPGA have crossed $1 million in earnings this season. The total purse for the Pelican is $1,750,000.
Charley Hull, who is currently in second place, is playing next week in the Aramco team Series Jeddah event in Saudi Arabia, taking her out of the running.
The next two players on the list who are in the Pelican field are Lexi Thompson and Lydia Ko. Thompson would have to play the par-5 14th hole in 5 under (an eagle and a double eagle) to overtake Green at -0.941. Ko would have to play the hole (over two rounds) in 6 under (two double eagles) to move her to -0.944.
Hannah Green reacts to a putt on the 18th hole during the second round of the 2019 LPGA Cambia Portland Classic. Photo: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
Green, 24, is currently ranked 25th in the world and is 35th on the money list with $531,507. She has $2,262,361 in career earnings.
Matthew Wolff achieved a rare feat on Friday at the Wyndham Championship – he missed the cut but still will take home $1 million.
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Matthew Wolff achieved a rare feat on Friday at the Wyndham Championship – he missed the cut but still will take home a bigger check than anyone in the field except for the champion on Sunday.
How, you ask? Wolff claimed the season-long Aon Risk Reward Challenge and the corresponding $1 million prize on Friday. The 22-year-old Oklahoma State product took care of business with a birdie at the par-5 15th hole in his second round to reach the contest’s 40-round minimum.
“There’s a lot of money to be made out on Tour, but I’m new out here and every little bit helps,” he said. “Just happy that I got it done. And I knew about it kind of the last couple months, so on the Aon holes I was a little more nervous than I usually am, but played them pretty well and just came out on top.”
The Challenge is based around chosen holes at Tour stops throughout the year and designed to test a player’s strategy on what are considered some of the most challenging holes a player will face week to week. For every participating event, a player’s best two scores on the designated hole counts towards the season-long leaderboard. Wolff had played the designated hole at 10 Risk-Reward events in an average of 1.105 under par.
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“I’m a pretty risky player and I guess it just happened to turn out in my favor on those holes,” he said. “I feel like I have a pretty good game plan every single week, but seems like those holes I just have a better one.”
Wolff’s chaser Louis Oosthuizen withdrew from the tournament on Wednesday, which made it a virtual slam dunk for Wolff to win as long as he completed two rounds – he shot 69-70 to miss the cut – but he said he was happy he finished in style with a birdie.
“If I’m going to win the Challenge, I want to win it because I play the best golf, not because someone gives it to me,” Wolff said. “I feel like I did that and on those holes I happened to play them really well. I think I was averaging like a stroke under par every single week or according to the contest, so I played those holes correctly, just got to play the rest of the holes right.”
The PGA Tour’s season finale in Greensboro, North Carolina, gives Wolff a last-ditch effort to win $1 million.
The par-5 15th hole at Sedgefield Country Club holds a little extra incentive for Matthew Wolff this week at the Wyndham Championship. The PGA Tour’s season finale in Greensboro, North Carolina, gives Wolff a last-ditch effort to cash a fat check for a challenge within a challenge that has run the length of this Tour super season.
So far this season, Wolff has played the designated hole at 10 Risk Reward events in an average 1.105 under par. Cameron Smith (0.920 under par) and Joaquin Niemann (0.914 under par) are right behind him.
The Challenge is based around chosen holes at Tour stops throughout the year and designed to test a player’s strategy on what are considered some of the most challenging holes a player will face week to week.
Among the holes on the list are No. 16 at PGA West’s Stadium Course (The American Express), No. 18 at Torrey Pines (Farmers Insurance Open), the raucous No. 17 at TPC Scottsdale (Waste Management Phoenix Open) and No. 18 at Pebble Beach (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am).
At the end of the regular season, the player with the lowest average score under par on the Aon Risk Reward Challenge holes captures the $1 million prize. For every participating event, a player’s best two scores on the designated hole counts towards the season-long leaderboard. Aon sponsors the same challenge on the LPGA.
Wolff’s season has been defined by injury and off-course struggles – he laid bare the latter during U.S. Open week as he contended for the title but ultimately finished T-15. It was one of five top-20 finishes in a season during which Wolff made 18 starts, missed three cuts and withdrew from two events.
Should he win the Aon Risk Reward Challenge, the 22-year-old Wolff would pocket an extra $1 million – a nice bonus at the end of a season in which he has earned $2.5 million after making the cut in 13 of 18 events with two top-10s.
In Thursday’s first round, Wolff was over the green in two and after chipping on, had an 8 ½ footer for birdie but missed and settled for par.
