The GIST: Tomorrow, the world’s best golfers will tee off in Naples, Florida, at the final LPGA event of the year, the CME Group Tour Championship. With the largest first-place prize in the history of women’s golf, a whopping $4M (!!!), the grass is definitely greener on this side.
How it works: Much like the PGA Tour Championship, players collected points based on where they finished at 33 sanctioned Tour events. The goal? Earn enough points to land in the LPGA’s top 60 golfers and gain a spot at the Championship. With a clean slate to start the four-round season finale, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
The playing field: As is, ahem, par for the championship course, the 60-player field is stacked with the likes of world No. 1 Nelly Korda, who nabbed a mind-boggling seven wins in 2024, and two-time finale winner world No. 9 Jin Young Ko. Expect three-time event winner world No. 4 Lydia Ko to live up to her Hall of Fame billing too, after standing atop the podium at this year’s Paris Olympics.
- And while four Tour rookies will make their Championship debuts, this is likely veteran Lexi Thompson’s last edition after the 2017 Championship winner announced her retirement from full-time competition earlier this year.