Lydia Ko, without a victory this season on the LPGA, birdied the penultimate hole at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla., to send her and teammate Jason Day to a one-stroke victory in the latest iteration of mixed-team golf. The Down Under duo—Ko is from New Zealand and Day from Australia—combined to post 26-under 266 after a best-ball 66 to edge the Canadian pair of Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners.

Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom and Ludvig Aberg were another stroke behind after a sterling 60.

Although there have been male-female pairings recently in other events, including the QBE Shootout and PNC Championship, the Grant Thornton Invitational is the first pure mixed format since the 1999 JCPenney Classic.

The women, keyed up by the opportunity to show how well their games compare to their male counterparts, brought their A-games to the tournament, which featured three formats—scramble, alternate shot and modified best ball—highlighted by Ko’s second shot into the par-5 17th hole from 208 yards with a fairway metal.

“That looks so good,” Day said as the ball sailed towards the pin.

“As soon as it came off the club face, I was like, ‘I think it’s good, please be good,’ and it was heading right towards the pin,” said Ko, who with Day began the final round with a two-stroke lead after an impressive 66 in alternate shot on Saturday. “I don’t think I could have hit that shot 100 times and it would turn out better.”

The ball checked up 10 feet behind the hole, and Ko two-putted for the go-ahead birdie. Ko, 26, also did the honors of closing it out on the par-four home hole, two-putting for par from 30 feet, though Day, after missing the green, chipped to three feet that also could have won it. Each a former world No. 1, Ko and Day split $1 million of the $4 million purse.

“It was kind of weird because it felt like the most stress-free win because I knew Lydia was going to step up in the end, which was fantastic,” said Day, 36, who won his 13th PGA Tour title earlier this year at the AT&T Byron Nelson. “It was a fun week. Having the two tours join this week was a fun way to finish the year. I’m hoping we get to do it for a very long time.”

Madelene Sagstrom thinks the LPGA players more than held their own on the stage with their PGA Tour peers. Douglas P. DeFelice

Aberg, the rookie sensation who was solid in his Ryder Cup debut during Europe’s victory in Italy and then won his first PGA Tour title at the RSM Classic last month, gushed that “I was a passenger at times [Saturday],” during foursomes play. He also was a happy spectator when Sagstrom snaked in a long double-breaking eagle putt on 17 that forged a momentary three-way tie for the lead.

“It’s been a very big week for us, for women’s golf this week, and showing how good we are with you guys,” Sagstrom said. “I feel like on every team we all contributed equal ways.”

They sure contributed their share of fireworks. Another example: Lexi Thompson’s ace at the par-3 16th hole on Saturday that put her and Rickie Fowler in the thick of things before dropping to T-6 on Sunday.

Mutual gushing was the order of the day through 54 holes. Each side had a lot to appreciate about the other. The women got to witness the power the men unleashed with their drivers. The men saw just how well the women scored with overall skill and tenacity.

“I think it’s really cool to marry the tours together,” Tony Finau said. “They’re seeing shots that they haven’t seen with us, and vice versa. We’re seeing shots that we haven’t seen, and we only get to watch these guys on TV, they only get to watch us on TV.”

Ko underscored perfectly what it meant to be paired with Day when she told her caddie she wanted to hang back at the men’s tee on the final hole to watch Day hit one more drive. Afterwards, she joked about the natural regional rivalry between Kiwis and Aussies, “but that was not there this week.”

The hope among LPGA officials is that the Grant Thornton remains an annual event that also opens up other joint ventures with the PGA Tour. Douglas P. DeFelice

What was there was a showcase of pure enjoyment of the game along with excellence. You know what that’s good for? Anyone? We’ll let Ko spell out it for you.

“This week I think every player that’s here, whether it’s the PGA Tour player or LPGA player, I think we’re here for more than just the prize money and winning. It’s about the growth of the game,” she said. “It’s great that we got to win on top of that, but I think with the help of Grant Thornton, this is, I think, a start for so many more exciting things to come, and I’m excited to be a part of this partnership.”

“It will be interesting to see kind of the after-effects going into next year, but I think one of the things is seeing the guys and the gals tee it up together and have fun and us just enjoying being out there together,” Fowler agreed.

Megan Khang, who teamed with Denny McCarthy to finish T-4, also was thinking ahead. “I feel like this is a great … step in the right direction,” she said. “I feel like people are going to get a taste of this event, see how fun it is and how engaging it is of how many families come out, boys, girls. They just see these players on both levels competing and having fun and showing up and putting up some good scores. I think it’s great for not only golf, but for the future of golf.”

Main image: Cliff Hawkins

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Sixteen two-player teams, comprised of a pro from each tour, will compete in the three-day event, playing a scramble, alternate shot and modified four-ball format for each round. The overall purse is $4 million (larger than any on the LPGA Tour except the five majors and the CME Group Tour Championship) with the winning team splitting a $1 million prize money pay-out.

Early signs are already positive, as LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan noticed a rare oddity in the social media age. When the tour announced the launch of the tournament in February, she didn’t see a single negative comment.

“I think our fans are craving this,” Marcoux Samaan said during last month’s CME Group Tour Championship. “I think the PGA Tour understood that. I think we obviously understood this, and Grant Thornton understood it, as well. I think people are like, wow, that’s really interesting to put men and women together in golf. I think we’ll see more of it. We don’t have any specific plans right now, but I think everybody is really excited about it.”

You have to go back to 1999 and the final edition of the JCPenney Classic Golf Tournament to find the last co-sanctioned mixed event between the two tours. Since the announcement of the new event, several top LPGA players expressed interest in playing, recognizing the crucial chance for the tour to get seen by those who only watch the PGA Tour.

The potential new audience will tune in to see some of the best talent the LPGA has to offer, including the top three players in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings (Lilia Vu, Ruoning Yin and Celine Boutier), five of the top 10 in the world, and some of the sport’s most recognisable names.

Having a mixed event is a natural evolution of the strategic alliance the two tours entered into in 2016, by then PGA commissioner Tim Finchem and LPGA commissioner Mike Whan. Since Marcoux Samaan took over as commissioner in 2021, she says that the two tours have consistently exchanged ideas and asked for advice.

While Marcoux Samaan explained there are no specific plans for what other ways the PGA and LPGA could work together, the tours could get creative quickly (a mixed President’s Cup, anyone?) based on how well the players are appear to be getting along. Joel Dahmen, one of the funniest players in golf, balanced roasting and revering Vu, the World No. 1 and LPGA player of the year, during their Wednesday press conference. He acknowledged that her four-win season will need to carry the team, but also poked fun at the 26-year-old for not knowing who the Wu Tang Clan is, naming their team the “Vu Tang Clan” in honour of the famed New York City hip hop collective.

The other pair to meet with the media Wednesday, Nelly Korda and Tony Finau, joked about being team “FiNelly and Certified Fresh,” with Finau already ordaining her as “Certified Finau Fresh.”

Finau, who is sponsored by Grant Thornton, is already a fervent believer in what the event can bring going forward. “I think some of the younger generation that is watching this event, I think this event is going to continue to grow,” Finau said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of great interest in this event moving forward, but to be involved in the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational, I think, is really cool.”

The event has already seen an investment in the future, with the second iteration for December 2024 with a similar $4 million purse. As for measuring its potential impact on the LPGA? Leave it to Korda, who consistently touts the tour’s quality product, even going so far as to deflect praise from PGA counterparts from last year’s QBE Shootout to mention how impressed they would be if they watched more women’s golf.

“If you give us [LPGA players] the platform, I feel like we will perform and we will bring it,” Korda said.

If Korda’s proclamation proves correct, this week could be the breeding ground of the most expansive co-sanction era in professional golf history.

Image: Chung Sung-Jun

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“The 2024 LPGA Tour schedule reflects our historic growth,” LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in a statement. “With new events and improved geographic flow, enhancing the athlete experience, our global reach and competitiveness have never been stronger.”

The season begins Jan. 18 at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and ends just more than 11 months later on Nov. 24 at the CME Group Tour Championship. The LPGA will have 10 non-major events with a purse of more than $3 million, up from four this year. Four events increased their purse to the $3 million threshold from this season to next—Mizuho Americas Open ($2.75M to $3M), Meijer LPGA Classic ($2.5M to $3M), Walmart NW Arkansas Championship ($2.3M to $3M) and the largest increase, the Lotte Championship, going up by $1 million ($2M to $3M).

While the five majors this year were defined by visits to new courses, with the Chevron moving to The Club at Carlton Woods and the U.S. Women’s Open is being contested at Pebble Beach for the first time, all five in 2024 will return to familiar venues. The Amundi Evian Championship and the Chevron will both be at the same courses as last year; the U.S Women’s Open returns to Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club, where it was held in 2015; the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship goes back to Sahalee Country Club outside Seattle, which hosted the major in 2016; and the AIG Women’s Open heads to the Old Course at St. Andrews, the third time the LPGA has played at the famed venue and first since 2013.

The largest purse of the season is $11 million, shared by the U.S. Women’s Open and the CME Group Tour Championship, which this week bumped up its purse by $4 million for 2024. While growth has happened in non-major events, the LPGA’s purse remains highly concentrated in its majors and Tour Championship. In 2024, 45.2 percent of its total season purse will be from just those six events, down from 47 percent this year.

The complete schedule is as follows, with majors completely in bold:

Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions (Jan. 18-21)

Lake Nona Golf & Country Club, Orlando

Purse: $1.5 million

LPGA Drive On Championship (Jan. 25-28)

Bradenton Country Club, Bradenton, Fla.

Purse: $1.75 million

Honda LPGA Thailand (Feb. 22-25)

Siam Country Club, Pattaya, Chonburi, Thailand

Purse: $1.7 million

HSBC Women’s World Championship (Feb. 29-March 3)

Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore

Purse: $1.8 million

Blue Bay LPGA (March 7-10)

Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Club Hainan Island, China

Purse: $2.2 million

Seri Pak LA Open (March 21-24)

Palos Verdes Golf Club in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.

Purse: $2 million

Arizona Championship presented by JTBC (March 28-31)

TBD in Phoenix

Purse: $2 million

LPGA Match Play at Shadow Creek (April 3-7)

Shadow Creek in Las Vegas

Purse: $2 million

The Chevron Championship (April 18-21)

The Club at Carlton Woods, The Woodlands, Texas

Purse: $5.2 million

JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro (April 25-28)

Wilshire Golf Club, Los Angeles

Purse: $3 million

Cognizant Founders Cup (May 9-12)

Upper Montclair Country Club, Clifton, N.J.

Purse: $3 million

Mizuho Americas Open May (16-19)

Liberty National Golf Club, Jersey City, N.J.

Purse: $3 million

U.S. Women’s Open (May 30-June 2)

Lancaster Country Club, Lancaster, Pa.

Purse: $11 million

ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer (June 7-9)

Seaview, A Dolce Hotel (Bay Course), Galloway, N.J.

Purse: $1.75 million

Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give (June 13-16)

Blythefield Country Club, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Purse: $3 million

KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (June 20-23)

Sahalee Country Club, Sammamish, Wash.

Purse: $10 million

Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational (June 27-30)

Midland Country Club in Midland, Mich.

Purse: $3 million

Amundi Evian Championship (July 11-14)

Evian Resort Golf Club, Evian-les-Bains, France

Purse: $6.5 million

Dana Open for Children (July 18-21)

Highland Meadows Golf Club, Sylvania, Ohio

Purse: $1.75 million

CPKC Women’s Open (July 25-28)

Earl Grey Golf Club, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Purse: $2.6 million

Portland Classic (Aug. 1-4)

Columbia Edgewater Country Club, Portland, Ore.

Purse: $1.75M

2024 Paris Olympics (Aug. 8-11)

Le Golf National, Paris, France

Women’s Scottish Open (Aug. 15-18)

TBD in Scotland

Purse: $2 million

AIG Women’s Open (Aug. 22-25)

St. Andrews (Old Course), St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland

Purse: $9 million

FM Global Championship (Aug. 29-Sept. 1)

TPC Boston, Norton, Mass.

Purse: $3.5 million

Solheim Cup (Sept. 13-15)

Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Va.

Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G (Sept. 19-22)

TBD, Cincinnati, Ohio

Purse: $2 million

Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G (Sept. 27-29)

Pinnacle Country Club, Rogers, Ark.

Purse: $3 million

Buick LPGA Shanghai (Oct. 10-13)

Qizhong Garden Golf Club, Shanghai, China

Purse: $2.1 million

BMW Ladies Championship (Oct. 17-20)

TBD, South Korea

Purse: $2.2 million

Maybank Championship (Oct. 24-27)

Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Purse: $3 million

TOTO Japan Classic (Oct. 31-Nov. 3)

Seta Golf Course, Shiga, Japan

Purse: $2 million

LOTTE Championship (Nov. 6-9)

Hoakalei Country Club, Ewa Beach, Oahu, Hawaii

Purse: $3 million

The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican (Nov. 14-17)

Pelican Golf Club, Belleair, Fla.

Purse: $3.25 million

CME Group Tour Championship (Nov. 21-24)

Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, Fla.

Purse: $11 million

Grant Thornton Invitational (Dec. 13-15) (Unofficial event)

Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, Fla.

Purse: $2 million

Image: Isaiah Vazquez

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Leaderboard

Lilia Vu, -19 (final-round 66)

Alison Lee, -16 (67)

Azahara Munoz, -16 (67)

Amy Yang, -15 (66)

Quotable

“I didn’t really expect this to happen,” Vu said. “I think I just wanted to have a good week going into CME next week and just try to be in contention, and then turned out the way it did.”

What It Means

Vu is now the second LPGA player, along with Celine Boutier, to win four times in 2023. Her previous victories, however, include two majors, the Chevron Championship and the AIG Women’s Open. That explains why the 26-year-old Californian was able to jump past Boutier in the Roles Player of the Year rankings, taking a commanding 196-169 point lead. (If she can keep it through the Tour Championship, she’ll be the first American POY since Stacy Lewis in 2014 and just the second since 1994.) Vu also is projected to ascend to the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Women’s Ranking on Monday.

With a first-place prize money payout of $475,000, Vu also passed $3 million in earnings in 2023, and $4 million for her career. It’s an incredible comeback for a player lost her LPGA card early in her pro career and considered quitting golf to go to law school.

How It Happened

Emily Kristine Pedersen led by three over Amy Yang and Vu when the final round started. But both Yang and Pedersen had their worst rounds of the week on Sunday, with Yang shooting even-par 70 and Pedersen struggling to a 74. (It proved particularly costly for Pedersen; had she parred the final hole for a 72, she would have moved into the top 60 on the CME points list, thereby earning a start in the Tour Championship. She made double, and her season ended.)

Vu, however, did not struggle on Sunday. She missed only two greens en route to shooting a four-under 66.

Best Of The Rest

A few players made crucial moves up the CME points list. Patty Tavatanakit, who started the week sitting right on the bubble in the 60th spot, had a T-15 finish to keep her inside the top 60 and get a chance to win the $2 million first prize at the CME Group Tour Championship. Similarly, Australia’s Stephanie Kyriacou’s T-5 at The Annika got her into the top 60.

Azahara Munoz started the week No. 100 on the CME points list. It was a precarious spot: Good play by just one player ranked below her could push her outside that number and cost her full status in 2024. Though, she had a few more starts to improve her position due to her recent return to the tour from maternity leave, she won’t need them: This T-2 finish locks up her card for next season.

Wei-Ling Hsu’s T-12 boosted her into the top 100, earning her 2024 LPGA Tour card. And Lydia Ko went from No. 101 on the CME points list to No. 100, though she her status in 2024 was already secure thanks to her wins in 2022.

Main image: Mike Ehrmann

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Bianca Pagdanganan, sitting 60th on the CME points list, highlights how one week can change the tenor of a year. Within the last month, the 26-year-old from the Philippines posted a T-2 and a T-3 finish to go from buried deep on the LPGA’s priority list to the final spot at the Tour Championship. Along with Pagdanganan, here are nine notable players to watch at Pelican as they attempt to earn their way into the CME and/or gain better status for 2024.

Andrea Lee

Yong Teck Lim

Race to the CME points list: 56

Lee produced a torrid stretch of play during the summer that earned her a place on the U.S. Solheim Cup team, stringing together five consecutive top-13 finishes from early August to early September, highlighted by a T-9 at the AIG Women’s Open. That also earned her way into a safe position for a spot at the Tour Championship. It was a crucial turnaround after missing seven cuts in her first 14 starts of the season, which included three no-cut events.

Madelene Sagstrom

Zhe Ji

Race to the CME points list: 57

Sagstrom’s course-record-setting closing 63 at the Buick LPGA Shanghai last month vaulted her from 38th place to T-8, earning the 30-year-old Swede her best finish of the year. The charge up the leaderboard put her into position for the CME, paying off her consistent midseason play with three straight top-20 results from late April to early June, including the first top-10 of the season at the Cognizant Founder’s Cup. Long considered a rising talent, if Sagstrom can stay in the top 60, it will be her fourth consecutive appearance at the Tour Championship.

Patty Tavatanakit

Jason Butler

Race to the CME points list: 61

The 2021 ANA Inspiration winner sits on the outside looking in at the Tour Championship. Despite a T-3 at the DIO Implant LA Open in March and a T-6 at the Women’s Scottish in August, the 24-year-old Thai native couldn’t capitalize on the seven limited-field events she played this year. Tavatanakit only beat one player between her first two starts at the Honda LPGA and the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. Her best finish in three events during the fall Asia swing was a T-28 at the BMW Ladies Championship, unable to get into the top 60 on CME despite Pagdanganan not being eligible to play in the Eastern hemisphere.

Stacy Lewis

Angel Martinez

Race to the CME points list: 83

Lewis is in danger of missing the CME for only the second time since the tournament’s creation in 2011, as she could not play in 2018 while on maternity leave. Lewis attempted to balance her role as U.S. Solheim captain while continuing to play this year, but after a season-best T-6 at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational in July, the LPGA’s team event, Lewis may have run out of steam as she has not made a cut in her her last five starts. To jump into the top 60, she’ll not only need to play the weekend but finish in a two-way tie for third or better at Pelican.

Marina Alex

Sam Hodde

Race to the CME points list: 86

The two-time winner had a solid start to the 2023 season, playing through to the weekend in her first 10 events. Alex’s late-summer cold streak, however, knocked her out of CME contention, missing six straight cuts before righting the ship in late September. The positive for the Florida resident is her second-best finish of the season came in her last tournament, a T-16 at the Ascendant LPGA in early October.

Mina Harigae

Sam Hodde

Race to the CME points list: 98

An up-and-down season finds Harigae sweating things out at the end just to maintain quality status for next year. While the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open runner-up has four top-30 finishes, she also had a habit of missing consecutive cuts, doing so four times this year. Should Harigae fall outside the top 100, her final-round 76 at Pebble Beach in July, where the Monterrey, Calif., native had more experience than anyone else in the field, looms large, as it pushed her out of the top 20 to a T-33.

Lydia Ko

Han Myung-Gu

Race to the CME points list: 101

Ko is in the awkward position of potentially becoming the first CME Group Tour Championship winner who was unable to qualify to play in the event the next year since the tournament’s inception in 2011. After an amazing comeback season in 2022, Ko has struggled finding any rythem to her game. Ko had just one top-10 finish before the fall Asia swing, a T-6 at the Honda LPGA Thailand in her season debut back in February. Defending her title at the BMW Ladies Championship seemed to rejuvenate the New Zealander, posting her best finish of the season, a solo third place, as well as a T-11 at last month’s Maybank Championship. Unfortunately, since she was a sponsor’s invite at both tournaments, Ko earned zero CME points for two of her three best performances of 2023. Outside of those three starts, she has no other finishes inside the top 30 this season. The bright spot for Ko is that she is guaranteed quality status for 2024 even if she remains outside the top 100 on CME points due to her wins last season.

Lucy Li

Vaughn Ridley

Race to the CME points list: 106

Much was expected from the 21-year-old former amateur phenom as she began her rookie season. In her second start, Li had a T-18 performance at the LA Open … which turned out to be her best result so far in 2023. Li faces losing her status in part due to a challenging stretch of missing five of six cuts from July to September. The LPGA’s European swing proved particularly trying for her, as Li missed the weekend in all three events she played in across the Atlantic Ocean. She arrives at the Annika with some momentum, having made the cut in her last two cuts. She’ll have to do that and more this week to avoid needing to go back to LPGA Q Series.

Caroline Hedwall

Jorge Guerrero

Race to the CME points list: 134

Does Hedwall have another late charge in her? The Swede’s 2023 highlight was her Solheim Cup singles performance, where she won against Ally Ewing after rallying from being 3 down with six holes to play by posting five birdies. Hedwall will need something similar if she is to push herself into the top 100. In 2023, she only made two starts on tour in 2023, both being LET/LPGA co-sanctioned events, the Women’s Scottish and the AIG, as Hedwall primarily played in Europe this season. Her T-6 at the Scottish, however, put Hedwall high enough on the CME list to be eligible for the Annika this week, giving her a chance to move back to full-time LPGA status for the first time since 2020.

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For the record, this nine-hole playoff was one hole shy of matching the tour’s all-time longest extra hole affair.

IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT! @celineboutier's winning putt in the ninth playoff hole! ? pic.twitter.com/ktThJNKJpC

— LPGA (@LPGA) October 29, 2023

Boutier’s win makes her the first four-time LPGA Tour winning in a single season since Nelly Korda and Jin Young Ko in 2021 and jumps her past Lilia Vu by three points in the Rolex Player of the Year race.

As for 54-hole leader Rose Zhang, who was trying to grab a second career LPGA title in only her 12th start in an event as a pro, the former amateur phenom couldn’t get any momentum building, making three early birdies offset by three mid-round bogeys, to post a 71 and fall two shots shy of playing extra holes.
The victory was also worth a first-place prize money payout of $450,000 for Boutier from an overall purse of $3 million. Here’s the prize money payouts for all golfers in this no-cut limited-field event.

Win: Celine Boutier, -21, $450,000
P-2: Atthaya Thitikul, -21, $275,072
T-3: Jasmine Suwannapura, -19, $176,954
T-3: Rose Zhang, -19, $176,954
5: Peiyun Chien, -18, $124,246
T-6: Nelly Korda, -17, $87,097
T-6: Brooke M. Henderson, -17, $87,097
T-6: Gemma Dryburgh, -17, $87,097
9: Megan Khang, -16, $67,018
10: Gaby Lopez, -15, $60,993
T-11: Lydia Ko, -14, $54,591
T-11: Nasa Hataoka, -14, $54,591
T-13: Pajaree Anannarukarn, -13, $47,890
T-13: Chanettee Wannasaen, -13, $47,890
T-15: Allisen Corpuz, -12, $42,468
T-15: A Lim Kim, -12, $42,468
T-17: Ruoning Yin, -11, $37,450
T-17: Minami Katsu, -11, $37,450
T-17: Hannah Green, -11, $37,450
T-20: Maja Stark, -10, $29,986
T-20: Yuka Saso, -10, $29,986
T-20: Olivia Cowan, -10, $29,986
T-20: Cheyenne Knight, -10, $29,986
T-20: Stephanie Meadow, -10, $29,986
T-20: Jin Young Ko, -10, $29,986
T-20: Xiyu Lin, -10, $29,986
T-20: Emily Kristine Pedersen, -10, $29,986
T-20: Sei Young Kim, -10, $29,986
T-29: Alexa Pano, -9, $22,740
T-29: Hye-Jin Choi, -9, $22,740
T-29: Jodi Ewart Shadoff, -9, $22,740
T-29: Ayaka Furue, -9, $22,740
T-29: Gina Kim, -9, $22,740
T-34: Lauren Coughlin, -8, $18,900
T-34: Sarah Kemp, -8, $18,900
T-34: Grace Kim, -8, $18,900
T-34: Leona Maguire, -8, $18,900
T-38: Yuna Nishimura, -7, $16,641
T-38: Ariya Jutanugarn, -7, $16,641
T-40: Jennifer Kupcho, -6, $14,458
T-40: Perrine Delacour, -6, $14,458
T-40: Sarah Schmelzel, -6, $14,458
T-40: Madelene Sagstrom, -6, $14,458
T-40: Linn Grant, -6, $14,458
T-45: Hae Ran Ryu, -5, $12,575
T-45: Yu Liu, -5, $12,575
T-47: Dottie Ardina, -4, $11,024
T-47: Narin An, -4, $11,024
T-47: Ashleigh Buhai, -4, $11,024
T-47: Moriya Jutanugarn, -4, $11,024
T-47: Maria Fassi, -4, $11,024
T-52: Natasha Andrea Oon, -3, $9,638
T-52: Esther Henseleit, -3, $9,638
T-52: Mi Hyang Lee, -3, $9,638
T-55: Andrea Lee, -2, $8,885
T-55: Patty Tavatanakit, -2, $8,885
T-57: Jeneath Wong, -1, Amateur
T-57: Amy Yang, -1, $8,434
59: Stephanie Kyriacou, E, $8,132
T-60: Hinako Shibuno, +1, $7,581
T-60: Jenny Shin, +1, $7,581
T-60: Albane Valenzuela, +1, $7,581
T-63: Linnea Strom, +2, $7,153
T-63: Aditi Ashok, +2, $7,153
T-65: Eun-Hee Ji, +3, $6,852
T-65: Ashley Lau, +3, $6,852
T-67: Matilda Castren, +4, $6,552
T-67: Danielle Kang, +4, $6,552
T-69: Nanna Koerstz Madsen, +5, $6,174
T-69: Ryann O’Toole, +5, $6,174
T-69: Celine Borge, +5, $6,174
72: Yan Liu, +7, $5,950
73: Alyaa Abdulghany, +9, $5,872
74: Jing Xuen Ng, +11, Amateur
75: Kelly Tan, +13, $5,797
T-76: Amanda Tan, +15, $5,688
T-76: Ida Ayu Melati, +15, $5,688

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“A lot of text messages, and I’m sorry I never got back to a lot of people,” Yin said.

“Including me,” Korda then joked.

Oddly enough, this season, Korda doesn’t have an LPGA win of her own, but has posted seven top 10s in 15 LPGA starts, won the Aramco Team Series London event, has been the No. 1 player in the world twice, and has represented the US in both the International Crown and Solheim Cup. With four events remaining, Korda is staring down the possibility of a winless LPGA year during a non-COVID impacted season for the first time since her rookie season in 2017.

“I think the season has been up and down,” Korda explained. “There have been really good finishes. At the beginning of the year golf felt really easy. Just was top-10-ing, and then I got injured and the momentum of my season really shifted. So kind of a little bit disappointing obviously, but that’s golf, right? You kind of have to ride the wave of it. You got to put your head down and sometimes work.

“I’ve been doing that, and I’m hoping for a momentum shift going into this week and then the last two in Florida as well. But, yeah, definitely a bit of an up and down year, which, you know, they’re sports, so I feel like athletes are always kind of in a spotlight, so when we have bad days they’re really magnified too. So unfortunately I’ve definitely had a few of those this year, but hoping to change that momentum.”

Korda, 25, posted top 10s in six of her first seven events, including a runner-up at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore at the beginning of March. She then returned to the No. 1 spot in the world rankings after a third-place finish at the Chevron Championship, going under par in all four rounds at Carlton Woods. Through her first seven events, Korda’s scoring average was 68.81, a mere rounding difference from the 68.77 she averaged during her four-win 2021 campaign. A victory, as it always seems with the uber-talented American, felt like a matter of if, not when.

What did stop her season was another injury. She played through a lower back tweak sidelined during the Founders Cup in May, missing her first cut of the year. After taking a month away, Korda still has yet to find the dominant form that kept her near the top of most of the LPGA’s early-season leaderboards. After returning at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June, Korda’s lone top 10 was a T-9 at the Amundi Evian Championship. Her best performance came away from the LPGA, with an 11-under-par winning score at the Ladies European Tour’s Aramco Team Series event in London in July.

That didn’t stop Korda from searching for answers. She flew her coach out to Oregon, where they worked into the evening Wednesday ahead of the Cambia Portland Classic. Since June, Korda has averaged 71.6, which would put her in 60th on tour.

If there is any silver lining, Korda actually is in familiar territory, even if it doesn’t seem like it. She did not have a victory at this point one year ago, albeit she did have a four-month break due to a blood clot in her arm that limited her to 15 starts. Korda then successfully defended her title at the Pelican last November, and she will have a chance to three-peat at that event in two weeks.

Despite Korda not being in peak form, leave it to Yin to believe that this week also gives Korda a great chance to win. After all, the grass at Maybank host Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club is Bermuda on the fairways and rough, the same setup as Pelican Golf Club, site of her last victory.

“I was like, this is Nelly’s golf course,” Yin said. “Looks like Taiwan where she won twice and looks like Pelican. The grass is like perfect for her. It’s right back to Bradenton, Florida.”

“Hopefully,” Korda said.

Main image: Chung Sung-Jun

The post With a month remaining in ‘up and down season,’ Nelly Korda still looking for first LPGA victory appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“Yes, good golf is a successful week,” Thompson, 28, said in a press conference. But, she added: “If I can leave here inspiring others, and especially the kids, the Shriners kids, that’s what it’s all about and what this tournament is. There is more than just playing golf.”

Thompson, an 11-time winner on the LPGA, received the invite from the Shriners in late September and said on Tuesday that playing in a PGA Tour event “means the world to me.”

Predictably, she and the tournament organisers faced some backlash for taking a spot in the field from a male player who could use the opportunity to further his earnings in the autumn events that are critical to players attempting to re-earn their PGA Tour cards for next season. Veteran Peter Malnati, a member of the PGA Tour Policy Board, initially reacted by calling Thompson’s inclusion a “gimmick.” But he back peddled on those comments later, adding: “I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know that having Lexi play is a gimmick, but I don’t think the tournaments are going to have to go to those kind of lengths to drum up interest and get storylines that they can sell because I think these events are actually going to have a lot of meaning.”

Asked about her reaction to the comments, Thompson said: “No reaction. I knew some comments were going to happen with anything. Like I said, I’m out here playing of course with the men, but I want to leave a message just to the kids that I’m following my dreams and to go after what you want with a positive mindset and don’t let anybody’s comments or reaction get in the way of that.

“But it’s all good,” she added with a smile. “I mean, I expected it.”

The invite may be controversial, but its place in history is noteworthy. Six women have preceded Thompson in teeing it up against the men — the last being Brittany Lincicome on a sponsor’s invite in the 2018 Barbasol Championship. Lincicome missed the cut, though she shot 71 in the second round to join Michelle Wie West as the only women to break par in a PGA Tour event. Wie West holds the record of eight starts against the men, but she never reached the weekend. The only woman to make the cut is Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who pulled it off twice in 1945.

Those who followed Zaharias in playing against the men were Shirley Spork, Annika Sorenstam, Suzy Whaley, Wie West and Lincicome.

Thompson, who struggled badly for much of the LPGA season but is coming off resurgent play in which she went 3-1-0 in the Solheim Cup and finished solo fifth last week in Texas, faces long odds to make the weekend in Las Vegas. Last year, the cut came at four-under par at TPC Summerlin, which is listed at 7,225 yards — or about 700 yards longer than Old American Golf Club was set up in last week’s LPGA Ascendent.

Though Thompson is among the longest hitters on the LPGA, ranking 12th in driving distance at 270 yards, there are six par 4s at Summerlin that measure more than 440 yards and two that are longer than 460. (One par 5 is listed at 606.) That will put a lot of long irons and fairway woods in her hands.

Still, Thompson said she is relishing the opportunity to “bomb driver everywhere”.

“The last few weeks I didn’t hit too many drivers, but you still have to hit the golf shots on the LPGA Tour,” Thompson said. “It’s just I don’t get to take advantage of sometimes my length on a few of those holes.

“Here, it’s driver on every hole, and I definitely like that. Fire away and swing, get the most distance I can on a few of those holes.”

On Tuesday, Thompson played in a practice round with Michael Kim and Ben Griffin, and both came away impressed.

“I thought she’s hitting it great,” Kim said on the LPGA’s Instagram account. “This course is probably a little longer than she’s used to, but I thought she was hitting it well.”

Added Griffin: “She was striping it. She was hitting it closer than us on a few holes. That’s to be expected. She has a ton of talent. She can handle it out there. Being firmer conditions, it’s a little different, but I think she’s adjusting well. She played awesome today and I think she can compete this week and have a chance to at least make it to the weekend.”

In his interview last week, Malnati said what many are probably thinking about Thompson’s appearance: “Who knows what’ll happen; she may go play really well, and it’ll be huge. She may play absolutely terrible and finish 132nd.”

At least for Thompson, the results seem hardly the point.

“If I can inspire one individual, I would feel like I’m making progress,” she said. “Of course, yes, I want to play good. That’s a whole other story. There is more to life than performing well. That’s what I want to do, inspire others.”

Main image: Lexi Thompson. Richard Heathcote

The post In face of controversial PGA Tour invite, Solheim Cup star Lexi Thompson playing for more than just a score appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“I just got a text this morning, so I don’t know much about it,” said Peter Malnati while speaking to the press at this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship. “Obviously, I know that Lexi at times has been one of the top players on the LPGA Tour, and she’s obviously very athletic. Distance won’t be a problem. She’ll hit it far enough.

“My gut reaction when I saw that was like the tournament reaching to try to get — just trying to drum up interest. I think I understand that, if that is the case.”

Malnati, a member of the PGA Tour Policy Board, went on to say that the tour doesn’t need to “resort to gimmicks” and that he was surprised by the move.

Immediately, though, Malnati corrected himself.

?? Peter Malnati calls Lexi Thompson a ''Gimmick'' and then quickly retracts statement. pic.twitter.com/prCiPQsfQn

— PGA Bonus (@PGABonus) October 5, 2023

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Malnati continued. “I don’t know that having Lexi play is a gimmick, but I don’t think the tournaments are going to have to go to those kind of lengths to drum up interest and get storylines that they can sell because I think these events are actually going to have a lot of meaning.

“Like I said, change is hard for everyone at every level, so I assume if you’re a host organisation of a tournament … you just don’t know right now for sure what you have anymore because the fall is completely reimagined.”

Malnati isn’t sure how Thompson will fare next week, but he does know that she has the talent to make the cut and keep things interesting.

“Having Lexi play certainly will get a lot of headlines, and if that’s the goal for Shriners and the host organisation in Vegas there, that’s great,” Malnati said while choosing his words carefully. “Obviously, she’s a professional athlete. She’s accomplished a lot.”

Thompson competing on the PGA Tour will be the first for a woman athlete since Brittany Lincicome accepted a sponsor exemption for the Barbasol Championship back in 2018. We’ll find out soon enough if she gets paired with Peter Malnati.

Main image: Kate McShane/R&A

The post Malnati calls Lexi Thompson PGA Tour debut a ‘gimmick’, immediately retracts comments appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Ko, who is playing at this week’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, is 93rd on the LPGA Tour CEM points list. While eligible to play in next week’s Ascendent LPGA event in Texas, she is not currently signed up for the tournament. And because of her position on the points list, Ko has qualified for just one of the LPGA’s four limited-field Asia swing events that make up the October portion of the LPGA calendar.

Meanwhile, with only the top 60 players qualifying for LPGA’s season-finale at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida, Ko has work to do to be able to return to that event, where she claimed the $2 million first prize with a two-shot win over Leona Maguire a year ago.

After getting married in December, Ko started 2023 in solid form as the No. 1 player in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings, winning the Ladies European Tour’s $5 million Aramco Saudi Ladies International in February in her first event of the year. She followed up with a T-6 at the Honda LPGA Thailand at the end of the month. That performance, however, has turned out to be her only top-30 finish this year on the LPGA in 15 starts, including four missed cuts.

“Going into the year, obviously every year is a new start, and even if you do have a good year you don’t really know what it’s going to be like, because that two months, a lot of things can happen between a week and the two months,” said Ko in an interview on Golf Channel at the Kroger Queen City Championship three weeks ago. “For sure a lot of things can change. I think I went into the year with a lot of self-pressure. You do want to continue to be on a good momentum and play well when you are playing well because I’ve gone through my own ups and downs. And when things aren’t going well, it’s not very easy to come back out of that.”

Lydia Ko won the Aramco Saudi Ladies International. LET

An LPGA spokesperson explained that qualifying for the four fall Asia swing events is not based on the tour’s most recent priority list but rather on a player’s CME points position following the Kroger even. There are between 43 and 68 spots at each of the Asia events, placing Ko in the field from her points position in only the first event, the Buick LPGA Shanghai, held October 12-15.

Ko sat as the 17th alternate at the BMW, where she shot a 21-under 267 total a year ago in China to win by four shots over Andrea Lee. The only chance she could play in the event, slated for October 19-22, was if she received one of the eight sponsor’s exemptions the tournament has, which Ko was granted on Tuesday.

Ko has already received a sponsor’s exemption into the Maybank Championship (October 26-29). But playing in the BMW or Maybank off a sponsor’s exemption won’t drastically improve her odds of getting into the CME Tour Championship due to intricate rules regarding CME points. In limited-field events with no cuts, such as the BMW, the LPGA only awards CME points to sponsor’s invites if they win. All four Asia swing tournaments are limited-field, no-cut tournaments subject to the CME sponsor’s invite rule.

Currently, Ko has only two tournaments to earn CME points without a win: this week’s tournament in Arkansas, where Ko won in 2016, and in Shanghai. As of today, Ko would need a two-way T-3 finish or better to move into the top 60 from the results of one tournament. But that wouldn’t account for other players earning points in other events that might push Ko further down the points list.

There’s one more possibility Ko could take to play her way into the season-ending tournament. Currently, Ko is not listed in the field at the LPGA’s last full-field event, the Annika Driven by Gainbridge in Florida November 9-12. There’s plenty of time for that to change, as she has until October 31 to enter the event with her status.

Should Ko not fight her way into the top 60, it would be the first time since she turned professional in 2013 that the two-time CME winner would not be in the tournament’s field.

Main image: Lydia Ko. Michael Reaves

The post Lydia Ko has two LPGA titles to defend still in 2023, but needs help to play in either event. Here’s why appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.