Vu started the day three shots back of Emily Kristine Pedersen, then posted a four-under 66. With Kristine Pedersen struggling to a 74, Vu quickly climbed the leaderboard, eventually posting a 19-under 261 total. She is now the second player with four wins on the season, joining Celine Boutier. But Vu jumped past Boutier in the Rolex Player of the Year points standings with her victory on Sunday, taking a commanding 196-169 lead with just next week’s LPGA finale, the CME Group Tour Championship, to play.

With the win, Vu earned a first-place prize money payout of $487,500 from an overall purse of $3.25 million. Vu has made $3,252,303 this season, her fourth on tour, which is 77.8 per cent of her career earnings ($4.175 million)

Here are the prize money payouts for everybody that made the cut at The Annika.

1: Lilia Vu, -19, $487,500

T-2: Alison Lee, -16, $262,260

T-2: Azahara Munoz, -16, $262,260

4: Amy Yang, -15, $170,594

T-5: Stephanie Kyriacou, -14, $124,827

T-5: Emily Kristine Pedersen, -14, $124,827

T-7: Ariya Jutanugarn, -13, $76,061

T-7: Lexi Thompson, -13, $76,061

T-7: Ruoning Yin, -13, $76,061

T-7: Megan Khang, -13, $76,061

T-7: Minami Katsu, -13, $76,061

T-12: Hae Ran Ryu, -12, $54,700

T-12: Wei-Ling Hsu, -12, $54,700

T-12: Gaby Lopez, -12, $54,700

T-15: Linn Grant, -11, $45,714

T-15: Rachel Kuehn (a), -11, Amateur

T-15: Amanda Doherty, -11, $45,714

T-15: Patty Tavatanakit, -11, $45,714

T-19: In Gee Chun, -10, $39,029

T-19: Bianca Pagdanganan, -10, $39,029

T-19: Brooke M. Henderson, -10, $39,029

T-19: Wichanee Meechai, -10, $39,029

T-23: Grace Kim, -9, $34,952

T-23: Sarah Schmelzel, -9, $34,952

T-25: Charley Hull, -8, $30,042

T-25: Allisen Corpuz, -8, $30,042

T-25: Cydney Clanton, -8, $30,042

T-25: Jasmine Suwannapura, -8, $30,042

T-25: Chanettee Wannasaen, -8, $30,042

T-25: Nelly Korda, -8, $30,042

T-31: Atthaya Thitikul, -7, $23,205

T-31: Jeongeun Lee5, -7, $23,205

T-31: Pornanong Phatlum, -7, $23,205

T-31: Jin Young Ko, -7, $23,205

T-31: Ally Ewing, -7, $23,205

T-31: Lydia Ko, -7, $23,205

T-31: Lindy Duncan, -7, $23,205

T-38: Leona Maguire, -6, $17,726

T-38: Gabriela Ruffels, -6, $17,726

T-38: Jodi Ewart Shadoff, -6, $17,726

T-38: Dewi Weber, -6, $17,726

T-38: Matilda Castren, -6, $17,726

T-38: Gina Kim, -6, $17,726

T-44: Maria Fassi, -5, $14,979

T-44: Soo Bin Joo, -5, $14,979

T-46: Nicole Broch Estrup, -4, $13,398

T-46: Caroline Inglis, -4, $13,398

T-46: Georgia Hall, -4, $13,398

T-46: Louise Rydqvist (a), -4, Amateur

T-46: Jaravee Boonchant, -4, $13,398

T-51: Pernilla Lindberg, -3, $11,179

T-51: Hye-Jin Choi, -3, $11,179

T-51: Yuna Nishimura, -3, $11,179

T-51: Carlota Ciganda, -3, $11,179

T-51: Jeongeun Lee6, -3, $11,179

T-51: Muni He, -3, $11,179

T-57: Sarah Kemp, -2, $9,653

T-57: Ruixin Liu, -2, $9,653

T-57: Perrine Delacour, -2, $9,653

60: Elizabeth Szokol, -1, $8,987

T-61: Polly Mack, E, $8,100

T-61: Ashleigh Buhai, E, $8,100

T-61: Olivia Cowan, E, $8,100

T-61: Eun-Hee Ji, E, $8,100

T-61: Hinako Shibuno, E, $8,100

T-61: Aline Krauter, E, $8,100

T-67: Gemma Dryburgh, +1, $7,406

T-67: Anna Nordqvist, +1, $7,406

69: Frida Kinhult,+ 5, $7,158

70: Min Lee, +6, $6,989

Main image: Mike Ehrmann

The post Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer at the 2023 Annika driven by Gainbridge appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

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.

The post 9 golfers facing make-or-break moments in their 2023 LPGA seasons at this week’s final full-field event appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
Despite his latest health-related setback, Tiger Woods will play golf this Saturday. We repeat: Tiger Woods will play golf this Saturday.

And while it’s not in a real-deal, 72-hole tournament, it will be Woods like you’ve never seen him before—under the lights, in primetime, alongside teammate Rory McIlroy and the opposing two-man squad of Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. It will be the seventh iteration of Capital One’s The Match, a series of made-for-TV match-play events that has previously featured Woods facing off with longtime rival Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka going head-to-head amid their “beef,” and, in the most recent edition, NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers teaming up to defeat Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.

Here’s everything you need to know about The Match.

The teams

The two-man teams for The Match are World No. 1 McIlroy and 15-time major champion Woods versus reigning PGA champion Thomas and three-time major winner Spieth.

The format

The format is best ball, meaning each player on each team plays his own ball throughout the round and lowest score of the two players counts as the team score on each hole. For example, if Woods makes a 4 and McIlroy a 3, McIlroy’s 3 is their score for the hole. The team with the lowest score on a hole wins that hole. It is only a 12-hole match, which means if one team takes a 3-up lead after 10 holes, the match is over.

How to watch

Coverage will begin live on TNT at 6 p.m. ET, on Saturday. Simulcasts also will be available on TBS, TruTV and HLN, in addition to expansive content available across Bleacher Report’s platforms leading up to and during the competition. Programming will begin with “The Conversation presented by Deloitte,” a roundtable discussion with Woods, McIlroy, Thomas and Spieth hosted by Brian Anderson, who will be calling all the action along with NBA legend Charles Barkley, former Masters winner Trevor Immelman and sports reporter Kathryn Tappen. Preview coverage for The Match will begin immediately after the roundtable discussion at 6:30 p.m. ET.

For fans looking to check in even earlier, the “Hot Seat Press Conference” will be available at 5:30 p.m. ET on the Bleacher Report app. It will be hosted by former tour pro Smylie Kaufman feature questions field from fans across Bleacher Report’s social channels and the B/R app.

The location

The Match is being held at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla., which has hosted the LPGA’s Pelican Women’s Championship for the past three years. Sei Young Kim won the inaugural edition of the event in 2020, while Nelly Korda has won the tournament in each of the last two seasons, including this past November’s edition, which was shortened to 54 holes due to Tropical Storm Nicole.

The course was originally designed by Donald Ross in 1925 and recently restored in 2019 by Beau Welling and his team to reflect Ross’ original vision. Like many Ross courses, Pelican is quite forgiving off the tee but is defended by the small, undulating greens.

The charity

All four golfers will make a series of donations via special challenges to Hurricane Ian relief efforts after the devastating effects of the late-September storm on the Gulf Coast and its surrounding communities.

The challenges

There will be five special challenges that will generate donations from the players. On the third hole will be a closest-to-the-hole competition sponsored by DraftKings Sportsbook for up to $1.1 million. At the ninth hole there will be another closest-to-the-hole challenge sponsored by UnitedHealthcare for up to $1.1 million. There also will be a one-club challenge (every player can only use one club on the entire hole) at the fourth, which is sponsored by Capital One, for up to $750,000. Finally, there will be two hole-in-one challenges at the fifth and eighth holes, one sponsored by USAA Insurance and one by Tito’s Handmade Vodka. If an ace is made on either hole, $2.5 million will be donated on the team’s behalf, and if no hole-in-one is made, $250,000 will be donated on behalf of the team that wins the hole.

The weather

The forecast for Saturday evening calls for temperatures in the low-to-mid 60s with clear skies early and the possibility of a few clouds later on. Winds will be light and there is a less than 10 per cent chance of precipitation.

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The post Everything you need to know about The Match under the lights at Pelican Golf Club appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.