How quickly things can change in the Race to the CME Globe.
Just six weeks ago, Lydia Ko was cruising, holding a dominating lead in an effort to defend her title from 2014, the first year of the season-long points race. As the weather turned warmer around the United States, Inbee Park displayed a hot golf game that has catapulted the six-time major championship winner into first place in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and the Race to the CME Globe.
Park won the Volunteers of America North Texas Shootout in late April, recorded a T5 at the ShopRite LPGA Classic two starts later and then last week’s major championship title at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Since winning the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic on April 23, Ko’s best finish in four starts has been a T16 and she missed her first career LPGA cut last week.
Park holds a 537-point lead over Ko during an off week. She is assured of holding onto first place for the next couple of weeks. The next scheduled event, the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, scheduled June 26-28, offers 500 points for first place. That means Park will be No. 1 entering the U.S. Women’s Open, to be played July 9-12 at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club.
The majors could continue the dramatic change with the awarding of 25 percent more points, topped by 625 going to the winner. The remaining three majors are slated over the next nine tournaments through the end of summer. They include the U.S. Women’s Open (July 9-12), Ricoh Women’s British Open (July 30-Aug. 2) and Evian Championship (Sept. 10-13).
Fifteen tournaments have been completed in the second season of the Race to the CME Globe. The top three seeds entering November’s CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla., can win it all. The top nine have a chance to capture the season-long title with a victory and help from those ahead of them.
The Race to the CME Globe is a season-long points competition in which LPGA Members accumulate points in every Official LPGA Tournament. At the end of the season, the winning player will be named the “Race to the CME Globe Champion.” The competition began at the Coates Golf Championship, continues through the Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex in Mexico and concludes with a points reset for the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida the week before Thanksgiving.
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