IT’S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
It’s all come down to this. The LPGA is making its lone stop of the season in China this week at the fourth-edition of the Blue Bay LPGA, marking the final tournament before the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla. on Nov. 16-19.
The 81-player field includes five of the top 10 players in the world, highlighted by a trio of major champions World No. 2 Sung Hyun Park, No. 4 Shanshan Feng and No. 6 Anna Nordqvist(as of the Oct. 30 Rolex Rankings). This week marks the 32nd tournament of what has been an exciting 2017 LPGA season, which has seen two Rolex First-Time Winners along with 22 different tournament winners.
As in the past, members of the CLPGA have been invited to compete in this year’s event as 15 members will be teeing it up among the LPGA’s best. Click here to view a complete list of the field.
In 2016, Minjee Lee captured her third career win at the Blue Bay LPGA. Lee carded a two-under par, 70 to win by one-stroke at 13-under par, one ahead of Jessica Korda and two-strokes ahead of 2016 Rolex Player of the Year Ariya Jutanugarn.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BLUE BAY LPGA
1 - Sei Young Kim (2015) is the only rookie to have won this event
1 - Lee-Anne Pace became a Rolex First-Time winner at the event in 2014
3 - In its three years, winners of the Blue Bay LPGA have represented three different countries including: Australia, South Korea and South Africa
65 - Lowest round in tournament history; most recently shot by Ariya Jutanugarn in the third round in 2016
72 - The 2017 edition of the Blue Bay LPGA marks the third year the tournament will be 72-holes; the inaugural tournament in 2014 was 54-holes
275 - Lowest 72-hole score (-13), set by Minjee Lee in 2016
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DEFENDING CHAMPION MINJEE LEE
- In 2017, Lee has made 24 starts on the LPGA with 10 top-10 finishes, including a season-best runner-up finish at the LPGA Volvik Championship in May
- She has made 26 starts since her victory at the 2016 Blue Bay LPGA
- The 2015 rookie has three career victories to her name: 2015 Kingsmill Championship, 2016 LOTTE Championship, 2016 Blue Bay LPGA
- Lee represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Olympics finishing T7, and was a member of Team Australia at the 2014 and 2016 UL International Crown
- Lee has made two previous starts at the Blue Bay LPGA, she finished T14 in 2015 and won in 2016
- Lee is the only player to win the Blue Bay LPGA wire-to-wire; past champions Sei Young Kim (2015) and Lee-Ann Pace (2014) both held a share of the lead from rounds two through the final round
- Lee will look to be the second player this season to successfully defend their 2016 title; following Shanshan Feng who successfully defended her title last week at the TOTO Japan Classic
#CMEFINALSTRETCH
This week’s Blue Bay LPGA will mark the final tournament before the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. Following the TOTO Japan Classic, World No. 3 Lexi Thompson took the lead in the Race to the CME Globe standings. Thompson has 3,304 points and holds a narrow lead over World No. 1 So Yeon Ryu who has 3,064 points.
Neither Thompson or Ryu are in the field at this week’s Blue Bay LPGA, leaving the door open for the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Sung Hyun Park who enters the week third in the standings with 3,029 points.
The top five finishers entering Naples will control their own destiny at the CME Group Tour Championship, meaning if a player in the top five wins in Naples she will win the $1M CME Globe.
Here’s a look at how the top five shapes up heading into the Blue Bay LPGA.
Pos. Player Points
1 Lexi Thompson 3,304
2 So Yeon Ryu 3,064
3 Sung Hyun Park 3,029
4 Brooke Henderson 2,785
5 Shanshan Feng 2,647
6 In Gee Chun 2,611
7 Cristie Kerr 2,583
8 Ariya Jutanugarn 2,321
9 Anna Nordqvist 2,214
10 Moriya Jutanugarn 2,213
*Players in bold are in the Blue Bay LPGA field.
The top 12 finishers entering Naples will also have a mathematical chance to win the $1M CME Globe
CME GROUP CARES WEEKENDS EAGLES UPDATE
CME Group Cares Weekend is a season-long charitable giving program that turns eagles into donations. For each eagle recorded during weekend play (Saturday and Sunday) throughout the 2017 LPGA Tour season, CME Group donates $1,000 to the program’s total donation count. The money raised will go towards a charitable pool and be split evenly between Wounded Warrior Project® and Bright Pink®.
Players scored eight eagles over the weekend at the TOTO Japan Classic raising another $8,000 for charity. This brings the total to 281 eagles on the year, which translates to $281,000 raised. LPGA rookies Nelly Korda and Angel Yin lead the charitable efforts with eight eagles on the weekends this season.
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