The golf world’s youth movement is even more secure after last week’s Masters Tournament. The week began with the second Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals at the Augusta National Golf Club, full of boys and girls ages 7-15 competing in the three skills on an international stage.
With Jordan Spieth, age 21, winning the Masters on the following Sunday, combined with 17-year-old Lydia Ko leading the LPGA Race to the CME Globe standings, the season-long competitions are both in a healthy state.
Ko has accumulated 1,505 points this season, largely based on a victory and six finishes in the top seven in seven starts thus far this season. She leads the LPGA in Greens in Regulation (81.5 percent).
Spieth leads the PGA Tour’s FedExCup with 2,009 points, led by two wins and seven top-10s. The Masters victory gave him the lead in the competition. Spieth leads the PGA Tour in putting (27.47 putts per round).
With both season-long points competitions awarding 500 for first place (600 for a major victory on the PGA Tour and 625 for a LPGA major), another win by Ko would virtually create a dead heat with Spieth in points awarded.
Eight 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.