The LPGA Tour returns to Naples, Fla. for the 18th and final event of the 2020 season at the CME Group Tour Championship, the culmination of the season-long Race to the CME Globe.
The Race to the CME Globe is a season-long points competition in which LPGA Members accumulate points in every Official LPGA Tournament to gain entry into the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. The player who wins the CME Group Tour Championship will be named the “Race to the CME Globe Champion.” Following the U.S. Women’s Open, the CME Group Tour Championship field was set to the top 70 players in the Race to the CME Globe points standings, and two additional sponsor invitations. All 72 players in this week’s field will compete in a 72-hole, no-cut competition.
The top eight of the Rolex Rankings highlight the field, including World No. 1 Jin Young Ko. Ko finished No. 45 in the Race to the CME Globe standings after playing in just three events in 2020 and is also coming off a tie for second finish at the U.S. Women’s Open. Rolex Rankings No. 2 Sei Young Kim is back to defend her 2019 title since winning the event in spectacular fashion with a 25-foot birdie on the 72nd hole for a one-stroke victory over 2016 champion, Charley Hull. Rolex Rankings No. 3 Inbee Park, who returns to the top three in the Rankings for the first time since September 24, 2018, is looking for her second victory of the year after earning the most points in the season-long race with 2,035. With the field set at 72 players, all will have an equal chance at the $1.1 million winner’s prize, the largest in 2020.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE CME GROUP TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP
- This is the seventh playing of the CME Group Tour Championship and the seventh consecutive year it will be played on the Tiburon Golf Club’s Golf Course
- It is the 18th and final event of the 2020 LPGA Tour season
- The CME Group Tour Championship is one of four total tournaments on the 2020 LPGA Tour schedule to be contested in the Sunshine State, along with the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions (Lake Buena Vista), Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio (Boca Raton) & Pelican Women’s Championship presented by DEX Imaging and Konica Minolta (Belleair)
- Seven past champions are in the field this week - Charley Hull (2016), Ariya Jutanugarn (2017), Cristie Kerr (2015), Sei Young Kim (2019), Lydia Ko (2014), Hee Young Park (2011) and Lexi Thompson (2018)
- Eight of the top 10 in the Rolex Rankings highlight the field this week,
- There are 12 of the season’s 15 different winners playing, including Sei Young Kim and Danielle Kang, the only players with multiple victories in 2020