NAPLES, Fla. — The Grant Thornton Invitational is being contested this week at Tiburón Golf Club’s Gold Course, which annually hosts the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship on the LPGA Tour. Sixteen teams comprised of one LPGA Tour player and one PGA Tour player will duke it out for a share of an equal $4 million purse in Naples, Fla., and the tournament will see three different formats utilized over the three days of competition – scramble, foursomes and modified four-ball. Defending champions Lydia Ko and Jason Day are set to compete, as are 2023 runners-up Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners and new partners Jeeno Thitikul and Tom Kim, who are both making their debuts in the event.

Take a deeper look at these three teams ahead of the 2024 Grant Thornton Invitational:

Lydia Ko/Jason Day

Last year’s champions Lydia Ko and Jason Day are back to defend their title this week at Tiburón Golf Club, having won the inaugural edition of the Grant Thornton Invitational in 2023. Ko is coming off an incredible LPGA Tour season, which she wrapped up just a couple of weeks ago with a solo third finish at the CME Group Tour Championship. The 27-year-old racked up three victories in 2024, winning the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews and the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G. But most impressively, Ko earned automatic entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame after taking home the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, a performance that saw her not only earn the 27th and final point she needed for automatic qualification into one of the most prestigious halls of fame in all of sports but also complete the medal trifecta, as she became the only person to win gold, silver and bronze medals in Olympic golf history. Along with her third-place showing in Naples, Fla., and her three victories, Ko collected four other top-10 results this season – a solo second at the LPGA Drive On Championship, a tie for fourth at the Blue Bay LPGA, a tie for eighth at the CPKC Women’s Open and a solo ninth at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open. She finished the season ranked in the top 15 of four major strokes gained categories, according to KPMG Performance Insights, most notably finishing third in strokes gained total (+1.95) and ninth in strokes gained around the green (+0.35).

Day earned four top-10 results in 20 starts this season on the PGA Tour, the best of which was a tie for fourth at the Wells Fargo Championship in May. Like his Grant Thornton Invitational partner Ko, the 37-year-old Australian represented his country at the 2024 Paris Olympics, finishing in a tie for ninth at Le Golf National in his debut in the Games after deciding not to compete at the 2016 Olympics because of Zika virus concerns and failing to qualify for the field in Tokyo. He also played on his fifth career International Team at the 2024 Presidents Cup in Canada in September. Day has won 13 times on the PGA Tour, one of which was a major championship that he captured in 2015 at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisc., and the most recent of which came at the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson just outside of Dallas, Texas. He has amassed over $61 million in career earnings and collected 95 total 10-finishes since joining the organization in 2008.

Ko and Day will play alongside Nelly Korda and Daniel Berger at 10:45 a.m. ET on Friday, December 13.

Jeeno Thitikul/Tom Kim

Jeeno Thitikul and Tom Kim are both making their Grant Thornton Invitational debut in Naples, Fla., teaming up for the first time at Tiburón Golf Club in the second edition of the mixed-gender team event. Thitikul returns to this week’s venue after winning the CME Group Tour Championship in November to earn her fourth career win and second 2024 victory, a title that saw her take home a historic $4 million first-place prize, the largest in all of women’s golf. That winner’s check saw Thitikul break the LPGA Tour’s single-season earnings record with $6,059,309 in official money for the year. The Thailand native was also recognized as the Aon Risk Reward Challenge winner during Tour Championship week, a season-long award that came with its own $1 million prize, bringing her single-week earnings to $5 million, which was more money than seven-time 2024 winner Nelly Korda brought home all season. Thitikul’s first win of the year came at the Dow Championship alongside her playing partner Ruoning Yin, and she also earned 10 other top-10 finishes, two of which were solo seconds that came at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G in August and Maybank Championship in October. She also tied for sixth at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally at Lancaster Country Club in June. Thitikul participated in her first Olympics in August as a representative of Thailand, ultimately finishing in a tie for 18th at Le Golf National just outside of Paris, France. The Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 4 wrapped up the year at second in strokes gained total (+2.40) and second in strokes putting (+1.22), as determined by data provided by KPMG Performance Insights.

Like Thitikul on the LPGA Tour, Kim joined the PGA Tour in 2022 and has collected three victories since becoming a member, winning the 2022 Wyndham Championship and the 2022 and 2023 Shriners Children’s Opens. This season, he picked up two top-10 results at the RBC Canadian Open and the Travelers Championship, tying for fourth and finishing second, respectively, the latter of which saw him fall in a playoff to Scottie Scheffler in Connecticut. Kim competed in his first Olympic Games in Paris in 2024, finishing solo eighth as a member of the Republic of Korea team, and also made his second appearance as a member of the International Team at the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal Golf Club in Canada. Kim has made $14,822,724 in career earnings and collected 14 top-10 finishes in his three seasons with the PGA Tour.

Kim and Thitikul are set to go with the Canadian duo of Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners at 10:15 a.m. on Friday morning.

Brooke Henderson/Corey Conners

Canadians Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners finished runner-up to Lydia Ko and Jason Day at the 2023 Grant Thornton Invitational, and after losing to the New Zealand/Australia duo by just a single shot at Tiburón Golf Club last year, the pair will be working hard to lift the trophy this week in Naples, Fla. Even though she wasn’t able to find the winner’s circle this year on the LPGA Tour, Henderson still managed to card nine top-10 finishes throughout the 2024 season, three of which were top-three performances that came at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions (3), the HSBC Women’s World Championship (T3) and The Chevron Championship (T3), the last of which was her best result in a major this season. She then ended the year with a T8 showing at the CME Group Tour Championship just under a month ago. The 27-year-old was a 2024 Olympian, representing Canada for a third straight Games in Paris at Le Golf National, where she ultimately tied for 13th, her second-best result in her Olympic career. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Henderson finished the 2024 season ranked in the top 20 of three strokes gained categories, most notably sitting at 14th overall in strokes gained driving (+0.49).

Conners collected four top-10 results in 23 starts on the PGA Tour this season, finishing sixth at the RBC Canadian Open, tying for ninth at the U.S. Open, tying for 10th at the Genesis Scottish Open and then tying for seventh in his final event of the year at the Procore Championship. The 32-year-old is a two-time PGA Tour champion, capturing the Valero Texas Open title in 2019 and then winning that same tournament again in 2023. Like Henderson, Conners played for Canada at the Paris Olympics, finishing in a tie for ninth in France during his second Olympic appearance. He also competed for the International Team under captain Mike Weir at the 2024 Presidents Cup, which was held in his home country at Royal Montreal Golf Club. Conners became a PGA Tour member in 2018, amassing $22,648,554 in official money and recording 27 top-10 results throughout his seven-year career.

The Canadians will play with Jeeno Thitikul and Tom Kim at 10:15 a.m. on day one of the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburón Golf Club.

For a full list of tee times, please click here.

Featured Teams: 2024 Grant Thornton Invitational

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