Plenty on line for Thompson at CME Group Tour Championship (Nov 15, 2017)
After 32 official events across 15 countries and 14 states, the 2017 LPGA season concludes with this week's CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla.
The game's best players are ready to go, all in hunt of the $1 million bonus that comes with winning the season-long competition.
In a year that saw the first 16 tournaments won by different golfers and 22 different champions from eight countries, a handful of season-ending awards -- including the Race to the CME Globe, Rolex Player of the Year honors and the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average -- are still up for grabs.
The Race to the CME Globe is a season-long points competition in which LPGA members accumulate points in every official LPGA Tournament. Following the Blue Bay LPGA last week in China, the top 72 LPGA members, as well as any non-member winners and any alternates, in the Race to the CME Globe points standings have been seeded into the Championship field.
For the top five players, it's easy -- win the CME Group Tour Championship and take home a cool million dollars. However, the top 12 in the points race all have a mathematical chance to take the title of Race to the CME Globe Champion and earn the coveted check.
Going into the Tour Championship, Lexi Thompson leads the Race with 5,000 points. Sung Hyun Park of South Korea, who has already clinched Rolex Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year honors, sits in second with 4,750. Rounding out the top five, who control their own destinies at this week, are newly minted world No. 1 Shanshan Feng of China (4,500), So Yeon Ryu of South Korea (4,250) and Canada's Brooke Henderson (4,000).
With 162 points, Ryu holds a three-point lead in the race for Rolex Player of the Year honors over Feng, who enters the CME Group Tour Championship fresh off wins at the LPGA's last two events. Park is in third with 157 points, followed by Thompson with 147.
Thompson also leads the LPGA in scoring average at 69.147, followed by Park at 69.259, In Gee Chun of South Korea at 69.269 and nine other players under 70. The LPGA record for the most players under 70 is five, set in 2016.
"I don't really pay attention to stats and everything -- my dad does, but I don't," Thompson said. "I really just go on how I feel with my game throughout rounds. I know where I missed putts, where I need to improve on, where I didn't get up and down or anything like that. I think it's the same things I need to work on this offseason, but maybe tighten up my ball striking even more."
Ryu comes to Naples with a nagging right shoulder injury that has hindered her game since the Tour's stop in Malaysia in late October. She skipped last week's event in China to rest the joint and spent her practice time focusing on her short game rather than full swings.
"My expectation level with my long game is not really high right now as it could be," Ryu said. "I think it could be really good thing, but good news is this is my last tournament of the year so I can have plenty of rest. I have the best team, so for sure I can get back to a healthy shoulder."
Finding a balance between work and personal is precious for Ryu, who was forthcoming throughout the season about how the rigors of being on top of the Rolex Rankings were often a challenge.
"Even though when you reached everything you still cannot enjoy fully. You want to be great, you have to do your best and you have to keep working hard," said Ryu, who works with a sports psychologist to keep her mind and body in balance.
"But I guess deep in my mind I was like, 'OK, after I've done like everything what I wanted to do, I'm just going to be like relaxed.'"
Park has had an historic rookie year, winning both the U.S Women's Open and the Canadian Pacific Women's Open, as well as the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year honors with five events left on the LPGA schedule.
She leads the LPGA in official earnings, is second in the Race to the CME Globe and could join Nancy Lopez as the only players to win Player and Rookie of the Year honors in the same year.
"I know I'm not the only one in the chase," said Park, who met her preseason goals of winning a tournament and being Rookie of the Year.
"I know all the other competitors are feeling the same pressure. From that standpoint, I try not to put too much pressure on myself. Once a tournament begins, when I'm inside the ropes, then I don't really worry about winning or chasing those titles. I really just try to focus one shot at a time. I think once the competition begins it becomes easier for me."
This is the fourth playing of the CME Group Tour Championship and the fourth consecutive year it will be played on the Tiburon Golf Club's Gold Course.
Three past champions are in this week's field -- Lydia Ko of New Zealand (2014), Cristie Kerr (2015) and Charley Hull of England (2016). Feng won the CME Titleholders on this same golf course in 2013.
