“Catch the $2 million first prize.”
The 2023 U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour culminates in a money-filled finale. The LPGA Tour CME Group Tour Championship, which begins Sunday at Tiburon GC (par 72-6556) in Naples, Florida, is the 2023 season finale with a total purse of $7 million and a $2 million winner’s purse.
The $7 million purse is the largest among the 31 individual events on the LPGA Tour this year, excluding the U.S. Open ($11 million), KPMG Women’s PGA Championship ($10 million) and AIG Women’s Open ($9 million). The purse is equal to or greater than the total purse of 15 tournaments this year.
South Korean players Kim Hyo-joo, Ko Jin-young, Hae-ran Hae, Yang Hee-young, Shin Ji-eun, Kim Arim, Choi Hye-jin, and Kim Se-young will compete in the tournament, which is limited to the top 60 players on the CME Globe Rankings based on their yearly performance. Two years ago, when the number of participants was reduced from 70 to 60, South Korea sent 10 players to the event, but this year they are down to two.
Kim Hyo-joo, ranked fourth on the CME points list, will be looking to take home both the money prize and the bare trophy. Kim has nine top-10 finishes this season, including one victory, and is sixth on the season money list with $2,048,856 in earnings.
She leads the money list with $3.252 million, and the likes of Allison Kopuz ($3.478 million-USA), Yin Luning ($2.756 million-China), and Celine Boutier ($2.734 million-France), but a victory would give her the title regardless of the other players’ results.
Even if Lilia Buga finishes second ($550,000), she’s the last player in the field who can claim the title on her own.
Kim (69.689), who lost a 0.013-stroke lead in the scoring average race to Ataya Thititjerin (69.676-Thailand) during last week’s break from competition, is in a “last ditch effort” in the final round. She will be determined not to let the opportunity to win her first title since making her LPGA debut in 2015 slip through her fingers.
2019 Champion Se-Young Kim, a two-time defending champion in 2020 and 2021, will be hoping for a spectacular finale. Ko is looking for her third win of the season, capitalizing on her connection to Tiburon Golf Course, where she won the Most Valuable Player competition against Nelly Corda two years ago.
South Korean players have just four wins on the LPGA Tour this year for the second straight year. Rookie of the Year Hae Ran Kim will be looking for her second win of the season alongside Hyo Joo Kim, while Hye Jin Choi and Arim Kim, who have not won since moving to the U.S., will have one last hope.
World No. 1 Lilia Boo, a near lock for Player of the Year, will be looking for her second straight win and fifth of the season. 캡틴토토 주소
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