There was a lot at stake in the last event of the season of the American Women’s Tour, the LPGA Tour, played in Florida. And everything was elucidated in the 72nd hole of the tournament, since until that last hole was not elucidated who would be the winner of this year’s CME Group Tour Championship. One of the four who shared the lead at the start of the day, Ariya Jutanugarn, birdied four of her last six holes to win by one stroke and avoid a three-way playoff with Americans Lexi Thompson and Jessica Korda.
The afternoon looked to belong to Thompson, who had a one-stroke lead on the 71st hole of the tournament, but missed a sub-one-meter putt on the 72nd hole for par, which meant tying with Korda, and had to wait for Jutanugarn to complete his round. The Thai star dashed Thompson’s hopes by holing an eight-meter putt for birdie to win by one stroke at 15 under par.
As a consolation prize, Thompson took home the Race to the CME Globe, with points earned throughout the season, and his $1 million prize.
For the first time in LPGA Tour history there were two Players of the Year. Rookies Sung Hyun Park and So Yeon Ryu finished the season tied at 162 points. Park also made history by becoming the first player since Nancy Lopez in 1978 to win Rookie and Player of the Year honors in a single season.
Thompson took home the 2017 Vare Trophy by finishing the season with the lowest stroke-per-round average on the circuit, 69.114.
Finally, in addition to winning Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year honors, Park also finished 2017 at the top of the earnings list, with $2,335,883.
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