Women’s American Circuit reaches its final with a lot at stake

The 2017 American Women’s Tour, LPGA Tour, comes to a close this week in Florida, and the stakes are still high. In fact, according to the Tour, “in the previous 67 LPGA seasons there has never been as much at stake in the final Tour tournament as there is this week at the CME Group Tour Championship.”

There is, for example, the $1 million bonus for the number one in the Race to the CME Globe, the Rolex Player of the Year, the Vare Trophy for the best average lap and the number one in earnings.

The only title already won is Rookie of the Year, for Sung Hyun Park. The South Korean could join Nancy Lopez (1978) as the only players to be Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year in the same season.

“It’s a fitting end to a season,” notes the Tour, “in which the LPGA has once again demonstrated that it is not only a world golf circuit, but also possesses one of the most significant talent pools in its history. Up to the sixteenth tournament of the year there was no repeat winner; 22 different players from eight countries won all 32 tournaments; and all five Majors have had five different winners.”

The Race to the CME Globe is a season-long competition in which LPGA members accumulate points at all official LPGA tournaments. The top 12 in the rankings have a mathematical chance of to win the Race title and the coveted million dollar check.

Lexi Thompson leads the Race with 5,000 points. Sung Hyun Park is second with 4,750, and in the top five are new   world number one Shanshan Feng (4,500), So Yeon Ryu (4,250) and Brooke Henderson (4,000).

Ryu, with two majors to her credit, has a slight lead in the race to become the Player of the Year. With 162 points, she is three points ahead of Feng (159), who comes to the CME Group Tour with victories in the last two LPGA Tour tournaments. Park is third with 157 points, followed by Thompson with 147.

Thompson also leads the Circuit in average per round with 69.147 strokes, followed by Park with 69.259, In Gee Chun with 69.269 and nine other players with less than 70 strokes.