CME Group Tour Championship preview — Lucky seven for Nelly
The IX: Golf Thursday with Marin Dremock, Nov. 21, 2024
The LPGA Tour’s season finale, the CME Group Tour Championship is this week, and we have an exciting finish to the year on our hands.
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Welcome back to Golf Thursday, friends.
The CME Group Tour Championship, held this year at Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Fla., is the culmination of a grueling season of competition. Players fought hard to get to this moment, into the top 60 of the Race to the CME Globe Points standings.
The field will play a normal 72-hole stroke play tournament, but there will be no cut. It’s anyone’s game to try to snag their share of the whopping $11 million prize purse. On the line for the winner? A $4 million prize.
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Here are some notables for this week:
Nelly Korda
An obvious one, right? But the 2024 Rolex Player of the Year and Rolex ANNIKA Major Award winner has never won the CME Group Tour Championship, her best finish being runner-up in 2018.
Despite this, her spot atop the CME Globe standings, world rankings, number of wins this season and the official money list (am I missing anything?) would make her hard to overlook this time.
The ANNIKA last week was one of those moments where it would seem the field got the best of Korda, but she always has a way of clawing her way back in dominant fashion. Let’s see if she can cap off her already impressive season with a win this week.
Featured Groups
ESPN+ announced that they’d be showing live featured group coverage of the CME Group Tour Championship from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Nov. 21–23 and 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Nov. 24.
Here are the groups they’re covering:
Bailey Tardy/Madelene Sagstrom | 8:25 a.m. ET
Pajaree Annarukarn/Lexi Thompson | 8:35 a.m. ET
Ally Ewing/Brooke Henderson | 11:35 a.m. ET
Lilia Vu/Jin Young Ko | 11:45 a.m. ET
J.Y. Ko is the only other two-time winner, besides Lydia Ko, of the CME Group Tour Championship. Make sure to catch Thompson and Ewing specifically, as they both announced their retirements from full-time professional golf at the end of this season.
Lydia Ko
Another must-watch in this season-ending tournament is none other than Lydia Ko, who picked up three wins on the season, including her third major championship. L. Ko has won this tournament twice, once in 2014 and then again two years ago in 2022.
L. Ko’s season has been historic, to say the least. She’s ranked No. 4 in the world, won an Olympic gold medal, was given the Heather Farr Perseverance Award and officially qualified for the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame. She became the youngest player to do so at age 27.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Lydia makes a run for this title to round out her incredible year. Regardless, she’ll be proud of the season she had.
Nasa Hataoka
After a disappointing finish to the LOTTE Championship, Nasa Hataoka has got to have a chip on her shoulder. She saw long putts drop for birdie but then fell victim to three-putts coming down the most important stretch of holes.
If Hataoka can get her putter rolling and keep it hot, she has a solid chance of creeping into a top spot and clutching a good chunk of that prize money.
Charley Hull
Never count Charley Hull out.
She was so dominant until the weekend at The ANNIKA. She shined with a recent LET win at the Aramco Team Series – Riyadh, and remember that electric Solheim Cup Sunday Singles victory over Nelly Korda? I’ve got an inkling that Hull, with her go-for-it mentality, will come to play this week.
It’s the 2024 LPGA Tour season finale; anything can happen.
This week in women’s golf
LPGA News
LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway (LEAP) set to begin in 2025
LPGA Tour celebrates 75th anniversary with another record-breaking schedule in 2025
LPGA Announces Gold Driver Award winners
LPGA Foundation sets fundraising records with golf for a cause
Jeeno Thitikul wins $1 million prize in 2024 AON Risk Reward Challenge
Five things to know about the 2024 CME Group Tour Championship
Relive all seven of Nelly Korda’s 2024 LPGA Tour victories
Annika Sorenstam shares passion with every tip
Making moves: players on the top-100 bubble in Race to the CME Globe
The LPGA Foundation honors the next class of leadership academy scholars
Pelican Golf Club a good neighbor after storms
Copper Rock Golf Course to host 2025 LPGA Legends Championship
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LET News
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The LET Golf Podcast | Liz Young
Who will make it to the final stage of LPGA Q-Series?
Theresa McCann appointed LET Commercial Director
Inside the LET | Eva-Lotta Strömlid | Women & Golf
Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España supports the Fundación Blanca’s commitment to mental health
LET Shot of the Year: Vote for your favorite
LET Sustainability Award back for 2024
WPGA Tour of Australasia early 2025 schedule announced
Promoting the importance of nature at LET tournaments
Epson Tour News
Toledo Classic, Inc. announces new tournament featuring Legends of the LPGA & Epson Tour
Amateur/NCAA News
Three women college golfers will forego their senior spring and turn pro
Gianna Clemente named Rolex Junior Player of the Year
Five at The IX: Nelly Korda records her seventh LPGA Tour win of the season
On Sunday, Nov. 17, Nelly Korda was victorious for the seventh time this year on the LPGA Tour. This time, her win came at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. The namesake host of the tournament, Annika Sorenstam, joined the Florida native at her winning press conference. Here’s what the two legends of women’s golf spoke to the media about following Korda’s comeback win.
THE MODERATOR: All right, I am so pleased to be joined here at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican by our third-time champion, Nelly Korda and tournament host Annika Sorenstam.
Nelly, start with you. Just the emotions of the day. Really great back nine to take your third victory here at this golf course that I know you love so much.
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, it’s so nice to play in front of friends and family so close to home. I think that’s what makes me so comfortable out here.
Didn’t start the day the way I wanted to, but it’s not how you start it’s how you finish. To have that run that I did on those five holes, yeah, just kept myself in it all day.
Didn’t make big mistakes but couldn’t get really anything going. To go on that run that I did feels really nice.
Q. You’re two people starting to be known by only one name in golf. Annika, for you, how special is it to have someone like Nelly doing things that you used to do back in your day win your event?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, any tournament would like the top player to win. I think we had a wonderful field this week. It got quite exciting until Nelly got on that run. You never know until it’s over.
It’s always great to have the No. 1 player in the world play in your tournament and play as well. Like she said, she has friends and family here and everybody knows her, so it’s a great story.
I think the way she played this course, it was a good way it displays how good women’s golf, especially around the greens. Maybe you couldn’t see it on TV, but the greens were lightning and she handed it so beautifully. To have a player of her caliber, obviously this year has been a tremendous year, not just being No. 1, but really captured every award there is I think. Good for you, and happy to have you as a champion.
Q. Annika, few people know what it’s like to win this many events in a year; you do. Can you put in perspective what this — how hard it is to do that on Tour and what makes Nelly so special?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, it’s been a while, so I don’t remember everything. I mean, obviously it’s fun doing it. When you’re on a roll you’re on a roll. I’m just trying to think what it would be like today. It’s very competitive out there. You play tournaments in Europe, Asia, you play everywhere.
It’s just very tough competition. I think the hardest part is probably just to keep motivating and working and trying to get better.
Like she said, when you have maybe a few bumps in the road to keep working and believing in yourself and keep working towards those goals. You know, what’s next.
Be interesting to see what your goals will be for ’25 because you got to a new point in your career. It’s like what am I going to do now? Like I said on the green, I just hope you’re enjoying it. It’s so easy to kind of keep going forward that you forget really all the hard work you put in to get there.
You set the bar so high so you almost expect it every week. There is a fine line where you push yourself and still can enjoy the moment and appreciate what you’ve done.
NELLY KORDA: Yep.
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Q. In that stretch of five birdies on the back nine, was there a point where it felt like maybe it did back in the spring when everything might have seemed to roll well?
NELLY KORDA: I was playing really well all week. I hit some loose shots on the front nine and may have not rolled in the putts on the front nine. On the back nine I always felt really, really good.
I just stuck to my game plan. I just needed one putt to really go in, and that did on No. 11. From then on, I just felt a little bit more comfortable on the greens.
I mean, they’re super slick. It may not seem on the outside but they’re so fast. With the amount of break and they’re tricky too, very subtle. One putt can break both ways.
Being committed to your line on these greens and hitting it hard enough but not hitting it too hard where you have another four-footer coming back, that was the key.
So for me to hit it a little closer and roll some putts in, felt really good.
Q. And I know that they all fall under the calendar year 2024. Considering everything that’s happened in between, how far back does it seem the days of Chevron and the days of winning in Bradenton…
NELLY KORDA: Years ago. It feels like lifetimes ago. Just life kind of goes by in a blur like Annika said. Sometimes you do have to step back and smell the roses. With sports you’re constantly looking ahead and going, what’s next, what’s next, never kind of reminiscing.
Sometimes taking a step back and putting the phone away and going on a vacation and realizing what you just did is really nice. Yeah, I mean the beginning of the year feels like a long time ago.
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