NAPLES, Fla. – For a while there it looked like no one was even going to put up a fight against Sei Young Kim for the biggest check in the history of women’s golf.
Apologies to Kim fans everywhere, but that would’ve been a shame. With a $1.5 million payday for the winner, the CME Group Tour Championship deserves a scintillating Sunday, and chances are we’re going to get it.
Kim, a nine-time winner on the LPGA, holds a one-stroke lead over Nelly Korda, the top-ranked American who has yet to win on American soil. A victory at the CME would move Korda to No. 2 in the world. After carding a double-bogey on the third hole, the lyrics of Big Sean popped into Korda’s mind: “Last night I took an L but tonight I bounced back.”
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A flurry of birdies followed.
There’s no handbag on the line this year between Nelly and her older sister, Jessica, but let’s just say the stakes have grown.
Golf Channel guest analyst Cristie Kerr, a former champion here at Tiburon Golf Club, predicated that players up to six back have a chance. Kim’s second-round 68 puts her at 16 under. The list of players at 10 under includes Jessica, World No. 1 Jin Young Ko, Brooke Henderson and Su Oh.
Last year CME Group Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy called LPGA commissioner Mike Whan and told him that he was sick of watching a man on the PGA Tour walk off with a $1.5 million check every weekend. In the corporate world, Duffy explained, he wouldn’t pay a man a different rate than a woman to do the same job.
“At my event,” said Duffy, “a woman is going to win $1.5 million.”
And so it will be.
Rather than a handful of players competing for a $1 million bonus, now 60 have a chance at the record prize.
“I didn’t send him data; I didn’t ask him for a brand analysis,” said Whan. “He didn’t send four agencies to do a review. He just said, in my world, that’s how it’s done.”
There’s been a different feel to the CME all week. Players talk about just trying to win a trophy, but there’s no getting around the fact that it’s going to feel like a major championship on Sunday. Back-nine nerves will be cranking. Some might even shake.
Only four of the LPGA majors even offer a winner’s check that’s bigger than the $480,000 second-place prize here.
Nelly said songs run through her head all the time on the golf course. She’s into everything but the Blues. Occasionally she’ll pick up something she hears in the crowd. Anything beats thinking about that big box of cash.
There are so many Sunday scenarios that would put a bow on the LPGA’s 2019 season, starting with a Korda sister shootout. Henderson, a resident of nearby Miromar Lakes, could give all the Canadian fans soaking up the rays a rousing show. Or what about Caroline Masson, the German whose fiancé is on Nelly’s bag, going up against Nelly in the same group for a third time this year. Nelly defeated Masson in singles at the Sohleim Cup and then again in a playoff earlier this month in Taiwan.
“It was cool and special,” said Masson, “and now we’re (making it) a habit. Maybe not that special anymore.”
Or what about Ko potentially capping off the game’s most dominant season in style? She’s already wrapped up the Rolex Player of the Year Award, Annika Major Award and No. 1 ranking. A victory would give her the money title and a final-round 65 would make her the second player in LPGA history to break the 69 mark in scoring average, joining Annika Sorenstam. She has locked up the Vare Trophy regardless.
It’s fitting that Whan’s 10th season as LPGA commissioner signs off with an historically large check. What’s happening this week at the CME is a sign of what’s possible on the LPGA. Not that anyone is satisfied.
Now it’s up to the players to put on a show.
