The LPGA Tour's season finale at Tiburon Golf Club - the CME Group Tour Championship - is set to begin as many of the best female golfers in the world go head-to-head one more time.
60 players are in the field for this 72-hole no-cut event, with each having rightfully qualified over the course of another fascinating season - taking in 32 tournaments throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
Outright World No.1, Nelly Korda leads the Race To CME Globe standings by over 1,365 points heading into the final event and will not be overtaken no matter what happens in Florida, having already been named the LPGA Tour's Player of the Year a couple of weeks before claiming her seventh victory of the season.
However, despite storming past Charley Hull and Weiwei Zhang to secure The Annika last Sunday - consequently extending her advantage at the top of the season standings further - Korda has not yet been named Race To CME Globe champion.
And unless she makes it victory number eight in 2024 at the CME Group Tour Championship, Korda won't be crowned its winner.
Nelly Korda and Charley Hull at The Annika Driven by Gainbridge at Pelican
This is because - unlike the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup where Starting Strokes offer some kind of sliding scale based on the quality of a player's overall season - the LPGA Tour's finale sees everyone start at even par.
Anyone from Korda down to Carlota Ciganda in 60th is capable of lifting the CME Group Tour Championship trophy and taking home the biggest first-place prize check in women's golf history.
While the 2024 US Women's Open offered a greater total prize purse of $12 million, its champion - Yuka Saso - collected $1.6 million less than she would for triumphing at Tiburon.
Part of the $11 million total purse, whoever tops the leaderboard on Sunday evening will take home $4 million and be crowned the Race To CME Globe Champion.
Per the LPGA Tour's own description, "The Race to CME Globe is a season-long points competition in which LPGA Members accumulate points in every Official LPGA Tournament to gain entry into the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. The player who wins the CME Group Tour Championship will be named the 'Race to the CME Globe Champion.'"
Yuka Saso holds the Women's US Open trophy after winning $2.4 million
Amy Yang - who was 18th in the standings prior to the 2023 CME Group Tour Championship - scooped the $2 million first prize in 2023 as a result of her fifth career LPGA Tour trophy while Korda's Solheim Cup teammate Lilia Vu took home Player of the Year honors alongside her fourth-place finish at the last event of the season.
The year before, Lydia Ko won the CME Group Tour Championship in wire-to-wire fashion, adding on to her Player of the Year and Vare Trophy success (handed to the player with the lowest scoring average across the campaign), reiterating her status as the top golfer of 2022.
But there is little doubt as to who owned 2024, with Korda currently on seven titles while her closest challengers - Hannah Green, Ruoning Yin and Ko - are all on three.
Lydia Ko won Player of the Year, the Vare Trophy, and the Race To CME Globe in 2022
Nevertheless, the American is taking nothing for granted and is going out with the sole aim of finishing her season in style.
Speaking ahead of play, Korda said: "I mean, I'm just proud of everything that I've overcome this year and everything that my team and I have accomplished, so no matter how I finish this week, I'm going to be proud of the season and how we all worked together.
"Finishing high is just going to be a cherry on top obviously. The goal in mind is to come out here and win. That's not going to take away from how proud I am of my team."
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