Five Takeways from the CME Group Tour Championship: Jin Young Ko Defends Money Title in Four Events

Photo provided by Ben Harpring

Here are five takeaways from the final event of the 2020 LPGA Tour season, the CME Group Tour Championship.

1) A Battle of World's No. 1 and No. 2 Ends with the Best Player in the World on Top

Paired together on Sunday, Jin Young Ko and Sei Young Kim were in a dead heat, tied for the lead on the 11th tee sitting at (-13). It was impressive that they both were there, as it was Ko's 4th event of the season. A late Sunday push at the U.S. Women's Open to a T2 finish punched her ticket to Tiburón Golf Club, as Natalie Gulbis and Sarah Kemp received sponsor's invites instead of the world's No. 1 golfer. Ko took advantage, putting herself a shot behind Kim at the start of play Sunday.

What felt like a preview of battles to come over the 2020 decade had more up in the air than the $1.1 million first-place check. Kim needed a top-five finish to win the Player of the Year, trying to take the title away from leader and Hall of Famer Inbee Park. The 12-time winner aimed to be the first to defend her CME Group Tour Championship in the event's seven-year history.

Ko picked up a shot on the first, and they matched blow for blow. The buzz saw that is Jin Young Ko warmed up by the 11th, where the 2019 player of the year posted five birdies over the final seven holes. She was in complete command of her game like Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise, where on the last hole, her drive curved a total of 0 feet.

Ko defended her 2019 money title in four events, featuring three top five finishes and her victory.

Kim comparatively sputtered, posting even par over her final round. She doesn’t walk away without hardware, as she finished T2, taking home the Player of the Year award.

“I'm little disappointed I couldn't play well today, but I finish just normal. But very happy to the -- I got the Player of the Year. It's really awesome,” Kim said.

The rise to the Player of the Year award is due in part to her career-best in reaching greens in regulation. Kim led the tour in the stat this year, hitting 77.6% of them. Kim beat her career-best by 2.3%, and it's a primary reason the LPGA's statistics page has her face plastered all over it for the 2020 season.

Sei Young Kim Greens in Regulation

Player of the Year wins, and success in finding greens in regulation are highly correlated. Of the last ten years, seven winners finished in the top 5 in greens in regulation, with Kim and Ko leading the tour when they won their awards the previous two years.

Kim’s one goal left on the 2020 calendar of becoming No. 1 in the world will have to wait, as Ko remains atop the world, as she has since the Evian Championship in 2019.

2) Historic Career Winnings for Cristie Kerr

It was doubtful that Cristie Kerr would play at the U.S. Women’s Open last week after a cart accident sent her to the ER and out of the Volunteers of America Classic. Despite the pain, Kerr posted her best finish in the post-restart calendar of T23 at the final major of 2020. Kerr topped that this week, with a T10 finish that moved her to $20,008,567 in career earnings. She's the third player in the LPGA Tour's history to pass the 20 million dollar threshold, joining Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb. The 43-year-old adds that to a lengthy resume that should already have a reservation to the World Golf Hall of Fame.

In a sign of the tour's health, Kim passed the $10 million career earnings mark in her 6th year on the LPGA tour this week, now at $10,083,669 for her career.

Ko passed $5 million in career earnings with collecting the $1.1M first-place check. She sits at $5,600,824 earned in her three-year LPGA Tour career. Most impressively, Ko defended her 2019 money title in four events in 2020.

3) Consecutive Year Win Streaks Snapped for Brooke Henderson and Lexi Thompson

The shortened 18-event season limited opportunities for some of the world's best players to extend their consecutive seasons with a win. Lexi Thompson's season included multiple streaks ended. Her seven straight years with a victory snapped, and the 25-year-old fell out of the top 10 in the world for the first time since the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in November 2013 after a missed cut at the AIG Women's Open this past August.

Brooke Henderson's five-year win streak broke, along with her three straight seasons with multiple wins streak as well. It wasn't for lack of knocking on the door, as the winningest professional Canadian golfer of all time had six top 10s in 2020, including a playoff loss at the ANA Inspiration to Mirim Lee.

Now, Kim holds the most active consecutive years with a win on the LPGA Tour with six. Danielle Kang and Jin Young Ko have four straight years with an LPGA Tour victory in 2nd place.

4) Vare Trophy Goes to Danielle Kang Following 70% or 70 Rounds Rule

Danielle Kang paid off a two-win season with the Vare Trophy, posting a scoring average of 70.082, the 4th lowest on the LPGA Tour this year. Kang won the award as she completed the minimum 48 rounds needed to qualify for the award on Saturday, finishing with 49 on the year.

“To be part of that legends (that won the Vare Trophy), and I just want to be able to make them proud moving forward as well, because they left this game for us and they left this stage for us, and I wish that I can do that for the future,” Kang said after play today.

In the top 10 in scoring average this season, only Kang and Moriya Jutanugarn met the Vare Trophy's minimum round requirement, with the elder Jutanugarn posting 50 rounds. Over the 2010 decade, of those in the top 10 in scoring average, 12 players didn't play 70 rounds. Six of those were in 2010.

Sei Young Kim had the best scoring average in 2020 at 68.686, who beat the rest of the tour by over a stroke in 35 rounds. Brooke Henderson came in 2nd place at 69.703 in 37 rounds.

A 40-round minimum in the truncated, 18-event 2020 season may have been a better bar to set, as eight players in the top 10 in scoring average played over 40 rounds.

Notifying players that the Vare Trophy was in play before Monday of this week may have also adjusted schedules. Lydia Ko, Nasa Hataoka and Inbee Park all needed to play one more event to qualify, finishing with 47, 47, and 45 rounds on the 2020 campaign, respectively.

It would've set up a more dramatic ending as well, with Inbee Park finishing .015 ahead of Kang in the scoring average, a difference of less than one stroke on the season.

5) Score One for St. Jude’s

Throughout the LPGA Tour season, every hole in one resulted in a $20,000 donation to St. Jude’s hospital. In her pre-tournament press conference, Danielle Kang pledged to 17-year-old and former St. Jude's patient Mary Browder that she'd donate an additional $1,000 per birdie this week to the hospital. Kang did the same for the 2019 season, donating to UNICEF for every birdie she made during the year.

The tour raised $280,000 from holes in one and $16,000 from Kang’s 16 birdies this week. In addition, over $40,000 had been raised from the silent auction sponsored by the LPGA, selling head covers and memorabilia signed by players.

In a year dominated by difficult times across the country, it’s heartwarming to see the donations pour in for cancer patients in need.

Bets of the Week Analysis

Season Results

Units Spent: 350

Units Won: 547.5

ROI: +56.4%

Ariya Jutanugarn (+4500)-T10

So Yeon Ryu (+1400) - T13

Charley Hull (+2500)- T13

Jennifer Kupcho (+8000)- T28

Jessica Korda- (+3300)-T30

Top 10

1 Jin Young Ko (+900) (-18)

T2 Sei Young Kim (+800) (-13)

T2 Hannah Green (+11000) (-13)

4 Mina Harigae (+11000) (-12)

T5 Lydia Ko (+2000) (-11)

T5 Lexi Thompson (+2800) (-11)

T7 Brooke Henderson (+1400) (-10)

T7 Austin Ernst (+6600) (-10)

T7 Georgia Hall (+3500) (-10)

T10 Ariya Jutanugarn (+4500) (-8)

T10 Anna Nordqvist (+7000) (-8)

T10 Cristie Kerr (+12500) (-8)

The selections results were a disappointing event for the bets of the week. Despite three top 15 finishes, that doesn't translate like it would to other events with only 72 players in the field. Charley Hull was four shots back Sunday and posted even par, the only player within striking distance with 18 to play. A tough finish, but happy with an overall year at +56.4%. A more thorough statistical analysis is to come on the selections and the objectives for next season, which is only a month away at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.