Shanshan Feng claimed her second win in a row in China and is now the #1 player in the world heading into the CME Group Tour Championship, which is the regular-season finale for the LPGA Tour. This event was first played in 2011 and has been played at Tiburon Golf Club since 2013. Charley Hull is the defending champion here.
Event: CME Group Tour Championship
Category: LPGA
Date: November 16th – 19th
Location: Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, Florida
Feng held off Moriya Jutanugarn by a single stroke to win her third tournament of the year, while Megan Khang, Jessica Korda, Sung Hyun Park and Ashleigh Buhai all finished five strokes back of the leader. In 2016 at this event, Hull defeated So-Yeon Ryu by two strokes, followed by Jennifer Song, Ariya Jutanugarn, Mo Martin and Beatriz Recari in the top five.
Past Five Winners
2016: Charley Hull -19
2015: Cristie Kerr -17
2014: Lydio Ko -10
2013: Shanshan Feng -15
2012: Na Yeon Choi -14
The Field
This is one heck of a tight race going into the final tournament. Not only is the $1 million Race to the CME Globe on the line, so is the Role Player of the Year and the Vare Trophy. And don’t forget that Sung Hyun Park already took the Rookie of the Year.
Four players will vie for the Player of the Year with Ryu leading the way and Park hot her trail. Lexi Thompson is our leader for the CME Globe with 5,000 points while Park is at 4,750 and Shanshan Feng is at 4,500.
Feng is hot after back-to-back wins. She now has three wins on the year, which ties her for the most with I.K. Kim. Every big name is in this field and that’s going to make picking a winner quite tough.
What To Know About The Course
Tiburon Golf Club opened in 1998 and it is a par-72 course that is 6,540 yards for this event. There are a pair of par-5s in the last four holes in which players are going to be tempted to go for it if they’re chasing the leader, but there are also a few par-4s that are pretty short and players will want to take advantage of those. If they ht a good drive, they’ll likely have a wedge or lower in their hand going into the green.
A Good Matchup To Bet: Shanshan Feng over So-Yeon Ryu
Why not? Feng has been on fire lately with seven top-seven finishes in her last eight starts, which includes her pair of wins. Ryu followed up a pair of top-10 finishes with a T-13 and a T-33, but she did take a week off and that might be her edge as Feng has been doing a lot of playing and she just traveled from China to make it for this tournament. Feng won this tournament in 2013 and finished T-8 here last year. Ryu has never won, but she did play well to finish behind Hull in 2016. If Feng can hold up physically as she must be exhausted coming into this tournament, she gets the close nod in what should be a fantastic matchup.
Top-Five Pick: Lydia Ko
Ko won this tournament in 2014 and finished T-10 here last year. She has also been quietly playing some solid golf as of late, posting six top-20 finishes in her last seven starts, which includes four finishes inside the top five. She finished T-5 in Japan and has had a week off to recharge before coming into this tournament, so that is something to consider. She won’t be up for the Race to the CME Globe, but Ko has played well over the last couple months and that should be encouraging to her going into next season.
Odds To Win 2017 CME Group Tour Championship
Shanshan Feng +550
Sung Hyun Park +705
So Yeon Ryu +905
Lydia Ko +1415
In Gee Chun +1550
Cristie Kerr +1650
Lexi Thompson +1650
Moriya Jutanugarn +1850
Jin Young Ko +2050
Stacy Lewis +2250
Carlota Ciganda +2550
Lizette Salas +2850
Mirijee Lee +2850
Brooke Henderson +2850
Anna Nordqvist +3250
Charley Hull +3250
Sei Young Kim +3550
In Kyung Kim +4550
Jessica Korda +4550
Amy Yang +5500
Mi Hyang Lee +5500
Gerina Piller +6550
Michelle Wie +7050
Suzann Pettersen +7050
Ariya Jutanugarn +7550
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