After Carlota Ciganda’s impressive rally to win the Citibanamex Lorena Ochoa Invitational last week, the LPGA Tour shifts a little north to Naples, Florida and the Tiburon Golf Course for the CME Group Tour Championship this week. The CME Group Tour Championship represents the final stop on the LPGA Tour season with an impressive field lining up for their chance at this year’s million-dollar Race to the CME Globe.
Event
Event Details: CME Group Tour Championship
Category: LPGA
Date: November 17-20
Location: Tiburon Golf Course, Naples, Florida
Several of the world’s best will be back in action this week after skipping out on last week’s event in Mexico. That includes world No. 1 Lydia Ko, world No. 2 Ariya Jutanugarn and perhaps the hottest golfer on the planet right now in Shanshan Feng, who is coming off a couple of absolutely dominant performances to wrap up the LPGA Tour’s Asian swing.
Past Five Winners
2015: Cristie Kerr -17
2014: Lydia Ko -10
2013: Shanshan Feng -15
2012: Na Yeon Choi -14
2011: Hee Young Park -9
What To Know About The Course
The Tiburon Golf Course isn’t particularly long and it wouldn’t shock anybody if we saw another birdie-fest. The CME Group Tour Championship will likely come down to who does the best job in terms of both Greens In Regulation and Putting Averages. Cristie Kerr won this event a year ago with a 17-under-par score but we can easily envision this year’s winner besting that score.
The Field
Feng’s recent dominance has been enough to have her headline this week’s field in terms of the sports betting favorites to win this event outright. Feng is listed at +500 odds followed by Jutanugarn at +1200 and Ko at +1500 odds. Everybody is waiting on Jutanugarn and Ko to deliver the type of dominant performance we have become accustomed to with those two but we haven’t seen it of late and Feng was really dominant on the Asian swing.
When you take a look at what Ko has done recently, she’s been struggling. When you consider that she was considered the Tiger Woods of the LPGA Tour last season, her drop has been noticeable. She finished 43rd last week at the TOTO Japan Classic, 12th at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, 51st at the LPGA KEB HanaBank Championship, 20th at the FUBON LPGA Taiwan Championship and 43rd at the Evian Championship. She doesn’t have a Top 10 finish since last September.
Meanwhile, Ha Na Jang, So Yeon Ryu and Suzann Pettersen are among those expected to be in the mix according to the sports betting odds. One golfer that could represent good value this week is Brooke Henderson, who is listed at +2900 odds to win the CME Group Tour Championship outright.
A Good Matchup To Bet: Brooke Henderson over Minjee Lee
Speaking of Henderson, her long sports betting odds have her in the same category as players like Minjee Lee and Anna Nordqvist and of the two we like her to finish with a better score than Lee. There is no doubt about the skill and untapped potential that Henderson possesses and while she has struggled in her past couple of starts she should feel much more comfortable in Naples this week. Henderson is overdue for a top-five finish so we are banking on her contending for the outright win and finishing with a better score than Lee in our pick for a head-to-head matchup to bet this week.
Top-Five Pick: Lydia Ko
In terms of being overdue for a breakout performance, it truly is hard to overlook Ko following her disappointing finish on the Asian Swing to open the month of November. Ko hasn’t competed since finishing outside the top-40 at the TOTO Japan Classic and we certainly didn’t see the dominant form that we have grown accustom to seeing in her recent starts. It’s amazing to see Ko listed as a +1500 pick to win this tournament outright and considering the rare value we are getting to bet on her this week we will mark her down as our smart pick to finish in the top-five at the CME Group Tour Championship.
Top 10 Odds To Win The CME Tour Championship
Shanshan Feng +325
Ariya Jutanugarn +1050
Lydia Ko +1250
So Yeon Ryu +1650
Ha Na Jang +1650
Suzann Petersen +1850
In Gee Chun +1850
Carlota Ciganda +2050
Amy Yang +2050
Lexi Thompson +2250
