The total purse for the CME Group Tour Championship next year will double to $5MGETTY IMAGES
The LPGA has made major upgrades to its Race to the CME Globe for '19, with the winner of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship to receive $1.5M, marking the largest payout in women's golf. The changes were announced last night prior to the start of this year's finale. The total purse for the event in Naples, Fla., next year will double to $5M. As in previous years, players will accumulate points at each official LPGA event throughout the '19 season leading up to the Tour Championship. "Rather than 72 players making the Race to the CME Globe, 60 players will make it to the Race," said LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan. "We'll still race all year. There will be points at every tournament. Once you're one of the 60 to get in, we throw the points out the door and anybody can win the final event. The winner's check will be $1.5 million, so it will be the largest winner's check in women's golf history. To think that the best players in the world won't be paying more attention to the CME Group Tour Championship next year would be wrong" (John Lombardo, THE DAILY).
BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT: The $5M figure ties the U.S. Women's Open for the largest purse in women's golf. Whan said of the record winner's payout, "My kids see men walk off greens with $1.5 million dollar checks almost every week. You never see a woman walk off the green with that. This is a game-changer." Golfer Brooke Henderson said, "It's awesome. I think a lot of girls on tour are really going to appreciate that." GOLFWEEK's Beth Ann Nichols noted the fact that "anyone in the field can win" the $1.5M "should not only strengthen the fall fields in Asia but the CME as well" (GOLFWEEK.com, 11/13). CME Group Chair & CEO Terry Duffy said the changes to the Tour Championship "might spur other LPGA tournaments to look at their purse structure." Duffy also indicated CME Group will "donate $20,000 for each hole-in-one" during the '19 season to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, with a "minimum donation of $500,000." He said that previous tournament charities Wounded Warrior Project and Bright Pink will "still be compensated annually" (NAPLES DAILY NEWS, 11/14).
