After 32 official events across 15 countries and 14 states, the 2017 LPGA season culminates with this week’s CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla. In a year that saw 22 different winners from eight countries, several season-ending awards, including the Race to the CME Globe and Rolex Player of the Year honours, are still up for grabs.

The Race to the CME Globe is a season-long points competition in which LPGA Members accumulate points in every Official LPGA Tournament. Following the Blue Bay LPGA, the top 72 LPGA Members, as well as any non-member winners and any alternates, in the Race to the CME Globe points standings were seeded into the championship field. For the top five players, it’s easy – win the CME Group Tour Championship and take home $1 million. However, the top 12 in the points race all have a mathematical chance to take the title of Race to the CME Globe Champion and win the coveted check.

Going into the CME Group Tour Championship, Lexi Thompson leads the Race with 5,000 points. Sung Hyun Park, who has already clinched Rolex Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year honours, sits in second with 4,750 points. Rounding out the top five, who control their own destinies at Tiburon, are newly minted World No. 1 Shanshan Feng (4,500), So Yeon Ryu (4,250) and Canada’s Brooke Henderson (4,000).

RACE TO THE CME GLOBE WINNING SCENARIOS

HOUSTON, Texas – Four Canadians are among the 64 competitors to advance to Monday’s first round of match play in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship on Cypress Creek Course at Champions Golf Club.

The reigning U.S. Women’s Senior champion Judith Kyrinis of Thornhill, Ont., along with friend and runner-up Terrill Samuel of Etobicoke, Ont., lead the Canadian contingent as seed Nos. 21 and 23, respectively. They are joined by Unionville, Ont., product Julia Hodgson and Patti Hogeboom of Kingston, Ont.

Kyrinis and Hogeboom drew each other in Monday’s opening match, beginning at 10:15 a.m. local time.

Lauren Greenlief shot a 4-under-par 68 on Sunday to share medallist honours with Katie Miller and Marissa Mar in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship on the par-72, 6,022-yard Cypress Creek Course at Champions Golf Club. All three players posted 36-hole scores of 2-under 142.

It is the third time in U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur history that three or more players were co-medalists. In 2009, four-time champion Meghan Stasi was among four players who ended up tied following two rounds of stroke play. Ellen Port, who has also won four Women’s Mid-Amateurs, and two other players shared medalist in 2002.

Greenlief, who won the 2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, matched the lowest 18-hole score in championship history. Dawn Woodard shot a 68 in the first round at Shadow Hawk Golf Club in Richmond, Texas, in 2005. Greenlief, who is competing in her 15th USGA championship, also eclipsed the competitive course record that was equaled yesterday when the first-round leaders each fired a 69.

“The game plan today was to be aggressive,” said Greenlief, whose bogey-free round included three of her four birdies on the inward nine. “Fire at pins and see if I could make some putts.”

Greenlief, 27, of Ashburn, Va., jump-started her record round with the putter by draining a 35-footer for birdie on No. 7. She later punched a 6-iron approach from the trees that ran up onto the green on the par-4 10th to within 20 feet to set up another birdie. Greenlief, the youngest winner in Women’s Mid-Amateur history, added birdie putts of 10 and 15 feet, respectively, on holes 14 and 16.

“I always want to play well and get a better seed,” said Greenlief, who offered that she is more clearly focused this year than when she was defending her title. “It makes match play a little easier, at least in the earlier rounds.”

The USGA relocated the championship from Quail Creek Country Club in Naples, Fla., to Champions Golf Club due to extensive flood damage from Hurricane Irma. The Women’s Mid-Amateur was originally scheduled to be played Oct. 7-12.

The U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship consists of 36 holes of stroke play followed by six rounds of match play, with the championship scheduled to conclude with an 18-hole final on Thursday, Nov. 16, starting at 9 a.m. CST.

Miller, 32, of Jeannette, Pa., and Mar, 25, of San Francisco, Calif., took different paths in earning medalist honors. Miller, who shared the first-round lead with Shannon Johnson, rallied on her second nine for a 1-over 73. She made a 25-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fourth and stuck a gap wedge to within 3 feet on the par-4 sixth.

Mar, who was a member of the Stanford University team from 2010-14 and opened with a 72, birdied both par 5s on the inward nine. She delivered a 4-hybrid to within 20 feet to set up an eagle attempt on No. 11 before holing a 10-foot putt at No. 13. After making bogey on the following hole, she regrouped with a birdie by hitting an 8-iron approach to within 15 feet on 15.

“It’s been a few years since college golf,” said Mar, who works in corporate development for a financial services company. “I have a whole new perspective on life. The expectations are way lower. I go to a 9-to-5 job every day. Getting to be out here is really fun.”

Eight players tied for 58th place at 16-over 160, resulting in a playoff for the final five match-play berths. The playoff will start on Monday at 7 a.m. on Cypress Creek’s 10th hole. The Round-of-64 matches begin at 8 a.m.

The U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur is one of 13 national championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs. Live scoring and updates are available throughout the championship on usga.org.

PHOENIX – Kevin Sutherland finally broke through on the PGA Tour Champions, taking the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship – and the topping the yearlong competition, too.

Sutherland closed a 5-under 66 on Sunday for a one-stroke victory over Vijay Singh at Phoenix Country Club, the tree-lined course hosting its first tour event since the Phoenix Open left for TPC Scottsdale in 1988.

Bernhard Langer, the winner of the first two playoff events, had a 64 to tie for 12th – five strokes back. Langer slipped to second in the season standings, missing a chance to win the title for the fourth straight year and fifth overall.

The 53-year-old Sutherland won for the first time in 78 starts on the 50-and-over tour. He entered the week fifth in the Charles Schwab Cup season points standings, the last spot where the player had to only win the tournament to take the $1 million annuity. He earned $440,000 for the tournament victory.

The only player to shoot 59 in senior tour history, Sutherland had 15 top-10 finishes this season, finishing second three times and third twice. His lone PGA Tour victory came in 2002 at La Costa in the Accenture Match Play Championship.

Sutherland finished at 15-under 198. He had a bogey-free round, opening with a birdie on the par-5 first, eagling the par-5 seventh and adding birdies on the par-4 ninth and 16th.

Singh shot a 63. He opened with an eagle and birdied the last two.

John Daly (65), David Frost (67), David Toms (67) and Lee Janzen (67) tied for third at 13 under.

Sutherland had a 63 on Friday to move within two strokes of leader Paul Goydos, the tournament winner last year at Desert Mountain in Scottsdale. Goydos closed with a 72 to tie for ninth at 9 under.

Langer led the tour with seven victories, winning three of the five majors, and set an earnings record with $3,677,359. The 60-year-old German has never won the season-ending event.

Canadian Golf Hall-of-Famer Stephen Ames was the lone Canadian in the field, finishing T27 at 6 under par.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Patton Kizzire won his first PGA Tour title on Sunday by beating Rickie Fowler in a 36-hole marathon in the rain-plagued OHL Classic at Mayakoba.

Kizzire closed with rounds of 66-67 for a one-shot victory over Fowler, who fell four shots behind at El Camaleon Golf Club until staging a late rally that again fell short. Fowler had rounds of 67-67 on the final day.

Kizzire won in his 62nd career start on the PGA Tour, and it required some steady nerves on the back nine when it could have gotten away from him. Leading by four shots with seven holes to play, Kizzire saved par with an 8-foot putt on No. 12, a 10-foot putt on the par-5 13th and an 8-foot putt on the 14th.

He had a three-shot lead with three holes to play when Fowler made a 15-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole and rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to close within one shot. But from the 18th fairway, Fowler sent his approach some 35 feet left of the flag and left the birdie attempt short.

Kizzire had to stand close to his approach shot to keep his feet out the sand, and he hit 8-iron to 25 feet. After Fowler left his birdie attempt well short, Kizzire rapped his putt to within a few inches and tapped in for the winning par.

“I was glad to get it done,” Kizzire said. “Rickie made me work hard.”

Kizzire finished at 19-under 265 and earned his first trip to the Masters in April.

The 31-year-old Kizzire also gets a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and a spot in the field at the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua to start next year, and the PGA Championship, along with other select events on tour.

Si Woo Kim tried to get into the mix until a double bogey in the middle of his back nine. He still closed with a 65 to finish third, his best finish since he won The Players Championship in May. Charles Howell III (66) and Martin Piller (65) finished five shots behind. John Oda of UNLV, playing his first PGA Tour event as a pro, closed with a 70 to finish eighth. That gets him into the RSM Classic next week at Sea Island.

Patrick Rodgers began Sunday in a three-way tie for the lead with Kizzire and Fowler, but he started and ended the third round Sunday morning with a double bogey for a 72 that took him out of contention, and he shot 70 in the afternoon to finish nine shots behind. Corey Conners (72) of Listowel, Ont., finished the event 2 over.

Kizzire won the tournament with key putts on the back nine, but the tournament turned in his favour at the end of the third round. Fowler had a one-shot lead when he made bogey on the 17th hole and Kizzire made birdie. That two-shot swing gave Kizzire a one-shot lead, and he quickly expanded it in the fourth round.

Kizzire saved par with a 10-foot putt on No. 1 as Fowler made bogey, and then Kizzire birdied the second hole and is lead was already at three shots.

Fowler never got any closer until the final few holes, and by then it was too late.

“We gave it a run, kept Patton honest, but he earned it out there today,” Fowler said.

Fowler, the only player in the top 10 in the world who played anywhere in the world this week, was playing for the first time since the Presidents Cup five weeks ago. With his runner-up finish – the 12th time in his PGA Tour career he has finished second – Fowler goes to No. 7 in the world ahead of Rory McIlroy.

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., was the lone Canadian to make the weekend – the Team Canada Young Pro Squad member finished at 2 over par.

PHOENIX – Defending champion Paul Goydos took a one-stroke lead Saturday in the PGA Tour Champions’ season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Goydos shot a 5-under 66 to reach 12-under 130 at Phoenix Country Club, the tree-lined course hosting its first tour event since the Phoenix Open left for TPC Scottsdale in 1988.

“This golf course doesn’t hide where it wants you to hit the ball,” Goydos said. “You kind of follow the line of the trees and you’ll be OK. I mean, you need to drive it good.”

Lee Janzen was second after a 67. The two-time U.S. Open champion birdied the par-5 18th playing alongside Goydos in the final group.

“Even on good shots today sometimes it was a challenge,” Janzen said. “I expect a challenge. I think even if I was in complete control of my golf game in all regards I should expect a challenge because that’s just the way golf is. But right now, I’m expecting a little bit more of a challenge because I’m not super confident with how I’m swinging.

“I hit some wild shots, but I just keep hoping I have a swing and some sort of opening and I’ll figure out a way to get it near the green and make a par.”

Goydos made a 7-footer for birdie on the par-4 16th, then missed a 6-foot try on 18.

“I get in there, I want to hit a fast one, I looked at the hole and all I saw was the sun,” Goydos said. “I should have backed away and I didn’t. … You talk about the difference between a Langer or a Watson or a Woods or a Spieth and a Goydos is that I was too quick there. I should have stopped.”

Bernhard Langer, trying to sweep the three playoff events and win the Charles Schwab Cup season points title for the fourth straight year and fifth overall, was tied for 22nd at 3 under after a 68.

Kevin Sutherland and former Arizona State player Billy Mayfair were 10 under. Sutherland eagled the 18th for a 63, the best round of the week. Mayfair shot 65.

Goydos won last year at Desert Mountain in Scottdale, about 35 miles northeast of the new venue just north of downtown Phoenix. He’s trying to join Mike Hill (1990-91), Jim Thorpe (2006-07) and John Cook (2009-10) as the only players to win the season finale in consecutive years.

The two-time PGA Tour winner took the 3M Championship in Minnesota in August – shooting a tour season-best 60 in the second round – for his fifth senior title.

Janzen won his lone senior title in 2015.

Sutherland hit a 4-iron from 231 yards to 5 feet to set up the closing eagle.

“That was the best 4-iron I’ve hit in a while,” Sutherland said.

Winless on the senior tour, Sutherland entered the week fifth in the Charles Schwab Cup season points standings, the last spot where the player has to only win the tournament to top the yearlong competition.

“I played good, got myself back in the tournament,” Sutherland said. “But you’re going to have to go out and probably shoot something similar to that tomorrow.”

The only player to shoot 59 in senior tour history, the 53-year-old Sutherland has 14 top-10 finishes this season, finishing second three times and third twice. His lone PGA Tour victory came in 2002 at La Costa in the Accenture Match Play Championship.

“I can’t change what happened yesterday, what’s happened in the past, so I just keep moving forward,” Sutherland said. “I can’t change what happened at a tournament earlier this year, so I’m not going to dwell on that at all tomorrow. It will have no effect.”

Scott McCarron is second in the season standings, followed by Kenny Perry, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Sutherland. McCarron was tied for eighth at 8 under after a 66, Perry was tied for 17th at under after a 66, and Jimenez was tied for 34th at 1 over after a 69.

“I had a lot of really good putts that just didn’t go in,” McCarron said. “They’re right on the edge all day long. So it was one of those days that could have been really, really low. But I’ve got a chance tomorrow. I’ve got one round left, and if you had told me at the start of the year you have one round left to win the Schwab Cup, I’d would say what a wonderful opportunity.”

Langer opened the playoffs with victories in the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Richmond, Virginia, and took the PowerShares QQQ Championship two weeks ago in Thousand Oaks, California.

The 60-year-old Geman won three of the tour’s five majors this season and has a tour-best seven victories. He has never won the season-ending event, finishing in the top 10 seven times in nine starts.

Canada’s Stephen Ames is T22 at 3 under par (70-69).

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Rickie Fowler saved par from a bunker on his final hole for a 4-under 67 and a three-way share of the lead after 36 holes of the rain-delayed OHL Classic at Mayakoba.

Patrick Rodgers made his first bogey of the tournament on his 35th hole Saturday at El Camaleon Golf Club. He wound up with a 65 and was tied for the lead with Fowler and Patton Kizzire, who finished his 70 on Friday.

They were at 10-under 132. The second round, delayed by rain Friday, did not resume until 1 p.m. because of more bad weather.

John Oda, in his first start as a pro, shot 65 and was among those one shot behind.

Corey Conners (71) of Listowel, Ont., was the only Canadian to make the third round. Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Mac Hughes of Dundas, Ont., missed the cut.

Fowler is playing for the first time since the Presidents Cup on Oct. 1.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – La Prairie, Que., native Joey Savoie will leave Argentina on a high note after finishing in 4th on Saturday in the national amateur championship at the Argentina Golf Club.

Savoie, 23, closed the 72-hole stroke play event with an even-par score, leaving the Team Canada member with sole possession of 4th at 7 under par. The Middle Tennessee State alumnus held the lead briefly following Wednesday’s opening-round 67 before eventually slipping down the leaderboard.

Fellow National Amateur Squad member Josh Whalen of Napanee, Ont., was also in action, recording a T17 finish. The Kent State graduate finished at 4 over par for the tournament.

The event marks the end of an Argentina swing for the Canadian duo, who captured the Tailhade Cup in early November — Canada’s third title in four years.

Click here for full scoring.

HAINAN, China – Shanshan Feng shot a 2-under 70 in the final round to win the Blue Bay LPGA by one stroke.

With the win, Feng is projected to become the first top-ranked golfer – male or female – from China.

“I finished first in China, so I actually claimed the world No. 1 in front of all the people at home,” Feng said Saturday after finishing on 9-under 279. “I’m really happy about that, and I hope all the Chinese are going to be watching me … Hopefully there will be more Chinese getting on the tours and more world No. 1s coming up from China.”

Feng, who won last week in Japan, became the first back-to-back winner of 2017.

Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn (70) was second at 8 under, just one shot behind Feng after narrowly missing a birdie attempt on the 72nd hole.

“I was just trying to give myself a chance,” Jutanugarn said of her final putt.

Current top-ranked Sung Hyun Park (72), Ashleigh Buhai (73) and American duo Jessica Korda (71) and Megan Khang (68) all tied for third.

Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., finished T42 at 9 over par.

PHOENIX – Defending champion Paul Goydos and major winners Vijay Singh and Lee Janzen shot 7-under 64 on Friday to share the first-round lead in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Bernhard Langer, trying to sweep the PGA Tour Champions’ three playoff events and win the Charles Schwab Cup season points title for the fourth straight year and fifth overall, was tied for 28th at even-par 71 at tree-lined Phoenix Country Club. The points leader is one of five players who needs only to win the season-ending tournament to top the yearlong points competition.

Jerry Smith and Glen Day were a stroke back at 65, and Corey Pavin, David Toms and Joe Durant shot 66.

Goydos birdied two of the last three holes and five of the final seven on the traditional course that hosted the Phoenix Open until 1987.

“The golf course is in perfect shape,” Goydos said. “It’s just you want the scores to be higher, have lousy greens and bad fairways and the scores will be plenty high enough. The scores are going to be good. I don’t think 20 under’s going to win, but I think it’s going to be a pretty low score unless something funny happens with the weather.”

Goydos accidentally moved the ball with his putter on the par-3 eighth green.

“Since the Dustin Johnson situation, you play the local rule and if you accidentally cause the ball to move with the putter, even if you touch it with your putter, it’s not a penalty,” Goydos said. “I have to put it back, which I did, so it was a 3. Then from that point on good things kind of happened.”

In his victory last year at Desert Mountain, Goydos opened with a 62. The two-time PGA Tour winner took the 3M Championship in Minnesota in August for his fifth senior title.

The 60-year-old Langer opened the playoffs with victories in the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Richmond, Virginia, and took the PowerShares QQQ Championship two weeks ago in Thousand Oaks, California.

He won three of the tour’s five majors this season and has a tour-best seven victories. Langer has never won the season-ending event, finishing in the top 10 seven times in nine starts.

Singh played the final 10 holes in 6 under.

“I played nicely,” Singh said. “I drove the ball well, which is key on this golf course. I think you’ve got to hit a lot of fairways. Putted nicely, made some nice good putts. Anytime you drive it well and make some putts, you’re going to shoot a low one. So, very happy with the start and hope to keep it going.”

He teamed with Carlos Franco to win the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf in April for his lone senior title.

Janzen had seven birdies in a bogey-free round. He won his lone senior title in 2015.

“Everybody in the field knows scoring’s going to be low, so I think the mindset is you’ve got to shoot low scores all three days,” Janzen said. “You don’t want to get behind.”

Scott McCarron is second in the standings, followed by Kenny Perry, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Kevin Sutherland. McCarron, playing alongside Langer in the final group on the warm, sunny afternoon in the desert, closed with a bogey for a 68. Sutherland had a 69, Perry shot 72, and Jimenez was tied for last in the 36-player field at 74.

Fred Couples, Colin Montgomerie and John Daly were at 69.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Patrick Rodgers kept making birdies until his name was atop the leaderboard and it was too dark to play any longer Friday.

Rodgers, a former Jack Nicklaus Award winner as the top player in college, ran off four straight birdies on the back nine and reached 11-under par until the storm-delayed OHL Classic at Mayakoba was suspended by darkness.

Rodgers hit his tee shot on the par-5 seventh hole, one of the three holes he will have to complete Saturday morning.

Rickie Fowler, playing for the first time since the Presidents Cup, was at 10 under with three holes left. The second round was halted for 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Patton Kizzire, the 18-hole leader after a 62, overcame the wind and the rain – at times both – and a double bogey on his 10th hole. He made three straight birdies for a 1-under 70 and finished 36 holes at 10-under 132.

Brian Gay and Brandon Harkins, the 31-year-old rookie from northern California, were at 9-under 133.

Martin Piller was at 8 under and still had nine holes to play.

Rodgers, who was 7 under for his round when play was stopped, is one of the few players from the fabled high school class of 2011 who is still looking for his first PGA Tour victory. He grew up in juniorgolf with fellow class members Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger, Emiliano Grillo and Xander Schauffele.

Rodgers, who grew up outside Indianapolis and starred at Stanford, has yet to make a bogey at El Camaleon in 33 holes.

For all the attention on the youth movement golf, Harkins is a different kind of rookie. He has toiled on the smaller tours, particularly in Canada on the Mackenzie Tour, to finally earn his card. He began his rookie season with a tie for ninth at the Safeway Open.

He finished up the second round of the OHL Classic with his name on the leaderboard, though it wasn’t quite the finish he had in mind. Starting on the 13th hole, Harkins alternated making birdies and bogeys until he drove into a fairway bunker on the 18th, didn’t get on the green and failed to get up-and-down.

“Definitely exciting,” he said of his name on the board. “But to be honest, I didn’t really watch any board. Wasn’t quite the finish I was looking for, trading birdies and bogeys like that, but I really can’t complain in the wind like this.”

Kizzire also had to lean on patience in the tough weather.

“I had a few hiccups out there, but with the wind and the rain – and with the wind and rain together – it was tough,” Kizzire said. “And the stop and start was tough. But I hung in there, made a few birdies there toward the end of my round and then survived that really tough rain that we had there at the end.”

Oscar Frausto had a 66 and at 7-under 135 had the low score among the five Mexican players in the field. Roberto Diaz, who also competed in the World Golf Championship in Mexico City earlier this year, had a 65 and was another shot behind.

Beau Hossler, who had a chance to win last week in Las Vegas, shot 66 to reach 6-under 136.