NAPLES, Fla. – Today, LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan and CME Group Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy announced that the Race to the CME Globe is evolving in 2019 to bring an even bigger payout and purse to the Tour’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.

Starting in 2019, all points will disappear during the LPGA’s final tournament and the event purse will double, from $2.5 million to $5 million. An elite field of just 60 players at the CME Group Tour Championship will all have an opportunity to take home the largest first-place prize in all of women’s golf – $1.5 million.

“CME Group has made a huge impact on the LPGA Tour during our nine years together, and today’s news is an absolute game-changer for the LPGA and its members,” said LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan. “With the Race to the CME Globe, we already had a grand finish to the LPGA Tour season. With these changes, it’s now bigger money, smaller field, and ANY player in the Tour Championship can win – game on!”

With so much on the line at the CME Group Tour Championship, the Race to the CME Globe will become even more compelling as the focus initially turns to which players will earn a place in the elite field. As in previous years, players will accumulate points at each official LPGA Tour event throughout the 2019 season leading up to the CME Group Tour Championship. The top 60 points earners and ties will earn a spot in the CME Group Tour Championship; previously the top 72 points earners qualified.

“We are proud of our long-standing relationship with the LPGA and its players and are extremely pleased to further elevate our support of women’s golf,” said Duffy. “This new format consists of a year-long competition that ensures the world’s top 60 women golfers, based on CME Globe points, have the opportunity to compete for the biggest payout in the history of the LPGA. When they get to Naples, it’s anyone’s game and everyone will have an equal shot at winning the $5 million purse. We believe these significant changes will create even more energy, excitement and anticipation for both the players who are competing as well as the fans who are watching the dramatic finish of the LPGA season at the CME Group Tour Championship.”

Learn more about the new and improved @CMEGroupLPGA and the #RaceToCMEGlobe

Watch >> pic.twitter.com/u3YmxTGgqp

— #RaceToCMEGlobe (@LPGA) November 14, 2018

As the Race evolves in 2019, so too will its season-long charity program, which will become the CME Group Cares Challenge – Score 1 for St. Jude. CME Group will donate $20,000 for each hole-in-one made on the LPGA Tour in 2019, with a minimum guaranteed donation of $500,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®, which is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Proceeds from the program will help assure that families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food – because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.

“Along with these changes to the CME Group Tour Championship, we will be evolving our CME Group Cares Challenge by introducing a new Score 1 for St. Jude program to support the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital mission of finding cures and saving lives,” said Duffy. “During the season, every time an LPGA player scores a hole-in-one, CME Group will donate $20,000 to St. Jude to help them continue paying for treatment, travel, food and housing for its patients and families.”

As in previous seasons, players will accumulate points at each official LPGA Tour event. All tournaments will have the same point values in the Race to the CME Globe, except for the five major championships, which will be worth 25 percent more. The winners of all official LPGA Tour events leading up to the CME Group Tour Championship will earn 500 points and the winner of each major championship will earn 625 points. Only LPGA Tour members are eligible to earn points in the Race.

For all LPGA Tour events with a cut, points will be awarded to LPGA members who make the cut. For all events without a cut, points will be awarded to members who finish among the top 40 and ties. Two tournaments will award points differently – the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions and the DOW Great Lakes Bay Invitational. For the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, points will be awarded to members who finish among the top 20 and ties. For the DOW Great Lakes Bay Invitational, points will be awarded to members who make the cut in the following manner: 1st place team will split the total of 1st and 2nd place points, 2nd place team will split the total of 3rd and 4th place points, etc. In the case of decimal points, split points will be rounded down to the nearest whole number.

Brooke Henderson isn’t going to cut back on her ambitious golf schedule, even if it makes her climb to the top spot in the LPGA rankings more difficult.

The star golfer from Smiths Falls, Ont., has her sights set on No. 1 after winning two LPGA Tour titles in each of the last three seasons, including a career-defining CP Women’s Open this August in Regina.

Henderson is a bit of a victim of how much she plays, as the world rankings are calculated using a divisor based on tournaments played. Yet she said she won’t cull her schedule next year in order to move up the world rankings.

“Some of the players who don’t play as often as I do move up a little bit more,” she told The Canadian Press by phone from Florida. “But I’m happy to be back in the top-10, I feel like that’s where I belong.”

The 21-year-old tees it up this week at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla., the final event of this LPGA Tour season. She has a home in Naples, and said it’s a nice reward after a long season to be able to sleep in her own bed this week.

Henderson comes into the tournament after a tough four-tournament swing through Asia. She said she got sick at the halfway point of the trip and never recovered.

Still, Henderson has 12 top-15 finishes in 2018 and has earned more than US$1.4 million. She sits ninth in the world and third in the season-long Race to the CME Globe, which culminates this week. A good final tournament will give Henderson a shot at the race’s $1-million bonus.

“The results may not show it exactly, but I feel like my game has been the best it’s been over my time on Tour,” Henderson said.

“When I was on this year my game was really good. I did have some off weeks but generally my game is good and it’s getting better which is cool to think about.”

Henderson said level of competition on the LPGA Tour has gotten tougher since she turned professional at 18. For example, Ariya Jutanugarn, currently the world No. 1, has finished in the top-10 in more than half the tournaments she’s played this year.

“You can’t really take a breather,” said Henderson. “If you want to play well and get a high finish, you have to bring your ‘A’ game every week, which is pretty exciting for the women’s game. It’s definitely more challenging.”

Looking ahead to next year, Henderson confirmed her team would stay the same. Her sister Brittany will remain her caddie, and she’ll continue to use clubs from her longtime sponsor Ping, but part of her plan in the off-season is to test some of the brand’s new equipment.

Once the season wraps up, Henderson will stay in Florida to practice until Christmas, when she’ll return home to Smiths Falls to see her family and friends and take some “real” time off.

Henderson said the highlight of 2018 was winning on home soil in August. With her CP Women’s Open victory, she now has seven LPGA Tour titles, just one back of the all-time mark for Canadian professional golfers, held jointly by Sandra Post, Mike Weir, and George Knudson.

“This year was really busy and there was a lot of things going on, but I’m in a really good place both mentally and physically which is a really nice feeling,” she said. “I think the off-season will be a well-deserved break, but I hope I can go in strong this week and put on a final good show for 2018.”

HAINAN ISLAND, China – Gaby Lopez won her first LPGA Tour event with a 1-over 73 to finish one shot ahead of Ariya Jutanugarn in the Blue Bay tournament in China.

Lopez had bogeys on the last two holes at the Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Club on Saturday and almost let the title slip away. She finished at 8-under 280.

Playing in a group with Lopez, No. 1-ranked Jutanugarn had a birdie on the final hole to also finish on 73.

Celine Boutier shot a 66 and finished two shots off the lead.

Lopez is the first winner from Mexico since Lorena Ochoa, a driving force for the game in that Latin American country.

“I mean, she’s been my inspiration my entire life,” Lopez said of Ochoa. “That’s why I’m actually a professional golfer.”

Ochoa was the LPGA’s top-ranked golfer for several years until she retired in 2010. She won 27 LPGA Tour events.

Lopez said she was also thinking of her grandfather, Jose Lopez, who died recently.

“I always told him that I was going to give him my first trophy,” Lopez said. “Sadly I didn’t, but he was with me all week long and I couldn’t be more lucky, more fortunate to have him still alive in me.”

Jutanugarn played the last two rounds with Lopez and was happy for her – even in defeat.

“She did a great job last two days,” Jutanugarn said, knowing Lopez was “nervous sometimes.”

Lopez turned 25 on Friday and had a hole-in-one in the third round, which turned out to be the difference.

Alena Sharp (75) of Hamilton tied for 33rd place while Brittany Marchand (78) of Orangeville, Ont., was 61st.

The tournament wrapped up five straight weeks of play for the LPGA in Asia.

Brittany Henderson, the older sister of Brooke Henderson, is one of nine people who will officially be inducted into Coastal Carolina University’s Buddy F. Sasser Athletics Hall of Fame.

Prior to putting her playing career behind her to caddy full-time for her sister on the LPGA Tour, Henderson was a member of Team Canada’s Development (2006-2008) Team.

Collegiality, Henderson finished her Coastal career ranked third in program history in career scoring average (75.94). .She led Coastal to a pair of Big South championships in 2011 and 2013 and she was the back-to-back Individual Medalist at the 2012-13 Big South Championships. Henderson is one of two Coastal women’s golfers to compete in an NCAA Regional in each of her four years, and she also advanced to the 2011 NCAA Championship. She was voted the 2013 Big South Golfer and Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was a four-time All-Big South selection. In 2012, Henderson set the Coastal record for the lowest individual score at a Big South Championship (214) and she tied the conference record for lowest individual round at a Big South Championship (68).

Henderson will officially inducted as the Hall’s 28th class on the evening of Nov. 9. The Class of 2018 will also be publicly honored at halftime of Coastal Carolina’s football game versus Arkansas State on Nov. 10.

Big Congratulations to my sister!! Inducted into Coastal Carolina University’s Athletic Hall of Fame last night! So proud of her ? pic.twitter.com/sj0cPB7C9s

— Brooke Henderson (@BrookeHenderson) November 10, 2018

Seven of the nine inductees are former Chanticleer student-athletes, including Henderson (women’s golf), Jose Iglesias (baseball), Chelsy Kimes (volleyball), Erica Peake (women’s track and field), Sebastian Soderberg (men’s golf), Mike Tolbert (football) and Cody Wheeler (baseball). Also being inducted as honorary members are retired women’s basketball coach, Alan LeForce, and retired University photographer, Bill Edmonds.

HAINAN ISLAND, China – How’s this for a birthday present?

Gaby Lopez turned 25 on Friday and celebrated with a hole-in-one that helped her to a 6-under-66 and a one-stroke lead over Ariya Jutanugarn after the third round of the Blue Bay LPGA tournament.

Even better, Lopez will be after her first career U.S. LPGA Tour victory in the final round on Saturday and will play in the last group with Ariya, the No. 1-ranked golfer. They also played together on Friday at Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Club.

“I have been waiting for this moment,” the Mexican said. “I’m very lucky to share the course with the best player in the world. You know, I had fun. I enjoyed today.”

Lopez aced the 17th, knocking in a 7 iron from 181 yards. She also had six birdies including three to open the round. She said it was her eighth hole-in-one.

“As soon as the ball left the club I knew it was a good shot, but I couldn’t see because the sun was in my face,” Lopez explained. “I turned around and my caddie goes, ‘It went in.’ I couldn’t give myself a better birthday present.”

Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., is 4 over for the tourney and 13 shots off the lead. Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont., is 8 over.

Jutanugarn, of Thailand, led by four strokes after the second round but slipped to a 71, which included a bogey on the final hole.

Sung Hyun Park shot a 67 and fellow South Korean Sei Young Kim had a 68 to put them both five strokes behind the leader.

The tournament wraps up five straight weeks of play for the tour in Asia.

HAINAN ISLAND, China – Top-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn shot a 4-under 68 to take a four-stroke lead at the halfway point of the Blue Bay LPGA tournament.

Jutanugarn had birdies on the final two holes – and four of the closing seven – on Thursday to take command over the rest of the field at 7-under 137.

Jennifer Song, Moriya Jutanugarn, and Gaby Lopez shot 71s and were in a tie for second at 3-under.

The leader is likely to play in a group on Friday with her older sister.

“I haven’t played with her for so long,” she explained. “We have so much fun. At the same time we didn’t talk much when we played … especially when there are three players in the group.”

She said all the talk would distract the other player.

Jutanugarn said the sisters have played together before, but never in the same group on the final day. She said they are sharing the same living quarters this week. But she went on to explain they are very different characters.

“I think we are very nice to each other when we’re on the golf course, but off the golf course I think we not nice to each other,” she joked.

Between siblings, old habits die hard.

“You know, she’s really professional,” Ariya said of her sister. “So her room is so clean. I throw everything. She yells at me every day.”

First-round leader Thidapa Suwannapura carded a 75 and fell six strokes behind the leader.

Canadian Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., slipped in the second round with a 4-over 76 to fall into a tie for 11th after holding 2nd place in the first round.

The Blue Bay tournament is the last of five on the LPGA Tour’s Asian swing.

HAINAN ISLAND, China – Two golfers from Thailand and one Canadian were at the top of the leaderboard after Wednesday’s first round of the Blue Bay LPGA tournament.

Thidapa Suwannapura shot a 4-under 68 to lead the tournament by one shot from her compatriot Ariya Jutanugarn and Alena Sharp of Canada.

“Nice to get a good round under your belt to start the week. I love coming here,” said Sharp. “I’ve played well here before. The first year I was here I think I had a Top 5.”

Sharp battled the windy conditions to post a 3-under-par 69 in Thursday’s opener and is building on a positive outlook for the future after admitting she wasn’t very pleased with this past season.

“I’m trying to gain more distance,” said Sharp, who is teeing up this week for the first time since the Evian Championship in mid-September. “That’s my overall goal with the driver. I’m not working on that right this second. That’s kind of after this tournament. Work into that and get in the gym more and get some more speed that way.”

Sharp did compete in a Cactus Tour event last week, emerging victorious and adding a pep to her step as she came to China. A good finish this week could earn her a spot in next week’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, but that’s not immediately on Sharp’s mind. She just wants to feel good about her game.

“There is always light at the end of the tunnel. Finishing off on a good note and getting ready for next year is my main goal for this week,” said Sharp. “I didn’t really have a lot of expectations coming in. I’m not thinking about CME. It would be nice to play next week, but if that happens that’s just a bonus.”

Six other players, including three other Thai players, were two shots back and five others were three off the lead in the 72-hole tournament, which concludes the LPGA’s Tour’s Asian swing.

“It’s getting better every year,” Suwannapura said of women’s golf in Thailand.

Suwannapura gave her iron play credit for her round, beating windy conditions that she said she seldom sees at home.

After undergoing surgery on her back almost two years ago, she’s still rebuilding her game.

“After surgery I had to change my swing a little bit,” she said. “I could not use the same muscles. I usually use a lot of my back, and then broke my back – and then I had to use some other parts.”

She said her back was getting “better and better,” but lamented her putting.

“I feel like putting, it’s a weakness of my game,” she said. “I hit it so straight. I hit a lot of fairways. … Putting, just please putting.”

SHIGA, Japan – Local favourite Nasa Hataoka shot a 5-under 67 on Sunday to win the Japan Classic for her second LPGA title of the season.

Hataoka offset a pair of bogeys with seven birdies at the Seta Golf Club to finish at 14-under 202, two strokes ahead of compatriots Momoka Ueda, Saki Nagamine and Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, who all shot 68.

Hataoka, who also won the Arkansas Championship in June, started the final round four strokes behind second-round leader Minjee Lee. Lee quickly faded, playing the opening nine at 7-over 43 and opening the door for Hataoka, who played the same stretch at 4-under 36. Hataoka had a setback after the turn, carding consecutive bogeys at the 11th and 12th and allowing Ciganda to briefly pull into a tie for the lead. But Hataoka regained her confidence with a clutch par save at No. 13, and her birdie at No. 14 reclaimed the lead.

“I realize something has to come to me and I had to get through it, and I knew it was at the 13th hole,” said Hataoka of the putt that saved her round. “I was not totally comfortable with the shot, but I was calm enough to play well on that hole.”

Ciganda had a chance to tie Hataoka at No. 18 but left her birdie putt from above the hole too short. Hataoka’s birdie putt fell, clinching a hard-fought home win.

South Korean golfers Jin Young Ko (66) and Ji-Hee Lee (68) were tied for fifth at 11-under 205.

Lee struggled with her game and had back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 7 and 8 as part of a 78 that left her tied for 15th.

“I didn’t hit the shots that I wanted very solid,” Lee said. “So obviously it didn’t go the way I wanted.”

The LPGA stop in Japan is the fourth of five consecutive tournaments across Asia.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson finished in a tie for 41st.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The LPGA Tour announced today that Ariya Jutanugarn has earned the 2018 Rolex Player of the Year award, the second time in three seasons that the long-hitting Thai has secured this prestigious accolade.

With three events remaining on the 2018 LPGA Tour schedule, Jutanugarn leads the standings with 219 points, 83 ahead of second-placed Sung Hyun Park, and cannot be caught. Minjee Lee is third, with 122 points, and Brooke Henderson is fourth, with 110.

“It feels great to win this award for a second time, and I’m really excited about that,” said Jutanugarn, a 10-time winner on the LPGA Tour who returned to the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings on Monday. “I’ve played well this season and it’s a huge honor for me to have my name on this trophy again. I would also like to thank my entire team. I am grateful to be working with all of them, and I am blessed to have my family and my sponsors who believe in me. I would also like to thank all my fans in Thailand. I am really proud to be from Thailand, and to win this prestigious award.”

Jutanugarn has produced electrifying form on the LPGA Tour this year, winning three times and recording 12 additional top-10 finishes in 25 starts. She claimed her first victory of the season in May at the Kingsmill Championship presented by GEICO, then added a second just two starts later at the U.S. Women’s Open, where she edged out Hyo Joo Kim after four extra holes to secure the second major title of her career. Another win followed for Jutanugarn at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open in July, when she fired a 5-under 66 in the final round to triumph by one shot over Minjee Lee.

With three events still to be played this season, Jutanugarn leads the LPGA Tour in multiple statistical categories. She heads the Official Money List with $2,459,240 in season earnings, is No. 1 in scoring average at 69.379 and sets the pace in the CME Race to the Globe standings with 4,002 points. She also leads the way with total birdies (421) and top-10 finishes (15).

Jutanugarn will receive the Rolex Player of the Year award at the 2018 Rolex LPGA Awards ceremony, to be held on Thursday, Nov. 15, at Tiburon Golf Club during the week of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.

In 2016, Jutanugarn clinched the Player of the Year award for the first time after a dominant season in which she led the Tour with five victories and recorded 11 additional top-10 finishes. She became only the second player to win the Rolex Player of the Year, Race to the CME Globe and the LPGA Official Money Title in the same season, emulating Lydia Ko (2015).

Since its inception in 1966, there have been 13 multiple winners of the Rolex Player of the Year award: Kathy Whitworth (1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973); Joanne Carner (1974, 1981, 1982); Judy Rankin (1976, 1977); Nancy Lopez (1978, 1979, 1985, 1988); Beth Daniel (1980, 1990, 1994); Betsy King (1984, 1989, 1993); Pat Bradley (1986, 1991); Annika Sorenstam (1995, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005); Karrie Webb (1999, 2000); Lorena Ochoa (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009); Yani Tseng (2010, 2011); Stacy Lewis (2012; 2014); Ariya Jutanugarn (2016, 2018).

PINEHURST, N.C. – It was the start the Canadian LPGA hopefuls were looking for in the newly revamped LPGA Q-Series segment.

Calgary’s Jaclyn Lee leads the way with sole possession of second place through the opening four rounds of play at 9 under par (68-70-70-71). The Team Canada National Amateur Squad athlete is one of 11 amateurs in the field—four of which are inside the top 10. Among them is top-ranked female and 2017 Canadian Women’s Amateur Champion Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster, Colo.

Fellow Canadian Anne-Catherine Tanguay of Quebec City also holds strong positioning at Pinehurst Resort, sitting in solo 10th at 4 under par.

Maude-Aimée LeBlanc of Sherbrooke, Que., is tied for 60th at 9 over.

The 102-player field is in pursuit of the leading Klara Spilkova of Czech Republic. Approximately 45 spots are up for grabs for the 2019 LPGA Tour campaign.

Great first week at #QSeries for @JaclynLee57 and @ACTanguay ! Proud !?? Rest up ????

— Alena Sharp (@AlenaSharp) October 28, 2018

The second week of action will resume from Oct. 31 – Nov. 3 at Pinehurst No. 7.

I haven’t seen No. 7 yet, but I heard that it’s a good course as well. It’s not that we’re starting over next week, but I’m going to kind of view it as starting from day one again,” said Lee, a senior at Ohio State. “I’m excited to go play that course tomorrow and have a good week.”

The field will be 102 players and there will be approximately 45 spots up for grabs for the 2019 season.

Click here for scoring.