With an early putter raise and a fist pump, Sei Young Kim nailed a 25-foot birdie on the final hole of the LPGA Tour season to win the CME Group Tour Championship – and with that victory came the richest pay day in the history of women’s golf.
WOW! WHAT. A. FINISH!
Sei Young Kim drains a monster putt to birdie the 18th and win the @CMEGroupLPGA and the $1.5 million prize that goes with it pic.twitter.com/7MWOQmxx3a
— Golf Town (@GolfTown) November 24, 2019
Kim, who had won twice already this season (Marathon Classic and LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship), put a bow on her third victory of 2019 with an emphatic birdie on the difficult par-4 18th at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida.
“On (the) last putt I (was) just trying make two-putt because I didn’t see the leaderboard on the 18th hole. I didn’t know that if I made a two-putt it could go to playoff,” said Kim.
She finished at 18-under, one shot ahead of Charley Hull, who had a spirited run up the leaderboard Sunday making birdies on five of her final seven holes.
In the end, her 6-under-par 66 wasn’t enough to top Kim, whose 2-under 70 was enough to earn her the biggest first-place prize ever in women’s golf – $1.5 million.
Danielle Kang had the round of the day – a 7-under-par 65 – and jumped up the leaderboard into a tie for third with Nelly Korda.
After a 5-under-par 65 on Sunday, Golf Town athlete Brooke Henderson finished in fifth place. She ended up just three shots back of Kim’s winning total and her solo-fifth result was her 13th top-10 of the season.
“It was a good round. Got off to a pretty good start. Front nine things were looking good. Would’ve liked to get a few more on the back, but overall really happy,” said Brooke after her round. “Really happy with how 2019 went.”
Brooke finished with a sub-70 scoring average for this season – which was one of her main goals to start 2019 – and will earn more than $1.7 million this year.
She played very consistent golf from beginning to end, but also made a little history in the process, too.
With her victory at the Meijer Classic this summer, Brooke won for the ninth time on the LPGA Tour. Her ninth win set the mark for winningest Canadian on either the LPGA or PGA Tour.
This week in Naples Brooke was voted by her peers on the LPGA Tour as the winner of The Founders Award.
Formerly called the William & Mousie Powell Award (and won by two Canadians previously, Lorie Kane and Gail Graham), it is annually given to someone “whose behavior and deeds best exemplifies the spirit, ideals, and values of the LPGA.”
Fellow Canadian Alena Sharp finished T29 and earned more than $350,000 with four top-10 results. It was her second-most successful season in terms of money-earned, and all but guarantees that she and Brooke Henderson will be Canada’s representatives at the 2020 Olympics.
With the season now officially wrapped up, 2019 CP Women’s Open champion Jin Young Ko was the year’s biggest winner. She won four times, including two majors, and was honoured Thursday night as the Rolex Player of the Year. She also won the Rolex Annika Major Award (for her results at the five major championships), the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average, and she topped the money list.