CME Group Tour Championship 2024 Preview

The LPGA Tour season will conclude spectacularly as the leading 60 players in 2024 are set to compete in the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club's Gold Course.

It's been a campaign defined by several compelling stories. There was the stunning run of success from Nelly Korda during the early months of the year, which saw her claim six titles including a major at the Chevron Championship, before the American endured a long summer of frustration and disappointment until she secured The Annika on Sunday.

Yuka Saso won the US Open for a second time, while Amy Yang - in her 75th attempt - finally became a major champion at the Women's PGA Championship.

Japan's Ayaka Furue was victorious at The Evian, but the major season saved the best for last with a true thriller at the Home of Golf as Lydia Ko fended off the likes of Korda, Lilia Vu, Jiyai Shin and Ruoning Yin to lift the Women's Open at St Andrews.

That secured the New Zealander her place in the LPGA Tour's Hall of Fame, and she will return to Tiburon in Florida in search of a third triumph in this event, which offers the biggest financial prize in women's golf.

Presenting a total purse of $11 million, the champion this weekend will walk away with a princely $4 million and the title of Race to the CME Globe Champion.

Hannah Green and Ruoning Yin have been overshadowed by Korda, but their achievements in 2024 are significant, both winning three times and are surely among the favourites to get their hands on the pot of gold this week.

American Lauren Coughlin's two summer successes in Canada and Scotland - booking her place in a winning Solheim Cup team - were also a highlight of the regular season. Could that fairytale have another chapter to it?

Amy Yang was last year's champion - going home with $2 million in the process - and the opportunity for the most lucrative of wins is there for the entire field as the seasonal points are reset, meaning that whoever tops the leaderboard on Sunday walks away with it all.

Looking at the official format, it confirms: "The Race to CME Globe is a season-long points competition in which LPGA Members accumulate points in every Official LPGA Tournament to gain entry into the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. The player who wins the CME Group Tour Championship will be named the Race to the CME Globe Champion."

Whoever wins this weekend - no matter what they have done all year - will depart with that $4 million jackpot. The stakes are undeniably high.

Charley Hull may have lost out to Korda last week, but the in-form English star could usurp the world number one to claim the most eye-catching of prizes.

Likewise, a steady year for the sensational Rose Zhang could instantly become a special one. And who's to say that Leona Maguire and Carlota Ciganda - who just squeezed into the field - couldn't achieve something extraordinary?

And what of Lexi Thompson, the Solheim Cup stalwart who plans to step away from regular competition? This could be her final bow, at least as a full-time tour player, and she has won here before. Conventional wisdom suggests that the ultimate dream ending might be beyond the 29-year-old, but wouldn't that be a story?

Given her accomplishments this season, it would be fitting and deserved if Nelly Korda sat atop the tree on Sunday, but there are no guarantees in this ruthless game, especially with such a prize within reach for all 60 players competing.