World No. 2 Lydia Ko to compete at Aramco Team Series in Florida

World No.2 Lydia Ko of New Zealand. (Gulf Saudi)
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Updated 27 April 2023
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World No. 2 Lydia Ko to compete at Aramco Team Series in Florida

  • The event takes place at Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach between May 19-21  

FLORIDA: World No. 2 Lydia Ko will be competing in the second event of the 2023 Aramco Team Series presented by Public Investment Fund at Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach.  

The second instalment of the Aramco Team Series takes place between May 19-21, 2023, and will see the best players from professional women’s golf compete for the $1million prize fund in Florida.  

Ko is relishing her return to the Aramco Team Series and is hoping to improve on her debut performance in Singapore, which saw her finish in third place behind eventual winner Pauline Roussin. 

“After playing my way into contention in Singapore, I’m looking to build on my success in the Aramco Team Series this time in Florida,” she said. “I really enjoyed this format when I played in my debut, and the team element of the event adds a new dimension and a bit of additional pressure where you’re playing for your teammates as well as for yourself.”  

The New Zealander’s form is trending in the right direction heading into the Aramco Team Series Florida; she has already enjoyed victory this year at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International in February.

It was the 26th victory of Ko’s career, and her second victory in the Aramco Saudi Ladies International thanks to a four-under par final round of 68, which gave her a 21-under total at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club.

On her victory, Ko said: “It was great to get the win in Saudi Arabia in my first start of the year. It’s always great to get your season off to a winning start, especially when you’re competing against a strong field on a great course.”  

“The addition of the Aramco Team Series and Saudi Ladies Invitational events have accelerated the growth of the Ladies European Tour with some of the best players in the world now competing in these high-profile events. If you look at the previous winners of the Aramco Team Series, I’ll definitely have to bring my best game heading into Florida.” 

The Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour is competed across five global destinations throughout the year. After teeing off in Singapore, the series moves on to Florida, London and Hong Kong before concluding in Riyadh in October.

May’s event consists of 36 teams comprising of one amateur and three professionals who compete for a $1 million prize fund. Aside from the team event, there is a three-day individual stroke play competition contested among the professionals, which contributes to both Race to Costa del Sol and Rolex World Ranking points. 


Angel Yin rides a hot putter to 2-shot lead in LPGA fina

Updated 23 November 2024
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Angel Yin rides a hot putter to 2-shot lead in LPGA fina

  • Yin won $1 million last year in the Aon Risk-Reward Challenge, a bonus competition all year that measures how players fare on holes that have risk, such as a reachable par 5
  • Very clear in her rearview mirror was Nelly Korda

NAPLES, Florida: Angel Yin rammed in a 30-foot par putt on her opening hole, setting the tone for a day of big putts and 3-under 69 that gave her a two-shot lead Friday in the CME Group Tour Championship and the chase for the $4 million prize.

Very clear in her rearview mirror was Nelly Korda.

Korda, coming off her seventh win of the season last week, opened with a 72 and was eight shots behind. She found a simple swing thought after the round and was back to her old self with a 66 that cut the deficit in half with 36 holes left to play.

“Golf is just crazy,” Korda said. “You go from playing so well last week to not being able to find the center of the clubface yesterday. Always humbles you, but what’s that you love so much about it. Went to the range after my round yesterday. Tried to find a different feel. Felt a little better out there today, and hopefully I can keep progressing.”

Yin followed that 30-foot par putt with a 40-foot birdie putt on the next hole. She also holed a birdie putt from about 35 feet on the 11th hole that put her in the lead for good.

She was at 10-under 134. Hye-Jin Choi (68) and Narin An (72) were 8 under.

Korda, who already has captured her first award as player of the year, was tied for fourth at 138 with four other players who are either major champions or have been No. 1 in the women’s world ranking — Jeeno Thitikul, Ayaka Furue, Ruoning Yin and Amy Yang, the defending champion at Tiburon Golf Club.

Furue also is in a tight battle for the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average, and she pulled within a fraction of a point of Haeran Ryu.

Yin’s round had enough bogeys to slow her momentum, along with a discussion with a rules official over where she took her drop after going in the water on the par-3 fourth hole.

“It looked like I took an improper drop where I went up closer than I should have, where I should have dropped further back,” Yin said, who was asked to review footage. “They thought I didn’t take the drop properly. I explained to them that I believe I did take the drop properly.”

She said it was discussed with everyone in her group. She said a marshal never volunteered any information. The drop stood, she took bogey and was moving on.

“I believe my drop was right,” Yin said.

Korda, meanwhile, grazed the cup with birdie chances and then made it up for it on the third hole when her 8-iron from the rough landed so perfectly that it rolled into the cup for an eagle. That sent her on her way.

The key to getting her game on track was more hinge in taking the club away and taking a shorter swing. It all came together. Korda also said she finally was able to get some rest after a busy week of awards.

Yin won $1 million last year in the Aon Risk-Reward Challenge, a bonus competition all year that measures how players fare on holes that have risk, such as a reachable par 5. That $1 million meant a lot to her, and she said it gave her some financial freedom.

What would $4 million mean?

“Even bigger financial freedom,” she said.

 

 


LPGA Tour sets another record with $127.5m in prize money for 2025

Updated 21 November 2024
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LPGA Tour sets another record with $127.5m in prize money for 2025

  • The official prize money does not include the $2 million International Crown, held every two years as the only team event in golf where countries compete against each other
  • The tour also announced that Chicago-based CME Group has extended its sponsorship of the Race to CME Globe for two years through 2027

NEW YORK: The LPGA Tour will play for $127.5 million in official prize money in 2025, another record for the circuit that has worked independently of the PGA Tour for 75 years.

The schedule announced Wednesday at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida, has a few moving parts that include new tournaments in Utah and Mexico, the end of a 40-year run in Ohio and its Founders Cup merging into a previous tournament.

The official prize money does not include the $2 million International Crown, held every two years as the only team event in golf where countries compete against each other; and the $2 million Grant Thornton Invitational, a mixed team event with the PGA Tour.

The LPGA Tour is playing for $123.75 million in official prize money in 2024.

The tour also announced that Chicago-based CME Group has extended its sponsorship of the Race to CME Globe for two years through 2027.

The CME Group Tour Championship has more than doubled its purse to $11 million, with $4 million going to the winner this week. The only bigger payoff in women’s sport is the WTA Finals. Coco Gauff won $4.8 million earlier this month.

The Players Championship ($4.5 million) and US Open ($4.3 million) are the only golf tournaments that paid more than what the CME Group Tour Championship winner will get.

“The metrics and the numbers are eye-popping in terms of the growth that we’ve had over the last several years,” LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said Wednesday.

“We’re really proud that other women’s sports are starting to get the financial investment that women’s golf has enjoyed, and we’re proud of the role that we’ve played in elevating women’s sports in general,” she said. “The best women in the world need to make a living that matches their level of excellence, and we’re fighting every day to achieve that goal.”

The prize money has increased nearly 90 percent in four years, led by the majors and CME Group boosting purses at the biggest events.

Marcoux Samaan said the LPGA tried to improve the geographic flow of the schedule and it avoided playing the same week as five of the six biggest events in men’s golf next year. It plays only the same week as the US Open (Meijer LPGA Classic).

The LPGA will be off during The Players Championship, Masters, PGA Championship, British Open and Ryder Cup.

The Chevron Championship, the first major, was moved back one week so it doesn’t start just four days after the Masters.

Marcoux Samaan also said the LPGA will have fully subsidized health insurance for its players next year. Previously, they had a $1,800 stipend in 2021 that grew to $4,000 this year. Full coverage is “something we’ve been working on in this organization for a really long time, and we’re really proud of that,” she said.

Among the tweaks to the 2025 schedule was starting two weeks later for a slightly longer offseason. The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in Florida starts Jan. 30.

Cognizant no longer sponsors the $3 million Founders Cup in New Jersey. Instead, the Founders Cup replaces the LPGA Drive On Championship in Bradenton, Florida, with a $2 million purse.

New to the schedule is a return to Mexico for the Riviera Maya Open in Cancun, and the Black Desert Championship in Utah, which hosted a PGA Tour event on the same course this fall.

The LPGA also put the Hawaii stop on the front end of the fall Asia swing, instead of behind it as players made their way back to the mainland.

Ten of the tournaments had slight increases in prize money. All but two tournaments, the Honda LPGA Thailand and the ShopRite LPGA Classic, have at least $2 million purses. Ten tournaments have prize money of $3 million or more, with the new FM Championship at the TPC Boston raising its purse to $4.1 million.

That doesn’t include the majors or the CME Group Tour Championship. The US Women’s Open, run by the USGA, again has the highest purse at $12 million. It will be played next year at Erin Hills in Wisconsin, where Brooks Koepka won his first major in the 2017 US Open.


Nelly Korda rallies in Florida for her seventh LPGA win of the year

Updated 18 November 2024
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Nelly Korda rallies in Florida for her seventh LPGA win of the year

  • Korda now has won four times this year when trailing going into the final round

BELLEAIR, Florida: Nelly Korda was back to competition for the first time in nearly two months and didn’t miss a beat. She ran off five straight birdies on the back nine to stage another Sunday comeback, closing with a 3-under 67 to win The Annika for her seventh LPGA Tour title this year.
Korda had a rough start and said she didn’t have many happy thoughts when she made the turn at 2 over for the day, two shots behind Charley Hull. Starting with a birdie on No. 11, she made five in a row on her way to a three-shot victory.
The only big surprise was seeing her younger brother, Sebastian, who has been charting his own career in tennis that kept him from seeing his sister win until Sunday at Pelican Golf Club.
Korda, who earlier this year tied an LPGA record with five straight victories, became the first player to win seven times in a season since Yani Tseng in 2011. No other American had won seven times in a season since Beth Daniel in 1990.
Korda now has won four times this year when trailing going into the final round.
Hull, going for a wire-to-wire win, simply couldn’t keep up with Korda’s birdie blitz. Coming off her first win worldwide two weeks ago in Saudi Arabia, Hull closed with a 1-over 71 and tied for second with LPGA rookie Jin Hee Im (68) and Weiwei Zhang (70).
Zhang moved up 24 spots to No. 82 in the Race to CME Globe to keep her card for next year. The top 60 advance to the CME Group Tour Championship next week in Naples, where the winner gets $4 million. Carlota Ciganda moved up three places to secure the final spot.
Korda last played Sept. 22 in Ohio. She was planning to play twice during the Asian swing until a minor neck injury kept her at home. She was eager to get back in time to play Pelican, where she had won two of the previous three years.
“After taking some time off with an injury, it feels great to be back out here,” Korda said. “Nothing like being in the hunt, the adrenaline feeling on the back nine, and being in contention. I love it so much.”
The victory puts her over $4 million for the year, and she can nearly match that with a win next week at Tiburon Golf Club. The ranking does not matter for the season finale — all 60 players have the same shot at one of the biggest prizes in women’s sports.


Rory McIlroy ends his year with another win in Dubai and a 6th title as Europe’s best

Updated 17 November 2024
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Rory McIlroy ends his year with another win in Dubai and a 6th title as Europe’s best

  • He birdied two of the last three holes Sunday for a 3-under 69 to win by two over Rasmus Hojgaard

DUBAI: Rory McIlroy capped off a tumultuous year by winning the World Tour Championship and his sixth title as Europe’s No. 1 player. He birdied two of the last three holes Sunday for a 3-under 69 to win by two over Rasmus Hojgaard.
McIlroy hit wedge to within a foot on the 16th hole to break out of a tie with Hojgaard, then closed with a 6-foot birdie for his third title in the European tour’s season finale.
He won the Race to Dubai — previously known as the Order of Merit — for the sixth time in his career, leaving him two behind the record held by Colin Montgomerie and tying him with the late Seve Ballesteros.
Hojgaard, who rallied to stun McIlroy in the Irish Open in September, didn’t make a birdie over the final 11 holes and had to settle for a 71.
McIlroy was emotional when he came off the 18th green, his final event of a year memorable for so many reasons. He won four times — twice on the PGA Tour — but went a 10th consecutive year without a major when he threw away a late lead in the US Open.
He announced he was getting a divorce before the PGA Championship, and then scrapped those plans and said he and his wife would try to reconcile.
“I’ve been through a lot this year, professionally and personally,” McIlroy said. “It feels like the fitting end to 2024. I’ve persevered this year a lot.”


‘Bright is an understatement’ says Golf Saudi CEO about the sport’s future in the Kingdom

Updated 17 November 2024
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‘Bright is an understatement’ says Golf Saudi CEO about the sport’s future in the Kingdom

  • Noah Alireza speaks to Arab News about the Aramco Team Series, the GoGolf programs and producing homegrown talent

On a weekend that included the start of the WTA Finals in Riyadh, WWE Crown Jewel, as well as the Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam derbies in the Saudi Pro League, you could be forgiven for thinking there was any space left for any other sporting event to shine.

But golf’s Aramco Team Series — Riyadh, however, more than held its own and even drew in higher crowds than some of the rival events. The aim, said Golf Saudi CEO Noah Alireza, is to spread the golfing gospel.

“Our focus on global events comes with a primary objective of growing the game locally,” Alireza said. “(At Aramco Team Series) we (saw) a really vibrant crowd thatwas really getting into it.

“It’s all about creating the right environment and with this crowd being here as a captive audience, we, as much as possible, push towards them signing up for GoGolf, the program, and converting them into future golfers.” 

As the 2024 golf season draws to a close, Alireza said that his federation’s mandate is to act as an “catalyst and incubator” to create a golf industry.

“For us in Saudi, we have a blank canvas,” Alireza told Arab News. “We’re starting from scratch, and that provides an opportunity not to catch up, but hopefully to leapfrog because as is everything (in the Kingdom) today, Saudi doesn’t look at things in terms of just taking what was there and bringing it here. It’s taking and learning from what was, and doing it better.

“So for us to grow the game in Saudi Arabia, our primary focus today is on the development of innovative supply and infrastructure, and hopefully when we build it, the demand will catch up and that’s how we're going to hopefully be creating a viable ecosystem for golf.”

One of the ways that Golf Saudi is looking to increase participation in the game, in accordance with Vision 2030, is through its GoGolf programs.

“GoGulf is for us a complete product from end to end to get people from Saudi and living in Saudi Arabia to get into Golf. So we’re starting with a program that answers the question why golf? What is golf? And then a call to action is GoGolf. GoGolf is a three-month (program), maybe you can look at it as getting a license to drive.”

Alireza appreciates that taking up golf comes with a significant sporting and financial dedication, and GoGolf aims to give budding players an early advantage.

“Golf is not an easy game to play. In order to break that barrier, three months’ worth of free lessons, or a package of 12 free lessons, will get you the license to be able to play on golf courses and other areas. So it’s a teaching methodology, but beyond the teaching phase, there is other infrastructure under the GoGolf brand that we will be deploying in addition to other things we’ve launched outside golf courses, like Top Golf — a project that’s going to be taking place over the next year and a half.”

Alireza has a message for parents looking to introduce their children to new sports and activities: “The choices are plenty to get kids into sports, and all sports will teach kids certain traits,” he said. “Whether it is discipline, motivation and so many other traits.

“Growing up around golf, I had the opportunity to see it first hand, and golf is slightly different from other sports in that it takes up so much time and you’re moving an object, you’re not reacting to a ball, you’re having to impart impact on to a ball and a lot of time in between there are so many things that you have to exercise. Patience, resilience, determination, the seeking of perfection and getting better every day, and I believe those traits are really good traits to start to ingrain into kids, and hopefully one day from that some of the kids will specialize in golf and create those future champions that we’re looking to create.”

Alireza is bullish about golf’s trajectory in the Kingdom over the coming years.

“Bright is an understatement,” he said. “With the incredible support that we’re seeing in Saudi Arabia today across all the sectors, we have an incredible opportunity to bring the world of golf here to co-innovate with us on creating a platform that defines what future golf will be in terms of the infrastructure, golf courses, practice facilities and beyond.”

While there are several Saudi golfers already making moves in the professional game, Alireza’s aim is to see a whole generation of golfers emerging from the Kingdom over the next decade.

“I think it's important that we focus on building that generation for two important reasons,” he said. “No.1 is that creating champions is an element that we’ve seen as a story throughout history that helps generate future generations of champions.

“So when Saudi beat Argentina in the World Cup, that was a generational moment that not only created future football stars but athletes in general,” Alireza said. “Everyone could now believe if somebody that I know of that is from my city, my country can do it, then so can I. And that element, that barrier, as a threshold is extremely important. So for us, the focus on creating those champions is really important because then it goes to the second reason.”

“The second reason is that that tipping point, when that champion is created, inshallah, and our goal is to have that happen within the next five to 10 years, is that it creates a whole new generation of golfers that sustains the golf economy that we’re seeking to create.”