2019 CME Group Tour Championship Nov 21 - 24

[Newinup]

Shibuno like Putt to win it all! Great recovery by Sei Young despite having a tough putting last few holes...

[tesco]

Congratulations to sei young ... She's holds up to the end and win the 1.5milion huge price.

[pmcuk]

Impressive win! An exciting finish and a gritty determined performance by Sei Young.

She's a player who has always been dangerous and well respected, but now there'll be a bit more buzz about her.

[Stooch]

Very exciting finish, congrats to Sei Young on that clutch putt on 18 and winning the 1.5 million. Nelly will have regrets, she had her chance as Sei Young left the door open most of the day. Great rounds by Danielle and Charley, both gave it a good run but were too far back if Sei Young shot anything under par today. Although Charley made Sei Young earn it. Poor Brooke if the top 10 title would have went one more event she'd have won lol. I think to make this event more competitive, they should try to find a rotation of courses for the tour Finale. This really seems to be a horse for course type track with the same cast of characters challenging. IMO every year it shouldn't be the same players with the chance to win the 1.5 Mil. No offense to Charley or Lexi they haven't mattered in a event in months and probably wouldn't have today if played somewhere else lol. Just IMO there should be multiple venues giving different types of player equal chances.

[Argonne69]

Well, I don't think we could have asked for a better finish to the season. A million dollar putt on the final hole. Sei Young definitely left the door open, but slammed it shut at the last moment. I guess we shouldn't be surprised that the last group played so tight with so much on the line. As Judy mentioned earlier this week, the chasers had nothing to lose, and were freewheeling it. No doubt Sei Young is the most underrated player on tour. An average of two wins a season for five years is impressive to say the least.

Surprised to see Nelly lose it with the driver given that she's been near the top of Total Driving for most of the season. The birdie on 18 was a bit of a consolation prize.

Danielle has to be happy with her final round, but she's got to be stratching her head wondering what she has to do do on Sunday to hoist the trophy. I guess it boils down to the previous rounds.

Great call on Charley. She hasn't done much in a while, but sure likes Tiburon.

Solid week for Brooke. Just keeps chalking up the top 10's.

[Raving Shanker]

Well done to Sei Young Kim. I love that girl, and she must be on top of the world right now, despite her cold!

The additional $1.25m prize money, compared to a regular tournament - it made a HUGE difference! SYK's final round was agony for her, and almost unbearable to watch. The bogey on 14, and then that very clunky par on 17, were as tight and anxiety ridden as I have ever seen any of the top-flight players get. And this for a player renowned fro free-wheeling big wins. It took SYK losing the lead with one hole to play to finally kick her into gear! I knew she'd hole that putt on 18. I picked a lot of putts actually - Danielle's eagle on 17, SYK's miss on 14, Charley's birdie on 18 etc. I am sure many viewers did!

Bad luck for Nelly in last round. She paid the max for every error.

My pick, Chella, free-fell out to 51st. My other pick was Ariya - where I suggested that if she could avoid the bad start she would contend. So, what does she do? 76, then reels it back for T11!! And thus ends her 2019 campaign.

Lots of winners and losers. I am not sure where I put Ariya in that - but I am positive about 2020 for her.

Sung Hyun Park? Where is she at? As always with a withdrawal, we wonder whether someone is really injured, or just getting the h e l l out of there! I used to frown on players who withdrew, but I am getting more sympathetic these days. If your game has unraveled in the biggest tournament of the year - best get off the course, enjoy the season break, and start working on next year.

[Raving Shanker]

Just saw SYK's presentation, she says she didn't know she was putting for the win on 18!! Can that be true?!

[Argonne69]

I believe it. Charley birdied the last three holes, so the last time Sei Young looked at a leaderboard she probably had a two shot lead. Her caddie likely knew, and wisely kept it from her.

[Argonne69]

Last place was still worth over $12k. Covers expenses for the week. I don't see her withdrawing for a bad round.

[NikeGolfer76]

Hard to imagine the caddie would keep that knowledge from SYK knowing how nervous she was and that making par meant going to a playoff.

Besides anyone who remembers how SYK came back to defeat Inbee Park over in Hawaii a few years back, knows how much of a big shot player she really is.

Either way, I’m happy for her. Man, wire-to-wire for $1.5 million is pretty impressive.

Won’t be able to access Inbee’s match play event, so I guess there’s next week’s LET event and not much else until January. Probably good though as it should allow a chance for most to recover for next year.

[ChronicSlicer]

Congrats to SYK, great week of golf. Pretty good final round charges as well.

[18majors]

Much like Yealimi Noh's final round at Cambia; the game left Nelly Korda yesterday.

The consolation, she picked up 1,500 new Instagram followers; to 118,200.

On the other hand; she'd have picked 6,000 had she won.

 

[Argonne69]

Still not sure if I like the new format. I wasn't totally opposed to having to do some math along the way to figure out the globe winner. 'Just seems strange to work all season to accumulate points, and then watch them get tossed in the trash. I'm sure it's going to effect many players' decisions regarding schedules in the future, especially on the Asian swing. I think we saw that this season.

 

[tesco]

Agree with that, the season long accumulated point seem like nothing, no more advantages, no more price reward for that.

[18majors]

Race for CME Global point aside; the prize money and Rolex points are still real.

[Stooch]

Well it still would have been an exciting finish with the old system also. Would Sei Young's win been enough sitting at 7th coming in or would Brooke finishing 5th and coming into the race 2nd be enough, or would the late seemingly unimportant birdie on 18 have given Nelly the win finishing 3rd coming into the race in 5th. Don't remember the point breakdown but it would have been an interesting finish with the old system. I know hearing an interview from Brooke, she mentioned not liking all the work of the season not meaning anything but then added "but this format is better for the fans, so...." Sounds like the LPGA put out the word no bad mouthing the new format lol. It's gotta suck for a player like MinJee, work all season to finish 3rd in the race and have a bad week or play on a course who's set up doesn't fit your eye and all that hard work all year gets you $13 000 and a player who finishes 51st in the race has a great week or likes the course and make 1/2 million lol.

I noticed this season Brooke lowered the amount of events she played in down to 27 from usually over 30, I'm hoping she lowers it even more down to 20 events per season. I hoping she decides just to play the big events, the ones with over a 2 million dollar purse and concentrate on the majors a big let down for her this season. Who cares about these small events let the less established have the shot at these events. I do think this can play into what schedules a player keeps. Bless Australia, but I'm not sure I'm sitting on a plane for 22 hours for 2 weeks with small purses. I think players will still play the late Asian swing but I think we see the impact, with top players only playing a couple events on the swing.

[Argonne69]

20 events is a light schedule for a young player. 23 to 25 seems to be the sweet spot.

[Awsi Dooger]

Nelly Korda didn't handle Sunday well at all. That was easily my number one takeaway, beyond anything related to the winner.

Compared to earlier week and particularly Friday and Saturday, Nelly was not nearly as confident, accurate, aggressive or positive. She spent an absurd amount of time in low decibel ranting to her caddy, occasionally mumbling profanities and seemingly intent on adopting woe-is-me mode. Not until the final hole, when Charley Hull had finished at 17 under and Nelly was out of it, did she finally resemble Friday/Saturday mode. It wasn't a case of a putt finally dropping. The stroke she placed on the long uphill birdie putt was light years more firm and authoritative than anything all day. Her facial expressions throughout that hole were more relaxed than anything all day, like weight released from her shoulders.

Last year Nelly was in the final group with Lexi. She began the day a few shots behind Lexi. But I thought there was a reasonable chance. After all, Nelly is a superior putter to Lexi. She had been supremely confident and effective on Friday and Saturday. Then immediately on Sunday, Nelly seemed content on getting out of the way. After all, Lexi is American #1. The fans are mostly here to see Lexi and want her to win. I won't threaten anything by actually stroking these putts like earlier in the week. I'll stay back here near even par like a lag putt. Very disappointing. Lexi didn't do much of anything on Sunday but Nelly didn't force her to.

I fully remembered that this time. The scenario was different since it's a non-American leader, and only 1 shot deficit of 3. But would Nelly be herself? No, she was not. Not close. Not from the outset. But Sei Young was in neutral herself, and already demonstrating nerves on the greens, taking far longer than normal on the shorties. I sensed there was big opportunity for Nelly if she could only reverse the pecking order and poke her nose in front. She'll be assertive in the lead.

There was opportunity on 6, the reachable par 5. Nelly was now tied at -16 after a nice birdie on the difficult par 3 5th. Sei Young dumped her second shot into the front bunker. Nelly had out driven Sei Young. This hole was gettable today, with a back right pin. The first 9 players of the day made birdie on 6. Nelly aggressively went for the opening but too long and over the bank down near the water. Why is she complaining? The ball earned there and finished there. It didn't hit a rock and bound into the pond, like Amy Yang in the same spot toward double bogey. Yet Nelly is gesturing as if she deserved a better lie, or better angle...something. I saw at least a dozen pitch shots from beyond that green all week. None were as poor as Nelly's. She didn't even reach the green. It seemed like her body language complied with the shot. Sei Young hit an aggressive blast to the top tier, then drained a 12 foot right to left birdie putt to regain the lead.

Prior to the 6th hole I told a spectator alongside me that if either Nelly or Sei Young took the edge on 6, that player would go on to win. It unfolded that way with Sei Young and I fully believe it would have played out in reverse also. You could see the shift in energy and confidence. Nelly lulled and hit a poor approach on 7. She was very fortunate Sei Young missed a 6 footer for birdie. Sei Young stuck it to one foot on the par 3 8th. Nelly came out of her shot slightly but it was perfectly acceptable at 12 feet right of the hole. Right to left putt. That birdie putt was the most representative shot of the day, IMO. I said to people around me that when Nelly is playing with authority there's no chance she leaves this weak and below the hole. Instead, as soon as she stroked it there was no chance. It was always weak and below the hole. Now the tie game on 6 is 2 shot edge Sei Young after 8.

I'm not sure if this is a trend, or merely a sample of two. Maybe Nelly is nervous with so many family members and friends following her and depending on her in this event. But after 8 holes it reminded me so much of last year. Nelly is staying out of the way of the more established player.

On 9 Nelly hit a going draw. It wasn't the pull hook like 17 on Friday. This was more a severe snap. I hadn't seen that error all week but then it showed again on 14 and 17. I'm sure television highlighted those shots. Nelly did get absurdly bad breaks every time her tee shots were off line. Thin trees but never any semblance of a normal swing. I was thinking Tiger in his entire career has never had 4-5 consecutive treetime examples like that. Nelly took the opportunity to lean on trees and feel sorry for herself. Time and again. Complain to her caddy. She would shake her head and mumble low obscenities, while convinced the cameras were aimed elsewhere. Perhaps they were. She wasn't fooling anyone in the gallery. None of us were particularly surprised when subsequent shots on those holes were weak, like a hosel turn left into the water on 9, the fanned wedge into 14, or the woefully timid birdie putt on 17.

I don't think the pairing played to Nelly's favor. Maybe there is some awkwardness with Caroline Masson, given the caddy/fiance situation. I expected lots of chatter between Nelly and Caroline. There was virtually none. On Friday Nelly was laughing and chatting away with Marina Alex. Positivity everywhere. All the Americans seem to be friends with Marina Alex. Then on Saturday Nelly was feeding off the energy of the Canadian crowd. You're here to see Brooke but I'll string all the birdies instead.

Sunday turned in mumbled complaints and shots off line. But the crowd was pro-Nelly and perked up when she dropped a birdie putt on top of Sei Young on 10. Then Nelly's approach on 11 drifted right and down the bank to the creek. BTW, it might be nice if marshalls actually watched where the ball went into the creek. That example on 11 was comical. They started searching 20 feet away from where the ball entered, and never managed within 10 feet. A guy standing next to me and I had the perfect angle. We waved and shouted and pointed. Nobody cared to pay attention. They insisted on looking 10-20 feet away. I said to that guy, "I'll give them one million to one odds if they find Nelly's ball...given where they are looking."

That's enough about Nelly. Sei Young was incredibly nervous on the greens. They must have highlighted that on the coverage. She stood over the par putt on 9 for seemingly three times as long as normal then stabbed at it. Once I saw that example I knew it would show up again. Sure enough, on 14 all the Korda clan departed greenside as if Sei Young's 3 foot par putt was a certainty. Not so fast. I'm going to stand here and see if she earns it. That was a weak beg to the right. The subsequent birdie putts on 15 and 16 were woefully tentative. Then 17 it was like Sei Young would have been better served with a pool cue than putter. She flinched all over the downhill birdie putt. The stabbed par putt barely snuck into the left side, mostly by accident. The crowd murmured loudly from every area surrounding that green. I guess it was so obvious you didn't require the perfect angle, as I enjoyed.

Charley Hull is not only trim. It is a toned trim. Very impressive. I didn't fully grasp that until seeing her on the 6th green earlier. It might be the most dramatic transition I can remember within 12 months. I believe it was this tournament last year in which I described Charley as looking like Laura Davies. I had no idea Charley birdied 18 to tie the lead until spectators on 18 started shouting it. This was suddenly a pro-Charlie Hull crowd. Make no mistake, when Sei Young drained the winning putt there was some gallery enthusiasm but mostly it was shock and mild disappointment. Spectators quickly got up to leave. We had been anticipating a playoff on 18 so we could root for Charley Hull. That is not theory. I heard it from many spectators nearby.

I have to credit one Tiburon member who was standing to my left. Prior to the putt he said, "She can make this from the back side. I have had this putt many times. It boomerangs like this." Then he took one index finger and drew a putt on his opposite palm, demonstrating the late curl. Obviously there is nothing like local knowledge. I thought she missed it left. I was semi-stunned when that putt dropped. The people standing to my right were out of sight within 15 seconds. Around the corner and gone. I stuck around for the victory presentation. The vast majority did not.

The other Korean players raced out there to douse Sei Young. I noted that Jin Young Ko seems to have adopted the So Yeon Ryu role of most enthusiastic and creative in those dousings. Jin Young seemed to be aiming at Sei Young's crotch, or at least that's what it looked like from afar. Sei Young wagged a finger at her later as if to say, "I'm going to get back at you for that."

Otherwise:

It did rain early in the morning. Substantial rain. Good move to change the Sunday schedule. There were puddles all over the place when I arrived.After the Canes lost to FIU on Saturday night as 20.5 point favorite there was no way I was going to wear Canes gear on Sunday and deal with ribbing from Gator jerks. I went with a USC visor and that worked out well. Lizette Salas birdied 6 so she was in a good mood when she saw that visor. With a huge smile Lizette said, "Big win yesterday." (USC thumped Chip Kelly and UCLA). I smiled and responded loudly "How about that Clay Helton." Lizette laughed out loud. Helton is embattled as head coach, especially with a new athletic director now on board. Alena Sharp got partial revenge on 6 from the double bogey on Friday. The pin was same area behind the bunker but 20 feet deeper in the green. Sharp was in almost the identical spot as her duff-duff-skull trifecta from Friday. But this time there was no way she was coming up short on that third shot from 80 yards. It was airmailing the green and appeared destined for big trouble behind the green. She was within one foot of it playing out that way. But the ball landed at the apex of the hill behind the green and drew back onto the green within 10 feet of the cup. The ball mark was prominent on that hill, a good 12 feet behind the green. Sharp saw it and acknowledged her good fortune. She left the green in a very good mood after sinking the birdie, despite still being over par for the dayDanielle Kang was really focused once she reached that 6th hole. I noticed that she was already 3 under for the day. A spectator following that group told me that Danielle missed a 4 foot birdie putt or it could have been an even better start. As I've mentioned in other events, Danielle Kang needs her caddy to also be a psychologist beyond any other player I can remember. She pulls him aside and chats all the time. The theme always seems to be, "I'm not being screwed am I? Please tell me I'm not being screwed. " At least that is preferable to her prior tendency to bark out obscenities not matter who was nearby or what was going on. Danielle now mumbles to herself almost constantly with a stern look on her face. There were countless German fans following Caroline Masson in the final group. That surprised me. I hadn't seen a German presence all week. The female German national golf team was there in full strength, wearing their team uniforms and with lots of coaches and administrators there also. German fans were ropeside and speaking German. Too bad Caroline didn't offer much to cheer for, until the final putt on 18. That was a birdie-birdie-birdie finish from the final group on 18, identical to Friday. BTW, I think the landing area on 18 should be tightened up and toughened. Years ago there was a bunker and other annoyances that came into play at right. Now they hit that tee shot quickly with complete unconcern. The final hole in a such an important event should present challenges at every level.Every time I see Lydia Ko all I can think about is what a waste it is that she didn't go to college. Exiting on Sunday afternoon I was shocked to hear an older couple say the same thing. There are big banners flanking the entranceway, honoring the past CME winners. Many fans stop and take photos of those banners. Alongside the Lydia Ko banner yesterday I heard the wife say, "She was on top of the world at that point." Husband: "Now she's just another player." Wife: "It's so sad. She could have gone to any college she wanted."

[Awsi Dooger]

[18majors]

Nobody is more disappointed than Beth Ann Nichols that Nelly Korda didn't win yesterday. Nelly is the LPGA savior Beth has been looking for.

 

Nichols: Nelly Korda has only scratched the surface

For those who follow this tour closely, she’s the answer to the ever-popular question: Who’s the next big star?

 

[ChronicSlicer]

So Beth, who is it Nelly or Yealimi?

[Raving Shanker]

I agree. Hearing Mike Whan talk about how confusing it was, I realised how fun it had been previously working out the permutations of championship outcomes, and how that affected the overall winner. Not to mention the fairness issue.

[Raving Shanker]

Awsi Dooger. Thanks for your on site reports. Love them! I appreciate the effort, and we need someone to do this at every tournament.

[Raving Shanker]

I think Nelly is already a superstar! But a World No. 1 and dominant player? Maybe, but I think some other players might also have a say in this. I am still waiting for Ariya to fulfill her "potential", whatever that actually means! How far can Lee6, Noh and Shibuno go? Perhaps I am wrong, but I don't see Shibuno as a dominating No. 1, more like a font of streaky brilliance.

[Argonne69]

Seems like there's just too much talent to get a dominant #1 these days. Lorena had 14 wins in '06 - '07, and a ton of top tens. Jin Young had a fantastic season, and managed four wins. A player with 2 wins a year is considered a top talent. We had seven players with multiple wins this season, so the Rolex points get spread around.

[BadgerLin]

I’ll be happy to provide detailed reports if you’ll send me to some tournaments! How about Evian, Lotte, and the Australian events to start. ?

[ChronicSlicer]

I think you nailed, too many talents out there. As you mention Lorena's wins, you should have included 2008 which would be a crazy 21 wins in 3 years. Or better yet Annika's mind blowing 25 wins from 2001-2003.