2024 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions (Jan 18 - 21)

[Argonne69]

Race to the CME Globe: 500 Points

 

Format: 72 holes

 

Purse: $1,500,000

 

Location: Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, Orlando, FL

 

Par: 72

 

Yardage: 6,617 yds

 

History: This is the 6th year for the event. In 2023, Brooke Henderson went wire-to-wire for a four shot victory over Maja Stark and Charley Hull.

 

Coverage:

 

Jan 18: Peacock 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm (ET)

Jan 18: The Golf Channel 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm (ET)

 

Jan 19: Peacock 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm (ET)

Jan 19: The Golf Channel 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm (ET)

 

Jan 20: Peacock 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm (ET)

Jan 20: The Golf Channel 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm (ET)

Jan 20: NBC 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm (ET)

 

Jan 21: Peacock 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm (ET)

Jan 21: The Golf Channel 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm (ET)

 

Edited January 16 by Argonne69

[Argonne69]

Let's get this season underway. 'Still think this tournament and the Drive On should be moved to early February so there isn't a three week gap until the Honda.

 

Strong field, but a few top players sitting this one out, including. Jin Young, Hyo Joo, and Minjee.

 

[Shakeshook]

Hard to see a lot of those participating in the Asian leg(s) playing and shuttling back and forth in a span of 2 weeks.  Especially those who took time off there to enjoy their holidays.  eg Jetlag etc

 

Either way, at least there's LPGA underway now and for those in the Midwest/Southwest like Dallas where a lot of Korean LPGAers live/East Coast, a welcome relief from winter weather 🤣

[18majors]

It's an immensely important season for Nelly; who'd two indifferent seasons after a breakout 2021.  Is she one of the GOAT's or just another run of the mills LPGA winners?  Can she challenge gold medal again?  A lot to be answered!

 

She put in a lot of good work in the offseason, so the prognostication is good.

 

 

Edited January 15 by 18majors

[woahnelly]

2 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

Let's get this season underway. 'Still think this tournament and the Drive On should be moved to early February so there isn't a three week gap until the Honda.

 

Strong field, but a few top players sitting this one out, including. Jin Young, Hyo Joo, and Minjee.

 

 

Wouldn't be a good look, as most top players are committed to LET event in Saudi early Feb 

[tonyj5]

My field rating for this event is 43.5%, way up from 34% last year.
The reason the field rating is so low is that this is a field of just 36 players (up from 29 last year), and lacks depth. But don't be fooled this is a very strong lineup where all players teeing it up have won a tournament in the past two years.
The field will be led by Rolex Rankings top ten players:
Lilia Vu - #1
Ruoning Yin - #2
Nelly Korda - #5
Charley Hull - #8
Fifteen of the top 25 players in the world rankings will be teeing it up.

Players that DID qualify for the event, and are NOT teeing it up:
Celine Boutier
Hyo Joo Kim
Minjee Lee
Jin Young Ko
Hannah Green
Atthaya Thitikul
Lizette Salas
Eun-Hee Ji

Other notes:
Lilia Vu is the current Rolex ranked Number one player in the world. She has been on top for ten consecutive weeks, and nineteen of the last 23 weeks. Ruoning Yin will have a chance to take that position with a win this week.

This is the first of two consecutive weeks that the LPGA will be in the state of Florida. There will then be a three week break before the LPGA resumes its schedule.
 

[Argonne69]

2 hours ago, 18majors said:

It's an immensely important season for Nelly; who'd two indifferent seasons after a breakout 2021.  Is she one of the GOAT's or just another run of the mills LPGA winners?  Can she challenge gold medal again?  A lot to be answered!

 

She put in a lot of good work in the offseason, so the prognostication is good.

 

 

 

Obviously she needs to stay healthy. Her and a dozen other players. 

 

[woahnelly]

4 hours ago, 18majors said:

It's an immensely important season for Nelly; who'd two indifferent seasons after a breakout 2021.  Is she one of the GOAT's or just another run of the mills LPGA winners?  Can she challenge gold medal again?  A lot to be answered!

 

She put in a lot of good work in the offseason, so the prognostication is good.

 

 

 

That is a harsh assessment, she's finished top 10 in more than half her starts previous 2 seasons, other players have simply stepped up. 

[3eagles]

TOC is a no cut-everyone gets paid event which is nice, but this year has an almost 25% larger field, with the same $1.5M purse.

At some point in the field the position payout has to be reduced from 2023?

 

[woahnelly]

40 minutes ago, wolfcreek said:

TOC is a no cut-everyone gets paid event which is nice, but this year has an almost 25% larger field, with the same $1.5M purse.

At some point in the field the position payout has to be reduced from 2023?

 

 

Yeah likely the payouts will get watered down further the leaderboard.  Winner should still receive 225k from this prize pool as was the case last 2 events here with different sized fields

[18majors]

Lilia Vu gets the respect she deserves from Bet365; betting odds this week:

 

Lilia Vu                             +650

Nelly Korda                      +650

Ronni Yin                          +900

Brooke Henderson          +900

Nasa Hataoka                  +1200

Rose Zhang                      +1400

[Lobby]

Happy new year, everyone!

[Titleist_PT23]

8 hours ago, woahnelly said:

 

That is a harsh assessment, she's finished top 10 in more than half her starts previous 2 seasons, other players have simply stepped up. 

Respectfully, I disagree (not that you would care) and side with 18M.  Last year, Vu's season was better than Jeeno's, not even a question.  At some cutoff of player ability/caliber, top 10s can tip the scale of who had a better or more consistent season.  But they alone don't make a season a good one.  Not to diminish how hard it is to win, but the sport is about winning (at least for the record books).

 

These players are already making enough money here and there.  A few will play for their place in the game, many others will play for a very comfortable post-LPGA life.  We are going to see where Nelly falls (or doesn't fall) very soon, and what she is / what she isn't (and this isn't a stab at Nelly).

[woahnelly]

48 minutes ago, Titleist_PT23 said:

Respectfully, I disagree (not that you would care) and side with 18M.  Last year, Vu's season was better than Jeeno's, not even a question.  At some cutoff of player ability/caliber, top 10s can tip the scale of who had a better or more consistent season.  But they alone don't make a season a good one.  Not to diminish how hard it is to win, but the sport is about winning (at least for the record books).

 

These players are already making enough money here and there.  A few will play for their place in the game, many others will play for a very comfortable post-LPGA life.  We are going to see where Nelly falls (or doesn't fall) very soon, and what she is / what she isn't (and this isn't a stab at Nelly).

 

Fair point , I just meant let's not exasterbare anything too badly, she is still only 25 and did also win LET Aramco London last summer against a strong field +  the depth of the LPGA has improved greatly in a short time since Nelly + Jin Young were dominating seemingly with ease. I blame the Goldman Sachs hat 😂

Edited January 16 by woahnelly

[woahnelly]

6 hours ago, 18majors said:

Lilia Vu gets the respect she deserves from Bet365; betting odds this week:

 

Lilia Vu                             +650

Nelly Korda                      +650

Ronni Yin                          +900

Brooke Henderson          +900

Nasa Hataoka                  +1200

Rose Zhang                      +1400

 

I'm surprised Charley isn't in the top 6 considering she was runner up here last year. 

[JungleJimbo]

14 hours ago, tonyj5 said:

My field rating for this event is 43.5%, way up from 34% last year.
The reason the field rating is so low is that this is a field of just 36 players (up from 29 last year), and lacks depth. But don't be fooled this is a very strong lineup where all players teeing it up have won a tournament in the past two years.
The field will be led by Rolex Rankings top ten players:
Lilia Vu - #1
Ruoning Yin - #2
Nelly Korda - #5
Charley Hull - #8
Fifteen of the top 25 players in the world rankings will be teeing it up.

Players that DID qualify for the event, and are NOT teeing it up:
Celine Boutier
Hyo Joo Kim
Minjee Lee
Jin Young Ko
Hannah Green
Atthaya Thitikul
Lizette Salas
Eun-Hee Ji

Other notes:
Lilia Vu is the current Rolex ranked Number one player in the world. She has been on top for ten consecutive weeks, and nineteen of the last 23 weeks. Ruoning Yin will have a chance to take that position with a win this week.

This is the first of two consecutive weeks that the LPGA will be in the state of Florida. There will then be a three week break before the LPGA resumes its schedule.
 

 

thanks @tonyj5 ... Did a google-search to double-check whether Lydia Ko is entered in this tournament this week (she is!), given she wasn't on your List

... so linking it here to save others a google-search!

 https://www.lpga.com/tournaments/hilton-grand-vacations-tournament-of-champions/tournament-entries

 

 

 

 

Edited January 16 by JungleJimbo

[woahnelly]

1 hour ago, JungleJimbo said:

 

thanks @tonyj5 ... Did a google-search to double-check whether Lydia Ko is entered in this tournament this week (she is!), given she wasn't on your List

... so linking it here to save others a google-search!

 https://www.lpga.com/tournaments/hilton-grand-vacations-tournament-of-champions/tournament-entries

 

 

 

 

She needs the CME points 😂 but good news her Rolex Ranking is high enough to play in all the majors + HSBC event. I think she will bounce back this year. 

[Seamus_McDuff]

19 hours ago, woahnelly said:

 

Wouldn't be a good look, as most top players are committed to LET event in Saudi early Feb 

There’s only a few “top players” entered in Saudi, so far. 

[woahnelly]

5 hours ago, Seamus_McDuff said:

There’s only a few “top players” entered in Saudi, so far. 

 

https://ladieseuropeantour.com/reports-page?url=tmentry&id=2024&code=2006&title=Tournament Entries

 

Not finalized yet but I count 20+ from last year's CME final, plus players like Jiyai, Min Byeol etc. I'm assuming Alison Lee, Buhai and others get reclassified to the invites or top 300 category (?)  currently they are in reserve. We'll have to see what Tony rates it, but it definitely looks stronger than Portland, VOA last year so far 😂

 

 

[8602081]

Can't blame them..  $5,000,000 prize money in Saudi..

[Seamus_McDuff]

29 minutes ago, woahnelly said:

 

https://ladieseuropeantour.com/reports-page?url=tmentry&id=2024&code=2006&title=Tournament Entries

 

Not finalized yet but I count 20+ from last year's CME final, plus players like Jiyai, Min Byeol etc. I'm assuming Alison Lee, Buhai and others get reclassified to the invites or top 300 category (?)  currently they are in reserve. We'll have to see what Tony rates it, but it definitely looks stronger than Portland, VOA last year so far 😂

 

 

You’re counting someone like Henseleit as a top player? Making the CME final and being 111 in the world doesn’t make someone a top player. 

 

Non-LPGA players don’t count. If there was an LPGA event up against Saudi they couldn’t play the LPGA event anyway. 

[Lobby]

Esther Henseleit could give me 10 strokes and still kick my butt.   She's a top player.  All of these ladies are.

Ultimately wins are for the record books.   I'm here for the golf. 

[woahnelly]

30 minutes ago, Seamus_McDuff said:

You’re counting someone like Henseleit as a top player? Making the CME final and being 111 in the world doesn’t make someone a top player. 

 

Non-LPGA players don’t count. If there was an LPGA event up against Saudi they couldn’t play the LPGA event anyway. 

 

Original point being, you wouldn't want the Drive On event close to the Saudi event, say a week apart,  because the top players would prefer Saudi prize pool and you'd have Christina Kim and Natalie Gulbis filling spots, which isn't a good look to start the season.  I'm basing it off her LPGA priority ranking, not Rolex. Sorry for confusion. 

[3eagles]

Looks like they have only 68 "celebrities" rather than the 72 needed to pair 2 with each LPGA player?

 

4 groups will have 2 LPGA and I assume one celeb.

 

Lilia-Leona. Rose-Nasa. Marina A.-Jennifer K. Lydia-Ally.

 

Full pairings will be drawn tonight (Tuesday) at their party.

[ChronicSlicer]

6 hours ago, Seamus_McDuff said:

You’re counting someone like Henseleit as a top player? Making the CME final and being 111 in the world doesn’t make someone a top player. 

 

 

I'm a fan of Esther and agree, I wouldn't exactly consider her a top player. I count maybe 15 top players, maybe even less in that field.

And no I certainly don't count Alison Lee as a top player because she had a ridiculously great 5 week stretch last year.

[ChronicSlicer]

6 hours ago, woahnelly said:

 

Original point being, you wouldn't want the Drive On event close to the Saudi event, say a week apart,  because the top players would prefer Saudi prize pool and you'd have Christina Kim and Natalie Gulbis filling spots, which isn't a good look to start the season.  I'm basing it off her LPGA priority ranking, not Rolex. Sorry for confusion. 

Gulbis still has more fans than 75% of the current LPGA'ers...according to IG of course.😉

[woahnelly]

8 minutes ago, ChronicSlicer said:

I'm a fan of Esther and agree, I wouldn't exactly consider her a top player. I count maybe 15 top players, maybe even less in that field.

And no I certainly don't count Alison Lee as a top player because she had a ridiculously great 5 week stretch last year.

 

There's LPGA Alison .. and then there's LET Alison 😂

[woahnelly]

2 hours ago, wolfcreek said:

Looks like they have only 68 "celebrities" rather than the 72 needed to pair 2 with each LPGA player?

 

4 groups will have 2 LPGA and I assume one celeb.

 

Lilia-Leona. Rose-Nasa. Marina A.-Jennifer K. Lydia-Ally.

 

Full pairings will be drawn tonight (Tuesday) at their party.

 

Too bad Steph Curry can't play with Ronni , tho retirement is near and the Warriors are now 🗑️

[JungleJimbo]

 

 

[gsrjc]

Atthaya has a wrist injury so will be out for a few tournaments. Hoping she wins in 2024