OPEN MINI PLAYERThe season-ending LPGA Tour event will offer a record $4 million first-place prize to the winner, starting in 2024.
Ahead of this season's finale, the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla., the LPGA Tour and CME Group announced a two-year extension of their agreement to keep CME Group's name on the year-long points race, the Race to the CME Globe, and season-ending tournament. The agreement now runs through 2025.
As part of the agreement, the CME Group Tour Championship purse will increase from $7 million to $11 million. As a result of the purse increase, the first-place prize money will increase for the 60-player event from $2 million to $4 million.
The runner-up will also earn $1 million, marking a huge increase for the rest of the field. Additionally, the purse-distribution equation will change to guarantee every player earns at least $55,000 for qualifying for the event. The current purse affords approximately $40,000 to the last-place player in the CME Group Tour Championship.
"As a long-standing supporter of women in business and sports, CME Group is pleased to continue our partnership with the LPGA to further elevate women’s golf,” said CME Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Terry Duffy. “Beginning next year, the CME Group Tour Championship’s $11 million purse will be the highest on the LPGA Tour, and the $4 million first-place prize will be the largest single prize in women’s sports. Both of these developments will make our event even more exciting for the players and spectators, while bringing more parity to the game.
Duffy and CME Group are also supporting an initiative to raise money through the LPGA Tour for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital through the CME Group Cares Challenge.
“This partnership extension with CME Group is extremely important and underscores the growth and strength of the LPGA," said LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan. "CME Group has been pushing the LPGA forward at every step of our evolution since 2011 and with this extension they are once again helping take the LPGA, women’s golf and women’s sports to unprecedented heights. We are grateful for Terry Duffy and CME Group’s continued commitment to advancing opportunities for girls and women, on and off the golf course. We are also inspired and proud of the company’s support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital throughout the season and at the CME Group Tour Championship.”
The CME Group Tour Championship has been part of the LPGA Tour schedule since its debut in 2011, while the Race to the CME Globe has been an overaraching of the LPGA Tour calendar since 2014.
