Inbee Park, Lydia Ko neck and neck for LPGA’s biggest honors
Just as it should be, Lydia Ko and Inbee Park will decide this week who will take home all of the LPGA’s biggest awards and honors.
Thanks to Park’s win on Sunday in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, both players now have five wins on the 2015 campaign and are very close in the race for the scoring title, money title and Player of the Year honors.
Park, who closed with 64 to win over Carlota Ciganda, shot 18-under 270 in Mexico to win, and that total propelled her ahead of Ko in the race for the Vare Trophy, which goes to the player with the lowest scoring average, by 0.0161 shots. Stacy Lewis, winless this season, trails Park by 0.346 shots.
Ko maintains a $188,361 edge over Park for the money title.
In the points-based Player of the Year race, Ko holds a meager three-point edge over Park — 276 to 273.
It all comes down to the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, which also decides the tour’s season-long points race, the Race to the CME Globe. Ko is the defending champion for both the tournament, which boasts a $500,000 first-place prize, and the points race, which comes with a $1 million prize to the winner.
However, Ko’s 469-point edge over Park heading into the season finale is made moot by a points reset. Ko will lead over Park by 500 points heading into the final tournament of the year, but both players, as well No. 3 Stacy Lewis, can win the Race to the CME Globe outright with a Tour Championship win, leading to the same $1.5 million payday Ko enjoyed last season. The top nine players in the standings heading into this week in Naples, Fla., have a mathematical chance of winning the Race to the CME Globe.
After her win on Sunday, Park said she is looking forward to playing with so much on the line.
“It’s great. It brings a lot of excitement to have something in your hand finishing off the season,” she said. “I’ll definitely try to play my best next week, I’ll give it all I got, and just try to play good golf like I did this week.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
