NAPLES, Fla. -- The Race to the CME Globe will be more frantic starting next year, and the winner of the LPGA Tour's season-ending tournament is going to get considerably richer.
Tour and event officials announced Tuesday night that the CME Group Tour Championship's purse in 2019 will double to $5 million, with the winner getting $1.5 million -- the largest first-place share in women's golf history.
The biggest winner's check and purse on the LPGA Tour this season were both at the U.S. Women's Open, where Ariya Jutanugarn won $900,000 of the $5 million total purse.
There's another key change for next season, in that all the points in the season-long Race to the CME Globe will be thrown out before the finale. There are 12 players out of 72 in the field at Tiburon Golf Club this week with a chance to win the Globe, and five of those 12 are assured to hoist the trophy if they win Sunday. The other seven players can win the Globe through various scenarios, many of which are complex.
Next year, it's very simple: The top 60 players in the points race, including ties, will qualify for the finale.
