Everything you need to know about the LPGA’s season finale with $4 million on the line

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NAPLES, Fla. — The CME Group Tour Championship finale is here and if any one word describes this LPGA season, it’s parity.

There have been a record 29 different winners this season. World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul and World No. 3 Miyu Yamashita are the lone players to win multiple times. Thitikul won the Mizuho Americas Open and Buick LPGA Shanghai. Yamashita won the Women’s British Open and Maybank Championship. Americans have won just three times this year.

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Will there be a record 30th different winner on tour this year? It certainly wouldn’t be a surprise.

Here’s a bigger breakdown of what’s in store this week.

Format and course

This is a limited-field event of the top 60 players in CME points who are teeing it up in the 72-hole event at the Tiburon Golf Club in southwest Florida. The finale awards $4 million (from an $11 million purse) to the winner, the largest payday in women’s golf. Whoever wins this tournament wins the prize, the points list no longer matters. There are two courses at Tiburon, both designed by Greg Norman, but this championship is on the par-72 Gold Course, which is 6,734 yards.

Field

The 60 player-field is a collection of the game’s biggest superstars, including 28 of the 29 winners from the season. All of the winners except non-member Youmin Hwang (who won the Lotte Championship but deferred her LPGA membership to 2026) are in the field. That means there are 32 players who have a chance to win for the first time this season. If that happens, they could extend the record and become the 30th different winner on tour this season.

Jeeno Thitikul 2247347997

Michael Reaves

World No. 1 Thitikul is the clear favorite. She has won twice this year, finished second four times and has 13 top-10 finishes. Thitikul comes in as the defending champion and is playing well and feeling confident, having finished in the top-10 in each of her last five events. This is the last tournament before an offseason where she looks forward to spending time with her family and eating her favorite Thai food. She’s got all the vibes.

The chasers

Everyone else. In a season that has seen so many winners, anyone can emerge from the field. Major winners Yamashita, Minjee Lee, Mao Saigo, Grace Kim and Maja Stark could add another huge trophy to their case and have all come up clutch in the biggest events of the year. World No. 6 Charley Hull is always a threat. In addition to her win this year in Cincinnati, she has finished in the top 20 in six of her last eight events. Coming off a huge season last year by winning the Women’s British Open and the Olympic gold medal to get into the LPGA Hall of Fame, World No. 5 Lydia Ko has one win and five top-10s this year.

Nelly’s last shot 2247507985

Michael Reaves

World No. 2 Nelly Korda is fresh and rested after playing just once since September. That was a tie for 15th place at The Annika event last weekend in Florida. This is Korda’s last shot to win this year. She’s still had a good season—the statistics show it—but she just hasn’t won and lost her top spot in the world rankings. She’s second to Thitikul in scoring average at 69.52. This comes a year after Korda won seven tournaments, including five in a row. Can she muster the goods for the final time this year and collect her first victory this year and the 16th of her career?

A dunk for Duncan?

Lindy Duncan is play perhaps the best golf of her career on the LPGA, collecting six of her 14 career top-10s. However, the 45th-ranked player in the world is still looking for her first career win. She lost in a five-way playoff at the Chevron Championship. She’s been through it all—losing sponsors and her card and ultimately re-framing her relationship with golf. Duncan, 34, is a psychology graduate from Duke after all. Her inspiring speech for winning the Heather Farr Perseverance Award gave everyone in the room all the feels. It would be fitting to see her win her first LPGA event in the same week.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com