With eight events left in the 2023 LPGA season, it’s crunch time for players needing to make a move. The top 60 players on the Race to CME Globe points list gain entry into the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, where anyone in the field can win the top prize in women’s golf of $2 million. The last player in this year’s field is guaranteed to make at least $40,000.
Last week’s winner, Ally Ewing, jumped from 71st to 30th with her victory in Cincinnati. Maria Fassi, who finished a career-best solo third, jumped from 96th to 67th, just outside the mark. The story around Fassi suddenly shifted from possible Q-Series to possible Tour Championship.
The top 100 on the CME points list keep their LPGA cards for 2023. Here are 10 who are currently outside the top 60.
61. Matilda Castren
Last year was the first time Matilda Castren qualified for the CME, but we’ve come to expect so much of her in so little time. The first player from Finland to win on the LPGA in 2021, Castren’s best finish of this season came at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, where she finished second with teammate Kelly Tan. She has only one other top 10 finish on the season.
62. Ariya Jutanugarn
After battling injuries this season, Ariya Jutanugarn has been on a tear of late, carding 11 consecutive rounds in the 60s prior to Sunday’s final-round 74 in Cincinnati. Four straight top 30 finishes has moved Jutanugarn up the points list. She won the CME in 2017.
66. Jenny Shin
South Korea’s Jenny Shin has competed in every CME Group Tour Championship since 2011. She’s not too far off the mark this year, however, currently six spots outside the cutline. Shin had a string of three top 10s in the middle of the season but hasn’t cracked the top 30 since the KPMG Women’s PGA.
74. Yealimi Noh
Yealimi Noh played her way into the CME Group Tour Championship as a rookie in 2020 and 2021, finishing T-28 and T-30. After three missed cuts in the U.K. and Europe, Noh has a pair of top-20 finishes in her last two starts. She’s trending toward a late push.
91. So Yeon Ryu
So Yeon Ryu, a former No. 1, has only one top-10 finish this season at the Amundi Evian Championship. While she has missed only two cuts, she hasn’t seen many leaderboards.
Ryu hasn’t missed a CME since she joined the tour in 2012. In fact, she has six top-10 finishes at the event, including a pair of runner-ups.
92. Pornanong Phatlum
From 2011 to 2019, Pornanong Phatlum never finished worse than 64th on the LPGA money list, enjoying a long stretch of consistent play. Since 2020, however, Phatlum hasn’t been nearly as effective. Her best finish of the season, a T-11, came last month in Northern Ireland. She’s in danger of missing the CME for a third straight year.
104. Sung Hyun Park
Sung Hyun Park’s struggles continue as the former No. 1 currently ranks 116th in greens in regulation and 123rd in driving accuracy. A seven-time winner on the LPGA, including two majors, Park hasn’t recorded a top 10 since August of 2019.
(Park can play still 2023 under the major winner category and avoid Q-Series should she finish outside the top 100.)
106. Sophia Popov
After the CP Women’s Open, Sophia Popov posted on Instagram that she wouldn’t be competing for the rest of the season, citing shoulder pain. Her lone top 10 of the year came at the Dow team event.
“I’m not out here just to compete,” Popov wrote, “but hopefully win again.”
110. Mel Reid
After three consecutive missed cuts, Mel Reid found some light with a T-37 at the AIG Women’s Open, her best finish since the KPMG Women’s PGA (T-30). That momentum took a hit, however, when she withdrew from the Dana Open earlier this month with an injury after an opening 81.
Reid ranks 134th in driving accuracy, 133rd in greens in regulation and 130th in putting average.
117. Amy Olson
It’s been a rough stretch of late for Amy Olson, who has the missed the cut in four of her last five starts. Her opening 66 at the Dana Open was her first round in the 60s since mid-June. A rookie in 2014, Olson has 13 career top 10s. She currently ranks 119th in greens in regulation and 123rd in driving accuracy.
