Nichols: To get LPGA stars playing more, bring back CME bonus money

If the LPGA had a Mount Rushmore of check writers, Terry Duffy’s face would no doubt be among those carved in the granite. Duffy, the chairman and chief executive officer of CME Group, has long been at the forefront of pushing the women’s game to greater heights.

The CME Group has title-sponsored the LPGA’s Tour Championship since 2011, and in 2014, the Race to the CME Globe season-long points race was introduced with a $1 million bonus and a memorable money box for photo ops. For years now, that bonus has been folded into the official prize money with a winner-take-all format.

But, given that the LPGA has more of its stars skipping events toward the end of the season, perhaps it’s time to once again redistribute Duffy’s generous $11 million purse and offer a bonus structure.

The Race to CME Globe season-long points competition gets the most attention all year this week at The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, when the final field is set for the 60-player Tour Championship in Naples, Florida. And, even then, it's only die-hard fans and media members taking note.

There’s a bubble watch on the 60^th position as well as the 100^th position, as that’s the cutoff for retaining full status for the 2026 season. (In 2021, the LPGA switched from using the money list to the CME points to determine player status. The idea was to level out the finishes given that some purses are astronomically higher than others.)

Yet, next to no attention is given to who wins the CME points race because that player gets absolutely nothing for it. No bonus money and no advantage going into the final event of the year, where the winner receives $4 million, the largest check in women’s golf.

Heck, there isn’t even a trophy.

This week’s Annika field has 14 of the top 25 players in the Rolex Rankings. (For reference, the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship had 17 of the top 25.) In an ideal world, the LPGA would have a playoff series leading up to the Tour Championship. But that would take some maneuvering of the Asian swing and the addition of at least one fall domestic event.

The easiest thing to do to make the CME points race more relevant and ensure a stronger field at Pelican Golf Club is to give a seven-figure bonus to the winner of the points race, which would end at the conclusion of The Annika.

Duffy wouldn’t have to increase his spend, and a breakdown such as the following would actually increase brand exposure for CME, as there would be more incentive for media outlets to talk about the race and the tour's stars throughout the year and especially in November.

The LPGA and Duffy could, for example, take $4 million out of the season-ending purse to create a podium finish for the top 3 on the points list. The winner would get $2 million (the winner of the U.S. Women’s Open this year received $2.4 million), second place $1.5 million and $500,000 goes to third.

Putting a cap on the race at the conclusion of The Annika gives CME a spotlight on Sunday and allows for the winner to be recognized at the Rolex Awards Dinner, now held on Monday night at the Ritz-Carlton Naples Beach Resort.  

Of course, the podium finish could be scratched and a $4 million check could go to the points winner if Duffy and the tour prefer more of a bang.

That still leaves $7 million out of the existing $11 million purse for the CME Group Tour Championship field, with $4 million to the winner (the largest check in women’s golf by a mile) and $3 million for the rest of the 60-player field. A $7 million purse would still be the largest non-major purse on tour.

This week’s field at The Annika is missing three of the top-5 players in the CME points race: Jeeno Thitikul (1), Minjee Lee (3) and Hyo Joo Kim (5).

A bonus check would undoubtedly fix that as players have shown for several years now that they will alter their schedules (i.e., skip events) to protect a lead in the Aon Risk Reward Challenge, which comes with a $1 million bonus.

This prize money restructure would, instead, incentivize top players to compete more.

The CME points race is the LPGA's most important list in that it literally determines a player’s job status for the next season.

And yet, it means next to nothing to the tour’s top players and, therefore, most of the media.

Seems like an easy fix.