biggest single prize in women's golf goes on the line in Naples, Florida this week and Karrie Webb has made sure she is in the running for the big money.
The LPGA Tour's season-ending CME Group Tour Championship is worth a $500,000 to the winner, but there is also the considerable matter of the CME Globe $1 million bonus for the highest point-scorer across the season.
It is the first time the women's tour has offered a bonus in the same way as the PGA Tour for men has its Fedex Cup.
In this instance the top nine players have a mathematical chance to win the cheque, and
the veteran Webb, who has won twice this year on the LPGA, sneaked into ninth place on the points standing, then sat back while the tour went to Mexico last weekend to see if anyone could shift her.
They did not, so Webb has a chance in theory, although what is sure is that to win the $1 million bonus, the Australian is going to need to win in Florida and then rely upon some of the leading players to have a bad week. In particular No. 1 ranked Stacy Lewis and No. 2 ranked Inbee Park would need to be out of the running, and that's unlikely.
Still, Webb has had an outstanding season as she approaches her 40th birthday next month.
By winning the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open early in the season it gave her licence to manoeuvre her playing schedule, and of the top-ranked players, she has played by far the least tournaments. For Webb, it is a way to keep herself out on tour despite the fatigue of 20 years of travelling and beating balls; she has broadly indicated that beyond the 2016 Olympic Games, where golf makes its return, she may not continue as a touring professional.
The other Australians in the 72-player field are Katherine Kirk and Sarah Jane Smith.
American Michelle Wie put the big prize pool in perspective when she was asked about the notion of winning $1.5 million in a single day. Wie sits fourth on the rankings after her breakthrough win in the US Open this year.
“My first initial thought is that’s a lot of shoes,” she said, laughing. “I’m not really thinking about the money. It would be really nice. It is a lot of shoes, lots of things. But for me Sunday is a long ways away.”
RACE TO THE CME GLOBE STANDINGS
1 – Stacy Lewis (5000)
2 – Inbee Park (4500)
3 – Lydia Ko (4000)
4 – Michelle Wie (3600)
5 – So Yeon Ryu (3200)
6 – Shanshan Feng (2800)
7 – Anna Nordqvist (2400)
8 – Chella Choi (2000)
9 – Karrie Webb (1600)