Lydia Ko with one of her two CME Group Tour Championship trophies – can she make it three? Image Getty / LPGA
This week’s CME Tour Championship at the Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida, brings to a close the 2025 LPGA Tour season, the leading 60 in the Race to the CME Globe year-long standings being eligible to compete for the US$11 million up for grabs.
Amongst those 60 competitors are five Australasians. Minjee Lee, Lydia Ko, Grace Kim, Hannah Green and Stephanie Kyricaou, have all recorded a good season but now have the possibility of finishing it in style with a strong week.
Lydia Ko is, by some way, the best performed of the group in this particular event, having won twice and finished inside the top five on three other occasions, including when 3rd last year.
Ko won early in 2025, but her form during much of the year has been below that we have come to know from her, and she currently stands 26th in the Race to the CME Globe standings.
Minjee Lee has had yet another fine year on the LPGA Tour, but this event is not one she has had a lot of success in, with just three top tens in ten starts to date and a best of 5th in 2021. Lee is, however, in outstanding form this season with a win in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and three other top 3 finishes, leaving her in 3rd place in the Race to the CME standings.
This might be the year in which Lee records her best finish in the event, and with US$4 million to the winner, what a time to do so.
Grace Kim stands in 29th position in the Race to the Globe standings, but her season has been highlighted by her breakthrough major victory at the Evian Championship, although her form since has been well below that level. She did lead early in last week’s Annika event before finishing 9th, so perhaps she might be on the bounce back after such an historic win.
Kim has had two starts in the event with a best of 25th in 2024.
Hannah Green recorded a disappointing run of form through the middle of the season, at one stage missing four cuts in succession, but she has played well in recent weeks with two top-five finishes in Asia and a 15th-place finish in Florida last week.
Green gets to play this event for the 8th occasion, her best effort when runner-up in 2020.
Stephanie Kyriacou is currently in 45th place in the Race to the CME Globe standings and will play this event for the second occasion, having finished 57th in 2023 and not made the field last year.
Kyriacou has five top tens to her name this season, finishing 5th on two occasions.
While these five ladies have done well to make it to the lucrative season finale, another four Australasians have finished inside the top 100 in the Race to the CME Globe and will retain their playing privileges for next season.
Cassie Porter, Robyn Choi, Gabi Ruffels and Karis Davidson might not have the opportunity to play for the riches this week, but they will be back on the LPGA Tour next season, although Perth’s Hira Naveed finished outside the top 100 and will need to attend the Tour School’s final stage next month.
Race to the CME Globe standings ahead of the CME Tour Championship.
Five Australasians make LPGA Tour’s season finale
Lydia Ko with one of her two CME Group Tour Championship trophies – can she make it three? Image Getty / LPGA
This week’s CME Tour Championship at the Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida, brings to a close the 2025 LPGA Tour season, the leading 60 in the Race to the CME Globe year-long standings being eligible to compete for the US$11 million up for grabs.
Amongst those 60 competitors are five Australasians. Minjee Lee, Lydia Ko, Grace Kim, Hannah Green and Stephanie Kyricaou, have all recorded a good season but now have the possibility of finishing it in style with a strong week.
Lydia Ko is, by some way, the best performed of the group in this particular event, having won twice and finished inside the top five on three other occasions, including when 3rd last year.
Ko won early in 2025, but her form during much of the year has been below that we have come to know from her, and she currently stands 26th in the Race to the CME Globe standings.
Minjee Lee has had yet another fine year on the LPGA Tour, but this event is not one she has had a lot of success in, with just three top tens in ten starts to date and a best of 5th in 2021. Lee is, however, in outstanding form this season with a win in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and three other top 3 finishes, leaving her in 3rd place in the Race to the CME standings.
This might be the year in which Lee records her best finish in the event, and with US$4 million to the winner, what a time to do so.
Grace Kim stands in 29th position in the Race to the Globe standings, but her season has been highlighted by her breakthrough major victory at the Evian Championship, although her form since has been well below that level. She did lead early in last week’s Annika event before finishing 9th, so perhaps she might be on the bounce back after such an historic win.
Kim has had two starts in the event with a best of 25th in 2024.
Hannah Green recorded a disappointing run of form through the middle of the season, at one stage missing four cuts in succession, but she has played well in recent weeks with two top-five finishes in Asia and a 15th-place finish in Florida last week.
Green gets to play this event for the 8th occasion, her best effort when runner-up in 2020.
Stephanie Kyriacou is currently in 45th place in the Race to the CME Globe standings and will play this event for the second occasion, having finished 57th in 2023 and not made the field last year.
Kyriacou has five top tens to her name this season, finishing 5th on two occasions.
While these five ladies have done well to make it to the lucrative season finale, another four Australasians have finished inside the top 100 in the Race to the CME Globe and will retain their playing privileges for next season.
Cassie Porter, Robyn Choi, Gabi Ruffels and Karis Davidson might not have the opportunity to play for the riches this week, but they will be back on the LPGA Tour next season, although Perth’s Hira Naveed finished outside the top 100 and will need to attend the Tour School’s final stage next month.
Race to the CME Globe standings ahead of the CME Tour Championship.
Fitzpatrick outguns MCilroy in dramatic season finale in Dubai
Fitzpatrick wins the Tour Championship, but McIlroy the Race to Dubai Standings – image Getty Images
Matt Fitzpatrick’s impressive return to the sort of game that saw him the US Open Champion in 2022 and twice a winner of this event previously, continued most dramatically in Dubai this weekend when he emerged from a playoff against the world’s number two golfer, Rory McIlroy, to win at the first extra hole of the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeira Golf Estates.
As many as ten golfers were still a possibility of winning the event with just nine holes to play in the season-ending event, but with Fitzpatrick’s three birdies in his final five holes and a dramatic eagle from 18 feet at the last by McIlroy, who had earlier lost a two-shot lead, it boiled down to a fitting finish to the DP World Tour season.
McIlroy would be first to blink in the playoff, however, when he found the water from the tee at the first extra hole, failed to find the green at the par 5 with his third, and failed to get up and down from the greenside bunker to record a bogey.
Fitzpatrick was not entirely convincing himself, laying with his second and leaving a long third with which he failed to find the green, but a magnificent pitch left himself two feet to complete the job and the title and the nearly US$3 million first prize in addition to the US$750,000 he earns for finishing 3rd in the Race to Dubai standings.
McIlroy earned US1.2 million for his runner-up finish, but in winning the Race to Dubai standings, he earns another US$2 million to top off an outstanding season in which he has won on four occasions worldwide and, very importantly, becomes only the 6th player in the history of the game to complete the Grand Slam with his win at the Masters in April.
As far as the three Australasians in the field, New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier did best in a share of 16th place with just over US$100,000.
Kazuma Kobori and Elvis Smylie finished well back in 42nd place, although for both it has been a tremendous rookie season on the DP World Tour.
Hillier was in line for one of the ten PGA Tour cards for next season, provided he finished well, perhaps inside the top ten, but he was unable to build on his efforts earlier in the week and finished 16th.
Hillier failed to earn one of the ten cards by two places, but he continues to build an impressive career in Europe.
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Chris Wood’s NSW Open victory may delay retirement plans
Chris Wood – every reason to smile – image credit Golf NSW
Brisbane golfer Chris Wood emerged from a four-hole playoff to win the Ford NSW Open at the Vintage Golf Club in the Hunter Valley, the 34-year-old claiming his second PGA Tour of Australasia title but, by some way, his most important.
Four years after his previous and only victory at this level, Wood holed a sliding 10-footer to edge out Victorian James Marchasani with Queensland’s Will Florimo, the first to be knocked out of the initial three-man playoff.
The playoff was played over the 18th at the Greg Norman-designed Vintage Golf Club, three times with the pin position of today’s final round, and for the fourth and final time, the pin position was changed, an innovation that makes a lot of sense in such circumstances. It changes the hole but not the amphitheater.
The win takes Wood to a significant early lead in the 2005/2006 PGA Tour of Australasia’s Order of Merit and the winner’s cheque for $A140,000, no doubt his largest in the game, must go some way to convincing Wood that potential plans for tournament golf retirement could be shelved.
“Not necessarily, Wood told Golf NSW when asked about his earlier intentions of playing out the year and perhaps giving up his 13-year career as a professional were now completely out the window. “I still wanted to play out this year really strong.”
“I knew that there was money to be made and obviously status to be gained, and having this thing in my hands now, I might sort of reassess things, but at the moment I’m just going to enjoy this.
“Enjoy the next couple of weeks, I didn’t have starts for the (Australian) PGA and Open. Now I do. So that obviously changes the next couple of weeks.”
The PGA Tour of Australasia now heads north to the Nudgee Golf Club in Brisbane for the Queensland PGA Championship, followed by the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland and the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne.
RESULTS
Steve Alker in familar territory at Charles Schwab Championship
Steve Alker – file image courtesy of PhotoSport NZ and NZ Open
The final event of the 2025 PGA Tour Champions season, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship has reached the halfway stage at the Phoenix Country Club, and there is a very familiar face at the top of the leaderboard.
New Zealand’s Steve Alker, who has not finished outside the top three in four attempts in the event, including his win in 2023, leads by one over Stewart Cink, with another shot back to Tommy Gainey.
Entering the week, Alker stood atop the Schwab Cup standings, further consolidating that position with his lead this week as he chases a third win in the year-long Charles Schwab Cup standings.
Alker added a second round of 65 to his opening 66, leading by three late in the round, before closing birdies by Cink leave him just one ahead with 36 holes to play.
“Well, it was a slow start,” said Alker. “I wanted to birdie 1, and the second hole was kind of gettable as well with the pin there. Yeah, just rolled in a couple of nice putts. No. 5 was a soft birdie, and then yeah, it just kept — the putter felt great on the front nine, hit some nice iron shots, gave myself some chances.
“So I felt great on the back, too. I felt like I played as good from tee to green as I did on the front. Just that back nine is just harder to get to some of those pins and be as aggressive.”
Alker’s remarkable consistency this season, which has included two wins and seven other top-three finishes, continues his outstanding run on the Champions Tour he has enjoyed since first joining the tour just over four years ago as a Monday qualifier.
Richard Green and Greg Chalmers are the next best of the Australians in this week’s field, that pair tied for 12th place and six shots from Alker’s lead.
This week’s winner not only earns the US$528,000 first prize but a bonus of US$1 million should he take out the Schwab Cup standings.
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Exciting weekend ahead for Daniel Hillier in Dubai
Daniel Hillier – file image courtesy of Photo Sport NZ / NZ Open
New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier is continuing his impressive late-season form and finds himself in a share of second place at the halfway stage of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship at Jumeira Golf Estate in Dubai.
Hillier added a second round of 68 to his opening 67 and, along with four others, including Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, and Justin Rose, is three shots from the lead held by Nicolai Hojgaard.
Coming off a 5th-place finish in Abu Dhabi last week and a 9th-place finish in India a couple of weeks earlier in an event where he let a late lead slip, Hillier is projected to jump 5 places to 12th in the Race to Dubai should he maintain his standing over the final 36 holes.
“Obviously, a little bit of a slow start,” said Hillier, referring to his opening bogey on day two. “Yeah, I don’t think I made a par through the first four holes or something. Still trying to find footing. Yeah, did that pretty well in the end. Played pretty solid for the remainder of the round, and yeah, happy with the scores. On to tomorrow.”
Another possibility for Hillier is the prospect of a PGA Tour card for next season, should he finish inside the top ten in the Race to Dubai rankings of those not otherwise qualified for the PGA Tour, a feat his fellow New Zealander Ryan Fox achieved two years ago.
Hillier began the week two spots out of the top ten in that category and has now advanced inside, but is likely to need a top eight finish this week at worst if he is to be on his way to the US next season.
“Yeah, for me, I’m in a pretty lucky position where even if I don’t get it, I get to spend another year out here on the DP World Tour,” added Hillier. “It would be amazing getting a PGA TOUR, but I love playing in Europe as well. Regardless, I’m pretty happy with the year. Yeah, that PGA TOUR card is going to be a bonus anyway.
Hillier’s fellow New Zealander, Kazuma Kobori, who is in his rookie season on the DP World Tour and has done well to make it into this elite field, is in 21st position this week, while Australia’s Elvis Smylie improved after a slow start for a round of 68 to be 35th.
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Winless pair lead NSW Open
Lucas Higgins – in action on day two – image Australian Golf Media
One of the more significant events on the PGA Tour of Australasia, the A$800,000 NSW Open, has reached the halfway stage, and Victorian Darcy Brereton and NSW’s Lucas Higgins have the lead at 7 under, two ahead of Victorian Ben Henkel.
Brereton, the son of former leading jockey, Dan, has yet to win on the PGA Tour of Australasia, his best coming when 4th at the 2024 Vic PGA Championship. He has played on the Asian Development Tour in 2025 in addition to pro-ams in Australia, two of which he has won.
26-year-old Higgins, from northern NSW but who played a lot of his amateur golf in Queensland, is also without a win on the PGA Tour of Australasia and was forced to return to the Tour School earlier this year after a disappointing season in 2024 and 2025.
Higgins has struggled again in the early stages of this season, missing his last four cuts, so this effort to date has been quite a turnaround and given his previous role as a member of the Golf NSW high performance squad during his amateur career, comes in an important week.
Third-placed, Henkel, opened the season well with a runner-up finish in Papua New Guinea and did win the Gippsland event last year, but the 25-year-old has generally struggled in his professional career to date.
Queensland’s Jake McLeod, Victorian Matias Sanchez and West Australian Haydn Barron are tied for 4th and three from the lead.
76 players made it to the weekend after finishing on or inside the cutline of 4 over, including the tournament’s defending champion, Lucas Herbert, who finds himself six shots off the pace at 1 under.
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Perth’s Connor McKinney earns DP World Tour card
Connor McKinney – file image Australian Golf Media
Australia will have one further representative on the DP World Tour next season following the completion of Qualifying in Spain overnight.
Perth’s Connor McKinney was in or near the lead following his brilliant opening round of 62, eventually finishing 2nd to South Africa’s Zander Lombard and claiming one of the cards for the 2025/2026 season handed out following the 108 hole marathon at Infinitum Golf in Tarragona in Spain.
Scottish born, McKinney, the Australian Amateur Champion in 2022, finished runner-up in the Victorian Open earlier this year and played several events on the development Tartan Pro Tour in Scotland during 2025, winning one.
McKinney now gets to play events such as the Australian PGA Championship and the Australian Open, both of which are jointly sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia and the DP World Tour.
While the news was excellent for McKinney, it was not so for South Australian Jack Buchanan, who agonisingly missed out on one of the 20 cards by just one shot. Buchanan bogeyed his final hole today to miss out on securing one of the cards handed out to not only the top twenty but all those who finished on their score.
Buchanan, who won two events on last year’s PGA Tour of Australasia, also narrowly missed out on gaining his card via the PGA Tour of Australasian Order of Merit last season, missing out on one of the three spots by one position.
Final Scores
Exciting climax in prospect in Dubai
Daniel Hillier – could find himself with a PGA Tour card -file image courtesy of NZ Open
The 2024/2025 DP World Tour season reaches its climax this week when the DP World Tour Championship is played over the Earth Course at the Jameira Estates in Dubai.
The leading 50 players from the Race to Dubai rankings, plus two other Ryder Cup players not otherwise exempt (Shane Lowry and Ludvig Alberg), tee it up for a total purse of US$10 million with another US$6 million available in bonus money to be split amongst the leading ten players.
The first prize for the event itself is US$3 million, with another US$2 million to the leading player in the Race to Dubai standings at the completion of the event.
Three Australasians have made the field, namely Daniel Hillier, Elvis Smylie and Kazuma Kobori, with Hillier and Smylie also eying the possibility of gaining access to the PGA Tour should they finish high enough to finish inside the top ten in the Race to Dubai standings and not otherwise exempt for the PGA Tour.
Currently Hillier is in 12th position in the race for a tour card, Smylie 14th and Kobori quite some way further back, so Hillier and Smylie remain in the running to be playing in the US should they produce a strong week. For Hillier and Smylie, perhaps, a top 5 finish might be good enough, although many variables could alter that.
After a poor opening round of 75 last year, Hillier recovered to finish a reasonable 38th in his debut, while Smylie and Kobori will to play the event for the first occasion.
The event promises to be a real shootout with Rory McIlroy looking to claim the title for 4th occasion, but two-time runner-up in this event, Tommy Fleetwood, is chasing a dream end to 2025, having won the FedEx Championship on the PGA Tour and now the possibility of winning this equivalent title.
Tee Times and Leaderboard
Big week ahead for Daniel Hillier
Daniel Hillier – file image courtesy of NZ Open
The DP World Tour heads east to Dubai for this week’s DP World Tour Championship at the Earth Course at the Jumeirah Estates, the season-ending event consisting of the leading 50 players in the Race to Dubai rankings after this past weekend’s Abu Dhabi Championship.
Amongst the 50 to be making the 140 kilometre trip are three Australians, Daniel Hillier, Elvis Smylie and Kazuma Kobori, who will complete successful DP World Tour seasons irrespective of where they finish in Dubai.
Wellingtonian Hillier, who heads the group following his impressive 5th-place finish in Abu Dhabi, moves up three places to 17th in the Race to Dubai standings. Smylie is 20th after finishing 32nd last week, and Kobori slips to 41st following his 41st-place finish at the Yas Links course in Abu Dhabi.
All three get to play for this week’s US$10,000 million purse in addition to the US$6 million bonus pool should they play exceptionally well this week.
Hillier’s 5th place finish in Abu Dhabi against such a strong field was full of merit, although, as he had done in India a few weeks ago, he let slip a golden opportunity to win the event or finish higher than his eventual position.
Hillier actually took the lead at 24 under when he produced his 7th birdie of the day at the 11th before a double bogey at the 15th, where he failed to get out of the greenside bunker on the first occasion, and a bogey at the last would cost him dearly.
Still, for the 27-year-old he earns a cheque for €301,000, taking his earnings for the season to more than €1.6 million or $A2.9 million.
Importantly for Hillier, however, is the possibility of gaining one of the ten PGA Tour cards available to the leading ten players in the Race to Dubai rankings and not otherwise exempt in the US, Hillier now standing in 12th position in those specific rankings.
Also with a great chance if he can produce something special in Dubai is Smylie, who stands one position behind Hillier in those rankings after his 32nd place in Abu Dhabi although two late bogeys in round four proved very costly for a number of reasons.
Kobori, who, like Smylie, is playing his first season in Europe, has done well to make it to Dubai and gets his chances at the riches of the season’s final event.
The Abu Dhabi Championship was won by England’s Aaron Rai, who defeated Tommy Fleetwood in a playoff, the pair finishing one ahead of Rory McIlory whose last round of 62 so nearly was enough and Nicolai HØJGAARD.
Results
Smylie, Hillier and Kobori chasing late season success
Elvis Smylie – chasing a big finish over the next two weeks.
DP World Tour season stages its penultimate event this week when the US$9 million Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship is played at the Yas Links Golf Club.
With the leading 50 in the Race to Dubai determining just who will advance to next week’s season-ending US$10 million DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, there is a lot still to play for this week, in addition to the substantial prizemoney on offer.
72 players will tee it up this week, amongst those in the line-up are two New Zealanders and one Australian.
Elvis Smylie in 17th place, Daniel Hiller in 20th and Kazuma Kobori in 38th place in the Race to Dubai rankings, are all assured of advancing to Dubai next week, but a good showing here will provide a boost of confidence ahead of their final test of the season.
New Zealand’s Daniel Hiller gets to play the event for the second occasion, having finished 46th on debut here two years ago, while for DP World Tour rookies Elvis Smylie and Kazuma Kobori, they will play the event for the first occasion.
Smylie has had mixed fortunes in his rookie season. The elegant Gold Coast golfer won the 2024 Australian PGA Championship, leading to his securing the title of leader of the Australasian Tour Order of Merit for the 2024/2025 season.
In 21 DP World Tour starts since his win in Brisbane, Smylie has recorded three top tens, including his runner-up finish in France a month ago. He has, however, missed the cut in each of his last two starts but with an excellent rookie season behind him, he heads to Abu Dhabi with nothing to lose and the possibility of a good week ahead of heading 100 kilometres or so east to Dubai.
A finish inside the top three this week might also bring Smylie into calculations for one of the ten PGA Tour cards now available to the leading ten players in the Race to Dubai Rankings at season’s end and not otherwise exempt from the PGA Tour.
Hillier’s season has also been a roller coaster of sorts, having finished runner-up in the lucrative Dubai Desert Classic early in the year, but there have been only two other top tens in his 23 DP World Tour starts this season, although he was very much in contention in India recently before a back-nine disaster cost him a second title. He finished 9th in that event.
Kobori is playing his first full season on the DP World Tour after his success as the leader of the PGA Tour of Australasia’s Order of Merit in 2023/2024, that title earning him playing rights in Europe.
Like Smylie, Kobori has missed his last two cuts, but he has enjoyed a more than satisfactory first season as he finds his way at this level. His runner-up finish at the British Masters and a 3rd place in Germany during the middle of the year played key roles in the position he now finds himself, and irrespective of how he plays over the next two weeks, he has done well.
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