After Getting Defeated by Lydia Ko, Will Leona Maguire Use Her Absence to Exceed at the 2023 CME Group Tour Championship?

After last week’s semi-finals of The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, which was the final event of the LPGA this year, the CME Tour Group Championship will be hosted this week. The tournament will be hosted at the Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida. The CME Tour has an impressive prize purse of $7 million, and the winner will take home $2 million.

The competition to reach here was so tough that even last year’s winner and this year’s defending champion Lydia Ko couldn’t make it. This presents a great chance for her rival from 2022, Leona Maguire, who will definitely try to win this year.

As Lydia Ko loses out, Leona Maguire snaps the chance to play in the LPGA finale

Last week was a tough challenge for Lydia Ko. As her 10th season on the Tour came to an end, it produced some unsatisfactory results. Already going through a drought this year, she finished 31st in the event and 101 on the CME points. When asked  by GolfWeek about whether the pressure to reach the LPGA Hall of Fame affected her, she answered, “I think so. That would be a lie, I think, if you said no.”

Regardless, she won’t be playing this week and this has presented a golden opportunity to Leona Maguire, who locked horns with Lydia last year. Maguire gave tough competition to Lydia for the 2022 finale from the very first round. But Lydia scored the big win. Ko earned her second Rolex Player of the Year award, her second consecutive Vare Trophy.

But this year, Maguire has been confirmed for the CME Championship. Taking to Instagram, she even declared that she has secured a position in the finale. Posting an image of hers, Leona wrote in the caption, “Locked in for @cmegrouptourchamp “.

Maguire finished tied for the 38th spot at The ANNIKA event. In the first round, she finished a bogey-free round of 3 under 67. She is 19th on the CME list and has 1,422.820 points.

Also Read – “Frustrating at Times”: As Her Disappointingly Poor Season’s About to End, Lydia Ko Reveals a Major Truth About Her Game

Ko’s struggle in the 2022 LPGA Season

In 2023, Ko has made only two Top 10 finishes. One was at the Honda LPGA Thailand and another at the BMW Ladies Championship. Although she earned no CME points this year, Ko will have quality status next year owing to her wins last year. In 2022, she was Player of the Year and banked over $4.3 million, which is the largest in the history of women’s golf. This year, she only managed to take home $224,130 throughout the season.

As for Leona, she has already secured her place in next year’s tournaments. Now this week her total focus will be on winning the tournament that she missed last year. What do you think?

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