Steve Palmer's CME Group Tour Championship predictions, best bets, free tips

Golf tips, best bets and player analysis for the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club on the LPGA Tour.

When to bet

12.27pm Thursday

Where to watch

Live on Sky Sports Golf, 8pm Thursday

Best bets

Jin Young Ko
4pts 5-1 Coral, Ladbrokes

Charley Hull
0.5pt each-way 40-1 general

Preview

The CME Group Tour Championship - the LPGA Tour season finale - starts at 12.27pm UK and Ireland time on Thursday, with everything on the line over 72 holes.

Unlike the PGA Tour and European Tour equivalents - which build the race for a champion by awarding points during the season - the LPGA Tour Championship exclusively determines the overall victor. Earn a place in the 60-runner event and you have a crack at the $1.5m first prize - the biggest cheque in women's golf - from a level start.

The CME will do well to upstage last week's Pelican Championship in the same state of Florida. And the Pelican may have a significant bearing on how the Tour Championship unfolds. Jin Young Ko can be fancied to take advantage of a potentially jaded Nelly Korda and retain the Tour Championship title.

The Pelican was an epic contest. Korda had the event at her mercy until suffering a triple-bogey at the 71st hole, eventually having to go into a four-woman playoff against Lexi Thompson, Lydia Ko and Sei Young Kim.

Korda steadied herself to claim Pelican glory, but how much did the drama take out of her? It was supposed to be a gentle warm-up for the big one, but turned into something completely different.

Preference is for Korda's main rival - defending CME champion Jin Young Ko, who eased her way through 72 holes of the Pelican at a canter, carding four solid rounds for a share of sixth place, seemingly saving herself for this more important event.

Korda has never topped the leaderboard at Tiburon Golf Club, home of the CME. Ko destroyed the field by five shots last year, closing with a 66, and recent form suggests the 26-year-old Korean could serve up another masterclass this time.

Pick of the bigger-price runners may be Charley Hull, who won this event in 2016. The Kettering-born swinger was runner-up, beaten by just a shot, in the 2019 CME and clearly loves Tiburon.

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