The LPGA’s new season-ending Titleholders championship received a boost Sunday with the tour announcing that CME Group has signed a three-year deal to become title sponsor of the event.
The inaugural CME Group Titleholders will be played Nov. 17-20 at Grand Cypress Golf Club in Orlando, Fla.
The event replaces the LPGA Tour Championship with a unique new format that will feature a field comprised of three qualifiers from every LPGA event. The top-three finishers from every event not previously qualified advance to the CME Group Titleholders.
Yani Tseng, Michelle Wie and Karrie Webb advanced as the top three finishers at the season-opening Honda LPGA Thailand event. Sun Young Yoo, Morgan Pressel and Na Yeon Choi advanced from last week’s HSBC Champions.
CME owns the Dow Jones stock and financial indexes as an operator of large derivatives and futures exchanges in Chicago and New York.
LPGA commissioner Mike Whan sold the Titleholders concept as a way for the tour to celebrate all its title sponsors in a season-long qualifying system culminating in the Titleholders tournament.
