LPGA & European Tour Championships

This week's golf digest spotlights the DP World and LPGA Tour Championships, along with the season-ender RSM Classic and international highlights from the Indonesian Masters and Japan's Dunlop Phoenix Tournament. Top golfers contend for high stakes and PGA cards.

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This week, we have two tour championships, big events in Asia, and The RSM classic. On the men's circuit, the DP World Tour Championship hosts 27 top players, while the RSM Classic sees 37 participants. Additionally, 4 players are competing in Japan, with 1 in the Indonesian Masters. On the women's front, the LPGA Tour Championship boasts 51 of the top 100 players, and another 13 are competing in Japan.

Purses

DP World Tour Championship

$10,000,000

The RSM Classic

$8,400,000

LPGA Tour Championship

$7,000,000

Indonesian Masters

$1,500,000

Dunlop Phoenix Tournament

¥200,000,000 (~$1,320,000)

Daio Paper Elleair Ladies Open

¥100,000,000 (~$660,000)

DP World Tour Championship

Emirates Golf Club

The 15th edition of the DP World Tour Championship is here, with top players battling on the Jumeirah Golf Estates at Emirates Golf Club in Dubai.

Jon Rahm aims to defend his title, while Rory McIlroy enters after securing his fifth Harry Vardon Trophy for securing first place in the Race to Dubai Rankings.

Viktor Hovland will be making his first start since the Ryder Cup. His last two non-team event starts have been wins at the PGA Tour Championship and the BMW Championship. A well-rested Hovland could be trouble for the rest of the field.

Another layer of the competition this week is for PGA Tour cards. The top ten players in the Race to Dubai who are not already exempt will receive PGA TOUR cards through the Strategic Alliance. Currently, some of the players who will lock up their tour cards for 2024 include Victor Perez, Robert MacIntyre, and Ryo Hisatsune.

2🇮🇪Rory McIlroy
3🇪🇸Jon Rahm
4🇳🇴Viktor Hovland
8🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Matt Fitzpatrick
11🇰🇷Tom Kim
12🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Tyrrell Hatton
15🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Tommy Fleetwood
24🇦🇹Sepp Straka
28🇳🇿Ryan Fox
35🇮🇪Shane Lowry
43🇦🇺Min Woo Lee
46🇵🇱Adrian Meronk
57🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Robert MacIntyre
65🇦🇺Lucas Herbert
69🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Jordan Smith

LPGA Tour Championship

The LPGA tour championship starts Thursday at Tiburón Golf Club with 60 of the best women in the field.

The stakes are high with a $7 million purse. The champ wins a whopping $2 million! For reference, the two highest earners in women’s golf for 2023 are Lilia Vu (~$3.58 million) and Allisen Corpuz (~$3 million).

Lilia Vu, back at world number 1 in the Rolex Rankings, aims to cap a career year at Tiburón Golf Club.

Jin Young Ko, Sei Young Kim, Ariya Jutanugarn, and Charley Hull return as former champs. Notably absent this year is the defending champion, Lydia Ko, who finished at number 100 in the CME points list.

The field also includes six tour rookies led by Hae Ran Ryu, who earned the 2023 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award. Ryu, who won earlier in the year at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, finished last week 274 points ahead of the next closest rookie, Grace Kim, and sealed the Rookie of the Year honors.

1🇺🇸Lilia Vu
2🇨🇳Ruoning Yin
3🇫🇷Celine Boutier
4🇰🇷Jin Young Ko
5🇦🇺Minjee Lee
6🇺🇸Nelly Korda
7🇰🇷Hyo-Joo Kim
8🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Charley Hull
9🇹🇭Atthaya Thitikul
11🇨🇳Xiyu Lin
12🇺🇸Allisen Corpuz
13🇨🇦Brooke Henderson
14🇺🇸Megan Khang
16🇸🇪Linn Grant
17🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Georgia Hall
18🇯🇵Nasa Hataoka
19🇮🇪Leona Maguire
21🇺🇸Angel Yin
22🇿🇦Ashleigh Buhai
23🇯🇵Ayaka Furue

PGA Tour - The RSM Classic

This week, the PGA tour heads to St. Simons Island, Georgia, for the RSM Classic, where Adam Svensson defends his title. Players will tackle both the Seaside and Plantation courses.

The purse is $8.4 million, with over 1.5 million to the winner.

As the last fall event, this is the last chance for players to secure a PGA Tour spot for next season. Players must finish inside the top 125 to secure a coveted spot on the PGA Tour in 2024.

Also, the RSM marks the last chance for rookies like Eric Cole and Ludvig Åberg to make a case for the Rookie of the Year award.

9🇺🇸Brian Harman
18🇺🇸Cameron Young
25🇺🇸Russell Henley
33🇨🇦Corey Conners
36🇺🇸Denny McCarthy
39🇺🇸Harris English
40🇺🇸J.T. Poston
41🇰🇷Si Woo Kim
45🇺🇸Adam Schenk
48🇺🇸Eric Cole
49🇺🇸Chris Kirk
52🇺🇸Matt Kuchar
53🇸🇪Ludvig Åberg
54🇺🇸Billy Horschel
55🇸🇪Alex Noren

Asian Tour - Indonesian Masters

The final International Series event 2023 is this week with the Indonesian Masters.

Sarit Suwannarut is the defending champion and comes off a missed cut in Hong Kong after winning the China Open two weeks ago.

Patrick Reed headlines the field and makes his third start on the Asian Tour this year. He finished T15 last week in Hong Kong after finishing the LIV season.

68🇺🇸Patrick Reed
155🇧🇪Thomas Pieters
173🇺🇸Andy Ogletree
186🇮🇳Anirban Lahiri
205🇰🇷Sang-hyun Park
215🇹🇭Sadom Kaewkanjana
223🇹🇭Phachara Khongwatmai
271🇦🇺Travis Smyth
280🇿🇦Jaco Ahlers
288🇰🇷Bio Kim

Japan Golf Tour - Dunlop Phoenix Tournament

Brooks Koepka and Wyndham Clark, winners of this year's PGA and US Open, respectively, are in the field for the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament in Japan. This star-studded event boasts a rich history of illustrious winners, including Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington, and Luke Donald.

Koepka, returns to a tournament he has won twice before in 2016 and 2017, while Clark, coming off a Major win and a strong season including a Ryder Cup appearance, seeks to continue his rise.

Japanese stars Hideki Matsuyama, Keita Nakajima, and Takumi Kanaya lead the way and aim to impress the home audience in a field stronger than usual for the Japan Golf Tour.

10🇺🇸Wyndham Clark
17🇺🇸Brooks Koepka
30🇺🇸Sahith Theegala
37🇯🇵Hideki Matsuyama
102🇦🇷Alejandro Tosti
111🇯🇵Keita Nakajima
122🇯🇵Takumi Kanaya
133🇯🇵Rikuya Hoshino
139🇯🇵Taiga Semikawa
169🇺🇸Norman Xiong

Japan LPGA - Daio Paper Elleair Ladies Open

15🇰🇷Jiyai Shin
20🇯🇵Miyuu Yamashita
37🇯🇵Akie Iwai
51🇯🇵Mao Saigo
54🇯🇵Kokona Sakurai
64🇯🇵Sakura Koiwai
65🇯🇵Chisato Iwai
67🇯🇵Sora Kamiya
73🇯🇵Mone Inami
74🇯🇵Nana Suganuma