The Aon Risk Reward Challenge trophy in 2022 .
The penultimate LPGA Tour event of the season, The Annika, comes from Florida’s Pelican Golf Club, where the final jostling for positions in the Race to CME Globe standings takes place.
That will determine the top 60 and ties who will progress to the lucrative and prestigious season finale, the CME Group Tour Championship.
Meanwhile, there is also one of the largest prize funds of the season on offer, $3.25m, of which the winner will pick up a check for $487,500.
By almost anyone’s standards, that is a substantial sum of money, while even players finishing further down the leaderboard are set to boost their bank balances considerably.
However, prize money depending on finishing position is not the only financial reward on offer at the tournament, with the season-long Aon Risk Reward Challenge also coming to a head in Florida.
Minjee Lee leads the Aon Risk Reward Challenge (Image credit: Getty Images)
The contest sees one strategically challenging hole selected at each course throughout the season, with players’ two best scores at that hole counting towards a season-long average to par. The player with the lowest average at the end of the regular season claims a one-off $1m prize.
The Annika is the final tournament of the season that counts towards the challenge, with the current leader being Minjee Lee.
Her risk-reward score stands at -0.921 ahead of the tournament, with World No.1 and 2024 Aon Risk Reward Challenge winner Jeeno Thitikul right behind her with a score of -0.912.
Jeeno Thitikul won the Aon Risk Reward Challenge in 2024 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Both players have long since booked their places in next week’s season finale, so they are not competing this week.
Of course, for Thitikul, her absence means she can’t improve her average, putting her out of the running. However, the door is ajar for two players to pip Lee at Pelican.
A Lim Kim is the player in third with a risk-reward score of -0.905, while Jennifer Kupcho is in fourth with an average of -0.885.
A Lim Kim is third in the Aon Risk Reward Challenge standings (Image credit: Getty Images)
For either player to take the $1m in the 30th and last counting tournament, they will need an eagle and a birdie at the hole, the 529-yard par-5 14th.
Whether Lee holds onto the top spot without playing remains to be seen, but if either Kim or Kupcho is to take the prize, they will need accuracy off the tee thanks to bunkers in the landing area, while they will also need to be mindful of another bunker guarding the green on their approach.
