Mixed pairs event begins on FridayNelly Korda and Charley Hull among LPGA starsJake Knapp returns for title defenceGolf betting tips: Grant Thornton Invitational
4pts win Conners/Henderson at 13/2 (General)
2pts win Kim/Zhang at 14/1 (General)
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The Grant Thornton Invitational isn’t for everyone, but pairs golf involving good players from the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour certainly is for me. It’s in Florida, too, and having pushed my body beyond its limits by getting up at 3am to watch golf in Australia over the past two weeks, I am willing to sacrifice world-class architecture and meaningful competition for a hit-and-giggle that takes place at a reasonable hour.
The format begins with a scramble, which means each player tees off, the best is selected, and each player then hits from that position. This process is repeated for every shot and scoring is therefore low: likely you’ll need your choice of pairing to break 60 if they’re to enter the weekend with a realistic chance, with Saturday reverting to traditional foursomes, which is tough, and Sunday a modified fourball shootout.
We’ve had two years in this mixed pairs style, previous incarnations having largely been all-male with a few exceptions, and we’ve had two contrasting results. Jason Day and Lydia Ko are elite golfers, major champions and former world number ones, who had generally been in good form. Last year, Jake Knapp and Patty Tavatanakit weren’t just in poor form – they’d both finished stone last on their previous start.
Tavatanakit at least had a history of being an elite putter, having ranked number one on the LPGA Tour in 2021, and in general I’ve tended to side with putters over ball-strikers in this. Two chances to hit a good approach and two goes at the putt, in round one that is, set things up really well for those who are better the closer they get to the hole, and fourballs is similar. Only on Saturday are long-games under real pressure.
Favourites Denny McCarthy and Nelly Korda therefore make plenty of sense and they in fact finished fifth in this when Korda was one of just two LPGA players taking part. Reunited after McCarthy had finished fourth with Megan Khang in 2023, their chance is obvious and motivation should be high given that McCarthy hasn’t won a tournament in so long; Korda meanwhile has seven top-fives but no title so far in 2025.
But I think the value lies with Canadian duo COREY CONNERS AND BROOKE HENDERSON, for all that the putter is clearly the one big worry where Conners in particular is concerned.
He does though arrive after seventh place in the Hero World Challenge, where for three of the four rounds he was exceptional from tee-to-green. Conners putted well early in the tournament, too, but on Saturday made nothing, with Sunday’s improvement still not enough to see him beat the field average.
Still, he has often looked at his most comfortable on bermuda greens, particularly in Hawaii but also here in Florida, where his record is exceptional. A couple of seasons ago he contended for the Arnold Palmer and The PLAYERS in back-to-back weeks, while this year his three appearances in the Sunshine State yielded finishes of third, sixth, and eighth.
If he’s freed up by the format these two look very dangerous having missed out by just a shot two years ago. And to round off the positives where Conners is concerned, whereas last year they were fourth despite him flying in from South Africa, this time he’s not going to be hurt by the travel from the Bahamas.
As for Henderson, she recently bagged her eighth top-10 finish at Tiburon from her last 10 starts in the final event of the LPGA season. Combined with her exploits in this that makes it 10 from 12 and she’s very comfortable here, which makes sense given that she lives around the corner. It’s an adopted home game and, her partner better prepared, a title she can get her hands on this time.
Henderson has won this year, which she hadn’t in 2024, and in 2023 it’d been all the way back in January. These two look absolutely primed and given that McCarthy has only played once in four months, and not well, I’d have the Canadians as favourites over McCarthy and Korda, plus 2023 champions Day and Ko with the latter not quite at her best.
Luke Clanton and Lottie Woad are a fascinating combination, both having gone to college at Florida State where they reached the top of their respective world amateur rankings. Clanton was full of admiration for what Woad had achieved before him and with plenty of support likely, they could go very well if Clanton can find something with the putter, which has been holding him back.
But at bigger prices, MICHAEL KIM AND ROSE ZHANG make more appeal even if these are two west coast players for whom conditions might not necessarily be what they’d choose.
Kim is playing beautifully. He won the Open de France on the DP World Tour, stuck around for the rest of the season, and produced some of the very best iron play going. His putter has also fired a couple of times, particularly in France, and he’s in the form of his life.
Things are a little more complicated with Zhang, whose desire to complete her studies at Stanford has meant taking plenty of time away from the game. She recently returned from another two-month break and has played 14 times this year to Henderson’s 24, an indication of how split her priorities are.
However, at the end of the year that freshness could even be a positive and she has been showing better signs either side of this latest absence. Just before it she contended when fifth in the FM Championship, then here in Florida last time she was inside the top 10 after rounds one and two despite some rust, struggled on Saturday, then played well on Sunday for 21st.
Like Kim, her iron play has largely been excellent and her putter has started to fire, so if these two can avoid trouble of the tee they could make for a deadly combination. Certainly, two approach shots from the fairway and they’re a match for all their opponents.
Hand on heart there aren’t many other teams I am at all interested in, with Daniel Berger having withdrawn to be replaced by Michael Brennan, Chris Gotterup and Wyndham Clark both wholly unconvincing, and Keith Mitchell and Khang both struggling with the putter.
The top three in the market plus Kim/Zhang and Clanton/Woad made up my shortlist and we’ll take two of the five for a fun event to end the year in the US.
Posted at 11:00 GMT on 09/12/25
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