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Jake Knapp and Patty Tavatanakit walk to the third green during the first round of the Grant Thornton Invitational 2024.
In the midst of the quiet season of golf, the Grant Thorton Invitational makes its return for the third time in a row. The annual event will take place in Naples, Florida, where the CME Group Tour Championship was recently held. The event pairs up some of the best PGA and LPGA players for a mixed-team event.
Golf fans can watch as last year’s winners Jake Knapp and Patty Tavatanakit hope to defend their title as they face off against some tough competition. Jason Day and Lydia Ko won the inaugural event and will also return to reclaim their title and a cut of the $4 million purse.
Grant Thorton Invitational
Round 1 begins on Friday, December 12th and can be seen on the Golf Channel and NBC Sports App. The tournament starts with a scramble, but each day is different. Saturday, Round 2, viewers will see alternate shot play on the course, followed by Sunday’s Round 3 which will consist of modified fourball.
The Grant Thorton Invitational will host World No. 2, Nelly Korda. Also making a return to the green is Korda’s older sister, Jessica. Jessica hasn’t played on the Tour since 2023 due to injuries and recovery. However, at last year’s Grant Thorton Invitational she spoke of a return, possibly for the 2026 season.
Other LPGA stars teeing up include World No. 5 Charley Hull, World No. 6 Lydia Ko, World No. 11 Lottie Woad, World No. 13 Angel Yin, and World No. 15 Maja Stark. Although the mens side will feature many relevant faces, they are not as highly ranked players as the LPGA. The highest ranked PGA stars include World No. 28 Chris Gotterup, World No. 53 Jason Day, and World No. 39 Wyndham Clark.
Overall, it’s quite an impressive list of golfers. All together, the course will feature a combined 137 career victories, 9 of which occurred in 2025. 10 major championships will tee off at the event, and seven different countries represented.
Mixed-Team Event
The 2025 list of LPGA and PGA Pairings:
Patty Tavatanakit and Jake Knapp
Lydia Ko and Jason Day
Lauren Coughlin and Andrew Novak
Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners
Charley Hull and Michael Brennan
Megan Khang and Keith Mitchell
Jessica Korda and Bud Cauley
Nelly Korda and Denny McCarthy
Jennifer Kupcho and Chris Gotterup
Andrea Lee and Billy Horschel
Maja Stark and Neal Shipley
Lexi Thompson and Wyndham Clark
Lilia Vu and Tony Finau
Lottie Woad and Luke Clanton
Angel Yin and Tom Hoge
Rose Zhang and Michael Kim
While this list features many familiar pairs, there are new match-ups as well. Following last year’s win, Knapp and Tavatanakit spoke on their partnership. Tavatanakit, who won earlier in the 2024 season at the Honda LPGA Thailand, stated
“It was nice to put the cherry on top of my 2024 season to win my last event of the year, It’s definitely going to be a nice feeling to take some time off. And to be able to do it alongside Jake, it’s just been so fun, and I couldn’t have asked for a better partner.”
Knapp agreed with Tavatanakit, stating,
“Great way to end the year before Christmas.”
“I feel like in an event like this, you never really know what your partner’s going to be like when you haven’t met them before, and I feel like I couldn’t have gotten a better partner. I feel like we got along perfectly. Energy was the same. It was a really, really fun week.”
Sydney Jones Sydney Jones is a sports writer covering all things Golf, Mariners, and Seahawks for Heavy.com. She has experience covering the intersection of sports and human interest stories for multiple publications. Originally from Montana, she recently relocated to Seattle and is enjoying the new experience of being surrounding by live professional sports and rooting for a common team while writing about them. More about Sydney Jones
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