CME Group Tour Championship: Lexi Thompson, Ariya Jutanugarn big winners again in Naples

Last year, Lexi Thompson took home $1 million and Ariya Jutanugarn won $500,000 in Naples. Sunday, the two swapped.

But everything felt a little different than a year ago.

Thompson got her first victory of 2018 to extend her streak to six years with a win, and Jutanugarn held off a charge by Brooke Henderson to win the $1 million Race to the CME Globe at the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort.

Thompson shot a final-round 70 for an 18-under 270 total, four ahead of Nelly Korda.

"It's been a long year," Thompson said. "Just the ups and downs and just the things I've been dealing with, they all kind of hit me this year. To be able to end the year like this and just keep on fighting throughout the whole year has meant the world to me.

"It just shows anything is possible. You have to fight through whatever you're going through."

In 2017, Thompson had a chance at both big prizes, but missed a 2-foot par putt on No. 18 and then watched Jutanugarn drain a birdie putt to win by a stroke. Afterward, if it's possible, winning the $1 million almost seemed like a consolation prize.

"With how it ended last year, wasn't the way I wanted it to," Thompson said. "Of course, $1 million helped, but I wanted to win the event."

Korda finished second at 14 under, followed by Brittany Lincicome and So Yeon Ryu. Jutanugarn, Lydia Ko, Marina Alex, and Carlota Ciganda.

Thompson, who became the ninth American to win this season to tie South Korea for the most, made sure there wasn't that kind of drama on the course Sunday.

The 23-year-old held a three-stroke lead going into the final round, and the 20-year-old Korda stayed within striking distance, but never made a serious run. When Korda birdied No. 1, so did Thompson. The same on No. 8.

Korda birdied No. 12 to get within two, but Thompson put it away on the next hole, sticking her approach to 4 feet, and Korda made bogey to double the lead to four. She bogeyed 16, but so did Korda, and then both birdied No. 17.

Thompson stuck her approach on No. 18, but burned the edge on her 6-foot birdie putt, then tapped in. She hugged her caddie, brother Curtis, and tour players Jaye Marie Green, Cristie Kerr and Amy Olson soaked them with champagne.

"Once I hit the green, I said 'Curtis, you're walking up with me to this green; you're sharing this moment with me,'" she said.

After all, he was feeding her lines from "Wedding Crashers", "Step Brothers" and the "Hangover" movies to keep her loose or off what was going on.

"He's such a goofball," she said. "He's a one-of-a-kind personality and I just love him so much and just how much he helped me out this week. I needed that."

"I haven't seen her win ever as a professional," said Curtis Thompson, who will join his sister as her caddie back at Tiburón for the PGA Tour's QBE Shootout where Lexi Thompson will be paired with Tony Finau from Dec. 5-9. "... Last year you know what happened there. To come back and do it this way is great and to be here is really emotional, actually."

It all helped Thompson erase some history that's been following her for longer than that 2-foot missed putt in Naples.

On the course, there was the final-round, back-nine, four-stroke penalty that basically took away a major, the ANA Inspiration, in April 2017. She ended up losing in a playoff to Anna Nordqvist. 

Honestly, much of the drama for Thompson has been away from the course over the past year -- her mother battled cancer and her grandmother died in 2017, and Thompson revealed in an Instagram post last month she had been dealing with self-image issues.

Thompson took some time off, and has returned with a new friend (havapoo puppy Leo), her brother as her caddie this week, and has gone back to a natural draw and an old putter.

All of that added up to a 54-hole tournament record 200, and enough steady play Sunday to raise the championship trophy and prevent her first winless season since 2012.

While Thompson was erasing some history in a sense, Jutanugarn was making some.

Jutanugarn, who will turn 23 next week, had the No. 1 spot in the season-long Race to the CME Globe coming into the tournament, and never really gave it up, despite a strong final round by Henderson, who has a residence at Miromar Lakes.

"I'm really proud of myself because like the first three rounds I can't play golf at all because thinking about everything too much," she said. "Today I didn't think about that -- like never -- so I did a pretty good job."

It's the second time in three years that Jutanugarn, who had the low round of the day with a 66, has won the $1 million, and this year she added the Rolex Player of the Year (sewn up with three events left), the money list title, and the Vare Trophy for the lowest stroke average. She already had won the new award for number of top-10 finishes coming into the week.

"It means so much to me because to be honest, after 2016, I never expect anything," she said. "I feel like I achieve too much already in my life, so I never think I can do anything more than that.

"So this year is just unbelievable to me because it's a lot to me. I feel like what I want to work on I improved a lot, so I'm really proud of myself."