Lydia Ko wins 2022 CME Group Tour Championship: Final results and more

The 2022 CME Group Tour Championship closed its curtains on Sunday, November 20, at the Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida. Lydia Ko took home the most extensive check in LPGA history.

Lydia, now a 19-time LPGA Tour champion, posted a score of 2 under 70 on Sunday to finish 17 under overall to clinch the prestigious title and take home the winner's check of $2 million.

"This year has been an incredible year,” Ko said. “I really could never ask for more to win so early in the season and then to have won in Korea and then win the last event of the year. I couldn’t have drawn it up any better. There have been so many exciting things in my life that have been going on.”

The Kiwi also won the 2022 Player of the Year award for the second time and Vare Trophy for the second consecutive season for having the lowest average score.

“To be the Player of the Year and to win the Vare Trophy again and to win the CME Group Tour Championship, it's a dream come true," she added. "To be able to do it in front of family and my team, you know, it's a very special one,” Lydia Ko continue

Her first title at the CME Group Tour Championship was in 2014 when she was just 17 years old.

The Player of the year award and the Vare Trophy is worth one point each, giving her 25 points towards the needed 27 points to be included in the LPGA Hall of Fame.

"There was a lot of things on the line today," Lydia Ko said. "I really wanted to play the best golf I can. I knew it would be a tough battle, especially with how tough the conditions were."

Ko ends the year with three LPGA titles, namely - Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio, BMW Ladies Championship, and the CME Group Tour Championship.

Lydia Ko is now looking forward to her wedding as she is set to marry Korean, Chung Jun.

A tough final round between Lydia Ko and Leona Maguire

The Kiwi started with a strong lead of 65-66 in the first two rounds before Leona Maguire tied her up in the third round. In the fourth round, Lydia Ko bogeyed in the first hole to give Maguire the lead. However, the 25-year-old Kiwi took the first lead with a birdie on the par-3 eighth hole.

Both were challenged by the 14th hole as they both played bogeys. However, Ko backed up in the 16th and 17th holes to clinch the title with a lead of two strokes and a bogey from Maguire on the 17th hole made her close to the title.

Meanwhile, Maguire shot 72 to finish second, winning $550000. Anna Nordqvist finished third, and England's Georgia Hall hit 67 to finish tied for fourth, five shots behind Ko. Georgia was accompanied by Jeongeun Lee6 (70) of South Korea in fourth place.

Pajaree Anannarukarn of Thailand finished sixth, posting an overall score of 10 under. South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim (71), Canada’s Brooke Henderson (72), and Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh (73) finished tied for seventh place.