Tournament news

December 9 – 15, 2024
Tiburón Golf Club & The Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tiburón

Tony Finau and Nelly Korda looked like they might make for a potent team, and they did not disappoint, shooting a highlight-filled, 16-under 56 to take the lead by one going into alternate-shot play Saturday.

First-Round Notes

Weather

Cloudy. High of 78. Wind E at 7-12 mph.

Format

Three-round 54-hole stroke-play event with 16 teams of two. R1/Scramble, R2/Foursomes, R3/Modified Four-Ball

  • Scramble (Each player hits a tee shot and then the team selects the ball to be used for the next stroke. From there, both players hit their next shots from that spot. This process continues until the ball is holed.

First-Round Leaderboard

Team Total Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Strokes Earnings
Finau/Korda -16 56 70 67 56 $232,500.00
McCarthy/Khang -15 57 71 65 57 $232,500.00
Glover/Maguire -15 57 69 68 57 $185,000.00
Day/Ko -14 58 66 66 58 $1,000,000.00
Taylor/Yin -14 58 70 67 58 $170,000.00
Theegala/Zhang -14 58 74 64 58 $151,666.67
Rose/Hull -14 58 72 66 58 $151,666.66
Conners/Henderson -13 59 69 63 59 $560,000.00
Champ/Corpuz -13 59 78 65 59 $127,500.00
Åberg/Sagström -12 60 72 60 60 $330,000.00
Fowler/Thompson -12 60 68 66 60 $185,000.00
Dahmen/Vu -11 61 72 63 61 $151,666.67
English/Boutier -9 63 69 65 63 $140,000.00
Henley/Reid -8 64 70 66 64 $135,000.00
Horschel/Lee -8 64 71 67 64 $127,500.00
Hoge/Knight -6 66 71 66 66 $120,000.00

Tony Finau/Nelly Korda (1st/-16)

  • Grant Thornton ambassadors birdie the final hole to take a one-stroke lead; notched 14 birdies and an eagle at No. 17, with three pars on the scorecard at Nos. 5, 7 and 16
  • 9-under 27 marks the low back-nine score in the first round; with a front-nine 29, were one of four teams to score sub-30 on each nine in the opening-round
  • Eight-time LPGA Tour winner Korda had nine top-10s this season, and was a member of the 2023 U.S. Solheim Cup Team; played with Denny McCarthy at the 2022 QBE Shootout at Tiburón Golf Club, finishing T5
  • Finau, a six-time TOUR winner, won twice on TOUR in 2022-23 (Texas Children’s Houston Open, Mexico Open at Vidanta); made two appearances in the Ryder Cup (2018, 2021) and Presidents Cup (2019, 2022); has made four starts in the team format at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, including a sixth-place finish in 2018 with partner Daniel Summerhays; partnered with Lexi Thompson at the QBE Shootout in 2017 (T4) and 2018 (T7)

Miscellaneous Notes

  • The Grant Thornton Invitational is a first-year PGA TOUR Challenge Season event (unofficial) and the first mixed-team co-sanctioned event between the PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour since John Daly and Laura Davies won the final JCPenney Classic in 1999
  • Lucas Glover/Leona Maguire (T2/-15) post 13 birdies, including 10 consecutive birdies to start the round, and an eagle at the par-4 13th hole; 9-under 27 marks the low front-nine score in the first round
  • Denny McCarthy/Megan Khang (T2/-15) score 10-under in a nine-hole stretch from No. 7 to No. 15 before closing with two birdies to take a share second place; 9-under 27 marks the low back-nine score in the first round, tied with leaders Tony Finau/Nelly Korda
  • Sahith Theegala/Rose Zhang (T4/-14) were 4-under through six holes before notching 10 straight birdies (Nos. 8 through 17) and a closing par
  • Nick Taylor/Ruoning Yin, Jason Day/Lydia Ko and Justin Rose/Charley Hull, all T4 at 14-under 58, joined leaders Tony Finau/Nelly Korda as the only teams with sub-30 scores on both the front- and back-nine holes
  • Cameron Champ/Allisen Corpuz (T8/-13) were the only team with multiple eagles in the opening round (Nos. 1 and 17)
  • Tom Hoge/Cheyenne Knight (16th/-6) were the only team to record an over-par score on any hole (double bogey on No. 2)

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