Minjee aiming for Aussie-best LPGA result

Minjee Lee will be aiming to produce Australia's best result in the LPGA's season-long championship at this weekend's year-ending tournament in Florida.

Minjee Lee will be shooting for Australia's highest-ever finish in the season-long points race with a strong performance at the LPGA's Tour Championship in Florida this weekend.

Lee sits in seventh on the point tally, and still stands a mathematical chance of claiming the $US1million ($A1.3 million) prize on offer for the winner of the CME Group Championship if she's victorious at the season-ending tournament in Naples starting on Thursday.

However a much more likely possibility is the 20-year-old topping Karrie Webb's 2012 fourth-placed finish in the championship, which was introduced in 2011.

Points are reset ahead of the tournament at Tiburon Golf Club, which gives the top-nine finishers from across the season a chance of pocketing the end-of-year bonus.

Thailand's Ariya Jutanuggarn receives 5,000 points for leading the race to the weekend, 500 more than world No.1 New Zealander Lydia Ko and another additional 500 ahead of Canada's Brooke Henderson.

Lee is awarded 2400 points for ranking seventh in the race.

An additional 3500 points are on offer for the winner in Florida.

Any finish within the top-four this weekend would give Lee a chance of beating Webb's feats from 2012, depending on the fortunes of other higher-positioned players.

Lee was in a four-way tie for seventh at the course last year to end up 12th overall.

She has performed much better in 2016, winning two tournaments and claiming eight top-10 finishes from 26 starts.

She is one of four Australians to qualify for the tournament, the highest number in the six-year history of the competition - where the top 75 qualify.

Sarah Jane Smith's second-place tie in a tournament in Mexico last weekend pushed her up 20 places to 41st.

Su Oh was 51st, while tour veteran Webb also qualified in 55th, highlighting the growing depth in women's golf in the country after only her and Lee competed in the event last year.

The winner of the weekend's tournament will also collect an extra $US500,000 ($A661,350) in prize money.


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Source: AAP



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