Las Vegan Danielle Kang brings home LPGA trophy

The LPGA put a wrap on 2020 over the weekend, closing out in style with the CME Group Tour Championship, one of the premier events on its schedule.

There were plenty of great storylines, including the crowning of Las Vegas resident Danielle Kang as winner of the Vare Trophy, awarded to the player with the lowest scoring average for the season.

Kang, who won the first two tournaments once the LPGA returned from its coronavirus shutdown, finished the year with a scoring average of 70.082.

“This one feels like a really good mark in my career, that I was able to do it and accomplished it,” Kang told LPGA.com. “I can look back on the 2020 season and at the Vare Trophy, and that’s part of it.

“To be part of the legends (to win the Vare Trophy), I just want to make them proud moving forward as well, because they left this game for us and they left this stage for us, and I wish that I can do that for the future.”

Kang, 28, was one of two players with multiple wins this season, and she finished the year fourth on the money list with $897,872. She finished third in the player of the year standings and ends the year fifth in the world rankings, right behind Nelly Korda as the highest-ranked American.

At the top of those world rankings is Jin Young Ko, who capped her season with a runaway win at the CME Championship. Sei Young Kim tied for second and secured her player of the year award.

The tournament also saw veteran Cristie Kerr surpass the $20 million mark in career earnings, a level reached previously by only Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb.

The CME Championship is designed for the top 60 players of the year, but was expanded this year to 70 because of the coronavirus interruptions to the schedule.

Not among those players were British Open champion Sophia Popov and U.S. Open winner A Lim Kim, excluded because they were not members of the LPGA at the time of their victories. Rules are rules, but it was certainly a bad look.

But what made it worse was tournament directors getting sponsor exemptions to reward two players who otherwise didn’t qualify. This is where the exclusion of Popov was unacceptable. Not only was her victory the highlight of season, but she also lives in Naples, Florida, site of the CME tournament.

Who got those sponsor invitations? One of them went to Lake Las Vegas resident Natalie Gulbis, a choice that raised more than a few eyebrows. Gulbis was a good player a decade ago and has one tour win, but it has been 32 months since she made a cut in a tour event.

Gulbis finished last at 24 over, 42 shots behind Ko. Hardly a performance to reduce the pretournament grumbling.

There’s nothing wrong with sponsor exemptions when used with purpose. Take the 2020 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, which gave a spot to Martin Laird this year. He responded by winning the event at TPC Summerlin.

Greg Robertson is a freelance reporter who covers golf for the Review-Journal. He can be reached at robertsongt@gmail.com.