Tournament of Champions 2025 Tips: 10/1 shot heads Jamie’s three from Florida

The LPGA returns to action this week, with the Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Florida.

Our expert golf tipster Jamie Worsley has previewed the event, sharing three tips - including a 5pts win selection.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

The Tournament of Champions debuted on the LPGA in 2019 at the Four Seasons Resort’s Tranquillo Course in Orlando, Florida. It stayed there until 2022, when current host, Lake Nona Golf & Country Club took over hosting duties.

The event eases the players into the new season, with a celebrity pro-am element creating a more relaxed and fun atmosphere compared to other tournaments.

LAST FIVE WINNERS

• 2024 – Winner: Lydia Ko (-14) Runner-up: Alexa Pano (-12)
• 2023 – Winner: Brooke Henderson (-16) Runners-up: Maja Stark, Charley Hull (-12)
• 2022 – Winner: Danielle Kang (-16) Runner-up: Brooke Henderson (-13)
• 2021 – Winner: Jessica Korda (-24, playoff) Runner-up: Danielle Kang (-24)
• 2020 – Winner: Gaby Lopez (-13, playoff) Runners-up: Nasa Hataoka, Inbee Park (-13)

Lydia Ko won the event by two strokes last year. It was a victory that began an excellent year for the New Zealander, as she then went on to claim the gold medal at the Olympics and the Women’s Open at the Old Course. She returns to defend this week.

THE COURSE

Lake Nona Golf & Country Club is a gated golf community in Orlando, Florida, at which many LPGA pros reside, including our defending champion Lydia Ko. Its championship golf course was designed by Tom Fazio in 1986 and is thought of by many as one of the most well-conditioned courses played all year.

It was the host of the first ever edition of the Solheim Cup in 1990, won by USA 11 ½ - 4 ½, and it also staged the 2021 edition of the Gainbridge LPGA, where Nelly Korda walked away with the trophy.

The course is a par 72 and measures 6624 yards. It possesses 4x par 3s (160-180 yards), 10x par 4s (318-419 yards) and 4x par 5s (503-521 yards). Averaging a winning score of -15.5 across the four events held here, it provides a strong all-round test.

Lake Nona is a typically flat Florida course, framed by tall oak, pine and cypress trees. Navigating through tighter and more densely tree-lined holes on the front nine, it opens up a little on the back.

The fairways are reasonably generous, with many doglegs in both directions. Though fairly limited, the bunkers are strategically placed and there are three large waste bunkers that will be in-play as regular sand traps this week.

Bermudagrass covers the course at its base but is overseeded with poa trivialis at this time of year. This includes on the average-sized greens that could run at a speedy 12 on the stimp. The majority of these putting surfaces are raised and can be tough to hit due to the generally long and narrow shape of them, whilst their subtle breaks are notoriously tricky to read.

Water is the primary defence of the course, in-play on 11 holes. It guards all of the par 3s and has to be avoided down the entire left-hand side of the challenging 406-yard par 4 18th.

That being said, there are many scoring chances here. The four par 5s can be got at with high-class ball-striking and there are plenty of opportunities on the par 4s, with seven of the 10 coming in at below 400 yards, including the potentially drivable 318-yard 14th, which will play as short as 243 yards over the course of the week.

Lake Nona G&CC is a fun and fair test of golf, with lots of danger protecting seemingly good birdie opportunities. Weather permitting, the players should again enjoy their week in Florida.

THE WEATHER

This week’s field will encounter largely ideal playing conditions at Lake Nona, with the sun shining every day and temperatures warm. Although, there is the chance of a passing storm on Saturday.

Strong gusting winds could ramp up the difficulty over the opening two days, with speeds of 26mph possible on Friday, but this dies down over the weekend and shouldn’t be too much of a factor.

KEY STATS

• SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Distance

Powerful ball-striking types have typically dominated events at this course, and I see no reason not to lean on those similar players this time around.

Although Lydia Ko doesn’t exactly fit that description off-the-tee, she has the class to go well anywhere. Her nearest challengers very much did meet this criteria, with Alexa Pano in 2nd and Brooke Henderson in 3rd both high-class and lengthy drivers.

The benefit of power was very evident the previous season, as each of the top 4 ranked inside the top 6 in driving distance. In addition, winner, Brooke Henderson ranked 3rd off-the-tee and 4th-place finisher, Nelly Korda led the field.

2022 saw strong driving performances from runners-up, Brooke Henderson and Gaby Lopez – again, both long OTT – whilst Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson were the top 2 in the Gainbridge LPGA here in 2021.

• SG: Approach/Greens-in-Regulation

A quality all-round performance with the long game has been somewhat of a necessity, with iron play almost equally important. This was evident last year, with winner, Lydia Ko one of the strongest iron players on the LPGA.

2023 saw Brooke Henderson rank 2nd in approach and greens-in-regulation on her way to victory, whilst runner-up, Maja Stark ranked 1st in each area.

Danielle Kang also led the field – both in approach and GIR – on her way to winning in 2022. Her two nearest challengers, Brooke Henderson and Gaby Lopez hit the top 5 in both stats.

CORRELATING EVENTS

You can’t put much importance on correlating form for an event in which a small, limited field competes every year. Although, we still have many course that share similarities.

There are three fellow Floridian events that should be worth a look: THE ANNIKA at Pelican Golf Club, the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon’s Gold Course and the 2024 LPGA Drive On Championship at Bradenton Country Club. Each of these courses are flat, feature generally wide fairways, bermudagrass-based greens and water as a prominent danger.

Two other events/courses with similar setups are the Ford Championship at Seville Golf & Country Club and The Chevron Championship at the Nicklaus Course at Carlton Woods. Again, these are courses that suit quality, power-packed ball-strikers, with each possessing wide fairways and bermudagrass greens, as well as plenty of water in-play.

THE FIELD

The stars of the 2024 LPGA season, Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko head the first LPGA field of the season, as the #1 and #2 players in the world. This 32-woman field possesses six of the world’s top 10 in total, and 17 of the top 25.

Ko is of course our defending champion and is joined by just one further former winner, in the shape of 2023 champion, Brooke Henderson.

Among other entries are last year’s runner-up, Alexa Pano, whilst Japanese star Rio Takeda makes her first start as a full LPGA cardholder, which she earned after winning the co-sanctioned TOTO Japan Classic last year.

Tournament of Champions 2025 Odds

SELECTIONS

Market leaders: Nelly Korda 18/5, Lydia Ko 6/1, Haeran Ryu 10/1, Ayaka Furue 11/1, Rio Takeda 12/1, Celine Boutier 12/1

Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko are the ones they’ve all got to beat this week, but I’m happy to avoid them at the prices in this opening event of the year.

Just behind them at third in the betting is a player who ranked as the joint-best ball-striker on tour last year, Haeran Ryu, and she’s taken to get the better of the top two this week.

5pts Haeran Ryu to win @ 10/1

The Korean enjoyed a superb year in 2024, finishing inside the top 10 in half of her 26 starts and missing just two cuts. She added a second LPGA title to her tally in the FM Championship in September and finished inside the top 10 in three of the five majors.

Ball-striking is the key to her success, ranking joint-first alongside Nelly Korda last year. She was especially strong with her irons, ranking 1st in approach and 2nd in greens-in-regulation, whilst her ability to drive it both straight and long led to her ranking 12th off-the-tee.

Ryu was a solid 12th on her debut at Lake Nona in 2024 and with a 5th-place finish in last year’s Chevron Championship doing her chances no harm, I expect her to get 2025 off to a flying start in Florida.

1.75pts Angel Yin each-way (1/4 - 4 places) @ 25/1

Angel Yin was in excellent form at the end of last year, where this big hitter was producing some of her best approach play in recent years. Having gone well here on her only previous start and possessing some appealing comp form, she has plenty in her favour to start 2025 with a bang.

Yin was a little slow to get going in 2024, with her form hindered by a lingering ankle injury. However, she burst into form with a 2nd-place finish in the Portland Classic in August and was one of the form players at the end of the season from there on in. She missed just one cut across her last 10 starts of the season and again went close to winning in the season-closing CME Group Tour Championship, finishing 2nd.

The putter continues to be her biggest weapon, but she was hitting the ball better than ever at the end of last season. Her iron play was particularly encouraging, with a ranking of 67th in approach and top 50 in greens-in-regulation representing big upgrades on previous seasons.

Yin has played here once before, entering the final round of the 2021 Gainbridge LPGA in contention before eventually finishing 7th. Runner-up finishes in the CME Group Tour Championship and Chevron Championship boost her chances and if she’s in the same shape as we saw a couple of months ago, expect her to be in the mix.

1pt Patty Tavatanakit each-way (1/4 - 4 places) @ 55/1

Patty Tavatankit returned to form at the start of 2024 and though she’d faded a touch towards the end of the year, I’m hoping the break will have rejuvenated her as she begins her season at this suitable course.

Patty began last year exceptionally, running away with the Aramco Ladies International in Saudi Arabia by a huge seven strokes and she backed that up the next week, winning at home in the Honda LPGA Thailand.

She maintained a good level of form following those back-to-back wins, with a 3rd-place finish in the Evian Championship the standout effort from her remaining starts. Whilst she failed to really contend in the final few months, there was little to be concerned about.

Her long game impressed for much of the year, as she ranked 30th in approach and 35th OTT, and at 23rd in driving distance, she has the type of power that many past contenders possessed.

Tavatanakit debuted here in that 2021 Gainbridge LPGA and entered the final round one off the lead, ultimately finishing 5th. She was also a solid 13th in 2022 and having recorded both LPGA wins on bermudagrass-based greens, this major winner looks a good fit for Lake Nona.

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