The math became a problem, which is ironic given that CME Group specializes in derivatives trading. On the weekend at last year’s CME Group Tour Championship, with Ariya Jutanugarn and Lexi Thompson battling it out for the title and So Yeon Ryu and Sung Hyun Park tying for Player of the Year, LPGA commissioner Mike Whan watched the action from a box behind the 18th green along with CME Group Chairman Terry Duffy. And while everyone could follow the leaderboard, nobody understood the permutations of the $1 million Race to the CME Globe.
Whan found himself constantly texting a staffer who was huddled over a spreadsheet in the nearby hotel. That’s when Duffy decided things needed to change.
“It was their idea,” Whan said of the CME team and what they proposed. “They came to me with this and that’s why it’s so exciting.”
