Kupcho in hunt for $4 million payday

Westminster pro finishing 2025 season with a flurry of good results

By Jim Bebbington

LPGA major winner Jennifer Kupcho from Westminster picked a pretty good time to go on a birdie-binge.

Last week Kupcho finished second in the ANNIKA by Gainbridge, the LPGA event in Florida which earned her $300,000. On top of that, her performance last weekend also won her the LPGA’s $1 million season-long Aon Risk-Reward Challenge.

This week Kupcho’s hot streak continued in the CME Group Tour Championship being played at the Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla. She was in the lead mid-afternoon Friday in the second round of the four-day tournament, and finished the day near the top 10 with two rounds to play.

The CME has the third-largest purse of all the LPGA tournaments this year, and the winner receives $4 million, the largest paycheck for winning any tournament of the year. Her total tournament winnings for the year – not including the Aon payout – are a little more than $1.1 million.

Kupcho won the $1 million Aon Risk-Reward Challenge by shooting the lowest average score-to-par based on designated holes at tournaments throughout the season. The race came down to the wire. Kupcho was behind the leaders going into the ANNIKA tournament, but shot a birdie and eagle on the par-5 14th at The ANNIKA to leapfrog into the lead.

Kupcho said she knew her place on the Aon list going into the ANNIKA and sought to play the No. 14 challenge hole aggressively.

“Obviously I was thinking about it more this week than I was at the beginning of the year,” she said this week. “Going into the ANNIKA I knew I needed a birdie/eagle and possibly two eagles. It was just full-go basically on the 14th hole.”

At the CME Championship Kupcho has started the tournament with rounds of 69 and 68. The final two rounds are Saturday and Sunday.

Go here for the CME Championship leaderboard.

Kupcho is also scheduled to play in the final tournament of the year, the Grant Thornton Invitational. It is the only mixed-team competition with players from the LPGA and PGA Tours teaming up. Kupcho is scheduled to teamed with Chris Gotterup.

Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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