2024 Grant Thornton Invitational
NAPLES, FL. – With the Holiday Season in full swing down in southwest, Florida, 16 mixed teams of players from both the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour came together at the beautiful Triburon Golf Club & Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Naples this past weekend for the annual Grant Thornton Invitational.
Teams competed for a $4 million purse with $1 million going to the winners. The weekend included 3 rounds with different formats starting with 18 holes of scramble, 18 holes of foursomes (alternate shot) and 18 holes of modified four-ball.
Day 1 (Scramble)
Friday’s weather was bright and sunny with sustain 10-20mph winds throughout the day. The 7,382 yards Gold Course played relatively easy for the first day’s format which saw some low scores especially from the later starting twosomes.
Finishing in 1st place on Friday were Jake Knapp and Patty Tavatanakit at –14 (27-31-58)
When asked about how it felt to shoot the lowest round of the day, Jake responded, “I knew 9 under wasn’t going to be a bad score after nine holes. But a couple pars to start off the back nine, it was like OK, let’s make sure we try to keep giving ourselves opportunities, and to be able to finish eagle-birdie like that’s always pretty nice.”
Patty added, “We didn’t talk about it. Like I just realized on 7 that we’ve been birdieing every single hole. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t really thought about it.
Two teams tied for 2nd place with 59’s. Jennifer Kupcho / Akshay Bhatia –13 (30-29-59) and Brooke Henderson / Corey Conners –13 (29- 30- 59)
Day 2 (Alternate Shot)
The second day format had each team’s players alternating shots with the same ball until the ball is holed. One player teed off on the odd-numbered holes, and the other teed off on the even-numbered holes. This format is always considered to be the most difficult of the three. Added to that difficulty was a day of scattered showers accompanied by sustained 13-18 mph winds, with gusts to 27mph.
Staying in 1st place on Saturday were Jake Knapp and Patty Tavatanakit at -6 (58-66-124)
When asked about the difficulties of today’s round Jake said, “The first nine holes were just brutal with how much wind there was, rain, everything else. She (Patty) did a great job of keeping me positive.”
“I feel like it’s just a mindset of like, you know what, we’ll just go play what’s in front of us. I kept telling Jake front nine, like just bomb it, hit it, send it, like I can hit it from anywhere.” Said Patty
2nd place finishers were Jeeno Thitikul/Tom Kim –18 (72-64-126)
Day 3 (Mortified Four-ball)
Finishing in 1st place on Sunday were this year’s Grant Thornton Invitational winners Patty Tavatanakit and Jake Knapp with a 33-32 –7 (58-66-65 –189)
This one came down to the tough back nine when Patty Tavatanakit hit a tough curving 23’ putton the 16th followed by Jake Knapp’s well placed chip shot for another birdie on the 17th, a tap in on the last hole for a par gave them exactly what they needed to walk off the 18th green on Sunday with a 7-under 65 for a one-shot victory in the Grant Thornton Invitational.
Their -27 (189), set the tournament scoring record previously held by 2023 Champions Lydia Ko and Jason Day (190). They will split the winner’s $1 million purse and the beautiful Grant Thornton Trophy.
Jeeno Thitikul, who was no stranger to the 18th hole at Triburon Golf Club after winning the LPGA 2024 CME Group Tour Championship last month, for the $4 million prize, with a birdie putt on the same 18th hole, holed another 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole Sunday as she and Tom Kim shot 64 to finish in second place. They will split $560,000.
Akshay Bhatia and Jennifer Kupcho posted their lone bogey on the 18th hole to finish third. They will split $330,000.
The final day of “Silly Golf Weekend,” as labeled by some golfing purest, seemed to be a well thought out competition that brought together PGA and LPGA players for a special weekend of playing the “Grand Old Game.” This weekend was a variety of different formats that challenged all participants to bring their A game. It was never a gender issue; it was strictly 32 golfers playing their hearts out and having fun together. Nothing Silly about that!
Bill Sangster, a life-long golf aficionado and former Sergeant in Marines, moved to Cape Cod in 1974 where he raised his family while working as educator with the Sandwich School System for 23 years. With his Falmouth home adjacent to Paul Harney’s Golf Course, Bill spent many days learning and playing the game of golf. He was a member of White Cliffs Country Club and Sandwich Hollows Country on Cape Cod. In 2018 he continued his love for the game of golf by moving to “The Villages” in Florida. He now will admit to anyone who asks that he is addicted to the game of golf! Bill can be reached at sangsterbill33@gmail.com.
