Thompson takes 3-shot lead at the LPGA Tour Championship

NAPLES, Fla. – The LPGA will have either 25 or 26 different winners in 32 events this season, depending on what happens when the final putt of the CME Group Tour Championship drops Sunday.

Commissioner Mike Whan fine with that sort of diversity.

Whan delivered his annual “state of the LPGA” address Friday during the second round of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, revealing that next year’s total purses will exceed $70 million for the first time. A new sponsor for the Women’s British Open will be revealed soon, and the entire 2019 schedule is expected by the end of the month.

And having a tour where women from 10 countries have won this year is just fine with Whan.

“I’d definitely prefer the top 10 players in the world rankings come from 10 different countries,” Whan said. “And the reason is, if I get one player that wins 33 percent of the time she tees it up, when she doesn’t tee it up it’s not the same event.”

The way this tournament has gone after 36 holes, there might be one more name added to the winners’ list for 2018.

Lexi Thompson – still winless this year – shot a 5-under 67 on Friday to move to 12 under for the week, three shots clear of first-round leader Amy Olson (72) and Brittany Lincicome (71).

Thompson hit all 18 greens in regulation, and hasn’t dropped a shot yet through two rounds.

“This is one of my favorite tournaments just because I can drive to it and I have so much family and friends out here and a lot of fans,” said Thompson, a native South Floridian. “It means the is just world to me just to come here to Naples and play in front of them.”

The tournament within the tournament this week is the conclusion of the Race to the CME Globe, with world No. 1 Ariya Jutanugarn now in control of that again. She’s one of five women who entered this week with the best chance of taking that trophy and $1 million bonus, and is back atop the projected standings after shaking off a bogey-bogey-bogey start to finish with a 71 and get to 3-under.

PGA Tour

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Charles Howell III is playing some of his best golf when he least expected it.

Coming from a missed cut in Mexico to a tournament where he missed the cut last year, Howell kept bogeys off his card for the second straight day and was just as good Friday on the tougher scoring course at Sea Island.

He had a 6-under 64 on the Seaside course and matched the best 36-hole score of his career to build a three-shot lead in the RSM Classic.

World Tour Championship

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Matt Wallace took his shots on time and took the lead at the World Tour Championship.

The 28-year-old Englishman, who was fined 3,000 pounds ($3,800) for slow play in the first round, shot a 7-under 65 for a one-stroke lead over Danny Willett (67), Jordan Smith (68) and Adrian Otaegui (68). Wallace was at 11under 133 overall in the season-ending championship of the European Tour.