Power Rankings: See where teams rank before Grant Thornton Invitational
Canadian duo Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners have two top-five finishes at the Grant Thornton Invitational. (Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
Written by Rob Bolton
While there’s never a wrong time to partner male and female golfers for a competition, some moments are better than others. With the holiday season that we all can share, this is one of those moments.
The Grant Thornton Invitational is contested on Tiburón Golf Club’s Gold Course at The Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida. This is the third straight year that all 16 teams consist of one PGA TOUR member and one representative of the LPGA. Only three partnerships from last year are the same, but they include Patty Tavatanakit and Jake Knapp, who have committed to defend their title.
The tournament begins on Friday and features different methods of scoring across each of its three rounds. All details, record scores in the brief history and more are laid out beneath the full-field Power Rankings.
| Rank | Team | Comment |
| 16. | Jessica Korda-Bud Cauley | This is Korda’s first action since May of 2023. She’s rested an injured back and given birth to her first child in the interim, so the six-time LPGA champ will be trying to get the butterflies in formation. Cauley is fresh off a fruitful 2025, albeit front-loaded. He hasn’t competed at Tiburón since 2012. |
| 15. | Lilia Vu-Tony Finau | This could be a slumpbuster for both. Vu was No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings when she finished T9 (with Joel Dahmen) in 2023. A sore back slowed her in advance of last year’s T11 (with Luke List). This time, she arrives 5-for-16 with no top 45s. Finau, a late scratch last year, hasn’t had a top 30 in eight starts. |
| 14. | Angel Yin-Tom Hoge | Yin is a tournament debutant who finished second in the LPGA event here two years ago. She rattled off six top 10s early this year but arrives without a top 25 in her last seven. Her game is best around and on greens. Hoge has had a similar 2025, and he won the QBE Shootout (with Sahith Theegala) in 2022. |
| 13. | Lottie Woad-Luke Clanton | The sum of the ages of this duo from Florida State University is just 43. Clanton, 22, has turned heads, but he’s scuffling, while Woad already has been wildly successful. While still an amateur, the Brit won Ireland and placed T3 at the Evian Championship in July. She also won as a pro in Scotland. |
| 12. | Lexi Thompson-Wyndham Clark | They are opposite endpoints on the spectrum of experience at Tiburón. Clark never has appeared, but he arrives after a T8 at the Hero World Challenge, his first solid showing since July. Thompson’s win here in 2018 is one of six top 10s in the LPGA event. She paired with Rickie Fowler in 2023 and 2024. |
| 11. | Rose Zhang-Michael Kim | A rare collab between Stanford and Cal products! Zhang the Cardinal last appeared (with Sahith Theegala) in 2023 for a T9. She later rose into the top 10 of the Rolex Rankings but has since cooled. Kim the Golden Bear has been enjoying a career year highlighted by a win in France in September. |
| 10. | Maja Stark-Neal Shipley | How does Shipley recover from the sting of his Ohio State University Buckeyes’ defeat to Indiana University on the gridiron? He debuts at Tiburón with the U.S. Women’s Open champion as his partner. Stark, who is the only 2025 LPGA major champion in the field, placed T9 (with J.T. Poston) a year ago. |
| 9. | Lauren Coughlin-Andrew Novak | If Coughlin could carry the team from tee to green, Novak can do the heavy lifting nearest the hole. He’s a course debutant, but he won the PGA TOUR’s only team event (Zurich Classic of New Orleans) this year. Coughlin has made two starts in the LPGA stop here and was T7 (with Cameron Young) last year. |
| 8. | Jennifer Kupcho-Chris Gotterup | Because both are exceptional off the tee, this is the sleeper team. Gotterup is one of the longest hitters on the PGA TOUR, but he’s also efficient on approach. Kupcho also sends it and adds strong putting to the equation. She finished T3 (with Akshay Bhatia) last year. Both have also been winners since June. |
| 7. | Andrea Lee-Billy Horschel | These two reunite after a T14 in 2023. When Horschel, who played 10 times in the QBE Shootout, didn’t compete last year, Lee teamed with Max Greyserman for a T7. She bagged six top 10s among 13 top 25s and led the LPGA in fairways hit this year. This is Horschel’s fifth start since returning from surgery. |
| 6. | Megan Khang-Keith Mitchell | Intriguing duo. After partnering with the putting wizard, Denny McCarthy, for a T4 in 2023, and then fairway-splitter Matt Kuchar for a T9 last year, Khang draws one of the PGA TOUR’s longest and straightest from tee to green in Mitchell, who’s arguably the best match because they have similar profiles. |
| 5. | Patty Tavatanakit-Jake Knapp | The UCLA alums are back to defend their title. (Nuggets on how they won below.) Knapp hasn’t competed since the first leg of the FedExCup Playoffs, but the welcome vibe will be ideal for his return. Tavatanakit’s best finish of the last nine months was a T7 in the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburón. |
| 4. | Charley Hull-Daniel Berger | The free spirit from England shared ninth with Justin Rose here in 2023. She’s fifth in the Rolex Rankings thanks in part to a pair of runner-up finishes and a win across a seven-week stretch into September. Also a winner here in 2016. Berger (T13 last year) was a semi-regular in the QBE Shootout. |
| 3. | Lydia Ko-Jason Day | Ko rules on the Gold Course. She took LPGA titles here in 2014 and 2022, and then she and Day prevailed in the inaugural mixed edition in 2023. They settled for T6 in their title defense last year. Day has been steady for a long while now, and he won the QBE Shootout in 2014. Both short games are sublime. |
| 2. | Nelly Korda-Denny McCarthy | Korda does it all but win both lately and at Tiburón. She’s No. 2 in the Rolex Rankings without a title in 2025, although she’s had seven top fives. Also has five top fives (but no wins) in nine starts in the LPGA event and a T4 here (with Tony Finau) in 2023 when McCarthy also was T4 (with Megan Khang). |
| 1. | Brooke Henderson-Corey Conners | This duo from Canada seems destined to pick off a victory in this tournament. They certainly are determined to do so after a T2 and a T4 in the first two editions. That experience is fed by fantastic tee-to-green efficiency from both. Henderson won an event in August, while Conners remains a machine. |
No matter what happens, this promises to be a fun hang among elite talent from the top professional golf circuits for men and women in the United States. Golf is about community before it’s about competition, but when those forces coexist among the willing, it’s the best.
It was only three weeks ago when the LPGA was at Tiburón for its season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. The course has hosted that tournament since 2013; four of its winners are in this week’s field, including two-time champ Lydia Ko. Only three of the ladies in the field of the Grant Thornton didn’t peg it here for their tour finale.
The fellas made this trip for their own two-man team format from 2001-2022, when it was last known as the QBE Shootout, so course experience spans the entire field of the Grant Thornton. Nine guys committed this week gave it a go before it evolved into its current iteration. Of the other seven, only Knapp has appeared since 2023.
Speaking of the defending champion, he and Tavatanakit set the standard of excellence last year. For one, they went wire-to-wire en route to victory. For another, their 27-under, 189 is the tournament record in the modest history of the co-ed format.
The Gold Course at Tiburón sets up as a stock par 72. The women play tees that stretch to 6,788 yards, while the men’s walk tips at 7,382 yards. Bermuda grass blankets the property, and there is no first cut of rough. Only four-inch native grass and coquina shells serve as hazards where drives are not planned to land. Putting surfaces can reach 12 ½ feet as measured with a Stimpmeter.
In Friday’s opening scramble, Tavatanakit and Knapp posted 14-under 58 for a one-stroke lead last year, yet still finished two strokes higher than the tournament record of 56 that Nelly Korda and Tony Finau carded in the inaugural edition of 2023.
Alternate shot follows for Saturday’s second round. Tavatanakit and Knapp signed for a 66. That checked up behind only Jeeno Thitikul and Tom Kim’s 64. It’s the best score in this format in the first two years, also by two shots.
Sunday’s conclusion is a modified Four-ball whereby both teammates tee off on every hole. They then play the remainder of every hole with each other’s ball. Madelene Sagstrom and Ludvig Åberg bested the field in 2023 with a 60 in the finale. Tavatanakit and Knapp turned in a 65 that tied for the seventh-lowest round, but it was enough for a one-stroke margin of victory.
As it often does at this time of year in South Florida, Mother Nature should cooperate. There’s a nonzero chance for rain on the weekend, so that’s something to monitor; otherwise, light winds under passing clouds will accompany daytime highs that could touch 80 degrees.
For the third consecutive year, the winning team will split $1 million in earnings from a total prize fund of $4 million.
