The LPGA and PGA Tours announced today that Lydia Ko and Jason Day will partner up for the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational. The event is set to take place from 8 to 10 December, with 16 teams made up of 32 players competing for a purse of $4 million at Tiburon Golf Club’s Gold Course.
Ko is a 19-time LPGA Tour winner and two-time major champion, capturing the 2015 Amundi Evian Championship and 2016 Chevron Championship.
She ascended to No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings for the first time in 2015 and has spent 125 career weeks in the top spot, most recently holding the position from November 2022 to April 2023.
“I obviously really wanted to play in the event,” said Ko. “I always love team format events. I don’t really have the opportunity to play in many team-format tournaments, so I was super excited. No matter who you’re playing with, it’s just such a great experience, and I think it’s great for golf in general.
“I’ve always liked Jason Day as the golfer, but he just seems like a great person, has a great family with his kids and his wife. I don’t think we’ve officially met or had a long conversation before, so I’m excited to pick his brain. Obviously, him being from Australia and me from New Zealand, (we’re) like Team Down Under, so I’m super excited for December to come around.”
Day hails from Australia and is a 13-time PGA Tour champion, most notably winning the 2015 PGA Championship and the 2016 Players Championship.
The 35-year-old most recently found the winner’s circle at the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson, ending a five-year drought that hadn’t seen him win on the PGA Tour since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship.
Day became a PGA Tour member in 2008 and has recorded 91 career top-10 finishes and made $57,013,845 in career earnings.
