For years golf fans have been asking for a high-profile mixed-team event to be on the schedule, and soon they’ll get their wish.
The inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational is set to tee off Dec. 8-10 at the Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida, where the 32-player field of 16 teams will feature 24 of the top 50 in the world from both the LPGA and PGA Tour competing for a $4 million purse.
There are 11 major champions in the field, including all five major winners from the 2023 LPGA season. The format consists of a scramble, foursomes and modified fourball over three days of play.
Get to know all 16 teams comprised of LPGA and PGA Tour players below, and also see the format and the TV/streaming information.
Lexi Thompson and Rickie Fowler
Thompson, 28, and Fowler, 34, have a combined 17 career titles as professionals. Thompson is an 11-time LPGA Tour winner, two-time Olympian and has played on six U.S. Solheim Cup teams, including this year. Fowler has five Ryder Cup appearances, including this year, and played in one Olympics. He is also a Grant Thornton ambassador.
Nelly Korda and Tony Finau
Korda, 25, has accumulated eight career victories and Finau, 34, has six. Finau won twice this season and Korda has recorded seven top 10 finishes so far. Combined, they have 11 top-10 finishes this season. Both have been members of a national team multiple times. Korda is one of 12 LPGA players in the field who competed in this year’s Solheim Cup. Both Korda and Finau are also Grant Thornton ambassadors.
Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners
This Canadian team has a combined 15 career victories and represented Team Canada at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Henderson, 26, is a two-time major champion and Conners, 31, has won the Valero Texas Open for his two career titles. This team has seven top-10 finishes this year, including two wins.
Rose Zhang and Sahith Theegala
This is the youngest team in the field, with the 20-year-old Zhang and 25-year-old Theegala. The Stanford and Pepperdine products both earned their first career victories this season. Theegala finished in the top 5 on five separate occasions this year, while Zhang won her pro debut after claiming a second NCAA individual title.
Charley Hull and Justin Rose
Hull, 27, and Rose, 43, each represented England on Europe’s victorious Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup teams this September and it was their sixth appearance each. Both players were also on England’s Olympic team in 2016, where Rose won the gold medal.
Lydia Ko and Jason Day
Each of these former World No. 1 players has the most individual career titles in the field. Ko, 26 from New Zealand, has won 19 times, including two majors, and Day, 35 from Australia, has won 13 times, including one major.
Madelene Sagstrom and Ludvig Aberg
This Swedish team has had an impressive year so far, as both were on the winning teams in the Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup in September. While Sagstrom, 30, was making her third appearance for Team Europe, Aberg, 23, was a rookie after he made his professional just three months prior. Aberg won the Omega European Masters on the DP World Tour and recently claimed his first PGA Tour win at the RSM Classic.
Lilia Vu and Joel Dahmen
Vu, 26, is a three-time winner on the LPGA, with all three victories coming this season, including two major championships. She is currently No. 1 in the world and is another player in the field who appeared in the Solheim Cup this year. Dahmen, 35, has won once on the PGA Tour and finished inside the top 10 five times this season.
Megan Khang and Denny McCarthy
Khang, 25, earned her first career victory this year while McCarthy, 30, came up just short, falling in a playoff in May.
Celine Boutier and Harris English
Boutier, 29, is a five-time LPGA winner and major champion while English, 34, has won four times on the PGA Tour. English is a three-time QBE Shootout winner.
Andrea Lee and Billy Horschel
Lee, 25, and Horschel, 36, have a combined eight wins during their careers. Lee played in her first Solheim Cup this year and Horschel played in his first-ever professional team event last year at the Presidents Cup. Each player has recorded three top-10 finishes this season.
Leona Maguire and Lucas Glover
Ireland’s Maguire, 28, has two career victories, including one this season. She also was on the victorious Solheim Cup team in September, making her second appearance for Europe. Glover, 43, experienced a resurgence late this summer with back-to-back wins on the PGA Tour. He has six career wins, including a U.S. Open.
Allisen Corpuz and Cameron Champ
Corpuz, 30, and Champ, 28, have a combined four career victories. The first of Champ’s three wins on the PGA Tour was in 2019, and Corpuz won for the first time this season at the U.S. Women’s Open. Corpuz was a member of the U.S. team this year for her first Solheim Cup and went 2-0-0 with Nelly Korda in foursomes. Champ is also a Grant Thornton ambassador.
Mel Reid and Russell Henley
Reid, 36, and Henley, 34, have a combined five career victories on their respective tours. Reid has been a member of four European Solheim Cup teams in her career, the third most among LPGA players in the field. Together, they have six top-10 finishes this year, including a win for Henley. Reid is also a Grant Thornton ambassador.
Cheyenne Knight and Tom Hoge
Knight, 26, won her second LPGA event this season and is one of the 12 players in the field who played in the Solheim Cup. Hoge, 34, won his first tournament last year and followed that up with a win in Naples alongside Theegala last December. This team has nine top-10 finishes this season.
Ruoning Yin and Nick Taylor
Yin, 21, from China and Taylor, 35, from Canada, have a combined five career wins, with three of those coming this year. Yin won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship for her first major championship and Taylor won the RBC Canadian Open with an epic putt to become the first Canadian in 69 years to do so (he’s also now the tournament logo).
Format for the three days
Friday, Dec. 8: Scramble
In this round, each player hits a tee shot and then the team selects the ball to be used for the next stroke. From there, both players hit their next shots from that spot. This process continues until the ball is holed.
Saturday, Dec. 9: Foursomes
This is the most traditional of the three days, adhering to a format that is consistently featured in both the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup. Each team’s players alternate hitting shots with the same ball until the ball is holed. One player will tee off on the odd-numbered holes, and the other tees off on the even-numbered holes.
Sunday, Dec. 10: Modified fourballs
This final round will feature a format new to team play and a twist on traditional fourball. In the modified format, both players tee off, and then they switch balls for their second shots and play that same ball until it is holed. The lower score of the partners is then counted as the team score for the hole.
How to watch
Friday, first round, 1-4 p.m. ET, Golf Channel and Peacock
Saturday, second round, 2-3 p.m. ET, Golf Channel and Peacock
Saturday, second round, 3-5 p.m. ET, NBC and Peacock
Sunday, final round, 1-2 p.m. ET, Golf Channel and Peacock
Sunday, final round, 2-4 p.m. ET, NBC and Peacock
