Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit and America’s Jake Knapp overcame strong competition to earn a narrow one-shot victory in the second edition of the Grant Thornton Invitational in Florida.
The duo got off to a flying start on the first day of the mixed PGA/LPGA Tour event at the Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida to top the leaderboard and went onto extend that lead on day two. Starting the final day with a two-shot advantage, an eagle on the par-5 1st saw them extend that advantage to three shots early on but throughout the round the pair felt relentless pressure from the rest of the leaderboard, particularly from Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul and South Korea’s Tom Kim, American duo Jennifer Kupcho and Akshay Bhatia, and Canadian duo Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners.
By the end of the 16th, there was a three-way tie between Tavatanakit and Knapp, Kupcho and Bhatia, and Henderson and Conners, but Tavatanakit and Knapp both held their nerves as they finished the round strong to edge ahead of the rest of the pack and card a seven-under 65 to conclude the tournament on 27 under and clinch the 2024 title. As a result, the pair will receive a share of the $1m prize.
The event, which featured a range of recognizable players from both the PGA TOUR and the LPGA Tour, has three distinct formats across the three rounds. The third and final round featured a new format which saw both players tee off but switch balls for their second shots and then continued to play with that ball until the conclusion of the round.
I feel like I just always tried to give Jake a lot of security out there and just tell him, Send it,'” Tavatanakit said.
“I putted well this week and I just feel like everything’s been fun. I feel like our chemistry has been really, really good, we’d just talk about random things. A lot of golf nerd stuff.”
Thitikul and Kim finished second on 26 under, Kupcho and Bhatia came in third on 25 under, and Henderson and Conners ended in fourth on 24 under in what was a tightly-contested final round.
The Grant Thornton Invitational launched in 2023 and was the first event since the 1999 JCPenney Classic that has been co-sanctioned between the PGA TOUR and the LPGA Tour.
What is the next event?
The new PGA TOUR season tees off with The Sentry taking place between the 2-5 January at the Plantation Course in Hawaii.
The new LPGA Tour season tees off with the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions taking place between 30 January – 2 February at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Florida.