Considered the most inclusive tournament in professional golf, offering equal prize money and visibility to both male and female players, the Grant Thornton Invitational returns to the Tiburón Golf Club and The Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tiburón, December 13-15.
The Grant Thornton Invitational is the only mixed team event on the schedules of the PGA Tour and LPGA. The three-day competition features 32 players competing across three rounds of golf, including 18 holes of scramble, 18 holes of alternate-shot play, and 18 holes of modified four-ball play. Last year’s winners, Lydia Ko and Jason Day, will defend their title and go up against Nelly Korda and Tony Finau, Lexi Thompson and Rickie Fowler, Tom Kim and Jeeno Thitikul, and 12 other pairs, contending for a $4 million purse, which will be split by the mixed-team winners.
We had a few questions for Rob Hartman, senior vice president for Golf & Events at sports-talent agency Wasserman, about this unique collaboration that Sports Illustrated declares “… could be the beginning of a new era where the image of PGA Tour and LPGA Tour players walking the same fairways won’t seem so foreign.”
NI: How long have you been tournament director? How long have you worked with Wasserman?
Hartman: I’ve served as tournament director since 2013 and have been involved with the event since 2004. Wasserman acquired the Greg Norman Production Company in 2015 (former operator of the QBE Shootout), and I’ve been a part of Team Wass ever since.
This is the second annual Grant Thornton Invitational. What was it called previously?
Professional golf has been played in Naples since 2001, when Greg Norman moved his PGA Tour event, then the Shark Shootout, to Tiburón Golf Club. In 2023, Wasserman transitioned the PGA Tour’s QBE Shootout to a new co-sanctioned, mixed-teams event known as the Grant Thornton Invitational.
When did the event start including women?
Women participating in the Naples PGA Tour stop dates to 2007, when Annika Sörenstam played alongside Fred Couples. Then in 2017, Lexi Thompson joined the QBE Shootout field and has played ever since. (She announced this will be her final season with the LPGA, concluding in Naples.) In 2022, a second LPGA player was added, Nelly Korda, and this really set the stage for the transition to a full mixed-team event.
How many people are expected to watch the tournament?
Millions of viewers will enjoy the invitational’s Golf Channel and NBC broadcasts, while more than 15,000 fans will take in the action live from Tiburón Golf Club.
The PGA tournaments are organized as nonprofit organizations. How much has been contributed to charities through this specific event over the years?
Since 2001, the event has contributed more than $15 million to a variety of charitable causes, including CureSearch for Children’s Cancer, Warrior Homes of Collier, National Kidney Foundation, Florida Gulf Coast University, Golisano Children’s Hospital, I Got This Foundation, Palmetto Ridge High School, and more.
What feedback do you hear from the players about the event?
The interest from players to participate has been incredibly strong, and with only 16 invitations on both tours, the committee has difficult decisions to make. —G.S.
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