Last Updated: 27/02/21 9:10pm
The Aon Risk Reward Challenge is up and running for the third consecutive season, so who will be the most strategic professionals on the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour in 2021?
Whether on the tee or reading the green, players are constantly searching for insights to give them an edge over their rivals. They make strategic decisions, take calculated risks, use pattern recognition, and rely heavily on a team of trusted advisors to maximise performance.
The season-long competition for the Aon Trophy offers a prize of $1m and offers a unique challenge for the best players in the world in both the men’s and women’s game.
What is the Aon Risk Reward Challenge?
At 39 tournaments on the PGA Tour and 32 LPGA Tour events, the competition highlights golf’s best strategic decision makers. The challenge takes the best two scores from every participating event a player competes in throughout the season.
Tony Finau is one of the Aon Risk Reward Challenge ambassadors
The PGA TOUR player and LPGA Tour player who best navigate the challenges, measured by average score under par on these holes, will each win the Aon Trophy and take home an equal $1m prize.
The Challenge is unique to the game of golf, with the designated holes at each qualifying event selected to maximise the strategic challenge faced by the best players in the world.
Who are the Aon ambassadors for 2021?
Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele and 2018 Open champion Francesco Molinari are the Aon ambassadors for the PGA TOUR, with Lizette Salas, Yu Liu and Elizabeth Szokol promoting the competition for the LPGA Tour.
Who are the previous champions?
Four-time major champion Brooks Koepka won the inaugural Aon Risk Reward Challenge on the PGA TOUR for the 2018/19 season, with Solheim Cup star Carlota Ciganda landing the top prize on the LPGA Tour in 2019.
Brooks Koepka won the inaugural PGA Tour title
In 2020, Aon temporarily paused the marketing and promotion of the Aon Risk Reward Challenge (ARRC) across both Tours due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Aon was committed to the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour players and partners and continued to support the Aon Risk Reward Challenge and the $1m prize pay-out to Nick Taylor, the winner of the Challenge on the PGA Tour.
On the LPGA Tour, the $1m prize was redistributed to fund the prize for a new event, the Drive On Championship.
Who are the early leaders this year?
Joaquin Niemann remained top of the leaderboard on the PGA Tour after the Genesis Invitational, playing the designated Aon Risk Reward Challenge holes in a cumulative 1.200 under par.
The rising star from Chile leads 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, with Matthew Wolff in third place, while Brooks Koepka and Anirban Lahiri are tied for fourth.
Joaquin Niemann still leads after the Genesis Invitational
The Aon Risk Reward Challenge hole for this week’s WGC-Workday Championship is the par-four 12th hole at The Concession which can be driven but there is danger left of the green and the potential of a tricky bunker lie to the right.
Check out the current standings here.
The LPGA Tour scoring after two events is led by Nelly and Jessica Korda who are both 1.500 under par with England’s Mel Reid and Bronte Law among 16 players sharing third on 1.000 under par.
Check out the current standings here.
For more information, visit the Aon golf partnerships page here.
