Golf: Lydia Ko finishes 16th at Tour Championship

Lydia Ko watches a shot during the CME Group Tour Championship. photo / AP

Kiwi golfer Lydia Ko has finished in a tie for 16th at the LPGA's lucrative season-ending Tour Championship event in Florida, six shots off last-gasp Thai champion Ariya Jutanugarn.

Ko struck a respectable fourth-round three-under par 69 to earn a nine-under overall score, having faltered in the second and third rounds.

The 20-year-old Aucklander had fallen from third place on the leaderboard at the end of the first round to 12th and then 23rd.

But she was marginally better in Monday's action (NZT) in Naples, hitting five birdies and two bogeys to move back up the standings.

She shared 16th place with four other golfers.

Higher up the leaderboard, Thai star Jutanugarn snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with birdies on the 17th and 18th holes to earn an overall 15-under.

American rival Lexi Thompson had earlier bogeyed her 18th hole to fall to 14-under par and give Jutanugarn a sniff of victory, upon which she pounced.

Jessica Korda also finished on 14-under par. It was Jutanugarn's seventh LPGA tour event win.

Nevertheless, Thompson took home the season-long Race to the CME Globe title and its $US1 million ($NZ1.4m) reward as the tour's leading points earner.

Ko remained in the running for the title until this week's season-ending event, but needed to win and hope other golfers faltered.

Elsewhere, male compatriot Ryan Fox finished in a tie for 28th in the European Tour's World Tour Championship in Dubai with an overall eight-under.

He was 11 shots off Spanish winner Jon Rahm.

- AAP