Spoiler Alert: Jennifer Kupcho Captures Aon Risk Reward Challenge in Dramatic Fashion

As she rolled in a 60-foot eagle putt on the par-five, 522-yard 14th last Friday at The ANNIKA Driven by Gainbridge, LPGA Tour pro Jennifer Kupcho defied all odds. After carding a birdie the day before on the same Aon Risk Reward Challenge hole at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla., the 28-year-old Coloradan needed an eagle to overtake leader Minjee Lee and capture the season-long competition awarded to the LPGA Tour pro who accumulates the best two scores on one assigned hole from every participating event throughout the season. As her putt dropped, Kupcho also claimed the $1-million grand prize.

“As it came off the putter face, I thought I left it short,” says Kupcho, “but it was tracking the whole way. It was really exciting and insane that it went in. My caddie and I celebrated, maybe a little excessively, but the girls in my group had no idea what was going on, so when we got on the next tee, we told them what the putt meant. It was a really cool moment. I was shaking because I knew I’d taken the lead. I also knew A Lim Kim could pass me if she made an eagle there.” However, Kim did not seize the opportunity.

Throughout the year, Kupcho leveraged her power, resilience and precision — an ideal blueprint to win the Challenge that rewards the player who makes better decisions under pressure. Her 270.8-yard average off the tee gave Kupcho the ability to aggressively take advantage of Aon Risk Reward Challenge holes, especially on the par-5 holes when she went for the green 58 percent of the time and reached it every third attempt — better than any other player in both categories. She ranked third in strokes gained off the tee on Aon Risk Reward Challenge par 4s (+0.19 per hole) and ninth in strokes gained around the green on those holes (+0.13 per hole). It’s no surprise she scored an eagle and birdie on Aon Risk Reward Challenge holes in six different tournaments and posted a final Aon Risk Reward Challenge score of -0.925, meaning she averaged nearly a birdie on every Challenge hole she played.

“I've been a pretty aggressive player my whole life,” admits Kupcho. “That partly comes with my length. I can hit it pretty far off the tee and hit my 3-wood far as well. It's usually pretty accurate, which also helps.
If I’m worried about going for a hole, I lay up. Every hole, I’m making the best decision based on how I'm feeling at the moment. I definitely overthink everything, but there are certain situations where I know what I need to do and decide I'm gonna do it.”

That approach perfectly reflected the core principles of the Aon Risk Reward Challenge by evaluating each Challenge hole, understanding the data, and committing to the decision. “It's a big honor to win the Aon Risk Reward Challenge,” says Kupcho. “I have other big accomplishments in my career, but to capture something that's a year-long stretch of work is pretty exciting and something I’m super proud of.”

Visit here to learn more about the Aon Risk Reward Challenge.