The Player of the Year title will be decided this week when

The Player of the Year title will be decided this week when the LPGA Tour Championship starts on Thursday at Grand Cypress.

The top six players all have a shot at the title and Jiyai Shin comes in as the world’s top woman. But she’ll have plenty of challengers in Suzann Pettersen (No. 2), Cristie Kerr (3rd), Yani Tseng (4th), Na Yeon Choi (5th) and Ai Miyazato (6th).

The only big-name player absent for this season-ending event is Michelle Wie. Wie is up against exams at Stanford University and is trying to recover from a back problem that forced her to withdraw from Lorena Ochoa’s event two weeks ago in Mexico.

Choi tops the LPGA money list with $1.8 million followed by Shin at $1.7 million, Tseng at $1.55 million, Pettersen at $1.53 million and Kerr at $1.51 million.

Top prize to the winner is $225,000 and there is a double-cut format in place. The field will be cut to the traditional low 70 and ties after 36 holes then cut again to the low 30 and ties after 54 holes.