2023 was a year to remember for the LPGA Tour. Now the stage is set for even more growth as the Tour looks to the 2024 season.
With breakthrough performances from athletes from around the world, a record-setting number of Rolex First-Time Winners and continually rising purses, if this season was anything to go by, 2024 will have us all on the edge of our seats.
2023 season-ending awards
Lilia Vu earned the 2023 Rolex Player of the Year award following her fourth-place finish at the CME Group Tour Championship. Her incredible 2023 season included four tournament victories, with major wins at The Chevron Championship and the AIG Women’s Open. Vu is the first American to be the Rolex Player of the Year since Stacy Lewis in 2014, and is the 26th different player to earn the award since its inception in 1966. With her two major victories, Vu also won the 2023 Rolex ANNIKA Major Award, which recognizes the player who has the most outstanding record in all five major championships during the LPGA Tour season.
With a season-scoring average of 69.533, Atthaya Thitikul won the Vare Trophy. She became the 34th different winner of the Trophy and the second player from Thailand to earn the honour, joining Ariya Jutanugarn (2018). This came on the heels of Thitikul’s breakthrough rookie campaign that saw her win Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year in 2022 after earning two victories.
Angel Yin’s career year included her first LPGA Tour victory, a playoff win at the Buick LPGA Shanghai, and a runner-up finish at The Chevron Championship. She also captured the Aon Risk Reward Challenge and its $1 million prize, awarded to the player who makes the best decisions on the most strategically challenging holes across the LPGA Tour.
With the culmination of the official 2023 LPGA Tour season, 28 players earned more than $1 million, the most in LPGA Tour history. Vu led the Official Money List with $3,502,303 in earnings, with Amy Yang and Allisen Corpuz also earning more than $3 million. The top 128 players earned more than $100,000, up from 119 players one year ago and up from 99 players 10 years ago. Vu ended the season atop the Race to the CME Globe standings to secure the top spot on the 2024 LPGA Tour Priority List.
The annual LPGA Rolex Awards, held Thursday at the Ritz Carlton Naples, recognized Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Hae Ran Ryu, as well as Founders Award winner Lexi Thompson and Heather Farr Perseverance Award winner Jane Park. The night also celebrated 12 Rolex First-Time Winners, the most single-season first-time winners in Tour history – Corpuz (U.S. Women’s Open), Linn Grant (Dana Open), Megan Khang (CPKC Women’s Open), Grace Kim (LOTTE Championship), Alexa Pano (ISPS Handa World Invitational), Ryu (Walmart NW Arkansas Championship), Elizabeth Szokol (Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational), Vu (Honda LPGA Thailand, The Chevron Championship, AIG Women’s Open, The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican), Chanettee Wannasaen (Portland Classic), Angel Yin (Buick LPGA Shanghai), Ruoning Yin (DIO Implant LA Open) and Rose Zhang (Mizuho Americas Open).
2023 CME Group Tour Championship wrap-up
The CME Group Tour Championship, won by Yang for her fifth career LPGA Tour title, was also the culmination of the season-long CME Group Cares Challenge – Score 1 for St. Jude, a season-long charitable giving program that turns aces into donations. CME Group donated $20,000 for each hole-in-one made on the LPGA Tour in 2023 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which is leading the way in how the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and life-threatening diseases. The 2023 season ended with 20 holes-in-one on the LPGA Tour, including Jenny Shin’s second-round ace and Nelly Korda’s third-rounder at the CME Group Tour Championship, and CME Group donated $1.3 million to St. Jude to honour the 2023 LPGA Tour year.
Closing out 2023
While the 2023 LPGA Tour season has come to an official close, there are still two notable events to finish out the 2023 calendar year. LPGA Q-Series will return to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Magnolia Grove Golf Course in Mobile, Ala., from Nov. 30-Dec. 5, 2023.The final qualifying opportunity for players to earn 2024 LPGA Tour status will be played in six rounds (108 holes) with a cut to be determined after four rounds on the Falls and Crossings courses.
2023 will ultimately end with the Grant Thornton Invitational, set to debut Dec. 4-10 at Tiburon Golf Club, the host venue of the CME Group Tour Championship. The mixed-team event will allow players from the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour to compete for an equal prize and visibility, a format new to the current era of professional golf. Notable teams for the Grant Thornton Invitational include Nelly Korda and Tony Finau, Lydia Ko and Jason Day, and Lexi Thompson and Rickie Fowler.
A look ahead to 2024
The Tour announced on Thursday that the 2024 schedule will include 35 events (33 official events, two unofficial team events) with the world’s best golfers competing for a total prize fund of more than $118 million, with $116.55 million in official money, the highest in Tour history. Season highlights will include the inaugural FM Global Championship at TPC Boston, the 2024 Olympics in Paris and the 2024 Solheim Cup at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club outside Washington D.C. More tournaments will feature network television coverage, up from 10 in 2023, and ESPN+ will add featured-group coverage to four events.
