With only three events remaining in the 2023 LPGA season, the list of players with a chance at one of the tour’s season-ending awards narrows.
The most intriguing race is the biggest of all, the Rolex Player of the Year Award. On Sunday, two-time major winner Lilia Vu was surpassed by Celine Boutier in the POY race after the Frenchwoman collected her fourth title of the season. Vu, a three-time winner this season, still has time to mount a challenge.
Last year, Lydia Ko won the POY title, Vare Trophy and the money title after clinching the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. This year, the Kiwi will be hard-pressed to qualify for CME.
In August, Vu clinched the 2023 Rolex Annika Major Award after winning both the Chevron Championship and AIG Women’s British Open.
Here’s how things currently stand:
Rolex Player of the Year
Boutier vaulted ahead of two-time major winner Vu with her victory in Malaysia. Now a four-time winner this season, the winningest player in French history holds a three-point lead over Vu and a 36-point lead over Ruoning Yin. No French player has ever won LPGA Player of the Year.
Players must finish in the top 10 to earn point. A victory is worth 30 points.
Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year
Three players have a chance at winning the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award, but it would take something magical to unseat Hae Ran Ryu. The South Korean leads Grace Kim by 255 points and Yuna Nishimura by 410 points.
Ryu can mathematically clinch it with a 12th-place finish or better at The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.
Rose Zhang currently sits in third but is not signed up to compete at the Pelican. Zhang would have to win all three remaining events on the schedule to have a chance. Zhang’s victory at the Mizuho Americas did not count toward her points total because she was not a member yet.
Vare Trophy
Hyo Joo Kim leads the way in the Vare Trophy with a 69.671 average. She paces Atthaya Thitikul, who lost to Boutier in a nine-hole playoff Sunday, by 0.090 strokes. Thitikul would need an average strokes per round of 68.916 in her last two events to pass Kim’s current average.
Annika Sorenstam holds the record for the lowest scoring average at 68.70 in 2002.
LPGA money list
Allisen Corpuz won one title in 2023, but it was a doozie. The American collected a $2 million paycheck for her U.S. Women’s Open title at Pebble Beach. Corpuz currently tops the money list with $3,017,771 in 22 starts. She leads Vu by $252,968 and Boutier by $287,431.
There is $12.25 million in prize money remaining through the CME Group Tour Championship with the winner of the CME taking home $2 million.
Aon Risk Reward Challenge
The Aon Risk Reward Challenge wraps up next week at The Annika. Angel Yin, who has led the Aon Risk Reward Challenge since the beginning of October, ranks first with an average score of -0.933 and is 28 under over 30 holes played.
Thitikul ranks second to Yin and needs at least two eagles to pass her. Carlota Ciganda, the 2019 Aon winner, needs at least one eagle and a double eagle.
Should Yin make one birdie or worse at the Pelican on the par-5 14th, other scenarios will come into play.
The winner will receive $1 million. Tyrrell Hatton won the $1 million 2023 Aon Challenge on the PGA Tour at -0.885.
