Only 60 LPGA Tour players make the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida, which means many familiar faces seen weekly on tour miss out. Here are the five players who were the closest to making the season finale, but were left off.
Gaby López
López, a three-time LPGA Tour winner, was so close to making the Tour Championship, missing by just three points behind Carlota Ciganda. López actually made almost every cut this year, going 21/24 in that category, but struggled to get to the top of leaderboards, with just two top-10 finishes and no finish higher than seventh. López shot +5 on the final day of The Annika last week, which sealed her fate.
Stephanie Kyriacou
Kyriacou (above) was actually in the top 60 heading into The Annika, but missed the cut, effectively ending her chances. Kyriacou was inconsistent, missing nine cuts in 2024, but her best finish of the year came in a major, finishing runner-up at the Amundi Evian Championship. While it was her only top 10 of the year, it was a thrilling moment that showed off her potential for the future.
Auston Kim
Kim almost made it five rookies in the Tour Championship with her strong final stretch over the last five events, including her top-three finish at The Lotte Championship. The long-hitting American showed flashes of potential superstardom throughout the season, with three top-10 finishes, but struggled to string four strong rounds together on a consistent basis. Still, expect to hear a lot about this name in the coming years.
Hinako Shibuno
As is usually the case, Shibuno showed up in the biggest moments, in majors. She had only two top-20 finishes all year, both in major championships. She finished runner-up in the U.S. Women’s Open and T7 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Since 2022, Shibuno has four top-10 finishes in majors and only eight total.
Alexa Pano
What looked like it could be a dream weekend for Pano, where she could win her second LPGA Tour event of her career and stamp her ticket to the Tour Championship, fell apart over the final two rounds. After shooting -9 for her first 35 holes and taking the solo lead, Pano had a double bogey on the final hole Friday. Over the weekend, she shot +3, finishing T25 and just missing out. Pano played a lot of golf in 2024, the most of anybody on this list with 28 events, but struggled with consistency after finishing runner-up at the season opening event.
