Despite the narrative of the 2024 LPGA season being mostly defined by the dominance of two players, there were a whole host of deserving Player of the Year honorees this year that made this list very difficult. Here are the top five players of the year from Fore-All:
No. 5 – Jeeno Thitikul – While Thitikul didn’t get a solo win until the last tournament of the season, it was a terrific time to do so. Because of the $4 million prize she was the leading money earner on tour in 2024. Thitikul missed time with an injury, which prevented her from winning the Vare Trophy despite having the lowest scoring average. She also won the Aon Risk Reward Challenge, which added a nice extra $1 million into her wallet. Thitikul is obviously one of the best players on tour, she finished in the top-10 in 12/17 tournaments she played, seven of those being top-five finishes. In addition to her CME Group Tour Championship win, she also won the Dow Championship alongside Ruoning Yin.
No. 4 – Ruoning Yin – Speaking of, an absolutely terrific year from Thitikul’s best friend Yin coming off her great 2023 season that saw her win two times, including her first major. Yin showed she was here to stay in 2024, making 18/20 cuts, finishing in the top 10 seven times and winning three tournaments. Yin also struggled with some injury issues, but played her best golf at the end of the season. Over her last seven starts, Yin had three wins, a runner-up finish and a fourth place at the final event of the year. While she does get discounted for one of her wins being as a part of a team, still an amazing year for the No. 2 ranked player in the world.
No. 3 – Hannah Green – If you are keeping score, the final three spots here are the players who won at least three individual tournaments in 2024. Starting off with Hannah Green who had an amazing breakout year. While Green was already a major champion with multiple wins in her career, 2024 rose her to a new level. Green won three times with a runner-up finish behind Nelly Korda at the Mizuho Americas Classic. While the wins are the major headline here, the 27-year-old from Australia also had some nice consistency, making 16/20 cuts and finishing in the top 10 six times.
No. 2 – Lydia Ko – The LPGA may not count the Olympics, but I do, and with that, Ko had easily the second strongest year of anyone. Ko won three official LPGA Tour events, including her third-career major at the AIG Women’s Open. In addition to that she won the Olympic Gold Medal in Paris, clinching her spot in the LPGA Hall-of-Fame. Ko improved much of her game over her disappointing 2023 year, particularly driving the ball, where she had her best season since strokes gained started calculations on the LPGA Tour in 2021. Ko made 18/20 cuts and finished in the top 10 in eight events. Ko would have been Player of the Year in almost any other season.
No. 1 – Nelly Korda – Korda is the obvious Player of the Year, putting together the best LPGA Tour season in over 10 years. Korda won seven times in 2024, including five in a row at the start of the season. She picked up her second major championship title, was second on the tour in scoring average and led in strokes gained. Despite some high-profile struggles, particularly at the U.S. Women’s Open and KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Korda still made 13/16 cuts and had 11 top-10 finishes. Korda was also one of the strongest players on the United States Solheim Cup team, going 3-1-0 in her first team win in the event. 2024 quite simply belonged to Nelly Korda.
