By: Max Bechtoldt
LPGA play-by-play announcer Grant Boone posited a thought on X last night, that HSBC Women’s World Championship winner is “a good candidate to go from good to great as Boutier did last year.” Boutier had been a solid LPGA Tour player before 2023. She had two wins, five top 10s in majors and two Solheim Cup appearances. But in 2023, Boutier won four LPGA Tour events including her first major, cementing her status as one of the best players in the world.
Boutier isn’t alone in having these types of seasons. Jin Young Ko’s 2019, Nelly Korda’s 2021 and Minjee Lee’s 2022 are other recent examples.
So this tweet got me thinking, who are the candidates to take a similar jump in 2023? From one of the well-known, accomplished players on tour, to a superstar. For clarification, I am only picking established LPGA Tour players, as a breakout season (Rose Zhang, Linn Grant etc.) is a different thing.
Hannah Green
I concur with Boone that Hannah Green feels like a prime candidate to take this jump in 2024. Coming off her fourth career win, she has a lot of momentum. She already has a major, but hasn’t been overly consistent in the biggest events. Green won two events in 2019, then didn’t win again until 2023. She has wins in two years in a row now and doesn’t have a discernible weakness. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Green lift a couple more trophies this year.
Charley Hull
Hull was close to having this type of season in 2023, with four runner-up finishes on the season. Two of those finishes were in majors, at the U.S. Women’s Open and the AIG Women’s Open. Hull has been around for a long time, with two wins, one in 2016 and one in 2022. She has also made six Solheim Cups in her career with a 12-7-3 overall record. She currently is ranked No. 8 in the Rolex Rankings and already has a top 10 this season.
Leona Maguire
Every year of Leona Maguire’s career it seems like she’s been on the precipice of taking the next step. After one of the great amateur careers in women’s golf history, she made the jump to playing on the LPGA full time in 2020. In that time she has two career wins, one in 2022 and one in 2023. She also won twice on the Symetra Tour in 2019. In majors she has performed pretty well, with three top 10s, plus an 11th place result at the 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Megan Khang
Heading into 2023, Megan Khang was widely considered the best player on the LPGA Tour without a win. Khang was well-established, as a consistently top-50 ranked player in the world with 30 career top-10 finishes. In 2023 she had her best season, with seven top 10s, her first career win and a fantastic Solheim Cup performance. Khang is working in great form and has always had breakout potential. Don’t be surprised if that comes in 2024.
Georgia Hall
I think Georgia Hall has the reputation of having a stronger career on the LPGA Tour than she has actually had. The talent and potential is there though for her to be one of the best in the world. She showed it in the early stages of 2023, with three top-six finishes in her first five starts. Overall Hall has just two LPGA Tour victories, one of them a major, but she has 20 top-10s and five runner-up finishes. Hall has also been a fixture on the European Solheim Cup team, with four appearances.
