By: Max Bechtoldt
Believe it or not, we are almost a third of the way through the LPGA season, and while no rookies have won a tournament yet, this class has made a considerable impact. Here is the current top five leaderboard for the 2024 Louise Suggs LPGA Rookie of the Year award:
- Jin Hee Im – Jin Hee Im didn’t make much of a splash early in the season. She missed the cut in her first event of the year, and didn’t place in the top 25 over the next two. Her breakout moment came in the Chevron Championship, where she thrived, particularly in the first two rounds. She earned a spot in the final group on Saturday along with Nelly Korda and Atthaya Thitikul. While her weekend wasn’t as strong, she still got a top-10 finish, setting up a fourth place mark the next week at the JM Eagle LA Championship. Finishing top 10 in a major really boosted her standing here.
- Gabriela Ruffels (Above) – I think most people expected Gabi Ruffels to be an impactful player right away on the LPGA Tour considering her amateur resume. Sure enough, she’s been fantastic in her early career. Ruffels has made five cuts in seven starts and has three top-15 finishes. At the Seri Pak Championship in Arizona, she placed her best mark of the season finishing in third place.
- Mao Saigo – Saigo has been debatably the most consistent rookie this year. She hasn’t played as much as some of the others on this list, but she has made the cut in four of the six events. While she missed the cut in two consecutive events in Arizona and at Chevron, she’s had top-15 finishes in three of her made cuts. Her best finish came last week at the JM Eagle Championship, where she finished in eighth place.
- Mone Inami – The silver medal winner from the Tokyo Olympics has played a lot of golf in her first year on tour. She has played in nine of the 10 tournaments already. The results have been a mixed bag, making just five cuts so far. In those five events though, she has two top-20 finishes in stroke play events.
- Auston Kim – Through her long driving and strong play in the first two rounds, Auston Kim has created quite the splash on the LPGA Tour already. While she cools off on the weekend, the talent is undeniable. Her strokes gained by round goes as follows: Round 1: 1.72. Round 2: 2.31. Round 3: -1.64. Round 4: -1.04. If Kim can start finishing tournaments better, expect her to make a big jump up this list.
