The Rolex Rankings debuted in 2006 with Annika Sorenstam on top. Here’s a closer look at the youngest players to reach the game’s pinnacle.
Atthaya Thitikul had a chance to rise to No. 1 in the world last week at the BMW Ladies Championship with a fourth-place finish. The 19-year-old Thai teen held the lead heading into the final round in South Korea but struggled to a 74 in the final round, dropping her to solo sixth.
Thitikul, who will compete next week in Japan, remains No. 2 in the world and still has a chance to become only the second teenager to rise to No. 1.
Jin Young Ko, the current top-ranked player, withdrew from the BMW with a wrist injury and plans to return for the last two events of the year in Florida.
The Rolex Rankings debuted in February 2006 with Annika Sorenstam on top. Here’s a closer look at the youngest players to reach the game’s pinnacle:
Now with 18 career titles, Ko sits 30th on the LPGA’s career wins list, joining Meg Mallon and Hollis Stacy.
Lydia Ko teared up on the 18th when her last putt dropped at the BMW Ladies Championship. A prolific winner worldwide since her teenage years, the 25-year-old Ko always wanted to win in her native South Korea.
The former world No. 1 birdied three of the last four holes to clinch her second title of 2022, closing with a 7-under 65 to best Andrea Lee by four strokes. Overnight leader Atthaya Thitikul had a chance to rise to No. 1 after this week, but a disappointing 74 dropped her into sixth place. The Thai teen needed to finish solo fourth to have a chance.
“I think this week more than ever, I said I really, really want to win in Korea,” said Ko, “and I think maybe that was a good mindset or I was hypnotizing myself to try to get it done, but that’s why it means so much to me.
“Every time I come back to Korea, even though I play under the New Zealand flag, so many people support me, so many people go (Korean). I think that is such a boost.”
Lydia Ko of New Zealand is poured champagne after winning the tournament on the 18th green during the final round of the BMW Ladies Championship at Oak Valley Country Club on October 23, 2022 in Wonju, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
This also marked the first time Ko’s father has seen her compete in person in 2½ years. Ko teared up again at the thought of having him there.
Ko calls this her most consistent season to date. She hasn’t missed a cut in 20 starts and in addition to her two wins has nine additional top-5 finishes.
She became the fifth player to win multiple times this season, joining Jennifer Kupcho (3), Minjee Lee (2), Brooke Henderson (2) and Thitikul (2).
Now with 18 career titles, Ko sits 30th on the LPGA’s career wins list, joining Meg Mallon and Hollis Stacy. It’s the first time she has won multiple titles in one season since 2016.
“I think this is probably the best I’ve played, the most consistently I’ve played. When I was No. 1, I just had more wins in that season. I don’t think I’ve had as many top 10s,” said Ko. “I wanted to finish my season off strong, including this one, with only three events to go. To be able to win this one means a lot, and I think it gives me good motivation for my last couple of events in Florida.”
Ko came into this event with a sizable lead over Minjee Lee in the Vare Trophy race for the season’s lowest scoring average. She won the award last season as well, earning an LPGA Hall of Fame point in the process. A player must earn 27 points to enter the LPGA HOF. Ko currently has 22 points.
Victory in Korea! 🇰🇷
Check out Lydia Ko's final round highlights from the BMW Ladies Championship! pic.twitter.com/2lVsbVfSGh
Earlier in the week, Ko pointed to her even-keeled approach to the second half of the season as a key to her success. She also mentioned that she’s in a good place in life off the course as well. Ko and her fiancé, Chung Jun, plan to get married in December.
“I have to say, wherever my fiancé is, he is always in my heart, so it’s like he is near me,” Ko said, when asked if he was on hand for the victory.
“I have a lot of people congratulate me and a lot of people are very much interested, and so I really thank them for their support and interest. I have a lot of fans coming up to me and congratulating me, so I’m very grateful for the attention and congratulations I’m getting.
“However, this is the BMW Ladies Championship, and I don’t want to take away from this event, so I hope you understand I would like to conclude my comments about my marriage with that.”
Ko heads into the last three events of the season with much on the line. She will skip the next event in Japan and play the last two in Florida. The victory in South Korea moved her one point ahead of Lee in the Rolex Player of the Year race, an award she won in 2015. Brooke Henderson is 20 points back, and Thitikul trails by 21.
A player must finish inside the top 10 to earn POY points, with a victory garnering 30 points.
Despite the poor finish, the rookie Thitikul left South Korea feeling good about her game after seeing her swing coach in person for the first time since August. She will compete next on the LPGA in Japan.
As for the prospect of becoming the second teenager to rise to No. 1 in the world, Thitikul brushed it aside.
“I mean, to be honest, I don’t really care about the ranking,” she said ahead of Sunday’s round. “I don’t really care to be like No. 1 in the world at all because I play golf because I want to take care of my family. I want to feed my family. Whatever I am is fine. Even my family, they have a good life already.
Atthaya Thitikul would move to No. 1 in the world with a win.
It has been a season to remember for 19-year-old Atthaya Thitikul.
The LPGA rookie from Thailand sits third in the season-long Race to CME Globe points race, having recorded two LPGA wins and one Ladies European Tour win. She’s ranked second in the Rolex rankings
In South Korea, Thitikul is again proving she’s among the game’s elite as a teenager. She fired a third-round 5-under 67 to move into first at the BMW Ladies Championship at Oak Valley Country Club. She leads Lydia Ko and Andrea Lee by one shot and Lilia Vu by two heading into Sunday’s final round. It’s a packed leaderboard, but five birdies on the back nine for Thitikul give her the advantage heading to Sunday.
“I tried to keep making birdies on the last nine holes because I don’t have that much birdies on the front nine,” Thitikul said. “Just trying to, like, put my ball in the position that I can make an easy birdie.”
Thitikul is at 15 under, and if she gets win No. 3, it would move her to No. 1 in the world. In fact, a solo fourth or better would elevate her to the top spot.
“To be honest, I don’t really care about the ranking, she said. “I don’t really care to be like No. 1 in the world at all because I play golf because I want to take care of my family. I want to feed my family. Whatever I am is fine. Even my family, they have a good life already. Ranking is not that important for me for real.”
Jin Young Ko, who is the current No. 1 and the defending champion of the event, withdrew before the third round. She was in last place (80-79) coming off an injury.
Lydia Ko, who’s at 14 under after a third-round 66, is increasing her case to win the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average. But it’s safe to say even she’s impressed by how the teenager has been dominating on tour.
“The golf at that Atthaya has been played has been absolutely amazing, and I think she’s going to run to be World No. 1,” Ko said.
Yet the field is chasing Thitikul, who’s closing in on becoming the top-ranked female golfer in the world. But ask Thitikul, and the possible achievement is just a number.
“I mean, to be honest, I don’t really care about the ranking. I don’t really care to be like No. 1 in the world at all because I play golf because I want to take care of my family,” Thirikul said. “Ranking is not that important for me for real.”
A 19-year-old rookie holds a one-shot lead over a 16-year-old amateur at BMW in South Korea.
Atthaya Thitikul says she’s not thinking about awards, but her opening 9-under 63 set a tournament record at the BMW Ladies Championship at Oak Valley Country Club in South Korea and certainly added fuel to the Rolex Player of the Year conversation.
It stood in stark contrast to World No. 1 Jin Young Ko’s opening 80. Ko took two months off to heal a bum wrist and struggled mightily in her first round back, making a 10 on the par-5 18th after a wayward tee shot. She also recorded six bogeys.
“Golf can be like this,” Ko told South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. “Things don’t always go the way I want them to. I did the best I could. Whatever the final score is, it’s on me to accept that and to figure out where I can get better. I will try to stay positive to get ready for the remaining rounds.”
Ko, who won this tournament last year on a different course, said she didn’t want to make any excuses with her wrist, saying her goal is to wrap up the tournament playing pain-free. She’s tied for 76th in a field of 78. There is no cut.
Jin Young Ko of South Korea prepares to play her second shot out of the rough on the 18th fairway during the first round of the BMW Ladies Championship at Oak Valley Country Club on October 20, 2022 in Wonju, South Korea. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
In 2017, Sung Hyun Park became the first player since Nancy Lopez (1978) to win both the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award and Player of the Year award in the same season.
Thitikul looks to win her third title of the season this week at the BMW, which would make her the No. 1 player in the Rolex Rankings, overtaking Jin Young Ko. She could also ascend to the top if she finishes solo fourth or better and No. 3 Minjee Lee doesn’t win.
Thitikul’s bogey-free 63 included a hole-out for eagle on the par-4 13th from 102 yards.
“I had a great round today, really solid round today,” said Thitikul, “especially had eagles. First time I holed out in a competition round.”
Thitikul, 19, holds a one-stroke lead over 16-year-old amateur Minsol Kim, who shot 64, making seven birdies in a span of eight holes.
“When I was younger, I actually came as a gallery (member) to watch the BMW Ladies Championship, and I remember thinking that Sung Hyun Park was really cool,” said Kim. “So today to play side-by-side with her, think it was a real honor. Initially, I was really nervous (today) but after the first hole, I thought that it was quite fun, and so I wasn’t really feeling the pressure, and I was enjoying myself. I think that really helped me today.”
The Rolex LPGA Player of the Year race could once again turn into a doozie.
With four events left in the season, the Rolex LPGA Player of the Year race could once again turn into a doozie.
As it stands, the Rolex Annika Major Award winner Minjee Lee holds a 19-point lead over Brooke Henderson. Unlike the PGA Tour, the LPGA’s POY is based on a points system, with no player votes. A victory is worth 30 points and a second place is worth 12. A 10th-place finish is worth one point.
Points were doubled at the majors, which explains why four of the top six players in the standings are 2022 majors winners.
Jennifer Kupcho has won three times this season, but her victory with Lizette Salas at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational wasn’t eligible for POY points. She’s sixth on the list and trails Lee by 54 points.
Last season, Jin Young Ko had to win the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship to overtake Nelly Korda in the points race, and she did just that, earning an LPGA Hall of Fame point in the process. Ko won three of her last four starts to make a dramatic late-season push.
This year, both Ko and Korda have battled health issues and are T-10 and 43rd, respectively, in the POY standings.
Here’s a closer look at the top four in the running as the race winds down:
Xiyu Lin eagled the 17th hole late in the day to overtake Atthaya Thitikul and Lizette Salas.
Xiyu Lin eagled the 17th hole to vault into the lead Thursday at the Ascendant LPGA Benefiting Volunteers of America.
Lin had five birdies and a bogey and shot a first-round 65, finishing late in the day to overtake rookie Atthaya Thitikul and veteran Lizette Salas by a shot at Old American Golf Club in The Colony, Texas.
Thitikul already has two LPGA wins this season and has climbed to No. 3 in the Rolex Rankings.
Lexi Thompson is among those tied for fourth, two shots back. Nelly Korda, who could be in position to reclaim the top spot in the rankings, opened with a 4-over 75. She had six bogeys and just two birdies and sits tied for 91st.
It’s the second playoff win for Thitikul this year,
Atthaya Thitikul became the first rookie in five years to win twice in one season after she defeated Danielle Kang in a sudden-death playoff. The 19-year-old Thai player, a former phenom, carded a career-low 61 on Saturday at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship and then poured in birdies at just the right time on Sunday.
Thitikul becomes the fourth Thai player to win multiple titles on the LPGA, joining Ariya Jutanugarn (12), Moriya Jutanugarn (2) and Jasmine Suwannapura (2). She’s the fourth player to win multiple LPGA titles in 2022, joining Jennifer Kupcho (3), Minjee Lee (2) and Brooke Henderson (2), who all won majors this season.
“I’m in the final group, then just prove myself that, yeah, you can do it,” she said of joining the Jutanugarns on a short list of Thai players who have won more than one title.
“Even you have a pressure on it, you have a pressure on yourself, and I think it’s mean a lot to me and to my team as well because they know that I can do it, like many times.”
Kang, 29, was making her third start since returning to the tour after testing and treatment for a tumor on her spine. While she hasn’t revealed much about that process, Kang was emotional in a post-round interview, saying she wondered, at times, if she’d ever get the chance to compete at again.
“I don’t think I’ve ever cried by losing,” she said, calling them happy tears.
Kang holed out for eagle on the 18th hole in regulation to take the clubhouse lead at 17 under. Thitikul matched her with a birdie on the penultimate hole. They proceeded to a sudden-death playoff, with Thitikul winning on the second hole with birdie. Both of Thitikul’s LPGA titles this season were won in a playoff.
Asked if it was any easier the second time around, Thitikul, known by friends at “Jeeno,” said absolutely not.
“Not at all,” she said. “I mean, like I just feel like playing golf with Danielle is kind of tough as well because she is pretty great player, win a lot on LPGA Tour already.”
Thitikul, who closed with a 68, earned $345,000 for her victory, giving her $1,881,392 for the season. She extends her lead in the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race over South Korea’s Hye-Jin Choi.
Thitikul’s rookie success shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, given how early she found the winner’s circle. In 2017, she became the youngest to ever win a professional tournament when she triumphed on home soil at the Ladies European Thailand Championship at 14 years, 4 months, and 19 days.
Last season, she won the Race to Costa del Sol, Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year honors at age 18, joining Dame Laura Davies, Carlota Ciganda and Esther Henseleit as the only players to win Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year in the same season.
“When you get the job done, and then you feel like release and then it’s just like yeah, the whole world that I had carry on my back, it’s like done,” said Thitikul. “They’re gone. And just know that what you have work is right and then, yeah, the hard work pays off as well.”
A year ago, Lilia Vu was playing on the other side of Arkansas.
A year ago, Lilia Vu was playing on the other side of Arkansas.
Then a member of the Epson Tour, she tied for second at the 2021 El Dorado Shootout, which included a final-round 4-under 68 to finish at 3 under for the week.
Vu is back in the Natural State this week, but she’s far from the place she was last year. Although the El Dorado Shootout is going on this weekend, Vu is in Rogers at Pinnacle Country Club, where she leads the 2022 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship with 18 holes to play looking for her first victory.
“It was never a matter of my game or skills that were lacking, I just wasn’t looking at golf in a healthy or positive way,” Vu said of the changes the past year. “Every shot was life or death. I feel like I figured it out last year, like I’m just going to go out there and have fun. I know how good I am.”
Vu, 24, considered giving up the game in 2019 after missing all but one cut on the LPGA and earning just over $3,000. Heading into Sunday’s final round, she’s playing arguably the best golf of her career and is again within striking distance.
She fired consecutive rounds of 6-under 65 and sits at 12-under 130. Yet she and the field are chasing Attaya Thitikul, who had a round to remember on Saturday during the second round of the 54-hole event.
Thitikul recorded eight birdies, one eagle and no bogeys en route to a 10-under round of 61. She sits at 14 under and Yuka Saso by one and Lilia Vu by two. Saso also shot 6-under 65 and is at 13 under for the tournament.
The 10-under round for Thitikul ties the tournament record for lowest 18-hole score.
Vu is in the middle of stretch where she has improved her finish in four straight events. Two weeks ago in Portland, she finished tied for third at the AmazingCre Portland Classic. She was also tied for the lead with 18 holes left that week.
“I had a lot of fun today,” Vu said, “And I’m excited for tomorrow, too.”
Maja Stark became the seventh first-time winner on the LPGA this season with her commanding five-stroke triumph at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland. The victory qualified Stark, a former standout at Oklahoma State, for immediate LPGA membership.
Stark has now won seven times worldwide since turning professional last summer.
Two of the seven first-time winners – Jennifer Kupcho and Ashleigh Buhai – won majors. Last week, Buhai became the 44th player to become a Rolex first-time winner at a major.
The record for most first-time winners in a season is 11, set in 1995. In 2018, there were 10: Jin Young Ko, Pernilla Lindberg, Moriya Jutanugarn, Annie Park, Nasa Hataoka, Thidapa Suwannapura, Georgia Hall, Marina Alex, Nelly Korda and Gaby Lopez.
Here’s a closer look at the seven first timers in 2022:
Hataoka’s sixth LPGA win puts her in elite company.
Nasa Hataoka’s sixth career victory at the DIO Implant LA Open on Sunday puts her in elite company with Jessica Korda. Together they’re the winningest players on the LPGA without a major title.
Who are the best players without a major? Some on this list, like Hataoka and Korda, have won quite a bit already. Others, like rookie Atthaya Thitikul, make the list based on talent and potential.
Minjee Lee and Jennifer Kupcho are two players who played their way off of last year’s list. Lee won the 2021 Amundi Evian Championship, and Kupcho broke through with her first LPGA title at the Chevron Championship earlier this month.
Here’s a list of 10 players (with their Rolex Ranking) who are either primed to win a major or past due:
