The 29-year-old Kim posted three top-10 finishes this season in 25 starts before breaking through on Oahu.
South Korea’s A Lim Kim, a major champion, clinched her first LPGA title as a tour member at the Lotte Championship. The 2020 U.S. Women’s Open winner narrowly edged Russia’s Nataliya Guseva by two strokes in her 100th start since claiming a major title. The victory vaults Kim into field for the CME Group Tour Championship.
“Everything is getting better,” said a smiling Kim, who felt comfortable in Hawaii. The player who goes by the nickname “Queen” was a good sport with the traditional hula dance, too.
The 29-year-old Kim posted three top-10 finishes this season in 25 starts before breaking through on Oahu. She closed with a 4-under 68 for an 18-under total and managed to hang on despite Guseva’s tenacious play. The first Russian to earn an LPGA card shot 34 on the back nine to card a closing 69.
“I really did my best out there,” said Guseva, “I never gave up.”
After playing five weeks in a row, Guseva will take of next week before heading to Naples, Florida, for the final event of the season.
Nataliya Guseva plays her shot from the third tee during the final round of the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei 2024 at Hoakalei Country Club on November 09, 2024 in Ewa Beach, Hawaii. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Rookie Auston Kim finished a career-best third place to greatly improve her chances of qualifying for the CME Group Tour Championship. The top 60 players in the CME points race qualify for the season-ending event, which features a winner’s check of $4 million. Kim moved up to 64th.
“It’s been a long year, a lot of good lessons and tough moments,” said Kim, “but really proud of myself for bouncing back after the tough weeks and being able to play some really solid golf.”
For Angela Stanford, it was a walk to remember as the 46-year-old played her last round in her final season on the LPGA. The seven-time LPGA winner, who has played full time on tour for 24 years, finished with her head held high.
“I said going into today I wanted to be me,” said Stanford, who finished tied for 26th. “I wanted to play my game. I hit every green on the back nine. Throughout my career my iron play was what I relied on, so that kind of made me get teary-eyed, because it’s awesome to play the last nine holes and hit every green. Just kind of felt like me, so it was good.”
Korda, 26, has won six times across 14 starts so far this season, including the Chevron Championship in April, the LPGA’s first major of the year. The world’s best player was forced to miss the tour’s Asia swing due to a minor neck injury, but she was recently cleared to practice and is expected to return for The Annika at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida, on Nov. 14-17. It would be her first start since a T-5 finish at the Kroger Queen City Championship in September.
“For me, it was important to show people how thankful I’ve been.”
Angela Stanford decided she wanted to putt after lunch. She headed back to get her supplies. Headphones, ball markers, golf balls. Once she arrived on the putting green, she realized she didn’t have a putter.
“I’m like, I think it’s time,” she said from the shores of Oahu. “It’s a senior moment. It’s time to exit to the Senior Tour.”
This week’s Lotte Championship might be the last time Stanford tees it up in an LPGA event as a full-time professional. The 46-year-old decided earlier this year the 2024 season would be her last. She’d hoped to have good friend Kristy McPherson caddie for her at The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican next week, but she’s currently not in the field.
The field for the penultimate event is filled off the CME points list and Stanford currently ranks 147th on that list. To have a mathematical chance, she’ll need to finish 12th or better at Hoakalei Country Club.
It doesn’t feel all that long ago Stanford hoisted a trophy in Hawaii. A 31-year-old Stanford defeated a young Michelle Wie West in the phenom’s first tournament as an LPGA member at the 2009 SBS Open. It was Stanford’s third victory in seven starts, making her the hottest player on tour.
Riding to the airport later that night in a Chrysler Sebring convertible – top down – with McPherson, Stanford tried to convey over the phone what it felt like to be on such a tear.
“She hasn’t won a card game all week,” McPherson joked in the background. “She ain’t that good.”
Angela Stanford poses with the trophy after winning the Volunteers of America Classic at the Old American Golf Club on December 6, 2020 in The Colony, Texas. (Photo by Chuck Burton/Getty Images)
It’s been quite the ride for this small-town Texan who wore blue on Sundays in honor of her blue-collar roots. That it might all come to an end this week feels somewhat fitting given her late mother Nan’s love of the island. It’s sad, of course, that Hawaii isn’t an easy place for friends to get to celebrate an LPGA career that dates to the 2001 season.
With so many players stepping away from the tour in 2024 – 11 so far – at relatively young ages, the almost 47-year-old Stanford put together a career that might never again be matched.
Stanford won seven times on the LPGA, including her first major title at the 2018 Evian Championship in France at age 40. Her most recent victory in 2020 came on Texas soil in front of her parents at the Volunteers of America Classic.
It’s safe to say no one will likely ever again have a major championship resume quite like Stanford’s, who played in an LPGA record 98 consecutive majors before the streak ended with this year’s U.S. Women’s Open. Only Jack Nicklaus has made more consecutive major starts with 146.
The 2024 Evian marked her final major championship appearance in her final season on the LPGA. She has made 103 major championship starts, 102 as a professional, showing a remarkable level of sustained excellence.
She’ll miss the competition. She’ll miss hearing her name on the first tee. She’ll miss the people and the sanctuary of a locker room.
“The locker room is one of my favorite places,” she said. “I think it’s a place for players to go to just be themselves. They don’t have to worry about who is in there except players.
“I’m going to miss that.”
Assistant Captain Angela Stanford of Team United States looks on during a practice round ahead of the start of the 2021 Solheim Cup at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. (Photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Of course, senior golf, though limited, has its perks. A victory at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open would put her back in the field at a U.S. Women’s Open. She’s also the most likely choice to be the next U.S. Solheim Cup captain. A second career in golf television might be around the corner.
There’s still much to look forward to, should this be her last start of 2024.
More than anything, she’s grateful.
“For me, it was important to show people how thankful I’ve been,” she said of the long goodbye, “and even this week, like just how grateful I’ve been for this career. … I needed to kind of get it out there and just let people know how much it’s meant to me. I wasn’t highly recruited. I wasn’t highly touted. I was kind of always overlooked and kind of always the underdog.
“But that didn’t mean that it didn’t matter … all this has mattered to me.”
In 2024, Nelly Korda won the award for the first time.
While the PGA Tour uses a vote, the LPGA has always favored a points system for its Rolex Player of the Year award. Introduced in 1966, Kathy Whitworth dominated the trophy in its infancy, winning seven times in the first eight years. From 1995 to 2005, Annika Sorenstam won it eight times. In 2024, Nelly Korda won the award for the first time.
Players must finish in the top 10 of official LPGA events to earn points, which are doubled at major championships.
Here’s the complete list of Rolex Player of the Year winners:
It took six playoff holes to determine a winner, with Takeda closing it out with birdie.
Rio Takeda won her eighth title of the season on the JLPGA at the Toto Japan Classic, but this time it was a co-sanctioned event with the LPGA. That means the 21-year-old’s victory at the Toto also comes with an LPGA card. She becomes the first non-member to win on the LPGA since Mone Inami won the 2023 Toto.
“I was planning to take Q-School in December,” said Takeda, “and now I can skip that Q-School and go play next year on the LPGA Tour, which is exciting for me now.”
Takeda has three more events left in Japan this year, and said she’s still thinking about when she’ll join the LPGA. She can join now or defer until 2025.
This week’s Toto Japan Classic was shortened to 54 holes due to effects of Tropical Storm Kong-Rey. Takeda started off Sunday three back of overnight leader Hana Wakimoto at Seta Golf Course. After a third-round 67, Takeda found herself knotted at 15 under with veteran LPGA player Marina Alex.
It took six playoff holes to determine a winner, with Takeda closing it out with birdie. She’s the third Japanese player to win on the LPGA this year, joining Yuka Saso and Ayaka Furue.
Japan’s Rio Takeda celebrates her victory after the final round of the LPGA Japan Classic golf tournament at the Seta Golf Course in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture on November 3, 2024. (Photo by STR/JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images)
Takeda came into the week No. 25 in the Rolex Rankings. The Toto marked her fifth start on the LPGA in 2024, and she earned $300,000 for the victory. Along with her eight wins on the JLPGA this season, she also has 13 additional top-10 finishes.
“So that was my first time [in a] playoff,” said Takeda, “so I wasn’t expecting that the game was that long, but I managed to win so I’m really happy.”
While Alex didn’t leave with the title, she did play her way into the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, which features an $11 million purse and $4 million check to the winner. Alex jumped up 29 spots to No. 32 in the CME points race. The top 60 earn a spot in the field.
“I added Hawai’i a few weeks ago in an effort to try and get into CME,” said Alex. “I’m still excited to go there, but I think it kind of motivated me to get the job done.”
“And so it’s nice to have these next couple weeks not worried about that as trying to get in and actually just keep building on my game and get geared up for CME.”
Here’s a look at the prize money payouts for each player at the 2024 Toto Japan Classic from a purse of $2 million.
What a week for Japanese star Rio Takeda.
Takeda outdueled Marina Alex in a six-hole playoff to win the 2024 Toto Japan Classic, her eighth victor this year on the JLPGA Tour and her first on the LPGA.
She is ranked No. 25 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and because of her win at the TOTO Japan Classic, a co-sanctioned event with the LPGA and JLPGA Tours, she is eligible for LPGA membership. She is eligible to accept immediate membership or, similarly to Mone Inami after the 2023 TOTO Japan Classic, she can defer to the 2025 LPGA season.
If Takeda accepts immediate LPGA membership, she will earn $300,000 towards her official and career earnings on the LPGA this year.
Here’s a look at the prize money payouts for each player at the 2024 Toto Japan Classic from a purse of $2 million.
World No. 1 and LPGA superstar Nelly Korda is set to be featured in the 2025 edition of Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue. On Saturday, SI Swimsuit’s Instagram account announced Korda’s inclusion and posted behind-the-scenes looks at her photoshoot.
Korda, 26, has won six times across 14 starts so far this season, including the Chevron Championship in April, the LPGA’s first major of the year. The world’s best player was forced to miss the tour’s Asia swing due to a minor neck injury, but she was recently cleared to practice and is expected to return for The Annika at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida, Nov. 14-17. It would be her first start since a T-5 finish at the Kroger Queen City Championship in September.
The third round of the LPGA’s 2024 Toto Japan Classic was canceled on Saturday thanks to heavy rains and storms from Typhoon Kong-rey. The tournament now will be 54 holes, with a champion crowned on Sunday.
Through two rounds, Hana Wakimoto of Japan holds a two-shot lead at 13 under over Yealimi Noh and Ariya Jutanugarn. Wakimoto posted a bogey-free 9-under 63 on Thursday before a 4-under 68 on Friday.
As for some of the big names, Korea’s Jin Young Ko is tied for fifth at 9 under, four back of the lead, Japan’s Yuka Saso is tied for eighth at 8 under, five back, and Linn Grant is 6 under, tied for 21st.
The LPGA Rules, JLPGA Rules and Seta Golf Course teams have assessed the golf course and have determined that Seta Golf Course will be closed on Saturday due to the effects of Tropical Storm Kong-Rey.
The third round of the TOTO Japan Classic is suspended until Sunday, Nov. 3,…
On Thursday, some of the biggest names in golf joined in on the Halloween festivities and showed off their awesome costumes. There were some notable ones, including Rory McIlroy as Super Mario and world No. 1 Nelly Korda as Master Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Some of the other players who posted photos of their Halloween costumes were Tony Finau, Gary Woodland, Sam Burns and Billy Horschel.
Noh hasn’t finished outside the top 30 in her last six starts.
American Yealimi Noh needed only 20 putts in a second-round 65 at the Toto Japan Classic, where she trails JLPGA player Hana Wakimoto by two strokes.
Noh, 23, hasn’t finished outside the top 30 in her last six starts.
“For me, last year, I was really struggling with my putting and I just needed something new and something completely different,” said Noh, who switched to a broomstick putter late in the summer last year.
“I never even thought of trying it, but my coach and my dad suggested it to me and I tried it. It helped me get over that uneasy feeling over the ball. So, that’s how it started and now using it a year after, my stroke has gotten really solid and my speed is great with the putter so it has helped me a lot.”
Noh ranked 130th in putts per green in regulation on tour in 2022 and 102nd in 2023. She currently ranks 41st in the category.
Yealimi Noh hits her tee shot on the third hole during the second round of the 2024 Toto Japan Classic at Seta Golf Course in Otsu, Shiga, Japan. (Yoshimasa Nakano/Getty Images)
Noh, who also benefitted from a chip-in on the 14th, posted four consecutive birdies from Nos. 4-7. She’s 11 under through two rounds and tied for a share of second with former No. 1 Ariya Jutanugarn, who shot 66. Noh was one of three players to card a 65 on Friday, along with Rio Takeda and Yuna Nishimura.
“The greens are very slopey here,” said Noh of Seta Golf Course in Otsu, Shiga, Japan.
“A lot more undulation than we’re used to in the States. Mainly just it being all back to front. Can be quick. But it’s a little soft this year, so a little less.”
Another former No. 1, Jin Young Ko, slipped down to a share of fifth after a second-round 70.
Wakimoto, the overnight leader, is currently ranked 236th in the world and leads the field in birdies with 14. A member of the JLPGA since 2018, her best finish on that tour is a tie for fourth at the 2019 AXA Ladies Golf Tournament in Myazaki.
