Tag: Rolex Rankings

10 things to know about the women’s Rolex Rankings, which debuted on this day in 2006

Get to know the Rolex Rankings.

The Rolex Rankings debuted less than 20 years ago on Feb.  21, 2006. For context, the men’s Official World Golf Ranking has been around since 1986.

In that time, 18 different women from nine different countries have risen to the top, giving fans from all over the world reason to celebrate.

The rankings are used to fill fields at the majors, determine teams like the Solheim Cup and International Crown and decide which top players qualify for the Olympics.

Both amateurs and professionals are eligible and the rankings are updated every Monday.

Here are 10 interesting things to note about the Rolex Rankings, which are now 18 years old:

See which LPGA players made big moves – up and down – the rankings this season

Here’s a look at notable players who ended the 2023 LPGA season a long way from where they began.

In a season that saw more first-time winners than ever before, plenty of players made big moves up the Rolex Rankings. One doesn’t have to go far down the rankings to find impressive break-through stories. In fact, there were four first-time major winners in 2023.

From Rose Zhang’s pro splash to Alexa Pano’s birthday bash, there’s much to reflect on from a year that was full of surprises.

Of course, there were plenty of big moves in the wrong direction, too, as many veteran stars struggle mightily.

Here’s a look at notable players who ended the 2023 LPGA season a long way from where they began:

Second major victory this year propels Lilia Vu to top of women’s world ranking

For the first time in the history of the Rolex Rankings, the top-two players are from the U.S.

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Nelly Korda’s fifth stint atop the Rolex Rankings was short-lived as Lilia Vu’s second major championship victory this year has made her the new women’s World No. 1.

Vu ran away from the pack to claim the 2023 AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath near London on Sunday for her third win this year after previously earning her first LPGA win earlier this season at the Honda LPGA Thailand and the Chevron Championship in April.

The 25-year-old is the fourth American to earn the No. 1 ranking since the inception in 2006. Vu also became the first American to win two major championships in a single season since Juli Inkster in 1999.

She also moves to No. 1 in the standings for the 2023 Solheim Cup team, though she had mathematically clinched her spot following the U.S. Women’s Open in July.

“Being the best in the world, that’s just crazy to me,” said Vu following her win at Walton Heath. “Just thinking about the struggle I had this year and just to come out with that has been — it’s just incredible.”

Korda is now ranked No. 2, which means for the first time in the history of the Rolex Rankings the top-two players are from the United States.

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Lydia Ko returns to No. 1 in the world for the first time since 2017

Four players have occupied the top spot in the Rolex Rankings in 2022.

Lydia Ko has returned to No. 1 in the world for the first time since June 11, 2017. She replaces Nelly Korda. Four players have occupied the top spot in the Rolex Rankings in 2022, with Jin Young Ko spending the bulk of the season there.

On Oct. 31, LPGA rookie Atthaya Thitikul became only the second teenager to rise to No. 1. She spent two weeks there before Korda knocked her out after a victory at the Pelican Women’s Championship.

Ko, 25, became the youngest player – male or female – to ever reach No. 1 seven years ago at age 17. Tiger Woods previously held the record of 21, set in 1997.

During a three-year victory drought, Ko dropped as low as 59th in the rankings. No player in history has gone longer than Ko between stints at No. 1 – a testament to her resiliency.

The Kiwi’s 2022 comeback season was capped off by a win at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, her third victory of the season. She won LPGA Player of the Year, Vare Trophy for low scoring average (68.99) and the money title ($4,364,403). Ko claimed a $2 million first-place prize at the CME, the richest check in the history of women’s golf. Her scoring average was the second-lowest in LPGA history. Only Annika Sorenstam had previously averaged below 69.

Because the Rolex Rankings operate on a two-year rolling window, players can move up and down in the rankings even on weeks they don’t compete.

This is Ko’s third stint at No. 1. She has spent a total of 104 weeks at the top over the course of her career, the fourth-highest in rankings history. The rankings debuted in 2006. Lorena Ochoa spent the most time at the top at 158 weeks. Jin Young Ko spent a total 145 week at No. 1, followed by Yani Tseng (109) and Inbee Park (106).

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With teen Atthaya Thitikul on the rise, here are the youngest players to reach No. 1 in the women’s game

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:

LPGA: Here are 10 teams to watch this week, featuring stars Nelly Korda, Jessica Korda, Lexi Thompson, Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb and Leona Maguire

Here are 10 teams to watch this week at the LPGA’s 2022 Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational.

The 2022 Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational will feature a wonderful blend of past and present. While sisters Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson are two the biggest names on the current tour, Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb are two of the biggest names of all time. They’ll all be in action in the same field this Wednesday-Saturday at the LPGA’s only team event.

This year, 72 two-person teams will vie for a purse of $2.5 million at Midland Country Club in Michigan. The victory will be considered an official LPGA title.

Here are 10 teams to keep an eye on this week, with Rolex Ranking in parenthesis:

With Nelly Korda leading the way, more Americans doing well on LPGA

The American women are in as strong position as they have been in years.

BOCA RATON, Fla. — When Nelly Korda ascended to No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings in June, she became the third American to occupy the spot since the rankings were introduced in 2006.

Some would say, “just” the third American. Others, like one of those who knows what it is like to hold the title as the best female golfer in the world, believe it’s a number that should be celebrated.

“It’s tough to get to No. 1,” said Cristie Kerr, who shot a 2-over 74 in Thursday’s opening round of the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio. “It’s a very international tour so it’s pretty good we’ve had a couple of Americans get to No. 1 in the world.”

Kerr, 44, held the top spot for five weeks in 2010. Stacy Lewis topped the rankings for 25 weeks, most recently in 2014. Korda, who is from Bradenton, has been sitting atop the rankings for 29 weeks.

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Nelly, 23, is joined by older sister Jessica in the rankings. Nelly has repeated several times that being No. 1 is “temporary” and said Wednesday it’s not something she dwells on.

“I try not to focus on being the No. 1 player in the world,” said Nelly, who shot a 68 Thursday.

Jessica, who shot an even-par 72 Thursday, said when Nelly became the first American to finished the season at No. 1, “we were just like, ‘woo-hoo.’

“It’s something you are definitely going to look back on in your career, not necessarily in the moment,” added Jessica.

South Korean golfers have ruled

Nelly Korda supplanted South Korean Jin Young Ko, who held the top spot for 100 weeks. South Koreans have been atop the rankings more than golfers from any other country, with five totaling 276 weeks.

Next are golfers from Mexico, Taiwan, New Zealand and Sweden. Those countries, though, are represented by one golfer each, Lorena Ochoa (158 weeks), Yani Tseng (109), Lydia Ko (104) and Annika Sorenstam (60).

The American triumvirate is next.

The American women are in as strong position as they have been in years. Nelly followed up her rise to the top by winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics last summer. Americans hold six of the top 22 spots in the rankings and 12 of the top 50. South Korea leads with 13 of the top 50. Japan has seven. In the summer of 2019, six of the top 11 were from South Korea.

“We should definitely be celebrating that we’ve got a very strong young American contingent,” said Laura Davies, a native of England who has been on the LPGA for more than 30 years. “That’s paramount for the LPGA Tour because it is home base. I think it makes the tour strong when the top Americans are at the top of the tree.”

Nelly is followed by Danielle Kang (No. 8), Lexi Thompson (12), Lizette Salas (19), Jessica Korda (21) and Ally Ewing (22) as the top-ranked Americans. Salas is the only American in the top 50 not in the field at Gainbridge.

Of the 29 events in the LPGA 2021 schedule, eight were won by Americans, seven by South Koreans. Nelly Korda won four of those.

U.S. women golfers on the rise

“I think the state of women’s golf in the U.S. is really good,” said Ewing, who shot a 68 Thursday. “You’ve seen a lot of players rise. It’s great to see a lot of American players playing well.”

Ewing has been on the tour six years. She gained status after graduating from Mississippi State but opted to play one year on the Symetra Tour. She credits coaching as a major reason more younger players are ready for the tour, whether they are coming right out of college or even those who skipped college.

Kang won the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in Orlando last Sunday. She continued her shot-making with a 65 Thursday, putting her second, two shots behind Ko, a South Korean-born New Zealand golfer. Ko was the bronze medalist in the Tokyo Olympics.

“People need to celebrate how good the Americans have done for the past 10 years,” Kerr said. “It was a lot of talk we weren’t doing very well enough, and we have been. So, I think people need to talk about that more.”

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Nelly Korda is third American to reach No. 1 in women’s golf, will headline American Olympic team

Nelly Korda, 22, officially ascended to the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings on Monday.

Nelly Korda, all of 22 years old, officially ascended to the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings on Monday.

She took over the top spot after winning her first major Sunday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, but the rankings didn’t update until Monday.

Korda is just the third American to climb to No. 1 since the rankings were introduced in 2006.

“Reaching World No. 1 has always been a goal of mine, and I can’t believe that I’ve actually done it. The other players who have been No. 1 are incredible, and I’m honored to join that list,” Korda said in a statement released by the LPGA.

Stacy Lewis was the last American to be No. 1, doing so for four weeks in 2013 and 21 weeks in 2014. Cristie Kerr was No. 1 for five weeks in 2010.

Korda was No. 3 before her win at the KPMG. She moved ahead of Jin Young Ko and Inbee Park, ending Ko’s run of 100 weeks atop the rankings.

Numbers game

Korda has three wins and eight top-10s this season. She leads the LPGA with 200 birdies. She also leads with 25 rounds in the 60s. She’s tied for first with the most eagles in 2021 with nine – she had two in Sunday’s final round at the KPMG.

Ko’s streak of 100 consecutive weeks at No. 1 was the third-longest. Lorena Ochoa was No. 1 for 158 weeks (April 23, 2007 to May 2, 2010), and Yani Tseng had a stretch of 109 weeks (Feb. 14, 2011 to March 17, 2013).

Annika Sorenstam was the first No. 1 in 2006 and held the top spot for 61 weeks before Ochoa had her run.

Money game

Korda is 64th on the LPGA’s all-time money list at $5,532,484. She’s played in 92 LPGA events. She took home $675,000 for winning the KPMG.

On to the Olympics

Korda is also an Olympian. The LPGA confirmed Sunday that Nelly and her sister, Jessica, will represent the United States in the Summer Games on Aug. 4-7 at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Japan. The sisters will join Lexi Thompson and Danielle Kang on the American squad. Thompson was also on the 2016 team in Rio. The official Olympic qualifiers for each country will be released Tuesday.

Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols contributed to this article.

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Lydia Ko looks to end two-year victory drought at Marathon Classic, where she leads by 4

Lydia Ko, who currently ranks 55th, finds herself in position to make quite a statement on Sunday at the Marathon LPGA Classic.

SYLVANIA, Ohio – It’s been 833 days since Lydia Ko last hoisted a trophy.

There was another near two-year drought before that one too. One victory in four years makes Ko’s once-dominant stretch seem like ancient history. So much has changed since the prodigious Kiwi last ruled the world on June 11, 2017. Heck, another player with the same last name even took over as No. 1 – Jin Young Ko.

Lydia Ko became the top-ranked player in the world for the first time on Feb. 2, 2015. She gave it back to Inbee Park for a stretch but ultimately stayed there for a total of 104 weeks.

Since then, six different players have been No. 1 in the world on the LPGA.

Ko, who currently ranks 55th, finds herself in position to make quite a statement on Sunday at the Marathon LPGA Classic. It’s a comfortable place for Ko, who has won here twice already, including a playoff victory in 2016.

The 23-year-old with the old soul looks at ease at Highland Meadows. With no leaderboards on the fan-free course, it’s been difficult for Ko to keep track of exactly how well she’s playing. In the scoring tent on Thursday, Ko turned to her caddie, Jason Hamilton, and asked him to confirm that she’d carded a 64. On Saturday, she didn’t know that she led by four over Danielle Kang until a reporter mentioned it in the flash area.

Casual Ko has never looked more fit either. She downed protein shakes during the LPGA’s long break and put on 7 pounds of muscle in two weeks. She doesn’t feel quite as good as she looks, however, as sudden back pain has caused her to get treatment mid-round. It hurts the most, she said, when she bends down. She jokingly told Hamilton that he needed to start teeing up her ball.

“I don’t have a back injury,” said Ko, “I think this is a one-off thing.”

Ko, who leads the field at 16 under, also plans to keep swinging aggressively on Sunday, she said, because doing that doesn’t make it hurt more.

“There’s probably no player out there that’s not fighting something,” said Ko. “I think this is a very minor thing. … It’s sometimes what Ibuprofen is for.”

Kang, last week’s winner of the LPGA Drive On Championship, described Saturday’s second-round 70 as “frustrating, annoying and irritating.”

“The golf course was very firm today,” said the 27-year-old who rose to No. 2 in the world this week. “Definitely a different release on the greens. I couldn’t really get adjusted as easily as normal. The wedges were either rolling out 18 yards some holes, and some holes it was only rolling out 2. I couldn’t really get the consistency of it.”

Minjee Lee and Jodi Ewart Shadoff are tied for third at 10 under. Ewart Shadoff played in the final group on Sunday at Inverness and struggled to a fifth-place finish. She’ll be in the penultimate group alongside Lee in the Marathon’s final round, looking for her first tour victory.

Good friends Ko and Kang will make up the final twosome. The pair first met at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur, when Kang won her second consecutive Women’s Amateur title. (Ko won it in 2012.)

“(Danielle) has really taken me under her wing,” said Ko. “She’s been a big sister. There’s a few girls that I call like my big sister and she’s one of them. It’s been pretty awesome to see her play well, but that’s why it’s more important that I’m out there tomorrow just focusing on my game and enjoying being with her, and hopefully we’ll both have a good time.”

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Rolex Rankings resume with one significant, but temporary change

The Women’s World Golf Rankings Board of Directors announced points and divisors will only change and age on weeks when an athlete competes.

The Rolex Rankings are back – with a significant modification.

While the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, the Women’s World Golf Rankings Board of Directors announced on Monday in a release that points and divisors will only change and age on weeks when an athlete competes.

On weeks when a player does not compete, her individual points, average points and divisors will not change or age, though her ranking could still shift based on the performance of other athletes who are competing.

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This allows for unusual breaks in tournament schedules, travel restrictions and players who aren’t yet comfortable competing, or only want to compete in certain areas of the world.

“The WWGR Board was keen to find a solution that was as fair as possible for the majority of athletes whether competing or not during this unprecedented time,” said Heather Daly-Donofrio, executive director of the board. “As a level of uncertainty around member tours’ tournament schedules continues, focusing on the individual athlete and the weeks she competes made the most sense. While the Board understands there is no perfect solution in these challenging times, we believe we landed on an approach that is reasonable for athletes and also protects the integrity of the ranking system.”

The rankings were put on pause the week of March 16 and no affiliated tours competed for two months as COVID-19 spread. Since May 11, the Korean LPGA has staged seven tournaments and the Japan LPGA has put on one.

The new system begins retroactively with the week of May 11, when the KLPGA restarted. The rankings will continue to be computed on a 104-week rolling period, but the period will differ based on when an athlete chooses to compete.

This board said this is a temporary modification.

Jin Young Ko remains the No. 1 player in the world. She has yet to compete on the LPGA this season.

The LPGA is set to resume next week at the Drive On Championship in Toledo, Ohio.

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