NAPLES, Florida — Nelly Korda capped her best season by capturing the top two honors at the Rolex LPGA Awards in Florida.
The 26-year-old Florida native received the Rolex Player of the Year Award and the Rolex Annika Major Award, which goes to the major winner who had the best overall results in the season’s big five events.
Korda won seven events in 2024, including the Chevron Championship, her second career major title.
“It’s been crazy, it’s been such a fun year, full of ups and downs, but I am so, so grateful for my team sitting right here,” Korda said according to Reuters. “It’s been an amazing year and I’m so grateful to be doing what I love.”
Korda entered the year with six career LPGA tournament wins but she added victories at the LPGA Drive On Championship, the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship, the Ford Championship, the T-Mobile Match Play, the Mizuho Americas Open and The Annika in addition to the Chevron Championship.
She missed the cut at both the US Women’s Open and the Women’s PGA Championship before tying for 26th at the Evian Championship and tying for second at the Women’s British Open.
With Lilia Vu having won Player of the Year in 2023, US golfers have captured the honor in consecutive years for the first time since Betsy King and Beth Daniel did so in 1993 and 1994, respectively.
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko was awarded the Heather Farr Perseverance Award, given for “hard work, dedication and love of the game of golf.” Ko, 27, earned the gold medal at the Paris Olympics to become the youngest player to earn Hall of Fame status since the current format went into place.
Ko’s three official victories this year included a major, the Women’s British Open.
“2024 has felt like a fairytale, one word, fairytale,” Ko said. “I can’t believe it, even now while looking at some of the highlights. I still get goosebumps.”
Ally Ewing received the Founders Award, given to the player who best “exemplifies the spirit, ideals and values of the LPGA through her behavior and deeds.”
First-time LPGA tournament winners Bailey Tardy, Linnea Strom and Lauren Coughlin also were recognised.
The LPGA Tour will play for $127.5 million in official prize money in 2025, another record for the circuit that has worked independently of the PGA Tour for 75 years.
The official prize money does not include the $2 million International Crown, held every two years as the only team event in golf where countries compete against each other; and the $2 million Grant Thornton Invitational, a mixed team event with the PGA Tour.
The Players Championship ($4.5 million) and US Open ($4.3 million) are the only golf tournaments that paid more than what the CME Group Tour Championship winner will get.
“The metrics and the numbers are eye-popping in terms of the growth that we´ve had over the last several years,” LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said.
“We’re really proud that other women´s sports are starting to get the financial investment that women´s golf has enjoyed and we´re proud of the role that we´ve played in elevating women´s sports in general,” she said.
“The best women in the world need to make a living that matches their level of excellence, and we´re fighting every day to achieve that goal.”
The prize money has increased nearly 90 per cent in four years, led by the majors and CME Group boosting purses at the biggest events.
Marcoux Samaan said the LPGA tried to improve the geographic flow of the schedule and it avoided playing the same week as five of the six biggest events in men’s golf next year. It plays only the same week as the US Open (Meijer LPGA Classic).
The LPGA will be off during The Players Championship, Masters, PGA Championship, British Open and Ryder Cup.
The Chevron Championship, the first major, was moved back one week so it doesn’t start just four days after the Masters.
