Highlights From a Memorable 2024 LPGA Season

The news hasn’t stopped since the LPGA season finale at Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Fla.

Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan announced she was stepping down. In early December the LPGA (and USGA) updated gender policies to reflect the voices of 275 female golfers who sent a letter to the organization and the USGA in October, asking them to repeal the policies that allowed transgender women, particularly Hailey Davidson, to compete in women’s golf.

The LPGA concluded its 2024 season in record-breaking fashion at the CME Group Tour Championship when Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand won the title of Race to CME Globe Champion and the $4 million winner’s check, the largest first-place prize in women’s golf. She also took home the $1 million Aon Risk Reward Challenge earlier that week to make it a stunning $5 million payday for the 21-year-old, now ranked fourth in the world.

This was arguably the LPGA’s breakout year in terms of reaching new audiences, handing out groundbreaking payouts for players and delivering unforgettable winning performances. This season included an Olympics, a Solheim Cup and a historic five-win streak by world No. 1 Nelly Korda but 2025 could be the best yet—it’ll be the 75th season of the LPGA, the longest-running women’s professional sports association.

Here’s a look back at the season’s best moments and performances:

Nelly Korda, the Rolex Player of the Year and Annika Major Award winner, earns seven victories including a fifth straight at the Chevron for her second major. She’s the third player since 1978 to win five consecutive events and the first American to win seven times since 1990. She’s also the first since 2016 to win a major while being ranked No.1. Korda finished the 2024 season shooting in the 60s in 63.2% of her rounds played, the highest single-season percentage by a player with at least 50 rounds played, according to Golf Channel.
Lydia Ko, the Heather Farr Perseverance Award winner, wins Olympic gold and earns the final point to become the youngest player (at 27) to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame. She also won her third major at the AIG Women’s Open leaving her with one major left to complete the career Grand Slam.
The Americans win the Solheim Cup, 15 ½–12 ½, for the first time since 2017. Lilia Vu wins the clinching point.
Rising stars and best friends Ruoning Yin and Jeeno Thitikul combine for five wins including the Dow Championship while teamed together. Yin won two of her three starts during the LPGA’s fall Asian swing and Thitikul, in addition to winning the tour championship, led the LPGA in scoring average (69.54).
2024 LPGA Season By The Numbers
3: First-time winners: Lauren Coughlin (CPKC Women’s Open), Linnea Strom (ShopRite LPGA Classic) and Bailey Tardy (Blue Bay PGA).
3: Three-time winners (Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko and Hannah Green)
5: Straight wins by Nelly Korda, the third such streak in LPGA history. Her fifth win at the Chevron Championship peaked at 1.9 million viewers during the final round Sunday on NBC, making it one of the most-watched LPGA events of the year according to USA Today. The average viewership was 936,000 during the entire final round.
7: Years since the U.S. had won the Solheim Cup before this year’s triumph. The event averaged 657,000 viewers on NBC; more than double the 277,000 viewers on Golf Channel in 2023, according to Sports Business Journal.
29: Total aces recorded this year, totaling $580,000 in donations for St. Jude. The season also saw five or more aces at a single event (2024 Maybank Championship) for the first time since 2019.
34: Players earning at least $1 million in official money, with 10 surpassing $2 million.
34.3 million: Social media impressions by Caitlin Clark in the Annika driven by Gainbridge pro-am according to Sportskeeda.
The LPGA also said goodbye to some longtime fan favorites in Lexi Thompson, Ally Ewing and Marina Alex at the season finale. Thompson (11-time winner), Ewing (three-time winner) and Alex (two-time winner) all bid farewell to full time competition along with eight-time winner Brittany Lincicome. Twelve players in all announced they would be stepping away from full-time play.
2025 LPGA Outlook
The new year is already bringing a few surprises to the LPGA. With a new commissioner to be announced, Liz Moore, the LPGA’s chief legal and technology officer and corporate secretary, will assume the role of interim commissioner. The LPGA also updated its gender policy to reflect that “players must be assigned female at birth or have transitioned to female before going through puberty to compete in LPGA tournaments.”