The 2023 LPGA Tour season was chock full of incredible moments. From a thrilling Solheim Cup in Spain to competing at some of golf’s most iconic venues to a record-setting 12 players becoming Rolex First-Time Winners, the LPGA’s top talent gave fans plenty to root for last year as they realized their dreams and accomplished their goals across the globe. With so many exciting and inspirational storylines emerging throughout 2023, let’s look back at some of the best moments on the LPGA Tour last season.
Vu Earns Four Victories
A one-shot victory at the Honda LPGA Thailand kicked off a banner season for Lilia Vu, who went on to capture three more titles in 2023, two of which were major championships. After becoming the season’s first Rolex First-Time Winner in Thailand, Vu won The Chevron Championship in a playoff over Angel Yin in April and then defeated Charley Hull by six shots at Walton Heath Golf Club to win the AIG Women’s Open in August, victories that helped her lock up the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award. The California native won again late in the season at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican and finished solo fourth at the CME Group Tour Championship the next week, two solid performances that earned her Rolex Player of the Year honors. Vu also ascended to No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings for the first time this season, a position she has now held for 17 total weeks.
Thailand Takes Home International Crown
The Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown made its long-awaited return to the LPGA Tour calendar in 2023 with TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, Calif., hosting the international team event that hadn’t been contested since 2018. Eight four-person teams from Australia, England, Japan, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, Thailand and the United States teed it up, and it was the Thailand Team that ultimately emerged victorious. Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn, Patty Tavatanakit and Atthaya Thitikul collectively won 11 of their 12 total matches throughout the week and swept Australia in the final, an impressive showing considering Thailand had won just 10 matches in their three previous appearances in the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown.
Rose Blooms at Liberty National
Stanford University standout Rose Zhang made her presence known early in the pro golf world, winning the inaugural Mizuho Americas Open in a playoff over Jennifer Kupcho in her professional debut at Liberty National Golf Club. Zhang was the first player since Beverly Hanson in 1951 to win an LPGA Tour event in their first tournament as a professional, and she accepted the immediate LPGA Tour membership offered to her as a result of the victory, making her a 2023 LPGA Tour rookie. Zhang went on to earn four additional top-10 finishes this past season – three of which were in major championships – and made a total of $1,389,794 in earnings.
Iconic Performances at Iconic Venues
The LPGA Tour’s best got to tee it up at some of golf’s most iconic venues in 2023, most notably competing at Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and playing Pebble Beach Golf Links for the 78th edition of the U.S. Women’s Open. People’s Republic of China native Ruoning Yin took home her second victory of the year at Baltusrol, winning by one shot over Yuka Saso to join Shanshan Feng as the only other player from China to win a major championship. Not long after, Allisen Corpuz conquered Pebble Beach en route to becoming the season’s fifth Rolex First-Time Winner, fittingly winning her first major title the same week that her fellow Hawaiian and U.S. Women’s Open champion Michelle Wie West retired from professional golf. With the three-shot victory over Charley Hull and Jiyai Shin, Corpuz became the first woman to win a professional event at Pebble Beach.
Jane Park Returns to the LPGA Tour
In one of the most heart-warming moments of the year, LPGA Tour veteran Jane Park made her return to professional golf at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational after stepping away from the game to care for her daughter Grace, who had a series of undiagnosed seizures at in 2021 that caused irreparable brain damage. Playing alongside her friend and fellow #LPGAMom Paula Creamer, Park teed it up in her first LPGA Tour tournament since the 2021 Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America with her husband Pete Godfrey on the bag and Grace watching in the gallery. The remarkable display of resilience also earned Park the 2023 Heather Farr Perseverance Award which “honors a player who, through her hard work, dedication and love of the game of golf, has demonstrated determination, perseverance and spirit in fulfilling her goals.” Park and her family were recognized at the Rolex Awards at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.
Boutier Triumphs in Home Country
After emerging victorious from a playoff at the LPGA Drive On Championship in March to become the winningest French player of all time on the LPGA Tour, Celine Boutier once again triumphed at The Amundi Evian Championship, winning her first major title in her home country by a whopping six shots. Not only was she the first player from France to win The Amundi Evian Championship in the tournament’s history, but Boutier also became the first French player to win a major on Tour since Patricia Meunier-Lebouc won The Chevron Championship in 2003. Boutier went on to capture four total titles this season, also winning the FREED GROUP Women’s Scottish Open the week after The Amundi Evian Championship and taking home the inaugural Maybank Championship title in October.
Megan Khang Cashes In, Angel Yin Gets a Win
Of the 12 Rolex First-Time Winners this season, there were a couple of players who had to wait longer than most of their counterparts to find victory lane on the LPGA Tour. Megan Khang first became an LPGA Tour member in 2016 and finally broke through at the CPKC Women’s Open, defeating former Rolex Rankings No. 1 Jin Young Ko in a playoff at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club to win in her 191st start on the LPGA Tour. It was her 34th career top-10 result, and Khang became the season’s ninth Rolex First-Time Winner. After coming heartbreakingly close to her first win at The Chevron Championship in April and losing in a playoff to Lilia Vu after a watery approach shot on the first extra hole, Angel Yin managed to redeem herself in mid-October. After posting a four-day total of 14-under, Yin once again found herself in a playoff with Vu, but this time, she was the one who made birdie on the first extra hole to win for the first time since joining the LPGA Tour in 2017.
Home-Country Hero Ciganda Secures Solheim Cup in Spain
Spaniard Carlota Ciganda helped Team Europe make Solheim Cup history in her home country at Finca Cortesin, tapping in for birdie on the 17th hole on Sunday to defeat Nelly Korda 2 and 1 in the singles session and earning the deciding point for the Blue and Yellow. While the 18th Solheim Cup ultimately resulted in a 14-14 tie, the Euros retained the Cup for the third straight year, the first time that they had ever done so. Ciganda, who hails from Pamplona, Spain, more than showed up to play, going undefeated in four matches in Andalucia to help secure the Cup for Team Europe.
Lexi Competes on PGA Tour
After receiving an unrestricted sponsor exemption, 11-time LPGA Tour winner Lexi Thompson became just the seventh woman to tee it up in a PGA Tour event in October at the Shriners Children’s Open and was the first woman to do so since Brittany Lincicome competed in the 2018 Barbasol Championship. Thompson nearly made the cut after carding rounds of 73 and 69 at TPC Summerlin and is the second woman in PGA Tour history to card a sub-70 round, joining Michelle Wie West, who did so two times in the Sony Open.
Amy Yang Wins CME Group Tour Championship
LPGA Tour winner Amy Yang was deservingly doused with champagne by several of her LPGA Tour counterparts after an impressive victory at the 2023 CME Group Tour Championship. Yang recorded a four-day total of 27-under that included two rounds of 64 or better en route to her fifth LPGA Tour title and first since the 2019 Honda LPGA Thailand. With the win, Yang was also named Race to the CME Globe champion and earned a $2 million first-place prize, one of the largest winner’s checks in women’s golf.
Tours Team Up at Grant Thornton
In December at Tiburon Golf Club, the LPGA and PGA Tours teamed up for the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational, the first mixed-team event to be contested on both tours since the 1999 JC Penney Classic. Sixteen teams featuring one player from each organization battled it out for a $4 million purse in Naples, Fla., and it was ultimately Lydia Ko and Jason Day who came out on top, winning by one shot over the all-Canadian duo of Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners.
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