DAYTONA COASTLINE, Fla., Nov. 21, 2022 — In a week that saw the news of a 2023 timetable that flaunts a record-setting $101.4 million complete bag, the LPGA Excursion commemorated a 2022 period that saw 11 Rolex First-Time Victors, various bag rises and also the ongoing development of the globe’s longest-running females’s specialist sporting activities company.
Lydia Ko taped a tidy move of the period’s significant honors, beginning with her win at the CME Team Excursion Champion and also making the $2 million victor’s check, the biggest solitary reward in the background of females’s golf. She additionally gained Rolex Gamer of the Year honors, coming to be the 15th various gamer to win the honor at the very least two times, and also gained her 2nd successive Vare Prize for the period’s reduced racking up standard at 68.988. She is the 12th gamer in LPGA Excursion background to win the honor in successive periods and also the 15th gamer to win the prize greater than as soon as. Her season-long racking up standard is the second-lowest Vare Trophy-winning racking up standard in Excursion background, behind Annika Sorenstam’s 68.70 in 2002.
” This year has actually been an unbelievable year. I actually can never ever request even more to win so early in the period and after that to have actually won in Korea and after that win the last occasion of the year,” stated Ko, that is because of be wed in a couple of weeks. “I could not have actually attracted it up any kind of much better. There has actually been numerous interesting points in my life that’s been taking place. It will certainly be my last win as a solitary woman. So I wished to do this for my family members. This has actually been among one of the most regular and also strong years I have actually had.”
The yearly LPGA Rolex Honors, held Thursday at the Ritz Carlton Naples, acknowledged the most effective and also brightest celebrities and also minutes of the 2022 LPGA Excursion period. Atthaya Thitikul, that took success at the JTBC Standard offered by Barbasol and also the Walmart NW Arkansas Champion offered by P&G, and also that was No. 1 in the Rolex Female’s Globe Golf Rankings for 2 weeks in November, won the 2022 Louise Suggs Newbie of the Year honor. Thitikul transformed specialist in 2020 after an outstanding amateur occupation that saw her come to be the youngest individual ever before to win a specialist event at the 2017 Ladies European Thailand Champion at 14 years, 4 months and also 19 days. Before signing up with the LPGA Excursion, Thitikul won the Race to Costa del Sol, Newbie of the Year and also Gamer of the Year honors in 2021 on the Ladies European Excursion.
Thitikul is the 2nd successive gamer from Thailand to make Newbie of the Year honors and also 3rd total, signing up with Patty Tavatanakit (2021) and also Moriya Jutanugarn (2013 ).
” It is an honor to get the Louise Suggs Rolex Newbie of the Year,” stated Thitikul in her approval speech. “I am simply a little woman that constantly had a desire to contend on the LPGA Excursion. Yet to be on this phase right here, before you people, is a desire come to life.”
Minjee Lee gained 2 elite honors throughout the 2022 period, highlighted by the Aon Threat Award Obstacle and also its $1 million reward. The competitors, which gauged the efficiency of LPGA Excursion and also PGA excursion golf enthusiasts on a collection of openings throughout several competitions, examined gamers’ capability to evaluate danger, make use of data-driven understandings to recognize possibilities and also make best use of efficiency in the minutes that matter many. Lee signed up with PGA excursion victor Scottie Scheffler in taking the Aon title, with both gamers getting equivalent cash prize.
” Throughout the year there are Aon openings on every occasion that we play,” stated Lee, that won two times on Excursion in 2022, consisting of taking her 2nd occupation significant title at the united state Female’s Open offered by ProMedica. “So I believe to have the ability to play strongly on those openings and also to have fun with self-confidence and also clearly be making the appropriate choice on those openings, I believe it actually aided me to clearly win at Owners as well as additionally the united state Open this year. I believe, yeah, it’s actually wonderful.”
Lee additionally won the 2022 Rolex ANNIKA Major Honor, which acknowledges the gamer that has one of the most superior document in all 5 significant champions throughout the LPGA Excursion period. In addition to her success at the united state Female’s Open, Lee linked for 2nd at the KPMG Female’s PGA Champion, was 12th at The Chevron Champion, linked for 43rd at the Amundi Evian Champion and also linked for 4th at the AIG Female’s Open.
Elizabeth Nagel obtained the Heather Farr Willpower Honor, which honors an LPGA gamer that, with her effort, devotion and also love of the video game of golf, has actually shown resolution, willpower and also spirit in meeting her objectives as a gamer. In November 2012 while a junior at Michigan State College, Nagel was detected with thyroid cancer cells. After undertaking surgical procedure, Nagel was regarded cancer-free however still manages the day-to-day concerns that occur from living without a thyroid.
Developed in 1994, the Heather Farr Willpower Honor commemorates the LPGA Excursion gamer that passed away on Nov. 20, 1993, complying with a four-and-a-half-year fight with bust cancer cells. Previous champions of this honor consist of Heather Farr, Lorie Kane, Nancy Scranton, Brandi Burton, Kris Tschetter, Kim Williams, Beth Daniel, Se Ri Pak, Leta Lindley, Sophie Gustafson, Lisa Ferrero, Stephanie Field, Ariya Jutanugarn, Jessica Korda, Suzann Pettersen and also Madelene Sagstrom.
” I stand for the day-to-day battles most of us deal with. Mine are points like adapting to temperature level and also really feeling a little clouded, however actually, I stand for every one of the participants of this Excursion since we are all standing firm with something. And also our battles do not specify us, however they do demonstrate how solid we are,” stated Nagel, that, like Farr, was detected with cancer cells in her very early 20s. “I’m recognized to currently additionally stand for Heather since I’m fortunate sufficient to still be right here and also inform our tales and also to follow my tales on and also off the golf links, something that was drawn from her that we need to never ever consider provided.
My tale might be cancer cells when you take a look at the cover. Yet much like every female on this Excursion, when you review a little more, the important things we get rid of and also are sustaining everyday to use the LPGA are absolutely amazing. Our tales are every one of toughness and also willpower and also spirit. I have actually never ever been even more pleased to claim I use the LPGA.”
In Gee Chun obtained the 2022 Owners Honor, which is provided to an LPGA Participant that, in the viewpoint of her having fun peers, ideal exhibits the spirit, perfects and also worths of the LPGA with her actions and also acts. The honor has actually been offered because 1986, with a checklist of previous receivers that consists of Kathy Whitworth, Nancy Lopez, Rub Bradley, Betsy King, Juli Inkster, Lorena Ochoa, Chella Choi, Juli Inkster, Karrie Webb, So Yeon Ryu, Brooke Henderson and also Lydia Ko.
” To get any kind of honor as a gamer on the LPGA is unique. Yet this is much more unique since it is from the LPGA gamers that I have terrific regard and also adoration for. When I was young, I wished to use the LPGA and also to be on television. After my desires happened, I have had an excellent experience on the Excursion, while making great close friends and also conference followers from around the globe,” stated Chun, the 2022 KPMG Female’s PGA Champion victor. “As high as I’m happy, I believe I additionally hold a feeling of obligation as a specialist golf enthusiast. Eventually, I believed to myself that my words and also activities have an impact on those around me. So I wished to reveal excellent power and also favorable ideas with as lots of people as I could. I wish to remain to share excellent power with even more individuals in this minute and also in the future.”
LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan chose Volunteers of America nationwide head of state and also chief executive officer Mike King, that has actually led title sponsorship of the Excursion’s drop in Dallas because 2015, as the recipient of the Commissioner’s Honor. The honor, presented in 1991, honors an individual or company that has actually added distinctively to the LPGA and also its Participants, advanced the reason for females’s golf, and also has personality and also criteria of the greatest order. Previous receivers consist of KPMG, Jamie Farr, Rolex, the J.M. Smucker Business, Golf Network and also Judy Rankin.
“( Thanks) to everybody that is associated with some method with the LPGA. Your cumulative initiatives in behalf of females’s equity on the planet absolutely infuses even more favorable power and also love back right into the globe,” stated King, that approved his honor through video clip after examining favorable for Covid-19 previously in the week. “This essentially makes the globe a much better location. That’s the genuine effect that’s had right here. That’s real objective of the LPGA and also Volunteers of America and also we’re both lined up because objective– essentially making the globe a much better location. I absolutely think that’s the outcome which’s the cumulative outcome.”
Carol Preisinger, an LPGA Master Specialist and also Lead Mentor Specialist at The Landings Club in Savannah, Ga., was recognized as the recipient of the 2022 Ellen Lion Rolex Honor, which honors the best-known female golf educator in united state background. The honor acknowledges a private, male or women, that has actually made a significant payment to the mentor of golf and also that has actually shown with mentor Lion’s spirit, love and also devotion to the golf pupil, mentor abilities and also video game of golf. Preisinger opened her speech with a remembrance of the only lesson she obtained from Lion while a student-athlete at the College of Georgia.
” She made time for me. She really did not recognize that I was, however she made time for me. And also to make time is to craft, to construct, to produce, to come to be,” stated Preisinger. “And also that recognized I would certainly be standing right here this evening, coming to be half the educator Ellen Lion was and also to be right here in her honor.”
The Rolex LPGA Honors additionally commemorated Rolex First-Time Victors Ashleigh Buhai ( AIG Female’s Open), Gemma Dryburgh ( TOTO Japan Standard), Ayaka Furue ( Depend on Golf Female’s Scottish Open), Nanna Koerstz Madsen ( Honda LPGA Thailand), Jennifer Kupcho ( The Chevron Champion), Andrea Lee ( Rose City Standard), Leona Maguire ( LPGA Drive On Champion at Crown Nest), Paula Reto ( CP Female’s Open), Jodi Ewart Shadoff ( LPGA MEDIHEAL Champion), Maja Stark ( ISPS Handa Globe Invitational offered by AVIV Centers) and also Thitikul (JTBC Timeless offered by Barbasol). This period’s 11 complete Rolex First-Time Victors signs up with the 1995 period for the most newbie champions in a solitary period.
On Friday, the LPGA Excursion revealed its 2023 timetable will certainly consist of 33 main occasions, with a complete authorities reward fund of $101.4 million, together with the biennial having fun of the Solheim Mug and also the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown.
