The LPGA’s first two majors of the year have seen history unfurl. Nelly Korda conquered the Chevron Championship for her fifth consecutive victory of the season, becoming only the third player in LPGA history to win five straight tournaments. Yuka Saso’s win at Lancaster Country Club made the 22-year-old the youngest player to win two US Women’s Opens.
What history could we see this week at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at a course that has already delivered an iconic LPGA moment? When Sahalee Country Club outside Seattle hosted the 2016 Women’s PGA, the final day turned into a teen battle between dominant world No.1 Lydia Ko, then 19 and gunning for her third straight major title versus an 18-year-old Brooke Henderson, who won her maiden LPGA event a year prior in Portland.
The Canadian hit one of the best shots of her career on the first playoff hole to within three feet for a birdie, upsetting Ko for the first major win of her career. The two have remained dominating figures on the LPGA since, though, oddly, they have only combined for one major title – Henderson’s 2022 Evian Championship – in the past eight years.
The finalisation of the Olympic field adds another layer of pressure to the week. When the Rolex Rankings come out next Monday, the 60 players representing their countries in Paris will be named.
In preparation for the Women’s PGA, we ranked the top 25 players most likely to be victorious at the end of the week at Sahalee.
25. Hinako Shibuno
Rolex Rankings: 62 Women’s PGA starts: 4 Best finish: T-40, 2021
Shibuno’s out-of-nowhere US Women’s Open performance – where she finished runner-up after missing six cuts over her first nine starts in 2024, with no result better than T-50 – brought her season back to life. The 2019 AIG Women’s Open winner followed up with a T-21 in the ShopRite and T-41 last week in the Meijer.
24. Jin Hee Im
Rolex Rankings: 35 Women’s PGA starts: 0 Best finish: N/A
The South Korean rookie has impressed in her first two major championship appearances, earning an eighth-place finish in the Chevron and a T-12 in the US Women’s Open.
23. Lexi Thompson
Rolex Rankings: 39 Women’s PGA starts: 13 Best finish: T-2, 2022
Maybe announcing her retirement from full-time play released some pressure. There were no signs of the scar tissue in Thompson getting into a three-woman playoff last week in the Meijer, ultimately won by Lilia Vu. The 29-year-old made several key putts and nearly chipped in for the win on the 72nd hole. The runner-up was Thompson’s second top-five finish of 2024, alongside a T-4 at the Ford Championship.
22. Grace Kim
Rolex Rankings: 69 Women’s PGA starts: 1 Best finish: 14th, 2023
The 2023 Lotte Championship winner has built two impressive leads yet, has not won a tournament this year. The Sydneysider led by four at the JM Eagle LA Championship through 36 holes, then struggled to a 77-76 finish over the weekend. Kim had a five-stroke advantage going into the final round at the Meijer, and while the 23-year-old lost to Lilia Vu in a three-way, three-hole playoff, she notched her best finish of the season.
21. NaRin An
Rolex Rankings: 71 Women’s PGA starts: 2 Best finish: T-30, 2023
An is coming off a pair of top-six finishes at the ShopRite (T-6) and Meijer (T-5), where the South Korean missed out on the playoff by two shots.
20. Lydia Ko
Rolex Rankings: 15 Women’s PGA starts: 9 Best finish: Playoff Loss, 2016
Ko has slowed down since a solid start to the season. She posted top-20s in six of her first seven starts, including a victory at the Tournament of Champions and a playoff loss to Nelly Korda at the Drive On Championship in January. She’s made only one cut in her past three events, including carding an 80 at the US Women’s Open.
19. Gabi Ruffels
Rolex Rankings: 41 Women’s PGA starts: 2 Best finish: T-24, 2023
The Aussie is having a stellar rookie season, with three top-three finishes, two of which came in her past four starts. The demerits come in Ruffels’ major performances – T-40 at the Chevron and a T-51 at the US Women’s Open.
18. Linn Grant
Rolex Rankings: 27 Women’s PGA starts: 1 Best finish: T-20, 2023
Grant’s last start was an incredible 11-stroke come-from-behind victory at the male-female Scandinavian Mixed, the largest deficit overcome to win in DP World Tour history. The 2023 Dana Open winner has one top-10 on the LPGA this season, a T-7 at the Founders Cup in early May.
17. Andrea Lee
Rolex Rankings: 33 Women’s PGA starts: 4 Best finish: MC
Coming off a career-best major finish of T-3 at the US Women’s Open, can Lee qualify for another American team at the siren again? She earned her way onto last year’s US Solheim team with the exact T-13 finish she needed at the final qualifying tournament to get onto the roster. With the Olympic field finalised after this week, the 2022 Portland Classic winner may need to conjure up another victory to get to Paris.
16. Megan Khang
Rolex Rankings: 16 Women’s PGA starts: 8 Best finish: T-3, 2023
A 60 from Linnea Strom at the ShopRite stopped Khang from a chance at earning her second career LPGA title. Instead, the American’s runner-up finish fell short of moving her into the top 15 of the world ranking, a cut-off she has to make to be eligible for the Olympics. Khang didn’t help her cause with no top-10s in eight straight starts before the ShopRite.
15. Maja Stark
Rolex Rankings: 17 Women’s PGA starts: 1 Best finish: MC, 2023
Stark, who had three top-three finishes this season, has yet to see a weekend after a pair of runner-up finishes at the Chevron and JM Eagle LA Championship. The 2022 ISPS Handa World Invitational winner missed the cut at the Founders and the US Women’s Open.
14. Sei Young Kim
Rolex Rankings: 37 Women’s PGA starts: 9 Best finish: Win, 2020
The 31-year-old withdrew from the US Women’s Open during the second round with a back injury. She’s having an otherwise solid season, including a pair of top-10s. The 2020 Women’s PGA champion has consistently performed in this major, with her missed cut last year the first time Kim finished outside the top 25.
13. Miyu Yamash*ta
Rolex Rankings: 22 Women’s PGA starts: 0 Best finish: N/A
Since the beginning of April, the top JLPGA player has not finished outside the top seven on the Japanese circuit. The talent has translated on the LPGA’s major stage with a T-17 in the Chevron and T-12 in the US Women’s Open. Another strong result could allow Yamash*ta to chase down Ayaka Furue (20th) and Nasa Hataoka (21st) for the second Japanese Olympic spot.
12. Ally Ewing
Rolex Rankings: 19 Women’s PGA starts: 7 Best finish: T-13, 2020
Ewing arrives at Sahalee in arguably the best form of her career ahead of any major. Her T-3 at the US Women’s Open was the best major finish of her career, and the nine-year LPGA veteran followed up with a fourth-place performance at the Meijer LPGA Classic. The 31-year-old is riding a career-best streak of six straight top-30s.
11. Ayaka Furue
Rolex Rankings: 20 Women’s PGA starts: 2 Best finish: T-8, 2023
Furue has to ask herself: if you are in the top 10 nearly every week, you must win eventually, right? The Japanese pro has notched eight top-10s this season, including joining Khang at T-2 at the ShopRite. The 2022 Women’s Scottish Open winner is searching for her second career title.
10. Rose Zhang
Rolex Rankings: 9 Women’s PGA starts: 1 Best finish: T-8, 2023
Zhang didn’t play in the LPGA’s past two events after she withdrew from her title defence at the Mizuho Americas Open with illness and missed the cut at the US Women’s Open. The two-time LPGA winner has had two weeks to regain the form that has earned Zhang three top-10s this season, including her victory at the Cognizant Founders Cup.
9. Jin Young Ko
Rolex Rankings: 7 Women’s PGA starts: 5 Best finish: T-11, 2018
The 15-time LPGA winner has a top-three finish in every major but the Women’s PGA, where she is still searching for her first top-10. Ko is trending downward in part due to hitting only 68 percent of greens in regulation, an almost 7 percent drop from her career average (75.6 percent).
8. Minjee Lee
Rolex Rankings: 10 Women’s PGA starts: 9 Best finish: T-2, 2022
Has Lee moved past her Sunday struggles in the US Women’s Open, where she shared the 54-hole lead, only to shoot 78? She missed the cut badly at last week’s Meijer event. The two-time major champion played well at Salahee in 2016, earning the second-best finish of her Women’s PGA career with a T-12.
7. Ruoning Yin
Rolex Rankings: 3 Women’s PGA starts: 2 Best finish: Win, 2023
Yin has played some of her best golf of the season in the run-up to her title defence this week, with a T-4 in the Founders Cup and T-12 in the US Women’s Open. The 21-year-old would be the first to win back-to-back Women’s PGA Championships since Inbee Park won three in a row from 2013 to 2015.
6. Brooke Henderson
Rolex Rankings: 13 Women’s PGA starts: 9 Best finish: Win, 2016
Henderson returns to the home of her maiden major championship in an event where the Canadian has been consistent during her 11-year career. Since 2015, she hasn’t finished outside the top 30, including five top-six finishes. Henderson has been in contention multiple times this season but remains winless, having notched five top-10s, though the last came in April’s T-3 in the Chevron.
5. Atthaya Thitikul
Rolex Rankings: 11 Women’s PGA starts: 2 Best finish: Fourth, 2022
Even a season marred by injury cannot stop Thitikul from posting top-10 finishes at an all-time rate. The two-time winner didn’t make her first appearance until the Chevron due to a wrist injury and has earned top-10s in her past four starts. In her career thus far, Thitikul has a top-10 rate of 62.3 percent, and only Annika Sorenstam (67.4) and Lorena Ochoa (62.3) accomplished above 60 percent in their careers. At only 21, Thitikul also consistently earns top-10s in majors, posting them at a 50-percent clip, including a T-6 at this year’s US Women’s Open.
4. Hannah Green
Rolex Rankings: 5 Women’s PGA starts: 6 Best finish: Win, 2019
Five years ago, Green got up and down from the greenside bunker at Hazeltine for her first career LPGA victory and major title. Now she is in great form to snare her second major. Green joins Nelly Korda as the only multiple winner on tour in 2024, with victories in the HSBC Women’s World Championship and JM Eagle LA Championship. She also notched a runner-up at the Mizuho Americas Open. The Women’s PGA has been her best major, as it is the only one where the West Australian has multiple top-5 finishes.
3. Lilia Vu
Rolex Rankings: 2 Women’s PGA starts: 2 Best finish: T-10, 2022
Despite a seven-event layoff heading into last week’s Meijer, Vu birdied all three holes in a playoff for her fifth career title. Last year, she won the Chevron and AIG Women’s Open, missed the cut at the Women’s PGA and US Women’s Open, and finished T-42 at the Evian.
2. Yuka Saso
Rolex Rankings: 6 Women’s PGA starts: 3 Best finish: Runner-up, 2023
Saso might be the best major performer on tour right now. She’s finished in the top three in three of her past six appearances, including a win in this year’s US Women’s Open, second at Baltusrol and a T-3 in last year’s Evian Championship.
1. Nelly Korda
Rolex Rankings: 1 Women’s PGA starts: 7 Best finish: Win, 2021
Korda’s back-to-back missed cuts in her past two starts aren’t enough to knock the six-time winner in 2024 from her deserved perch at the top of these rankings. A victory this week would be her second in the Women’s PGA after her 2021 win at Atlanta Athletic Club.
