This past weekend was the U.S. Women’s Open, the oldest major in Women’s golf, and just a few days later we celebrate Women’s Golf Day, which is described by the founding organization as, “a one day event celebrating girls and women playing golf and learning the skills that last a lifetime.”
So in honor of all those who are already fans, and all those who will try the sport for the first time and become fans, here are the current top 10 Women’s Golfers, according to the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, who can inspire the next generation of golfers and fans.
10. Inbee Park
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The woman on this list with the most experience is Inbee Park, having turned pro in 2006. Park has used her time as a pro to rack up an incredible résumé that includes 27 wins across the LPGA, LPGA of Japan and Korea, and the Ladies European Tour. Park has also amassed 7 majors with multiple wins at the U.S. Women’s Open and Women’s PGA Championship.
Inbee also has the distinction of being only the second woman to hold an Olympic gold medal in golf, something that hadn’t been done in over 100 years.
9. Brooke Henderson
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Brooke Henderson has only been a pro for the last 5 years, but has been impressing ever since. Henderson was awarded Female Athlete of the Year by the Canadian Press in 3 of her years as a pro, including in 2018.
Henderson also shined at a young age becoming the second-youngest woman to win a major, when she won the 2016 Women’s PGA Championship at the age of 18. Her most recent victory in April at the Lotte Championship also tied her for most wins ever by a Canadian golfer on both the LPGA and PGA tours.
8. Ryu So-yeon
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Ryu So-yeon is also a long-standing veteran, having turned pro in 2007 at the age of 17. After competing on the Cactus Tour and LPGA of Korea, she became the LPGA Rookie of the Year in 2012, winning twice on tour that year. A former number one in the rankings herself, she also was the 2017 LPGA Player of the Year, and is a two-time major champion, winning the U.S. Women’s Open and ANA Inspiration.
7. Nasa Hataoka
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The youngest player in the top 10, Nasa Hataoka, only just turned 20 this year, but she has already put together an impressive career. In just over 2 years since she turned pro, she already has 7 victories between the LPGA and the LPGA of Japan, with her most recent win coming in this year’s Kia Classic.
She has yet to win herself a major, but after a playoff loss in last year’s Women’s PGA Championship, she is already putting herself in position to succeed.
6. Ariya Jutanugarn
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Ariya Jutanugarn is Thai golfer with one of the most remarkable résumés on this list, one she started at the age of 11 when she became the youngest player to qualify for an LPGA event. She is the only Thai golfer to win a major, male or female, with both a U.S. Women’s Open and Women’s British Open victory.
She has 10 wins overall on the LPGA tour and was named LPGA Player of the Year in 2016 and 2018 when she was also the tour money winner. She also closed out last season as the world number 1 after a phenomenal year that included 3 wins and the aforementioned U.S. Women’s Open win.
5. Lee Jeong-eun
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The newest member of the top 10 rankings is Lee Jeong-eun. She also goes by Jeongeun Lee6, as a result of there being five other golfers on the LPGA of Korea tour with the same name when she joined in 2016.
She has won 6 times on that tour, and added her first LPGA win when she won the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open this past weekend, which propelled her into the top 10, from her previous spot at number 12.
4. Lexi Thompson
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Lexi Thompson has been turning heads in the sport since she was only 12 years old when she qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open as the youngest ever to qualify for the major. It only took three more years for her to turn pro and in short order, she set records as the youngest player to win both an LPGA and LET Tour events.
Thompson is a 10 time winner on the LPGA Tour, including a major win at the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship (now the ANA Inspiration) and has been a fixture in the Rolex Top 10 since 2015.
3. Park Sung-hyun
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A two-time major winner, Park Sung-hyun, has had quite the run on the LPGA and LPGA of Korea where she has a combined 16 wins. After winning an extraordinary 10 times in only the 2015/16 seasons while on the LPGA of Korea, she jumped to the LPGA in 2017 and quickly became both the Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year, something that hadn’t been done in almost 40 years.
Her most recent victory came just 3 months ago which is why she is a mainstay at the top of the World Rankings.
2. Minjee Lee
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Minjee Lee is one of only two golfers on this list that has yet to win a Major but has still worked hard to get herself up to number 2 on the World Rankings. Her recent wins have helped push her towards the top of the list, including her most recent victory at the Hugel-Air Premia LA Open.
In addition to 5 wins on the LPGA Tour, Lee has also made history in 2018 becoming the only woman to win the Greg Norman Medal, which is given to the best Australian golfer in the world.
1. Ko Jin-young
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The current world number 1, Ko Jin-young has been quickly making her way to the top since cracking the top 10 in October of last year. After amassing 10 wins on the LPGA of Korea Tour, she used her victory at the co-sanctioned 2017 LPGA KEB–Hana Bank Championship to jump to the LPGA Tour and has been improving ever since.
She already has 4 wins on the LPGA tour and was the 2018 LPGA Rookie of the Year. She took that momentum and ran with it in 2019 with two wins already including her first major at the ANA Inspiration in April, which shot her to number 1, where she has remained for the last two months.
