Ryu Hae-ran named LPGA Rookie of the Year

Korea’s Ryu Hae-ran is set to be named the LPGA’s newest Rookie of the Year, securing the highest honor for a golfer making their debut on the Tour with one tournament left to go this season.

Korea's Ryu Hae-ran watches her shot on the first tee during the final round of the LPGA Walmart NW Arkansas Championship tournament in Rogers, Ark. in October. [AFP/YONHAP]

Korea’s Ryu Hae-ran is the LPGA’s newest Rookie of the Year, securing the highest honor for a golfer making their debut on the Tour with one tournament left to go this season.

The results were locked in over the weekend at The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican in Belleair, Florida — the final tournament before the circuit’s top 60 golfers close out the season at the CME Group Tour Championship. The LPGA confirmed that Ryu had secured the title in an announcement Tuesday.

Ryu, 22, carded 12-under-par, 268, to tie for 12th and place high enough to make it essentially impossible for another rookie to oust her from the top spot by the end of the season. Rookie runner-up Australia’s Grace Kim, whose parents are from Korea, carded nine-under-par, 271, and tied for 23rd.

The higher a rookie finishes at a tournament on the Tour, the more points she earns. LPGA rookies earn 150 points for winning a championship and add smaller — but still substantial — amounts in descending increments for finishing further down the table.

The Annika pushed Ryu’s total to 893 points on the official Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year rankings, putting her well over Kim, also 22, who holds the second-place spot with 619 points. Rose Zhang of the United States sits in third with 513.

Ryu was also the KLPGA’s Rookie of the Year in 2020, winning the award at 19 years old. She earned her LPGA Tour card in December last year after topping the two-week Q-series ahead of this year’s season.

She earned her first LPGA title at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship in October, carding 19-under-par, 194 in a wire-to-wire run. Ryu earned six top 10 finishes across 24 events this season — along with $1,505,635 in prize money for doing all of that.

Korea has historically dominated the LPGA’s rookie rankings, with Korean golfers winning Rookie of the Year five years in a row from 2015 to 2019. The last Korean golfer to win the award was Lee Jong-eun6, in 2019.

Korea’s Ko Jin-young won the rookie title in 2018 and has since gone on to twice win the LPGA’s Player of the Year award, which is given to the golfer with the highest number of points earned from every top 10 finish, in 2019 and 2021.

Park Sung-hyun won Rookie of the Year in 2017, Chun In-gee in 2016 and Kim Sei-young in 2015. Both Park and Kim also went on to win Player of the Year. Park shared the title with fellow Korean golfer Ryu So-yeon the year of her debut and Kim won the title in 2020.

Rookie Ryu will join a field of greats at the CME Group Tour championship, which tees off on Thursday in Naples, Florida.

Updated at 10 a.m. on Nov. 14 to reflect an official announcement by the LPGA naming Ryu Hae-ran the 2023 Rookie of the Year.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]