Player of the Year race tightening with four events left

With four events left in the season, the Rolex LPGA Player of the Year race could once again turn into a doozie.

As it stands, the Rolex Annika Major Award winner Minjee Lee holds a 19-point lead over Brooke Henderson. Unlike the PGA Tour, the LPGA’s POY is based on a points system, with no player votes. A victory is worth 30 points and a second place is worth 12. A 10th-place finish is worth one point.

Points were doubled at the majors, which explains why four of the top six players in the standings are 2022 majors winners.

Jennifer Kupcho has won three times this season, but her victory with Lizette Salas at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational wasn’t eligible for POY points. She’s sixth on the list and trails Lee by 54 points.

Last season, Jin Young Ko had to win the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship to overtake Nelly Korda in the points race, and she did just that, earning an LPGA Hall of Fame point in the process. Ko won three of her last four starts to make a dramatic late-season push.

This year, both Ko and Korda have battled health issues and are T-10 and 43rd, respectively, in the POY standings.

Here’s a closer look at the top four in the running as the race winds down:

SOUTHERN PINES, NORTH CAROLINA – JUNE 05: Minjee Lee of Australia poses with the trophy after winning the 77th U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club on June 05, 2022 in Southern Pines, North Carolina. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Minjee Lee has missed the cut in her last two starts on the LPGA, but her performances in the majors have her still in control. The 2022 U.S. Women’s Open winner took a share of second at the KPMG Women’s PGA and tied for fourth at the AIG Women’s British Open. She also won the Cognizant Founders Cup.

Lee, who will play next week at the BMW Ladies Championship, has never won the LPGA Player of the Year award.

 

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, FRANCE – JULY 24: Brooke M. Henderson of Canada poses trophy after winning the The Amundi Evian Championship during day four of The Amundi Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club on July 24, 2022 in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

Brooke Henderson nabbed her second major title this season at the Amundi Evian Championship on the heels of victory at the ShopRite LPGA. Like Lee, Henderson has never won Player of the Year honors. She is not listed in the field next week in South Korea, nor in…