Top candidates for 2024 LPGA Rookie of the Year

With only six events remaining on the LPGA schedule, it’s crunch time for year-end awards. The 2024 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race is quite the international affair, with players from four different countries in the top five. An American player, however, isn’t among them.

Actually, an American hasn’t won Rookie of the Year since Paula Creamer in 2005. Auston Kim is the highest-ranked U.S. player on the list at No. 6, and she’d have to win this week’s BMW Ladies Championship to have a chance at the honor and then win three more times. Kim is currently tied for 14th.

There are seven players who mathematically have a chance to win, though it’s not a particularly tight race. Interestingly, an LPGA rookie has yet to win this season. Only top-40 finishes garner points. A victory is worth 150 points, a second is worth 80 and a 10th-place finish is worth 50 points.

Here’s how things stand as the season winds down:

Mao Saigo of Japan hits a tee shot during the final round of the Shanghai LPGA golf tournament in Shanghai on October 13, 2024. (Photo by STRINGER / AFP) / China OUT (Photo by STRINGERSTRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)

Saigo leads the standings by 122 points and has led since the Dana Open in July. With seven top-10 finishes, she’s in line to become the second player from Japan to win Rookie of the Year, joining Hiromi Kobayashi (1990).

Jin Hee Im of South Korea lines up her shot from the third tee during the final round of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G 2024 at Pinnacle Country Club on September 29, 2024 in Rogers, Arkansas. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

South Korea’s Im has four top-10 finishes this season. She’s also T-14 through two days at the rain-suspended BMW. The 26-year-old hasn’t finished outside the top 35 since mid-July.

Gabriela Ruffels of Australia looks on during the final round of the Portland Classic at Columbia Edgewater Country Club on August 04, 2024 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

Ruffels isn’t in the field at the BMW so she can’t make up any ground this week. The former U.S. Women’s Amateur champion has four top 10s this season, including a trio of third-place finishes from early in the year. She would become the fourth Australian to win Rookie of the Year, joining Karrie Webb (1996), Jan Stephenson (1947) and Margie Masters (1965).