As the year teeters on the brink of goodbye, we welcome you to the inaugural Essentially Golf Women’s Awards. We’ll rewind the LPGA’s wildest gaffes from this season. Plus, epic feats you’ve probably missed. Until now. Yes, we tossed in a men’s category too—you can check out the winners here. Back to the ladies: let’s tee off with…

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Player of the Year

No one was prepared for Jeeno Thitikul.

The 22-year-old nabbed her first win of the season at the Mizuho Americas Open, and followed it up with the Buick LPGA Shanghai and the CME Group Tour Championship. With 14 top-10s (12 inside the top 5), she won the 2025 Rolex Player of the Year and Vare Trophy, the first Thai to claim the former.

Thitikul shattered Annika Sorenstam’s 2002 scoring average of 68.697 with 68.68. She also made history as the first to average 5.12 birdies/eagles per round. She set the LPGA record for the highest percentage of rounds in the 60s at 65.2 percent. For a third straight year, she topped the birdie-or-better average. Lorena Ochoa last did it between 2006 and 2008.

Oh, she also topped the money list, earning $7,578,330. That was $3,667,859 ahead of No. 2 Minjee Lee.

The only thing she’s got left to do is win a major now.

Honorary Mention: Winless since the fall of 2023, Minjee Lee won her third major at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. With this title, she became only the third Australian, after Karrie Webb and Jan Stephenson, to win three different majors. She is also one of the five active players on the LPGA with three legs of the Grand Slam in their hands. Anna Nordqvist, In Gee Chun, Yani Tseng, and Lydia Ko are the other four.

Shot of the Year

Months ago, Jenny Shin realized her driver was the reason behind her wacky swing. For further explanation, her driving accuracy went down from 78% to 73%. But her short game is awfully good.

At the U.S. Women’s Open, she proved that much to us when her ball landed in the collar of the green. While most of us would fumble while chipping from there, Shin hit her shot. The ball jumped, curled from left to right, and then smoothly rolled towards the hole.

Watch the shot of the year here:

Honorary Mention: At the Black Desert Championship, Stephanie Kyriacou dunked her second shot on the 18th for an elusive albatross. The celebration thereafter was brilliant. 

Disappointment of the Year

There were 29 different winners on the Tour this season. Surprisingly, Nelly Korda wasn’t one of them. That doesn’t make sense at all. She had nine top tens and was runner-up at two events. She didn’t miss a single cut, unlikeJeeno Thitikul. Yet, she went from seven wins last year to zero this year.

She didn’t play poorly.

Korda outpaced 2024 in scoring average, strokes gained: off the tee, birdie-or-better percentage, and bogey avoidance. Approach play held steady. Only strokes gained: around-the-green dipped from +0.42 to a measly +0.13. Scoring on par 4s matched, and par 5s ticked up to 4.55 from 4.50, yet she still topped the LPGA there. So, what went wrong?

Korda slipped in key stats during 2025, which partially explains her weird 2025 season. Driving distance increased, but driving accuracy? Not so much: down from hitting 75.75% fairways last year to 72.22%. Read our further analysis here.

Honorary Mention: Ruoning Yin registered seven top 10s this year and won thrice, including the Dow Championship. This season, she missed the cut twice and did not register a single win.

Best Moment of the Year

One Mimi Rhodes moment at the AIG Women’s Open still leaves us in awe. On Sunday, partner Steph Kyriacou struck her tee shot on the par-3 fifth to an inch. Nearly holed. “Follow that, Mimi Rhodes,” on-course reporter Karen Stupples said. She did.

Rhodes hit her tee shot. It dropped on the front of the green. Then, it bounced, scooted, and pinged off Kyriacou’s ball straight into the hole. It counted as an ace. Kyriacou replaced her ball, tapped in a birdie, and they strolled off with a combined three. Amazing.

Watch it below:

Honorary Mention: In the opening round of the BMW Ladies Championship, Lucy Li teed off on the par-3 13th at Pine Beach Golf Links, her fourth hole that day, and splashed a 155-yard 7-iron straight in for the first ace of her LPGA career. She won a brand-new BMW i7. 

Best Tournament of the Year

At the Chevron Championship, Mao Saigo nailed a birdie on the par-5 18th for a 2-under 74, knotting her with Hyo Joo Kim, Ruoning Yin, Ariya Jutanugarn, and Lindy Duncan at 7-under 281. It was the LPGA’s largest major playoff. Saigo clinched it on the 18th when Yin and Jutanugarn’s birdie putts lipped out. Jutanugarn had stubbed her third shot by only inches.

Yin held prime playoff position after reaching the green in two, but her 12-foot eagle putt lipped out. Saigo stayed cool to roll in the 3-footer for her first major win.

But Saigo’s biggest threat came on the 18th when she jumped into the pond, as is the winner’s tradition. She nearly drowned.

Honorary Mention: A week after Lottie Woad got her LPGA card, she won her first professional event at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open. She joined the LPGA’s rare debut-winners club (third ever) alongside Jin Young Ko (2018) and Beverly Hanson (1951).

Comeback Player of the Year

After winning her first LPGA title in three years at the Kroger Queen City Championship, Charley Hull confessed, “I’m buzzing.” Hull held a two-shot edge through the front nine, but rogue back-nine drives nearly sank her ship. Meanwhile, Jeeno Thitikul drained clutch putts early on the inward stretch. On the 14th, Jeeno snagged a solo lead, dropped it, then reclaimed it on the 72nd. Yet, her disastrous four-putt on the 18th hole betrayed her.

With this win, Hull became the first Englishwoman to win the Kroger Queen City Championship and reached a career-high ranking of 5. She is close to a major win, with four overall runner-up finishes. This season, she finished T2 at the AIG Women’s Open.

Honorary Mention: Brooke Henderson shattered a 2-year-7-month winless streak by claiming the 2025 CPKC Women’s Open. It’s her second national open title, following her 2018 win.

Facepalm Moment of the Year

You know what’s more ridiculous than slow play on the LPGA Tour? Yes, AimPoint. And the frustration reached its peak at the Honda LPGA Thailand when A Lim Kim used the controversial method for a… tap-in putt. Trust us, we were trying to forget this moment as well, but for the sake of this award, we had to bring it back.

On Saturday’s third-round par-3 fourth, A Lim Kim rolled a birdie putt just over a foot past. It was an easy tap-in. She approached the ball but first did her AimPoint slope-reading routine. Irritated, CBS on-course reporter Dottie Pepper wrote, “We’ve lost the plot.”

Indeed. The video speaks for itself:

Honorary Mention: At the ANNIKA on Friday, for some reason, the LPGA reduced the course size from 6,349 yards to 6,222 yards (some 127 yards of reduction). The scoring average dropped, but it still forced a unique slow-play issue at the event.

Viral Moment of the Year

At the ANNIKA, WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark teamed up with Sophie Cunningham and Lexi Hull. And while there were plenty of amazing moments between Clark and her playing partner, Nelly Korda, it was Cunningham’s shank that got us.

Cunningham was offered a chance to hit a drive by Clark, but she shanked it straight into the crowd. She bolted down the fairway to check on the struck fan (lucky or unlucky, you be the judge). After chatting, she signed the rogue ball and the fan’s Fever shirt before the WNBA trio pressed on for the remaining holes.

Honorary Mention: On Friday at the 2025 International Crown, after Charley Hull sank a putt on the 18th to register a win for Team World, Lydia Ko turned to her and gave her a deep bow. As soon as the LPGA posted the moment, it went viral.

Well, now that pretty much wraps up our 2025 Essentially Golf Women’s Awards.