As the CME Group Tour Championship brings the LPGA season to its dramatic close, the focus shifts from the final putts to the awards that define an entire year. And among all the accolades waiting to be handed out, one stands taller than the rest: the Vare Trophy, a prize earned not by a single Sunday surge, but by season-long mastery.

This is the award that demands precision, punishes inconsistency, and rewards only the most relentless performers on Tour. With anticipation building once again, it’s the perfect time to dive into the history, significance, and surprising evolution of the LPGA’s most exacting honor.

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History and significance of the Vare Trophy

The Vare Trophy gets its origins from the iconic US golfer, Glenna Collett Vare. Playing as an amateur, Vare was undoubtedly one of the golfing greats to have graced the game. Her stellar record included a record six US Women’s Amateur Championships victories between 1922 and 1935. The very first Vare Trophy was presented to the LPGA by Betty Jameson back in 1952. And since then, it has been a tradition for the LPGA golfers. 

Now, for winning the Vare Trophy, there is a bit of complicated math involved. According to the official LPGA Tour website, the “Vare Trophy scoring averages are computed on the basis of a Member’s total yearly score in Official Tournaments divided by the number of official rounds she played during a season.” As for the first winner of the trophy, it was Patty Berg, who won it in 1953, a year after Jameson presented the trophy to the LPGA. 

In its inaugural edition, Berg clinched the trophy with an average of 75. However, in an interesting twist, Berg happens to be a runner-up to Collet Vare when the duo crossed paths in the US Women’s Amateur in 1935. Now, coming to the eligibility criteria, the Tour previously stated that a player must compete in at least 70 rounds. However, back in 2004, Annika Sorenstam posted a stellar average of 68.697. But due to her not meeting the 70 rounds’ quota, she failed to win the Vare Trophy.

Interestingly, Sorenstam was a good 1.29 strokes clear of the winner, Grace Park. And it was after this incident that the Tour made some amendments to its qualifying criteria. To be eligible now, a player must meet the LPGA’s minimum-rounds requirements. In standard seasons, she has to play at least 60 total rounds, or 60% of the official tournament rounds with an individual score, whichever is less. In Olympic years, there’s an additional threshold of 70 rounds or 70% of official rounds, with Olympic rounds counting toward that total.

The last winner of the Vare Trophy was Ayaka Furue, who scored an average of 69.988 in 2024 to lift the coveted prize. Now, as the excitement builds, fans cannot wait to find out who will come out on top this time around.