The $7 million CME Group Tour Championship wrapped up the 2023 season for the LPGA Tour. This year was full of surprises. While Rose Zhang garnered the majority of the limelight with a stellar debut, Ruoning Yin, the Chinese Pro climbed to the top spot on the Rolex World Ranking after ending 2022 on 151. On the other hand, in a season that saw 12 first-time LPGA Tour winners, veterans such as Lydia Ko, Nelly Korda, and Lexi Thompson were all left empty-handed.

The season also saw two unexpected entrants into the Player of the Year race. Lilia Vu, who turned pro in 2019, came into the season with zero titles to her name and left with four, including two Majors. Celine Boutier, too, came from relative obscurity for the most part of her six-year career to thundering applause. With only Grant Thornton Invitational left this year, it’s time to look at the most successful LPGA Pro of 2023. 

Who is the most successful LPGA Tour player of the year?

Coming to the CME Group Tour Championship, the battle for the best player of the year was a two-way race between Lilia Vu and Celine Boutier. Both of them had their breakout season this year with four titles to their names. Ironically, both of them failed to win the season-ending Tour Championship, with Amy Yang pocketing the $2M winner’s check.

Regardless, Vu one-upped her French counterpart at the end of the season. The 24-year-old’s fourth-place finish at the season-ending championship put her ahead of Boutier, who finished at the sixteenth place. Moreover, Vu usurped the 31-year-old French golfer in the Race to CME Globe. 

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Her solo fourth-place finish earned her 180 points, while Boutier’s tied 16th finish with 6 other LPGA Pros meant she could haul in only 7.57 points. Quite naturally, after the Tournament ended, Vu was awarded the Rolex Player of the Year Award. Additionally, her two Major wins at the Chevron Championship and the AIG Women’s Open meant the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award went her way as well.

The 2023 season started with a bang for the four-time LPGA Tour winner. She became the Rolex first-time winner at the ISPS Handa Classic in Thailand in February. 11 months later, Vu will eye her fifth title at the Grant Thornton Invitational.

When is Grant Thornton Invitational teeing off?

The American pro will join forces with Joel Dahmen at the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational next month. 16 teams, comprised of PGA Tour Pros and LPGA Tour Pros, will face each other. Teeing off at Tiburon Golf Club, where the CME Group Tour Championship was held last week, the mixed-gender event will have scramble, foursome, and modified four-ball. 

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Aside from Vu, Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson, Megan Khang, Charley Hull, Rose Zhang, Ruoning Yin, and Celine Boutier are also in the field. Notably, it includes all the LPGA Major winners of this season, 11 Solheim Cuppers, and 3 Ryder Cuppers. The mixed-gender event will tee off on December 8.

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