In honor of Christmas, let’s take a look at some of the strongest skills from players currently on the LPGA Tour:
MINJEE LEE’S APPROACH GAME
Even in one of the weakest seasons of Minjee Lee’s career, the two-time major champion was dominant on approach. While putting held Lee from getting any wins in 2024, she led the tour in strokes gained approach for the third straight time. Lee’s proximity to the hole was phenomenal and she was top 20 in greens in regulation for the fourth season in a row. If she can get the putter figured out, she will be right back in her spot as one of the top players on the LPGA Tour.
NELLY KORDA’S DRIVING
Nelly Korda does a lot of things at an elite level, it’s how she won Player of the Year and seven tournaments in 2024. While her chipping directly near the green may be the best on the LPGA Tour, I think driving is her greatest skill. For the second time in three years she led the tour in strokes gained off the tee. While she has lost some distance, a little over five yards off her peak, she is still all around elite with the driver, hitting her second highest accuracy mark of her career at about 76%. For reference, Aaron Rai, the leader in driving accuracy on the PGA Tour in 2024, hit 72%.
LILIA VU’S CLUTCH PLAY
Lilia Vu didn’t make a lot of big waves in 2024, dealing with injuries for much of the first half of the season, but when she did, she proved once again she’s one of the most clutch figures in all of golf. Vu won a big-time playoff for her lone solo victory of the year at the Meijer LPGA Classic. She also, despite a bad overall performance, clinched the winning point for the United States Solheim Cup team. In 2023, she won her first major in a playoff and shot six-strokes better than her second-place finisher Charley Hull at the AIG Women’s Open, winning by six. While round fours weren’t as strong for Vu in 2024, she led the tour in final round scoring average in 2023.
ANGEL YIN’S PUTTING
I think after the CME Group Tour Championship, people are finally realizing just how elite of a putter Angel Yin is. While she is also known as a power hitter, some of that distance has faded in the last two seasons. The result has been better golf for the 26-year-old. Yin is now on her second season in the top three on tour in strokes gained putting, a category she led in 2023. No putt is unmakeable for Yin and it is performances like the CME Group Tour Championship, where she couldn’t miss on the greens, that make you wonder how she hasn’t won more.
LYDIA KO’S SHORT GAME
Lydia Ko is a wizard around the greens, it is what has fueled one of the greatest careers in LPGA Tour history, and the resurgence in 2024. While Ko’s numbers maybe don’t stack up, in the strokes-gained era (2022-2024) she hasn’t led or even finished top five, the eye test speaks for itself. Unlike a lot of elite chippers though, Ko backs it up with phenomenal putting, leading in 2022 in strokes gained putting and finishing top 15 in 2024. Ko was also top 20 in sand save percentage for the seventh consecutive season in 2024.
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