Ayaka Furue of Japan added to her breakout season at the CME Group Tour Championship, winning the Vare Trophy in a thriller.
The Vare Trophy, awarded annually to the player who has the lowest scoring average throughout the LPGA Tour season, was the tightest award race of the season. Coming into the final round, Furue needed to outscore Korea’s Haeran Ryu by at least one stroke to win the award outright. With her birdie on 17 and par on 18, she did just that.
Furue finished the season with a scoring average of 69.988 while Ryu finished exactly at 70.
It is worth noting, that Furue and Ryu were actually third and fourth on the tour in scoring average behind Jeeno Thitikul and Nelly Korda, but neither of the leaders met the minimum eligible rounds.
Thitikul had a chance to reach those rounds, but dropped out of The Annika driven by Gainbridge to preserve her Aon Risk Reward Challenge win, which gave her $1 million. That combined with her $4 million dollar win at the CME Group Tour Championship gave a nice consolation prize. If Korda hadn’t missed the Asian swing with an injury in October, she also would have been eligible.
The Vare Trophy is named after Glenna Collett Vare, considered the greatest women’s golfer of the pre-LPGA Tour years.
The Vare Trophy requires that players compete in a minimum of compete in a minimum of 60 total or 60 percent of Official Tournament rounds with an individual score, whichever is less, during the season; AND 70 total or 70% of total Official Tournament rounds, whichever is less, during the season; in seasons that include the Olympic Games, rounds played also count toward this requirement.
This continues an impressive season for Furue, who rose into the top 10 in the world, won her first major and finished top 10 a startling 12 times. With the Vare trophy comes an LPGA Hall of Fame point.
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