Over the weekend, WGDN contributor Jesse Morrison asked me a question about the third best player on the LPGA Tour currently is, and I didn’t put much thought into it. But the question stuck in the back of my mind. The LPGA Tour has a clear and obvious top two players right now in Jeeno Thitikul and Nelly Korda. Each have multiple wins in 2026 and have been at the top of the Rolex Rankings for the better part of 16 months.
There isn’t a fun argument for who is the best on the LPGA Tour. I think most Nelly supporters would understand an argument for Jeeno and vice versa. There is an interesting argument though with a lot of great players in contention, for who the third best is. Let’s take a look at some of the candidates:
Lydia Ko
Lydia Ko would probably be the most popular answer here, but have the results over the last year backed that up? Ko is a consistent force, making all but one cut this year and finishing top 10 in four events already. Her winning success isn’t that far off either, with a win in early 2025, plus three wins (including a major) and an Olympic Gold Medal in 2024. Ko is a legend, that much is clear, and still draws huge crowds and has good finishes in 2026. Is that enough to hold her spot as the third best player in the world currently? She is still well-rounded, arguably playing better with her driver than ever in her career. Ko’s short game is still great, but not quite the elite level we are used to seeing. I think Ko’s game is in a good place, and her star power is arguably growing, but no wins in the past year is a bit concerning for her argument here.
Minjee Lee
Minjee Lee plays well in majors. That much cannot be debated. She is tied with Nelly Korda for the most in the 2020’s with three. Lee probably would have had a much stronger argument at the beginning of 2026 than she has now though. Lee had a fantastic comeback campaign in 2025, grabbing eight top-10 finishes and a major championship title. She was putting better than ever and her traditional strength, her approach game, wasn’t even in great form. Coming into the year, she was a massive Player of the Year candidate. So what has happened? She has had some good results, with two top-10 finishes in five starts, but injuries and lack of play has held her back. Her best finish since mid-March was a T49 at Chevron and it is really difficult to put her in that top three level at the moment.
Ruoning Yin
Yin has a bit of the opposite issue as Minjee Lee, where she was probably off many radars entering the season, but has come back furiously in 2026 with a fantastic early year. Yin was still solid in 2025, but not great, registering no wins and three top-10 finishes in 16 starts. You don’t have to go back far though to 2024, where she won three times and had seven top 10s while finishing No. 5 in the CME Standings. Early this season, Yin is showing her dominance with three top-five finishes in a row, moving her back into the top four of the Rolex Rankings.
Miyu Yamashita
Yamashita won the LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year in arguably the most stacked class in recent memory, maybe ever. She won two times including in a major championship and had 12 top-10 finishes. She did this while being one of the shortest hitters on the Tour. Yamashita was the best putter on Tour in terms of strokes gained in 2025 and so far in 2026 she is repeating that accomplishment. The results are still good as well, even if she hasn’t won. In 10 starts she has made nine cuts and had five top-10 finishes. Four of those top-10 finishes were top fives. Even though she only averages about 248 yards off the tee and loses strokes on approach, she is still a dominant figure in the game playing her unique style.
Hyo Joo Kim
Because she made such big headlines early this year with two wins, I think a lot of people think that Kim has had a fall off of late, but she is still in terrific form. She notched a top-10 finish at the first major of the year and recently won on the KLPGA Tour. Outside of Korda and maybe Thitikul, nobody is playing better golf more consistently than Kim. She ranks No. 2 in the CME Standings and No. 3 in the Rolex Rankings. This isn’t anything new for Kim either, who averages almost seven top-10 finishes per season over her 10-year career. Like Yamashita, Kim isn’t what anyone would consider a long hitter, though she has added significant distance, but it is really tough to find a flaw in her game. She hits fairways at an elite clip, gets the ball on the green well enough, but even when she misses, she has a top-tier short game.
Hannah Green
While Hannah Green has rarely been viewed as an elite player on the LPGA Tour over her career, maybe she should be. She isn’t always the most consistent, but even through that, she gets results. Dating back to 2021, Green has 31 top-10 finishes, six wins and three top 10s in majors. Green’s case is heavily carried by her play in 2024 and the early stages of 2026. Green had three wins in 2024 and has been dominant so far in 2026 with two wins, two additional top-10 finishes, plus two wins on the Ladies European Tour. She is the only player worldwide to notch four wins at the professional level. She is a good driver of the ball and her putting might be the most underrated quality of any player on the LPGA Tour. When she is playing with confidence, which she has throughout this season, she is absolutely one of the best in the world. Another major championship would do a lot for her case.
Lottie Woad
Woad’s win at the Kroger Queen City Championship is what mainly sparked this discussion, which may sound ridiculous when you consider just how early it is in her career. Take a look at the stats though, and it is an intriguing thought. In what works out to be just under one full year on the LPGA Tour, Woad has two wins, eight top-10 finishes and has made 16/19 starts. For reference, Nelly Korda in 2025 made 19 starts, had nine top-10 finishes and no wins and still finished top 10 for Player of the Year. Woad has a long way to go, and can be easily compared to Rose Zhang as college superstars that started incredibly hot. Before Woad can be considered a top-three player though, I do feel like she has to play a full season on the Tour.
Conclusion:
The gut feeling for me right now is Yamashita is the third best player currently on the LPGA Tour. She is consistent, the best putter in the sport and shouldn’t have much of a problem getting a couple wins on a regular basis throughout her career. She isn’t quite as young as some players in their second year, she turns 25 this Summer, but she should get better as her confidence grows on this Tour.
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