Korea’s Hae Ran Ryu has earned the LPGA Tour’s 2023 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award, clinching the honour after finishing in a tie for 12th at last week’s The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.
Entering this week’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, Ryu has earned 893 total points and holds an unassailable 274-point lead over Australia’s Grace Kim in the standings.
Ryu is the 14th player from the Republic of Korea to win the award and the first since Jeongeun Lee6 in 2019. The first Korean winner was the legendary Se Ri Pak in 1998.
“I’m honoured to earn the Rookie of the Year award and add my name to the prestigious list of winners before me. This year has been a memorable one, and I’m proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish on the LPGA Tour,” said Ryu. “I’m forever grateful to my team and fans for their support over my first season, and I can’t wait to close out the year at the CME Group Tour Championship.”
Ryu first earned LPGA Tour membership after finishing with medallist honours at the 2022 LPGA Q-Series. The 22-year-old became a Rolex First-Time Winner at this year’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G and has earned an additional five top-10 finishes so far this season. She also recorded a career-best major championship result at the U.S. Women’s Open, where she finished eighth.
Ryu heads into the final week of the 2023 season ranked second in greens in regulation (75.72%), third in birdies (314), tied for seventh in eagles (9), tied for 10th in rounds under par (43), and is in 12th place in the Race to CME Globe rankings. She has earned over US$1.5 million this season and sits 15th on the Official Money List.
Ryu has won five times on the Korea LPGA Tour, where she also won Rookie of the Year honours in 2020. As an amateur, she won the 2018 Korean Women’s Amateur, and competed in the 2016 and 2017 World Junior Girls Championship, 2018 Asian Games and 2018 Patsy Hankins Trophy.
Since its inception in 1962, 12 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year winners have become members of either the LPGA Hall of Fame or World Golf Hall of Fame: Susie Maxwell Berning (1964), Joanne Carner (1970), Jan Stephenson (1974), Amy Alcott (1975), Nancy Lopez (1978), Beth Daniel (1979), Patty Sheehan (1981), Juli Inkster (1984), Annika Sorenstam (1994), Karrie Webb (1996), Se Ri Pak (1998) and Lorena Ochoa (2003).
