2022 U.S. Women’s Open champion becomes first player from Australia to win award
GULLANE, EAST LOTHIAN, Scotland, August 7, 2022 – Following the conclusion of the AIG Women’s Open, Minjee Lee has officially clinched the 2022 Rolex ANNIKA Major Award (RAMA), which recognizes the player who has the most outstanding record in all five major championships during the LPGA Tour season.
Along with her victory at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by ProMedica, Lee also earned a tie for second at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, 12th at The Chevron Championship and a tie for 43rd at the Amundi Evian Championship. She closed out her major season with a tie for fourth at the AIG Women’s Open, her fifth top-10 result in nine appearances at the championship.
The 26-year-old is the eighth different winner of the award since it was established in 2014. She joins Michelle Wie West (2014), Inbee Park (2015), Lydia Ko (2016), So Yeon Ryu (2017), Ariya Jutanugarn (2018), Jin Young Ko (2019) and Patty Tavatanakit (2021) as winners of the honor, which will be presented to Lee at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in November. The award was not given out in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Points for Rolex ANNIKA Major Award were awarded at all five major championships in 2022 to competitors who finished among the top 10 and ties. To earn the award, a player must have also won at least one of the five majors. Jennifer Kupcho (The Chevron Championship), In Gee Chun (KPMG Women’s PGA Championship), Brooke Henderson (Amundi Evian Championship) and Ashleigh Buhai (AIG Women’s Open) were the other players to qualify this season.
Heading into the year’s final major championship, the AIG Women’s Open, there were nine players who had a chance at earning the RAMA, including Lydia Ko, who needed a win and to have Minjee Lee finish ninth or worse to become the award’s first multiple recipient. Lee entered the event with a 24-point lead in the standings, and her tie for fourth sealed the award with 98 total points.
Lee won the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open in dominating fashion, finishing at 13-under 271, the lowest score in the major’s 77-year history. With her win, Lee joined Jan Stephenson (1983) and Karrie Webb (2000, 2001) as Australians to win the major championship. She also joined Webb in elite Australian company to have won the title at Pine Needles, which Webb achieved in 2001. It was Lee’s second major victory following her first at the 2021 Amundi Evian Championship. Lee has earned a total of eight LPGA Tour wins since becoming a rookie in 2015, including her first victory of the season at the Cognizant Founders Cup. She currently leads in many statistical categories on the LPGA Tour including the Rolex Player of the Year standings (149 points), Race to the CME Globe points list (2,502.953), Aon Risk Reward Challenge (-1.038) and in scoring average (69.173).
Lee represented Australia at both the 2016 and 2020 Olympics, finishing T7 and T29, respectively, and is a three-time member of Team Australia at the International Crown (2014, 2016 and 2018). In 2012, she won the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship; her brother, Min Woo, who plays on the PGA and DP World Tours, won the 2016 U.S. Junior Amateur, making them the only sister/brother combination to win those events.
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