When the top 10 in the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award point standings arrive at Muirfield for the AIG Women’s Open they’ll be playing for not just the fifth and final major title of the season but also a chance to take home one of the most prestigious honors in the women’s game.
The Rolex ANNIKA Major Award is bestowed upon the player who displays the most consistent performance in each of the season’s major championships. Players who finish in the top 10 in each of the year’s five majors earn points towards qualifying for the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award, but also must have won at least one of the majors in order to take home the prize.
Minjee Lee jumped to the top of the standings following her victory at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by ProMedica and further cemented her position with her runner-up finish at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship with a total of 84 points.
Lee’s closest competitors are the other three major winners of 2022.
Jennifer Kupcho captured the season’s first major at the Chevron Championship where she became a Rolex First-Time Winner and earned 60 points to become the first player eligible for the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award in 2022. Kupcho was overtaken in the point standings by Lee following her strong performance in the season’s first two majors and Kupcho sits in a tie for second heading into the AIG Women’s Open.
In Gee Chun is tied with Kupcho with 60 points thanks to her victory at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the third major of the season. Brooke Henderson joined Kupcho and Chun at second in the point standings with her victory at the Amundi Evian Championship. For Kupcho, Chun, and Henderson their major victories were their only top 10 finishes in the first four majors of the year.
Besides the four major winners atop the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award standings, seven players round out the top 10 and mathematically have a chance of winning the award. These players are: Lexi Thompson (38 pts.), Hyo Joo Kim (36 pts.), Hye-Jin Choi (30 pts.), Lydia Ko (30 pts.), Jessica Korda (26 pts.), Mina Harigae (24 pts.), and Sophia Schubert (24 pts.).
There would be a number of scenarios that would need to take place in order for any of these seven players to have a chance of winning the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award but first and foremost they’d need to win the AIG Women’s Open in order to become eligible for the award.
Lee would also have to finish outside the top 10 at Muirfield and not earn any points at the final major of the year for players like Harigae and Schubert to have a chance.
The Rolex ANNIKA Major Award will be awarded upon the conclusion of the AIG Women’s Open and presented to the player who has played most consistently throughout the 2022 LPGA Tour major season. The recipient of this year award hinges on the outcome of the season’s final major which will identify a deserving champion to join an elite company of past recipients of the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award which includes Ariya Jutanugarn, Jin Young Ko, Lydia Ko, Inbee Park, So Yeon Ryu, Patty Tavatanakit, and Michelle Wie West.
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