The 2025 LPGA Tour major championship season gets underway on April 24, as the world’s top players descend upon The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas, for The Chevron Championship. It’s the first of the five major championships that are contested each year, and the athlete with the best season-long performance in the Tour’s biggest events will receive the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award, which was created back in 2014. Ten athletes have earned the honor since its inception, with some of the most notable players in all of women’s golf taking home the award that is named for 72-time LPGA Tour winner and 10-time major champion Annika Sorenstam.

Take a look back at all 10 previous winners of the Rolex Annika Major Award:

Michelle Wie West (2014)

Michelle Wie West and Annika Sorenstam

The Hawaii native won her first and only major championship during the 2014 LPGA Tour season, capturing the U.S. Women’s Open title at Pinehurst that year after defeating former Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Stacy Lewis by two strokes. She finished second at what was then known as the Kraft Nabisco Championship but is now referred to as The Chevron Championship, and even though Wie West didn’t play in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, missed the cut at the AIG Women’s Open and withdrew from The Amundi Evian Championship, she still earned enough points to win the inaugural Rolex ANNIKA Major Award.

Inbee Park (2015)

Inbee Park

Inbee Park collected her fifth and sixth major championship victories in 2015, winning the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Westchester Country Club by five shots over Sei Young Kim and then taking home the AIG Women’s Open trophy after beating her fellow Korean Jin Young Ko by three strokes at Turnberry in Scotland. Park also tied for 11th at that year’s ANA Inspiration, which is currently known as The Chevron Championship, tied for third at the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club and tied for eighth at The Amundi Evian Championship to rack up 144 points and earn the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award. She additionally won the Vare Trophy that season, an award given to the player with the season’s lowest scoring average.

Lydia Ko (2016)

Lydia Ko with Annika Sorenstam

It was 2016 when Lydia Ko made her jump into Poppie’s Pond at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., having won the ANA Inspiration by one stroke over In Gee Chun and Charley Hull. She also finished in the top three at two other majors that year, coming in solo second at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club and tying for third at the U.S. Women’s Open at CordeValle Golf Club. Ko then tied for 40th at the AIG Women’s Open at Woburn Golf Club and tied for 43rd at The Amundi Evian Championship, but she still secured the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award after playing so well early in the major season.

So Yeon Ryu (2017)

So Yeon Ryu with Annika Sorenstam

Republic of Korea native So Yeon Ryu won her second career major title at the 2017 ANA Inspiration, what is now known as The Chevron Championship. Her other major championship performances during the 2017 season included a T14 finish at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club, a T3 showing at the U.S. Women’s Open at Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey, a tie for 43rd at what is now the AIG Women’s Open and a T40 finish at The Amundi Evian Championship. She took home both the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award and Rolex Player of the Year honors that season, and Ryu also ascended to No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings for the first and only time in her career, a position she held from June 2017 to November 2017.

Ariya Jutanugarn (2018)

Ariya Jutanugarn receiving Rolex ANNIKA Major Award

Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn collected her second career major victory in 2018, capturing the U.S. Women’s Open title that year at Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club in Alabama. She tallied two other top-five major results in addition to that win, a pair of T4s that came at The Chevron Championship and the AIG Women’s Open, and ultimately claimed the 2018 Rolex ANNIKA Major Award after earning 88 total points in the year-long competition. Along with RAMA, Jutanugarn also swept the other season-ending awards for which she was eligible, winning the 2018 Rolex Player of the Year award, the Race to the CME Globe, the Vare Trophy and the Money Title that season. She also had two stints at Rolex Rankings No. 1 in 2018, holding the top position for three weeks from July to August and then ascending to that spot again from October to March 2019.

Jin Young Ko (2019)

Jin Young Ko with awards

Republic of Korea native Jin Young Ko claimed two of the year’s five major championships during the 2019 LPGA Tour season, winning both The Chevron Championship and The Amundi Evian Championship. She beat her fellow countrywoman Mi Hyang Lee by three shots at Mission Hills Country Club to earn a ceremonial leap into Poppie’s Pond, and then, just a few months later, she beat Shanshan Feng, Hyo Joo Kim and Jennifer Kupcho at Evian Resort Golf Club in France to earn her second career major title. After picking up those two victories, finishing third at the AIG Women’s Open and earning two more top-20 results at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open, Ko was a nearly automatic shoe-in to win the 2019 Rolex ANNIKA Major Award. She also won the Rolex Player of the Year award and became Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 for the first time in her career in 2019.

Patty Tavatanakit (2021)

Patty Tavatanakit with Annika Sorenstam

Patty Tavatanakit was a member of the 2020 rookie class who were still considered rookies in 2021 after their inaugural seasons were derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Thailand native became a Rolex First-Time Winner that year at The Chevron Championship, winning the event by two strokes over Lydia Ko. She then tied for 26th at the U.S. Women’s Open at The Olympic Club, tied for fifth at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club and tied for seventh at the AIG Women’s Open at Carnoustie, all performances that helped her to lock up the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award. Tavatanakit was also named the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year at the conclusion of the 2021 LPGA Tour season.

Minjee Lee (2022)

Minjee Lee receiving Rolex ANNIKA Major Award

Minjee Lee won the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in 2022, capturing what was her second career major title in North Carolina after beating Mina Kreiter by four strokes. She earned two additional top-five results in two other major championships that year, tying for second at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club just outside Washington, D.C. and then tying for fourth at the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield. Lee also finished solo 12th at The Chevron Championship, what was the last edition of that major championship to be contested at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Because of her strong performances in the Tour’s most notable events, Lee racked up 98 Rolex ANNIKA Major Award points and became the first Australian to win the prestigious award, one of the only year-long accolades she has earned throughout her Tour career.

Lilia Vu (2023)

Lilia Vu with Annika Sorenstam

California native Lilia Vu had an incredible year in 2023, winning a whopping four LPGA Tour titles, two of which were major championships. After becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner at the Honda LPGA Thailand, Vu earned her first career major victory at The Chevron Championship, defeating Angel Yin in a playoff at The Club at Carlton Woods. Just a few months later, she triumphed again in one of the biggest tournaments in all of golf, beating home-country hero Charley Hull at the AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey, England to collect her second major title of the 2023 season. Even though she had three other lackluster finishes in the other major championships two years ago, her two victories still propelled Vu to her first Rolex ANNIKA Major Award and helped her also secure Rolex Player of the Year honors.

Nelly Korda (2024)

Nelly Korda

Nelly Korda had an unbelievable 2024 LPGA Tour season, capturing an impressive seven victories last year alone, including a streak of five straight wins that concluded at The Chevron Championship. The current Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 won over Sweden’s Maja Stark by two strokes at The Club at Carlton Woods to earn her second career major title and tie Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam for most consecutive victories in consecutive starts. While Korda missed the cut at both the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open, she did finish in a tie for second at the AIG Women’s Open at the Old Course at St Andrews, a performance that, along with her win at Chevron and a T26 showing at The Amundi Evian Championship, helped her capture the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award. The 15-time LPGA Tour winner was also the 2024 Rolex Player of the Year last season, which was the first time in her career that Korda has won the points-based award.

Look Back at the 10 Previous Rolex ANNIKA Major Award Honorees

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