Several players decided to step away from LPGA Tour competition throughout the 2024 season, a list of impressive talent that includes major champions, former Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1s and Solheim Cup stalwarts. Take a look at which athletes chose to hang up their full-time careers as LPGA Tour members last year.

So Yeon Ryu

The two-time major champion announced on Instagram on March 21, 2024, that The Chevron Championship would be her last event competing on the LPGA Tour. Ryu’s stellar career saw the Republic of Korea native win a total of six times on Tour, ascend to No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, earn 2017 Rolex Player of the Year honors, win the 2017 Rolex ANNIKA Major Award, represent her country in three Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crowns and be named the 2012 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year. Ryu finished up her time as an LPGA Tour member at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas, and was showered with love and admiration by her friends and LPGA Tour colleagues after she played her final 18 holes on Friday at The Chevron Championship.

Amy Olson

North Dakota native Amy Olson publicly shared that she would no longer be playing professional golf on Instagram on April 24 of last year, having not competed in an event since she teed it up in the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open while pregnant with her first child. Since joining the Tour in 2014, Olson earned 13 top-10 results, two of which were T2s that she recorded at the 2018 Amundi Evian Championship and the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open, and has amassed $2,669,569 in career earnings.

Gerina Mendoza

Gerina Mendoza hadn’t played an LPGA Tour event since the 2023 Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America before she shared that she was stepping away from the Tour full-time on July 13, 2024. Mendoza also announced in the same social media post that she had gotten married and was expecting her second child, a baby girl who was born on October 20, 2024. In her time with the LPGA Tour, Mendoza collected 40 career top-10 finishes, played on the U.S. Solheim Cup Team in 2013, 2015 and 2017, was a member of the United States Team at the 2016 Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown, represented the U.S. at the 2016 Rio Olympics and made more than $4 million in career earnings.

Mariajo Uribe

The Colombian wrapped up her pro golf career in style at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, nearly holing out for albatross on the par-5 18th hole at Le Golf National in France and ultimately making eagle on her final hole as a professional athlete. The Paris Games were the third Olympics that Uribe had competed in, as she also played for Colombia in Rio in 2016 and in Tokyo in 2021. During her LPGA Tour career, Uribe earned 46 top-25 finishes, 14 of which were top-10 results, and made over $2 million in earnings.

Catriona Matthew

Scotland’s Catriona Matthew played in her final event in August at the AIG Women’s Open at the Old Course at St Andrews, a fitting tournament for her to end her career on, considering she won the tournament in 2009 not long after giving birth to her daughter Sophie. Along with that major victory, Matthew collected three other LPGA Tour titles, winning the 2001 Cup Noodles Hawaiian Ladies Open, the 2004 Wendy’s Championship for Children and the 2011 Lorena Ochoa Invitational. Often referred to by her nickname “Beany,” Matthew was a member of nine European Solheim Cup Teams, amassing an 18-11-8 record and earning a whopping 22 total points for the Blue and Yellow in the biennial team competition. She also captained two European Teams to victory in 2019 at Gleneagles in Scotland and in 2021 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

In Kyung Kim

In Kyung Kim decided the night before the final round of the AIG Women’s Open that she’d play her final 18 holes as a full-time professional golfer at the Old Course at St Andrews, revealing the choice only to those in her inner circle before teeing it up one last time in Scotland. The decision was a surprise to everyone, particularly to now-retired R&A CEO Martin Slumbers, with whom Kim had grown close after her win at the AIG Women’s Open in 2017. Since joining the LPGA Tour in 2007, Kim has collected seven titles, including that major victory at Kingsbarns, and she also represented the Republic of Korea in two Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crowns, most recently doing so in 2018. Her career earnings total more than $10 million.

Laura Davies

Dame Laura Davies shared on a Sky Sports broadcast that she had intended to play her final LPGA Tour event at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews but elected to forgo the opportunity because her game didn’t feel like it was up to snuff to compete at the Old Course. While it’s unlikely that we will see much of the Dame going forward, particularly as she hasn’t teed it up on Tour since the 2023 AIG Women’s Open, and while many consider her to now be pretty much retired, there is still a chance that Davies could try to have one last hoorah on the LPGA Tour before officially hanging it up. She is a 20-time LPGA Tour winner and has captured four major titles, the most recent of which came at the 1996 du Maurier Classic. Davies holds the record for most Solheim Cup appearances, having competed on 12 European Teams, and she also holds the record for both most matches played at 46 and most overall points won at 25. She has recorded 128 top-10 results since joining the Tour in 1988 and has made over $9 million in official career earnings.

Angela Stanford

After her streak of 98 consecutive majors played ended at The Chevron Championship because she was unable to qualify for or receive an exemption into the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club, Angela Stanford announced that she would be retiring at the end of the 2024 season on social media on April 24, 2024. The Texan had a prolonged farewell tour, one that saw her celebrated at some of her favorite events, and officially wrapped things up at the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei in November. Stanford collected seven Tour titles, most notably winning The Amundi Evian Championship in 2018, and made over $12 million in career earnings. She was a member of six U.S. Solheim Cup Teams, earning 5.5 career points for the Red, White and Blue, and has also served as an assistant captain in recent years, most recently in 2024 when the U.S. Team won the biennial team competition at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.

Brittany Lincicome

Brittany Lincicome played her final event as a full-time LPGA Tour member at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, not too far from where she grew up in Seminole, Fla., and in one of the best moments of the year, Lincicome’s dad Tom carried her bag for her on her final hole on Sunday at Pelican Golf Club, an emotional moment for the father-daughter duo. Joining the Tour in 2005, Lincicome won eight times, two of which were major championships in 2009 and 2015, and has collected 66 total career top-10 results, making nearly $10 million in career earnings. She was a member of six U.S. Solheim Cup Teams and has a 7-12-2 record in those appearances, earning eight career points for the Americans. Even though she won’t be playing much in 2025, Lincicome does plan to compete in The Chevron Championship, the major championship she won twice in her 20-year LPGA Tour career.

Lexi Thompson

The 11-time winner shared in a surprise announcement at the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club that 2024 would be her last season competing full-time on the LPGA Tour. Thompson became a member of the organization in 2012 and has recorded 91 career top-10 results since, also earning 158 top-25 finishes in her time with the Tour. She has made well over $14 million in official money and won both the Race to the CME Globe and the Vare Trophy, doing so in the same year back in 2017. Thompson was a member of seven U.S. Solheim Cup Teams, most recently the 2024 squad that won the biennial team competition for the first time since 2017 earlier this year at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, and has a 10-10-7 record, collecting a whopping 13.5 points for the Americans in her seven appearances. Thompson was recognized with the Founders Award in 2023, has been a member of four Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown teams and represented the United States at both the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games.

Ally Ewing

Three-time LPGA Tour winner Ally Ewing stunned many of her fans and LPGA Tour colleagues when she announced that she would retire at the end of the year on September 25, 2024. The 2024 season was a solid one for Ewing, who earned six top-10 results, five of which came consecutively in a five-tournament stretch from the U.S. Women's Open presented by Ally to The Amundi Evian Championship, and she nearly qualified for her first Olympics in Paris, coming up just short after tying for fifth at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club. Ewing joined the LPGA Tour in 2016 and racked up 25 total career top-10 finishes as well as 71 top 25s in her time with the organization, making over $6 million in earnings. She participated in four Solheim Cups as a member of the United States Team in 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024 and was named the 2024 Founders Award winner this past November.

Marina Alex

It wasn’t revealed until Sunday at the CME Group Tour Championship that Marina Alex was retiring from professional golf and that the final round at Tiburón Golf Club would be her last as an LPGA Tour member. Several of her colleagues and those in her inner circle knew it was coming, but many were shocked when the news was made public on the NBC broadcast that Alex would no longer be competing on the LPGA Tour. Alex won twice in her time since becoming a Tour member in 2013 at the 2018 Portland Classic and the 2022 Palos Verdes Championship presented by Bank of America and collected a total of 35 top-10 results and 83 top-25 finishes throughout her last 12 years with the organization. She was a member of the 2019 U.S. Solheim Cup Team, earning two points for the Americans that year after posting a 1-1-2 record in her first and only Solheim Cup appearance.

Emma Talley

Emma Talley shared on episode 17 of the “Inside the LPGA” podcast that she has retired from full-time professional golf. While she hinted that she might tee it up in an event or two on the LPGA Tour next season, Talley then revealed not long after making her retirement announcement that she is expecting her first child in June of 2025, making it highly unlikely that fans will see the University of Alabama alum play competitively anytime soon. Since becoming a Tour member in 2018, the Kentucky native has earned 10 career top-10 results, 22 total top-25 finishes and made just over $1.4 million in official earnings. Talley is best known for her victories at the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur and the 2015 NCAA Division I Women's Golf National Championship, but she also has an Epson Tour victory on her resume, the 2017 Island Resort Championship.

Take a Look at Which Athletes Stepped Away From the LPGA Tour Full-Time in 2024

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