By: Max Bechtoldt
With Lydia Ko’s incredible performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics last month, she clinched her spot in the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame. All she has done since is solidify her place even more, with wins at the AIG Women’s Open and yesterday at the Kroger Queen City Championship. The time between Inbee Park and Ko qualifying was 10 years. Will it take that long again.
The LPGA Tour Hall of Fame is one of the most debated and exclusive in all sports. Only 35 players currently are in it, with Ko being the lone active player. The LPGA Tour hall runs on an objective point system, where each player must earn 27 points. The criteria is:
- 1 point for every standard LPGA Tour win
- 2 points for every major championship title
- 1 point for every LPGA Tour Player of the Year win
- 1 point for every Vare Trophy (low scoring average)
- 1 point for the Olympic Gold Medal
Right now there are two fairly obvious candidates to be the next inductee, Nelly Korda and Jin Young Ko.
Jin Young Ko at 29-years-old currently sits at 20 points. She has 13 standard LPGA Tour wins and two majors (2019 Chevron and 2019 Evian). She won the 2019 LPGA Tour Player of the Year, and the 2021 LPGA Tour Player of the Year. In 2019, she also won the Vare Trophy. Ko hasn’t won on the Tour since May 2023, and has dealt with injury issues through most of the 2020’s. She has bounced back nicely this year though, with two runner-up finishes.
Korda has had her stats inflated a bit by her 2024 season, but there’s little reason to expect anything but great play from her moving forward. Korda has 12 standard LPGA Tour wins with two majors (2021 KPMG and 2024 Chevron). She also won the Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. That brings her total to 17 points at 26-years-old. It is important to point out though that because her first half was so strong, she’s the likely Player of the Year winner and leads in stroke average. If she closes out those two, she would be at 19. Korda did have a rough patch this season, but back-to-back top-five finishes show her form is back.
The interesting thing when breaking down both players, is noting the injury struggles each have faced. Jin Young Ko has missed time and form with a wrist problem, while Korda has missed significant time with a back injury and a serious blood clot in her arm.
Korda seems like the most likely player to get there first, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it happen in the next three years. In her last two seasons of relatively full health, 2021 and 2024, Korda has won a combined 10 events, two majors and an Olympic Gold Medal. At the least heading into 2025, she should be only nine points away. Earning an average of three points per season for the next few years is not out of the range of possibility, and it may even be less that she needs.
Jin Young Ko is elite when she is healthy still, but the lack of major championship performance at times concerns me. While she has come close, going over a year without a win is not a pace she can keep up if she wants to get to 27. The more wins come, the more likely Player of the Year and Vare Trophy are. We all know that a lot can change in two years on the LPGA Tour, but Korda seems on a much better pace at the moment.
