2025 Golfweek Awards: Female Player of the Year

For a long time, it looked like the LPGA might go the entire 2025 season without a repeat winner. After a year in which Nelly Korda won seven times and the stars shined brightly, this season proved quite the contrast with 29 different champions.

In the end, one player did run the table on year-end accolades, and it just so happened to be the best player in the game.

Without further ado, here's the short list for Golfweek’s Female Player of the Year …

Honorable mention: Minjee Lee

Australia's Lee won the third different major of her career at the KPMG Women's PGA, overcoming brutal winds and a controversial course setup to finish three clear of the field in Frisco, Texas. Add in a T-3 at the Amundi Evian, and Lee wrapped up the Rolex Annika Major Award for a second time (2022, 2025). Lee finished no worse than T-22 at the five majors.

In 22 total starts, she missed only one cut and posted eight top 10s, finding a career resurgence after switching to a long putter.

Honorable mention: Miyu Yamashita

Already a prolific winner on the JLPGA with 13 titles, Yamashita wasted no time in making a name on the LPGA. The diminutive player made her first LPGA title a major, winning by two at the AIG Women's British Open in Wales this summer before adding a second title via playoff at the Maybank Championship in Malaysia.

Yamashita finished second in the LPGA's Rolex Player of the Year points race and became the third player from Japan to win the 2025 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award.

Female Player of the Year: Jeeno Thitikul

Thitikul put an exclamation point on her season with her second consecutive victory at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, which meant another $4 million first-place prize. The performance gave her three wins in 20 starts, including five additional top-3 finishes, to notch the first Rolex Player of the Year Award of her young career.

She still hasn't won a major, however, losing in a playoff to Grace Kim at the Amundi Evian.

Thitikul's scoring average of 68.68 bested Annika's Sorenstam's 2002 record by 0.02. The 22-year-old Thai star also set a single season earnings record with $7,578,330.

And for a third consecutive year, Thitikul led the tour in birdie or better average. The last player to hold that kind of streak was Lorena Ochoa in 2006, 2007, 2008.

"I think it's just an honor," said Thitikul of her season-long accolades. "Definitely all that Vare Trophy, like Player of the Year, is always going to be representing how consistent you are in the whole long season, but holding that trophy just feels, you know, kind of goosebumps, because I think of all the history ...."

Past winners

2024: Nelly Korda

2023: Lilia Vu

2022: Lydia Ko