There’s never a shortage of fairy tale moments on the LPGA. Some of them happen on the grandest of stages from the game’s biggest stars. Others come hurtling out of nowhere.
Breaking a record held by 15-time major champion Tiger Woods usually fast-tracks a player to this type of year-end list. There were grab-a-tissue moments and “are you kidding me?!” putts. A real-life Cinderella who just couldn’t stop smiling and a one-time villain who flipped the script on how she’ll be remembered in this game with one sensational Sunday.
So here they are, the top 10 moments on the LPGA in 2019:
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10. Dream team
A caddie brought Cydney Clanton and Jasmine Suwannapura together for the inaugural Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, but Clanton believes it was more of a divine plan. One year ago, Clanton missed out on her full card by $8. After a closing 59, the Auburn grad had a two-year exemption and a spot in the Evian Championship and AIG Women’s British Open. Suwannapura’s invitation proved life-changing for her partner, who’d spent most of the year on the Symetra Tour.
9. Major hero
It’s one thing to look up to a sporting icon. It’s another to be invited along for an up-close-and-personal look at what it takes to win at the highest level. That’s what Karrie Webb offered Hannah Green through her namesake scholarship.
Green went from Webb’s houseguest at the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open (the first professional event Green ever attended) to major winner in relatively short order. No one at Hazeltine was prouder than Webb, who drenched Green in a shower of beer on the 18th green at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
8. Six’s speech
When Jeongeun Lee6 won the U.S. Women’s Open earlier this year, she pledged to address the media in English the next time she found herself on such a stage. Six months later, Lee6 brought down the house in Naples, Florida, with a flawless acceptance speech for the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award. She’d practiced it for months, and quite frankly outshined every native English speaker on stage that night.
7. Texas tough
Cheyenne Knight was staring qualifying school in the face when she showed up for what could have been her final start to the season back home in Texas. When Knight clinched her first LPGA victory at the Volunteers of America Classic, a mere 65 miles from home, she looked straight toward the heavens, dedicating the moment to older brother Brandon, who was killed by a drunk driver. Brandon wore the number 33 on his football jersey. Cheyenne shot 33-33 on Sunday in Texas.
6. Korda slam
Nelly Korda seemed destined to win in Australia. After all, the victorious scissor-kick is a family tradition. Korda’s father, Petr, won the 1998 Australian Open tennis title to get things started, and then eldest daughter Jessica recorded her first LPGA victory at the 2012 ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open. Young brother Sebastian followed suit by winning the 2018 Australian Open junior tennis tournament. Nelly made it four Down Under titles for the Kordas with a two-stroke victory at The Grange Golf Club.
5. The best, eh
Brooke Henderson became the winningest Canadian golfer of all time after claiming her ninth LPGA title at the Meijer LPGA Classic, surpassing Sandra Post, Mike Weir and George Knudson in career victories. Henderson’s father Dave, who taught her the game and remains her instructor, was on hand in Michigan. It marked the third time Henderson has won on Father’s Day.
4. Bogey-free bonanza
World No. 1 Jin Young Ko won two majors and swept every postseason award on offer. But the part of her year that proved most buzz-worthy was her bogey-free streak of 114 holes. The record bested Tiger Woods by four holes and exemplified the South Korean’s remarkable consistency.
3. Sei Young’s $1.5 million putt
The largest check in LPGA history came down to a single putt. Sei Young Kim drained a gutsy 25-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole at the CME Group Tour Championship to claim her third title of the season in dramatic fashion. Asked what she planned to do with the money, the big-hearted Kim said something meaningful.
2. Hello, Shibuno
There are rookie winners every year as well as non-members who earn their way onto the LPGA in one life-changing moment. But there’s never been a story quite like Hinako Shibuno, who hadn’t competed outside of her native Japan until this year’s AIG Women’s British Open. Miraculously, she won in her major debut, wooing the British crowds with her incomparable joy and speedy play. The “Smiling Cinderella” left us all marvelously enchanted on a day or riveting golf.
1. Suzann’s sensational walk-off birdie
It wasn’t just that Suzann Pettersen, a former villain at the Solheim Cup, knocked down a birdie putt on the 18th green to clinch the Cup for Europe. Or that the new mom had taken a 20-month break from competition before being named a captain’s pick by Catriona Matthew. The icing on this cake came in the fact that it was Pettersen’s final final putt. She scooped up son Herman in her arms after capping off the greatest Solheim Cup in history and walked straight into retirement.
An ending for the ages.
