LPGA's 2025 Player of the Year race is stacked with names who have never won it

After a year in which Nelly Korda blew away the competition for LPGA Player of the Year honors, the pendulum has swung into a wide-open race.

With no repeat winners midway through the 2025 season, Japan's Mao Saigo leads the tour with 88 points, five in front of Australia's Minjee Lee. Jeeno Thitikul, who leads the tour in top-10 finishes with seven, sits alone in third with 80 points.

Saigo won the Chevron Championship in a five-way playoff and has four additional top-10 finishes. Lee won her third different career major title at the KPMG Women's PGA and has three additional top 10s.

World No. 1 Korda won seven times last season but is winless thus far in 2025. She's currently 42 points behind Saigo in 12th place. No one ahead of Korda has previously won the award.

Ayako Okamoto (1987) is the only Japanese player to win the LPGA's POY since its inception in 1966. Last year, Saigo became the second Japanese player to win Rookie of the Year honors. Japan's Rio Takeda currently leads the ROY race and is fourth on the POY list, 20 points behind her compatriot.

Players must finish in the top 10 to earn POY points and points are doubled at majors. A victory at a regular LPGA event is worth 30 points and a runner-up is worth 12.

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This article originally appeared on Golfweek: LPGA Player of the Year race is wide open in 2025