LPGA Vare Trophy Winners for Low Scoring Average

Below are the yearly leaders in scoring average on the LPGA Tour, dating to 1953 when the tour first recognized a leader in this statistical category. Season-ending leaders in this category who played a minimum of 60 rounds are awarded the Vare Trophy.

A few notes about the list:

• The golfers won the Vare Trophy most often are Kathy Whitworth (7 times) and Annika Sorenstam (6 times).
• The first time the LPGA's Vare Trophy winner finished the year with a scoring average below 70 was 1998, when Sorenstam did it (69.987).
• The lowest scoring average so far recorded for an LPGA season is 68.697, which Sorenstam recorded in 2002. (She had the same scoring average in 2004 but did not play enough rounds to qualify for the Vare Trophy that year.) A sub-69 average didn't happen again until Lydia Ko did it in 2022.

LPGA Vare Trophy Winners (Low Season Scoring Average)

2024 — Jeeno Thitikul, 69.33
2023 — Jeeno Thitikul, 69.533
2022 — Lydia Ko, 68.988
2021 — Lydia Ko, 69.329
2020 — Danielle Kang, 70.082
2019 — Jin Young Ko, 69.062
2018 — Ariya Jutanugarn, 69.415
2017 — Lexi Thompson, 69.114
2016 — In Gee Chun, 69.583
2015 — Inbee Park, 69.415
2014 — Stacy Lewis, 69.53
2013 — Stacy Lewis, 69.48
2012 — Inbee Park, 69.643
2011 — Yani Tseng, 69.66
2010 — Na Yeon Choi, 69.873
2009 — Lorena Ochoa, 70.157
2008 — Lorena Ochoa, 69.699
2007 — Lorena Ochoa, 69.685
2006 — Lorena Ochoa, 69.236
2005 — Annika Sorenstam, 69.329
2004 — Grace Park, 69.99
2003 — Se Ri Pak, 70.03
2002 — Annika Sorenstam, 68.697
2001 — Annika Sorenstam, 69.421
2000 — Karrie Webb, 70.049
1999 — Karrie Webb, 69.433
1998 — Annika Sorenstam, 69.987
1997 — Karrie Webb, 70.00
1996 — Annika Sorenstam, 70.47
1995 — Annika Sorenstam, 71.000
1994 — Beth Daniel, 70.904
1993 — Betsy King, 70.85
1992 — Dottie Pepper, 70.80
1991 — Pat Bradley, 70.66
1990 — Beth Daniel, 70.54
1989 — Beth Daniel, 70.38
1988 — Colleen Walker, 71.26
1987 — Betsy King, 71.14
1986 — Pat Bradley, 71.10
1985 — Nancy Lopez, 70.73
1984 — Patty Sheehan, 71.40
1983 — JoAnne Carner, 71.41
1982 — JoAnne Carner, 71.49
1981 — JoAnne Carner, 71.75
1980 — Amy Alcott, 71.51
1979 — Nancy Lopez, 71.20
1978 — Nancy Lopez, 71.76
1977 — Judy Rankin, 72.16
1976 — Judy Rankin, 72.25
1975 — JoAnne Carner, 72.40
1974 — JoAnne Carner, 72.87
1973 — Judy Rankin, 73.08
1972 — Kathy Whitworth, 72.38
1971 — Kathy Whitworth, 72.88
1970 — Kathy Whitworth, 72.26
1969 — Kathy Whitworth, 72.38
1968 — Carol Mann, 72.04
1967 — Kathy Whitworth, 72.74
1966 — Kathy Whitworth, 72.60
1965 — Kathy Whitworth, 72.61
1964 — Mickey Wright, 72.46
1963 — Mickey Wright, 72.81
1962 — Mickey Wright, 73.67
1961 — Mickey Wright, 73.55
1960 — Mickey Wright, 73.25
1959 — Betsy Rawls, 74.03
1958 — Beverly Hanson, 74.92
1957 — Louise Suggs, 74.64
1956 — Patty Berg, 74.57
1955 — Patty Berg, 74.47
1954 — Babe Zaharias, 75.48
1953 — Patty Berg, 75.00

Vare Trophy History

The Vare Trophy is named after a golfer who never played on the LPGA Tour: Glenna Collett Vare. Collett Vare was a giant in women's amateur golf decades before the LPGA existed. She won the U.S. Women's Open six times in the 1920s and 1930s, plus six North and South Women's Amateurs and six Women's Eastern Amateurs.

When the LPGA Tour was created in 1953, it created the Vare Trophy to honor the golfer who was considered the greatest-ever American female golfer at that time. Patty Berg, who, as a 17-year-old, lost to Collett Vare in the finals of the 1930 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship, won the first Vare Trophy.

Photo credit: "Lorena Ochoa" by Keith Allison is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0