Nelly Korda leads the LPGA Vare Trophy race with a scoring average of 69.38, but she isn’t eligible for the award because she hasn’t played enough rounds. The trophy is worth one point toward the LPGA Hall of Fame, and Korda remains two points short of the 27 required to qualify.
That rounds rule could prevent the world No. 1 from earning the award’s Hall of Fame point this season, even though she leads the scoring race. LPGA eligibility rules require golfers to meet both a minimum number of rounds and a minimum share of official tournament rounds.
The eligibility threshold
Golfers must first play at least 60 total rounds, or 60 percent of official tournament rounds with an individual score, whichever is less. If Korda makes the cut at The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican and then plays all four rounds of the CME Group Tour Championship, she’ll finish with 61 total rounds in individual events this season, clearing that first threshold.
The second requirement is at least 70 total rounds, or 70 percent of total official tournament rounds, whichever is less. The Dow, which Korda played over the summer, would bring her potential total to 65 rounds. She’d still be five rounds short of 70 and farther below the 70 percent threshold.
The Lotte Championship in Hawaii is the last LPGA event on U.S. soil until mid-November. Korda isn’t playing in the Oahu tournament, and an LPGA official confirmed she hasn’t entered any of the four events on the fall Asia swing. Those fields have closed.
Korda last competed at the Solheim Cup. She’s taking a two-month break from competition and is next expected to play at The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, where she’s a three-time winner.
Other routes to a Hall point
The LPGA Player of the Year Award also earns one Hall of Fame point. Korda leads Haeran Ryu by 75 points in that race. Winning either of her last two tournament starts would also earn her one point.
Korda has played 15 LPGA events in 2026 and skipped both the spring and fall Asia swings. She typically plays the unofficial Grant Thornton Invitational and PNC Championship in December, extending her schedule to Christmas. She won’t play in the new WTGL.
The Vare Trophy rounds rule has affected Korda before. In 2021, she led the tour in scoring but didn’t play enough rounds to win the award. Since 1992, the tour’s leading scorer has missed the trophy seven times: Nancy Lopez in 1993; Laura Davies in 1996; Annika Sorenstam in 2003 and 2004; Sei Young Kim in 2020; Korda in 2021; and Jeeno Thitikul in 2024.
Lydia Ko re-entered the Pelican event in 2021 after realizing that skipping it would leave her one round short of Vare Trophy eligibility. She won the award and its Hall of Fame point. Three players above her on that year’s scoring list couldn’t qualify: Korda at 69.074, Jin Young Ko at 69.186 and Inbee Park at 69.534.
Lydia Ko earned her 27th Hall of Fame point by winning gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Korda’s next scheduled event is The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. Beth Ann Nichols, a senior writer for Golfweek covering the LPGA and women’s golf, wrote the report.