Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Lydia Ko’s decision to re-commit to the Pelican Women’s Championship.
Lydia Ko will have a chance to win the Vare Trophy after all.
After Golfweek first reported that Ko would skip the LPGA’s penultimate event, the Pelican Women’s Championship, in between starts in Saudi Arabia and the LPGA’s season finale in Florida, Ko’s agent told Golf Digest that Ko would be in the field for the Pelican, which will allow Ko to satisfy the minimum number of rounds to be eligible for the LPGA’s scoring title.
LPGA rules stipulate that a player must complete either 70 rounds or 70% of official tournaments rounds, whichever is fewer, to be eligible for the Vare Trophy. Ko is fourth in scoring average – behind three players who are ineligible: Nelly Korda, Jin Young Ko and Inbee Park – and boasts a 69.615 mark in 65 rounds, just ahead of In Gee Chun’s 69.794 in 68 rounds.
The Vare Trophy also comes with a full point towards a player’s LPGA Hall of Fame eligibility. It takes 27 points to qualify; Ko currently has 19.
Ko is still slated to tee it up in the Nov. 4-7 Aramco Saudi Ladies International, the first of back-to-back events in Saudi Arabia. She will then play the final two events on the LPGA schedule, the Pelican on Nov. 11-14 in Belleair, Florida, and the CME Group Tour Championship on Nov. 18-21 in Naples, Florida.
Current LPGA scoring average standings
The second Saudi Arabian event, the Aramco Team Series – Jeddah, is Nov. 10-12. It is the fourth and final team/individual tournament of a series, which has contested events in London, England, Sotogrande, Spain, and New York.
Several notable LPGA and LET players have competed in the Aramco series, including Charley Hull, who won the individual tournament in New York, and Jessica Korda, who was part of the victorious New York team. Major champions Georgia Hall and Anna Nordqvist are committed to the Jeddah event.
Last year’s Saudi Ladies International, won by Solheim Cup player Emily Kristine Pedersen, was the first women’s tournament contested in Saudi Arabia.
The events are backed by the Saudi government’s Private Invest Fund, which is the same group that is supporting LIV Golf Investments. The LIV company announced on Friday Greg Norman as its CEO, in what is believed to be the beginning of a Saudi-backed rival to the PGA Tour.