Who Can Win the Player of the Year Race with Four Events Remaining?
September 3, 2024
By:
Luke Otto is a Content Producer for the Epson Tour. He is a Professional Golf Management grad from Ferris State University and has spent three years in professional golf.
Last week at the Four Winds Invitational, the Epson Tour saw its 15th different player enter the winner’s circle this season. Yahui Zhang picked up her first professional win and moved her way to No. 1 in the Race for the Card, putting the 2024 rookie in prime position to win Epson Tour Player of the Year.
Zhang enters the Guardian Championship having earned a win and six additional top-10 finishes throughout her rookie campaign. The 18-year-old is the youngest champion on the Epson Tour this season and is well on her way to securing an LPGA Tour card for the 2025 season.
Another rookie who is in the mix for Player of the Year honors is Fiona Xu, who has held the top spot in the Race for the Card for the majority of the season but fell to No. 3 after top-three finishes from Zhang and Lauren Stephenson in South Bend, Ind.
The two rookies who are in the top five on the points list have a chance to do something that has not been done since Madelene Sagstrom in 2016. If Zhang or Xu end the season at the top of the Race for the Card standings, they will be the first rookie since the Swede to win both Player of the Year and Gaelle Truete Rookie of the Year honors in the same season.
During her 2016 season, Sagstrom set the single-season earnings record on the Epson Tour, bringing in $167,064 after earning three victories and recording 12 other top-10 finishes throughout the year. Since her rookie season on the LPGA Tour in 2017, Sagstrom has amassed 20 top-10 finishes and become a Rolex First-Time Winner at the 2020 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio.
She has also played a pivotal role internationally in women’s golf, making three Solheim Cup appearances, two International Crown appearances, and represented Sweden in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Sagstrom will once again play for Sweden in the 2024 Solheim Cup at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Va.
Rookies with the Most Race for the Card Points
Yahui Zhang (1,360.316 – 1st)
Fiona Xu (1,143.450 – 3rd)
Juliana Hung (756.820 – 12th)
Saki Baba – (704.628 – 18th)
Briana Chacon – (664.905 – 23rd)
Zhang leads the way on the money list in 2024 as well, bringing in $110,042 over 11 events played, needing just over $55,000 to pass Sagstrom for the single-season record.
The other players in the top five are Jessica Porvasnik and Daniela Iacobelli, who occupy the fourth and fifth spots on the points list, respectively. The veteran pair round out the players who have broken the 1,000-point mark in the Race for the Card this season, but with four events still to play, a win for any athlete inside the top 20 will put them in the Player of the Year conversation.
