The 2018 LPGA Tour season featured 32 official events played in 13 countries. The average age of winning LPGA athletes in 2018 was 24,6 years old, with 23 events having been won by a player aged 25 or under.
A fine example to follow for European women's golf where there is still a lot to do ...

Ariya Jutanugarn, world No. 1 and winner of the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open 2018 - Photo: DR

At 19, Nasa Hataoka was the youngest Tour winner this year. Hataoka continued her first Rolex victory at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G with a home win at the TOTO Japan Classic.

Since the start of 2011, 30 victories have been won by players aged 25 or under, including four at major championships, representing 13% of the circuit's victories over the past eight years.

Advantage for home players

A total of eight victories have been won by female players in their home country, one more than in 2017. Since 2016, 16 victories have been won by female players at home.

Notable home wins this year include: Georgia Hall won the Ricoh Women's British Open at the Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club to become the first Rolex winner in her first year as a rookie, Brooke Henderson a won the Canadian National Championship, the CP Women's Open at Wascana Country Club, and Lexi Thompson won the CME Group Tour Championship final in front of friends and family at Tiburon Golf Club, in Naples, Fla., on the last day of the season.

The results are in

Earlier this season, the LPGA looked at the following statistical categories - birdies, eagles, top 10 and under par - and made projections as to who would be most likely to lead each of those stats once the season is over.

The score card is in place and the projections accurately identify the players who would lead the eagles and top 10. The number of birdies and less than par innings was close to expectations, but the players were slightly different due to Ariya Jutanugarn's dominant and consistent performance over time.

After those screenings were made following the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic, Jutanugarn compiled six top-5s from the next 10 starts. Jutanugarn finished no less than 36th place throughout the season.

At the end of the season, Jutanugarn rewrote the LPGA awards history by scooping all the end-of-season awards to become the first player to accomplish this feat in LPGA Tour history. She won the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award, Rolex Player of the Year, Vare Trophy, Money Title, LEADERS Top 10 competition and Race to the CME Globev.

Jutanugarn joined Lorena Ochoa (2007, 2008) and Yani Tseng (2011) as players who won the Vare Trophy, Money Title and Rolex Female Player of the Year award in the same season and were ranked n # 1 worldwide in the Rolex Rankings during the end of season competition.

Jutanugarn broke his previous record for number of top-10s which was 16 in 2016 by finishing 2018 with 17 places in the top-10. She placed in the top 10 in all 1,65 events played.

Jutanugarn made 470 birdies in 2018, which is a record on the LPGA circuit in one season. She also surpassed her sister on the par innings in one season with 80, three more than her sister Moriya Jutanugarn in 2017 who was 77. Stacy Lewis holds the record for most innings under par in one season with 85 in 2014.

Lexi Thompson competed in eight events after the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. Thompson added five more eagles to bring his season tally to 15 eagles in 20 events played, placing fourth in LPGA history. She had an average of 0,75 eagles per event.

A record season

Thompson's CME Group Tour Championship win continued to follow a trend for her, at least one win in six consecutive seasons. She finished the season second among the greens in regulation with 75,69% behind only Jin Young Ko and has not been classified outside the top 4 in GIR since 2015.

Jin Young was awarded the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year honorary title with four events remaining in 2018. She finished the season ranked 10th on the official Money List with five other top 80 ranked rookies - Georgia Hall , Yu Liu, Emma Talley, Hannah Green and Maria Torres.

Lydia Ko's winless streak since winning the Marathon Classic presented by Owens Corning and OI has ended at the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship in Daly City, California. Lydia recorded her 15th victory on the LPGA Tour at the Lake Merced Golf Club, where she has now achieved three wins in her professional career (Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic 2014, Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic 2015 presented by JTBC).

Sei Young Kim set a new LPGA 72-hole (-31) record at Thornberry Creek in Oneida, Wisconsin. It surpassed its previous record of 27 under par, established in 2016 at the JTBC Founders Cup which was also equaled by Annika Sorenstam at the Standard Register PING 2001.

28 hole-in-one shots were recorded in 2018, the highest number since 2016 when there were 27. Hataoka and Daniela Darquea each recorded two eagles in the middle of the season.

The 2018 season produced many highlights as 26 different champions from 10 countries won events, 10 of which were first time winners. This equals the record for the most different winners in a season (1991).