LPGA announces LEAP program, providing top amateurs with direct access to tour

It’s finally here.

The LPGA announced Wednesday its LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway (LEAP), a program providing top amateur female golfers a new way to get on the LPGA starting in 2025.

Through LEAP, female amateurs who accumulate at least 20 points within the set criteria framework in the current year and the previous three calendar years will earn exempt Priority List status on the LPGA, provided they also meet all LPGA membership requirements.

“I think this will allow, like I said, the very elite to be able to bypass Q-Series and get right on to the LPGA. There won’t be a lot of these athletes. This isn’t going to happen every year. It might happen every couple of years. We don’t know, but it’s really reserved for the very best. We’ve done a lot of analysis to make sure that the points and the criteria will really produce that best athlete,” LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said Wednesday during a news conference ahead of the CME Group Tour Championship. “This is just one step in our sort of analysis of pathways and figuring out how to get, continue to have the best players in the world competing on the LPGA Tour.”

Qualified amateurs turning professional through this program who earn their 20th point before July 1 of the current year have three options:

• accept LPGA membership before July 1 of the current year and gain eligibility for the remainder of the current LPGA season only
• defer LPGA membership until on or after July 1 of the current year and gain eligibility for the remainder of the current and the following LPGA season or defer LPGA membership until the following season
• gain eligibility for the following LPGA season only

For amateurs who turn pro who earn their 20th point on or after July 1 of the current year have two options

• accept LPGA membership for the remainder of the current LPGA season and the following LPGA season
• defer LPGA membership until the following season and gain eligibility for the following LPGA season only

If multiple players meet the 20-point threshold within the same year, the player who reaches it first will have higher Priority List placement, per the tour.

Here’s a breakdown of how players can accumulate points:

1. World Amateur Golf Ranking: Points awarded based on the highest achieved career WAGR ranking, awarded only once.

• 3 points: WAGR No. 1 ranking
• 2 points: WAGR No. 2 or No. 3 ranking
• 1 point: WAGR No. 4 or No. 5 ranking

2. LPGA tournament participation: No limit on points awarded in this category.

• 2 points: top 25 (and ties) at an LPGA major championship
• 2 points: top 10 (and ties) at an official LPGA tournament (non-major)
• 1 point: made cut at an LPGA major championship
• 1 point: top 40 (and ties) at an official LPGA tournament (non-major)

3. Amateur championships: No limit on points awarded in this category.

• 2 points: the champion of each of the following: U.S. Women’s Amateur, Women’s Amateur Championship, European Ladies Amateur Championship, Augusta National Women’s Amateur, World Amateur Team (individual champion), Div. I NCAA Championship (individual champion)
• 1 point: the Champion of each of the following: U.S. Girls Junior Championship, Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship, Women’s Amateur Latin America

4. Awards: No limit on points awarded in this category.

• 4 points: the McCormack Medal winner
• 2 points: the Annika Award winner
• 2 points: the Women’s Golf Coaches Association Player of the Year
• 1 point: the AJGA Player of the Year
• 1 point: Division I Inkster Award Winner

5. Teams: No limit on points awarded in this category.

• 2 points: each player competing as an official member of a Curtis Cup team
• 1 point: each player competing as an official member of the Arnold Palmer Cup team

Florida State junior Lottie Woad has 16 points, the most of any current amateur.