10 players on LPGA Tour to watch in 2019

The 2019 LPGA Tour season is underway. It should be an interesting one with plenty of young stars and a U.S. resurgence hoping to carry over from the 2018 campaign. Though Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn is coming off one of the more dominant seasons in recent memory, this is more than a one-woman tour. 

While the names on the PGA Tour might be more familiar to the casual golf fan, there are enough to impress on the ladies side. Here's a look at 10 golfers from the LPGA Tour to keep an eye on this season.

Georgia Hall

After winning the Women's British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes in August, Hall is poised for bigger things on Tour in 2019. Hall, who will turn 23 in April, made the cut in 15 of the 19 LPGA events she played last season. The Bournemouth, England native should also be the one leading Team Europe's charge at the Solheim Cup at Gleneagles later this year. 

Brooke Henderson

Male or female, Henderson is currently Canada's most successful active golfer. She won the PGA Championship during the 2016 season at 18 and was a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour in 2018. She's currently ranked among the top 10 golfers in the world and finished in a tie for sixth at the Tour's season-opening event last month.

Eun-Hee Ji

With her win last month at the season-opening Tournament of Champions, Ji has won a PGA Tour event in three consecutive seasons after going seven years without a Tour victory. It will be worth watching to see if the 32-year-old can build on this victory and claim multiple wins in a season for the first time in her LPGA Tour career.

Ariya Jutanugarn

She's the No. 1 female golfer in the world, and that likely won't change unless she takes a serious nosedive. The 23-year-old Bangkok native was the LPGA's leading money winner and Player of the Year in two of the last three seasons. She won three times on Tour last season, highlighted by her U.S. Open triumph in a playoff. Jutanugarn is the one everybody else on Tour will be aiming for, so it will be interesting to see if she can once again handle the pressure.

Lydia Ko

It's hard to believe the former world No. 1 will be only 22 in April. She's won 15 times on the LPGA Tour, is a two-time major winner and was the Tour Player of the Year in 2015. She ended a victory drought of almost two years with a win at the 2018 Mediheal Championship. She has a new look, new attitude and new maturity about her that has many believing she'll be back in the spotlight more than once in 2019.

Nelly Korda

Her sister, Jessica, is an LPGA Tour mainstay who enjoyed a solid 2018 season. That calendar year was also the same one 20-year-old Nelly claimed her first Tour win at the Taiwan Championship. She also tied for 10th at the U.S. Open last season and is expected to be a consistent major contender in 2019. Korda kicked off this season in good form with a third-place finish at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.  

Gaby Lopez

It's not fair to call Lopez the second coming of Lorena Ochoa, because that would be a lot of pressure to place on any golfer, from any country, let alone someone with a Mexican heritage. However, Lopez's victory at November's Blue Bay LPGA was the first by a female Mexican golfer since Ochoa in 2009. The former University of Arkansas star is not somebody being associated with the elite on Tour at the moment, but she has the potential to change that this season.

Inbee Park

Now 30, the seven-time major winner is a still a threat. She's won an event in each of the last two seasons after failing to win in 2016. Park's 2018 season was somewhat of an emotional ride after her Las Vegas home was burglarized during the summer. She's been able to regroup, personally, and can focus maintaining her status as one of the top golfers in the world. 

Sung Hyun Park

Currently ranked second in the world, Park won three times in 2018, including the PGA Championship, after winning twice in '17 to earn both the LPGA Rookie and Player of the Year honors. If it wasn't for Jutanugarn, she might have repeated the latter. Expect Park to be in top form again in 2019 and continue her status as one of the popular personalities, not just athletes, in all of South Korea.

Lexi Thompson

There will be plenty of focus on Thompson, who last season stepped away from the game for some personal time. She's back, and her victory at the Tour Championship in November proved she's ready to remain one of the game's best. The Floridian has posted 10 total victories on the LPGA Tour since recording her first at age 16 in 2011. Thompson ranks fifth in the world, the highest of any American at the moment.