Every LET Order Of Merit Winner Since 1979

The LET Order of Merit has been awarded to the top player on the circuit since 1979 - here is who has won it over the years

Lee-Anne Pace with the LET Order of Merit trophy
Lee-Anne Pace won the LET Order of Merit in 2010
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The LET has had an Order of Merit in place since its first season in 1979, and over the years, the award has employed different systems to determine the winner. 

For the first 20 years, the player who earned the most money over the season took the honor, but that changed in 2000 with the introduction of a points system.

It proved relatively short-lived, with the money list once again being used between 2005 and 2017 before a points system was reintroduced in 2018, and which is still used today.

The first LET Order of Merit winner was Scot Catherine Panton, who claimed the honor thanks to earning £4,965 from the circuit's 18 events in 1979. 

By the final year of the Order of Merit's first spell where money earned was the crucial metric, Laura Davies claimed the prize thanks to having earned £204,522 in the 1999 season - one of a record six Order of Merit wins for the English player.

The first year with the points system, which came in 2000, saw Swede Sophie Gustafson take the honor, the first of four times in nine years she was named Order of Merit winner.

Dane Iben Tinning then won €204,672 in 2005 to win in the Order of Merit's first year back using the money list, before Georgia Hall won €368,935 12 years later in the final year before it reverted back to a points system. For the record, Hall then won it again in the first year the points system came back.

Georgia Hall takes a shot at the AIG Women's Open

Georgia Hall won the Order of Merit in 2017 and 2018

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Nowadays, points earned on the LET count towards the season-long Race to Costa Del Sol rankings, culminating in the Andalucia Costa Del Sol Open de Espana, which offers the final chance to earn points before the winner is crowned.

Below is the list of every LET Order of Merit winner since 1979.

Every LET Order Of Merit Winner Since 1979

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Year Winner Points/Prize Money
1979 Catherine Panton £4,965
1980 Muriel Thomson £8,008
1981 Jenny Lee Smith £13,518
1982 Jenny Lee Smith £12,551
1983 Muriel Thomson £9,225
1984 Dale Reid £28,239
1985 Muriel Thomson £21,735
1986 Laura Davies £37,500
1987 Dale Reid £53,815
1988 Marie-Laure de Lorenzi £109,360
1989 Marie-Laure de Lorenzi £77,534
1990 Trish Johnson £83,043
1991 Corinne Dibnah £89,058
1992 Laura Davies £66,333
1993 Karen Lunn £81,266
1994 Liselotte Neumann £102,750
1995 Annika Sorenstam £130,324
1996 Laura Davies £110,880
1997 Alison Nicholas £94,590
1998 Helen Alfredsson £125,975
1999 Laura Davies £204,522
2000 Sophie Gustafson 8,777 points
2001 Raquel Carriedo 10,661 points
2002 Paula Marti 6,589 points
2003 Sophie Gustafson 917.95 points
2004 Laura Davies 777.26 points
2005 Iben Tinning €204,672
2006 Laura Davies €471,727
2007 Sophie Gustafson €222,081
2008 Gwladys Nocera €391,840
2009 Sophie Gustafson €281,315
2010 Lee-Anne Pace €339,518
2011 Ai Miyazato €363,080
2012 Carlota Ciganda €251,290
2013 Suzann Pettersen €518,448
2014 Charley Hull €263,097
2015 Shanshan Feng €399,213
2016 Beth Allen €313,079
2017 Georgia Hall €368,935
2018 Georgia Hall 667.73 points
2019 Esther Henseleit 743.06 points
2020 Emily Kristine Pedersen 1249.35 points
2021 Atthaya Thitikul 3591.96 points
2022 Linn Grant 3624.91 points
2023 Trichat Cheenglab 1966.52 points

Most LET Order Of Merit Wins

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Wins Player
6 Laura Davies
4 Sophie Gustafson
3 Muriel Thomson
2 Jenny Lee Smith, Dale Reid, Marie-Laure de Lorenzi,
Mike Hall
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Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories. 


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Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course. 


Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.