The LPGA was founded in 1950 and it has consistently been the home to the best in the women's game. These days it looks very different to those early days, with a truly international feel to it, which is reflected in the modern-day world rankings.
Here we look at 12 players that have really stood out and moved the game to new levels. They're not necessarily the most successful, in terms of wins, but they all include heroics of some kind.
1) BETSY RAWLS - 1959
A handful of players have reached double figures in terms of wins but Betsy Rawls was the first. There were 29 events in the '59 season and the American won over a third of them. Her total earnings for the season were $26,774. Both her Major successes that season, there were eight in total, came against Patty Berg with the Women's Western Open a runaway victory by six shots. Only Mickey Wright and Rawls have won the US Women's Open four times but, in her greatest season, Rawls would finish 10 back of Wright.
“I had every intention of being a physicist,” Rawls said. “I played golf for fun and never considered turning professional. Then I decided it would be more fun to be in golf than physics and Wilson paid me a salary and all my expenses. They paid my expenses for 20 years. One year, I gave 120 clinics.”
Rawls died in October, 2023 at the age of 95.
2) MICKEY WRIGHT - 1963
Mickey Wright won 82 times on the LPGA Tour and 13 of them came in 1963, the most successful by any female golfer. Two of them were Majors, the Western Open by nine shots over Kathy Whitworth, and the LPGA Championship in October. Wright, who would retire from full-time golf at the age of 34 just six years later, would also win her own Invitational. In total there were 32 tournaments in 1863 and Wright would top the money list with earnings of $31,269.
Two things particularly stand out about Wright's efforts in this year; she would win four straight tournaments from May 5 and Whitworth would also win eight times so the pair captured 21 of the 32 events between them. The following year Wright would prevail 11 times and she is generally regarded as the greatest woman golfer of all time.
3) KATHY WHITWORTH - 1968
Kathy Whitworth (88) has won more times than any other player on the LPGA Tour but there was only one year where she ticked off double figures and, bizarrely, Carol Mann did the same – so the two of them won 20/32 tournaments.
Whitworth would pip Mann to the money list and Player of the Year titles and three of her 10 wins were by seven shots or more. There were only two Majors that year and they would go to Sandra Post (LPGA) and Susie Berning (US Women's Open) – Whitworth would lose an 18-hole play-off to Post before finishing fifth behind Berning.
The American, who was coached by Harvey Penick, joined the Tour in 1958 and struggled early on. Her father and some local businessmen clubbed together to the tune of $5,000 a year for three years and, while she had to wait until 1962 for her first victory, there were plenty of successes in the years to come.
4) NANCY LOPEZ - 1978
Nancy Lopez only turned pro in 1977 and, in her first Major as a pro, she would finish second in the US Women's Open. Two years previously Lopez would also finish in a tie for second while still an amateur.
In 1978 the American had notched five victories by the time of the year's opening Major, the LPGA Championship, and she would stroll to a six-shot victory over Amy Alcott. The rest of the year would bring another three victories and she led the money earnings with $189,814. Come the end of the year Lopez would be named the Rookie and Player of the Year. She would go on to win 48 LPGA events but the US Women's Open would continue to elude her.
5) PAT BRADLEY - 1986
Pat Bradley would land the final Major of the 1985 season at the du Maurier Classic and, nine months later, she would add the Nabisco. The LPGA Championship would follow in June and she would defend the du Maurier as Bradley suddenly took hold of the women's game. In between she would finish just three shots outside a play-off for the US Women's Open to narrowly miss out on the Grand Slam.
The American would also capture the Nestle World Championship which had a bigger pay day ($78k) than any of the Majors. Come the end of the season she led the money list with earnings of $492,021. There would be plenty of top 5s but, bizarrely, Bradley would not win another Major to finish her career with six of them.
6) SE RI PAK - 1998
This is a neat statistic; 1998 was the first year that there were more non-American winners than home players on the LPGA Tour with 19 to 17. Two of those wins were particularly noteworthy as Se Ri Pak became the first Korean to land a Major.
The first came when the 20-year-old rookie led wire-to-wire to win the LPGA Championship and, less than two months later, Pak became the youngest winner of the US Women's Open. At Blackwolf Run Pak rolled in an 18-foot putt on the 92nd hole to edge out Jenny Chuasiriporn – Park was given the winner's share of the prize money on the Sunday as Chuasiriporn was an amateur.
Four days later Pak shot a then-LPGA record 61 during the second round of the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic. Needless to say the Korean picked up the Rookie of the Year.
7) KARRIE WEBB - 2000
Annika Sorenstam might have won five times in 2000 but she was very much overshadowed by Karrie Webb's brilliance. The Aussie picked up six victories in 1999 but she would go one better the following term and, better still, two of them would be a pair of Majors.
Webb had broken her Major duck the previous year at the du Maurier and she would then obliterate the field at the Nabisco when she finished 10 shots clear. Then, on the same week that Tiger Woods completed his Tiger Slam at St Andrews, Webb won the US Women's Open by five in Chicago which made her eligible for the World Golf Hall of Fame.
"Winning golf tournaments is what I'm out there to do, that's my motivation. I have achieved pretty much all my career goals already but there's still a lot more to achieve, and I think I can only get better and improve my game."
Webb would win another four Majors and finish her career with 41 wins on the LPGA Tour.
8) ANNIKA SORENSTAM - 2001
Annika Sorenstam had more successful seasons in terms of victories – she would win 11 times the following year – but 2001 was special for many reasons. The Swede was victorious eight times, four of them in successive starts in March-April, and she would land her first Major since 1996 to kick off a run of eight big ones in just six years. She set or tied 30 LPGA records as she coasted to the money list, stroke average and Player of the Year titles but it was what happened on March 16 that rang around the world.
For the first time in LPGA Tour history a player would break 60, something that has still not been repeated. At Moon Valley Country Club in the Standard Register Ping tournament in Phoenix, the Swede would collect 13 birdies and no bogeys. Starting on the back nine she birdied her first eight holes, and 12 of the first 13, and she did it all while playing with the defending champion, her sister Charlotta.
"I would stand on the tee; I would just swing it. I would stand on the fairway; I was just trying to hit the green. I wasn’t worrying where the ball was going; same thing on my putting, I wasn't worrying about my second putt. I was just looking at the hole. I was so free in my mind."
9) LORENA OCHOA - 2007
There were several notable milestones in the 2007 season. In April Lorena Ochoa would overtake Sorenstam as the new World No. 1, she would become the first woman to earn more than $4m in a season and the Mexican would win three times on the trot.
But it was the beginning of that hat-trick of wins which was the defining moment of the year as Ochoa landed the Women's British Open at St Andrews for her first Major triumph. This of course was the first time that the women's British Major had visited the Home of Golf and Ochoa put on quite the show. She led from start to finish, opening up a six-shot lead after three days and eventually winning by five.
"There were a lot of people saying that I wasn't good enough or that I couldn't win a Major or when am I going to win a Major. And I always have taken all of the comments and understood very well because I didn't win. I love St Andrews. I love to make history and this is one of those, it's going to be there for the rest of my life and a very special week."
Ochoa would finish the year with an eighth victory at the season-ending ADT Championship.
10) INBEE PARK - 2013
There was plenty to talk about in 2013. For the first time there were five Majors with the Evian added to the roster and we had three players who averaged under 70 for the first time in LPGA history. One was the winner of the Evian, Suzann Pettersen, while Stacy Lewis landed the Women's British Open at St Andrews.
But the stand-out player of the year was Inbee Park who picked up the first three Majors. This had only been done once before by Babe Zaharias in 1950 when the American won all three of that year's Majors. When the Korean won the US Women's Open it was her third straight victory and, with all the golfing world's eyes on her at St Andrews, Park reached six under after 10 holes. But the rest of the week produced a collection of uncharacteristic bogeys and she would eventually tie for 42nd.
“I’m just glad the tournament is over because I’ve gone through four rounds under pressure. Everybody has been watching me. It feels a bit weird because I get to do an interview when I shot 6-over. It’s something I’ve never experienced before. It’s been a great experience, I might not have won this week but I’ve learned a lot."
Park would have to wait until the following June for her next win.
11) LYDIA KO - 2015
Lydia Ko has twice topped the LPGA money list, the first of which came in 2015 when she turned 18. The New Zealander had only turned pro the previous season but she then missed one cut in 24 starts and had 17 top 10s. Five of those were victories, the final one seeing her comfortably become the youngest player to win 10 events on a major tour in either the men's or women's game.
The highlight of her year came at the Evian Championship where she picked up her first Major, bizarrely she still has only two, and she did it in grand style with a closing round of 63 to win by six. It was the lowest closing round in a women's Major and it made her the youngest Major champion in the history of the LPGA Tour.
12) JIN YOUNG KO - 2019
It takes something special for a golfer to land a pair of Majors in a season and Ko did just that in 2019. She captured her first Major at the ANA Inspiration, a win that also took her to the No. 1 spot in the world. The Korean star then followed it up at the Evian when she came from four back in the rain in France with a closing 67.
The following month in Canada Ko finished the week at 26-under and she didn't drop a shot over the four rounds. Her bogey-free golf finally came to an end at the Portland Classic where she finally dropped a shot after a tour-record 114 holes. Needless to say she swept the board in all that year's categories.
