A Major championship is the most coveted title in the sport of golf. Winning a Major is seen as the pinnacle of a golfer’s career, the ultimate accolade. The list of the women’s Majors has changed several times over the years but as of 2023, the order in which they are played is as follows:
The Chevron Championship
The first Major of the season takes place in the spring and this year it was won by American Lilia Vu in dramatic style in a playoff. The 25-year-old Californian finished with two birdies to get into the play-off then yet another birdie putt rolled in from 10 feet at the first play-off hole against Angel Yin. The Chevron Championship, formerly the ANA Inspiration was until this year played at Mission Hills in the California desert and was famous for the celebratory leap into Poppie's Pond that the winner always took, usually with her caddie and family members. Not wanting to let that tradition die, Vu took a giant leap into the water at The Club at Carlton Woods to celebrate her victory!
KPMG Women's PGA Championship
This year's championship, played at Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey, was won by Ruoning Yin, who became only the second Major winner from China and received a payout of $1.5 million from the record-breaking $10 million purse. This is another Major that has no set ‘home course’ so to speak and has changed venue every year since the PGA of America partnered with the tournament in 2015 and it became known as the Women’s PGA Championship. Before then the tournament was formerly known as the LPGA Championship and it was held at a consistent venue every year. As part of the change a new title sponsorship agreement with KPMG boosted the winning purse and a commitment from American broadcaster NBC now guarantees TV coverage of the weekend rounds, dramatically boosting its global profile.
U.S Women's Open
The oldest of the five women’s Majors, established 77 years ago in 1946, the U.S Women's Open is the only event to have been recognised as a Major by the LPGA since the group's founding in 1950. Organised and run by the USGA, the 78th edition of the tournament will be played this year from July 6-9 at Pebble Beach, California.
Like the AIG Women's Open, the U.S. Women’s Open is is open to any professional or amateur female golfer with a USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 2.4 to attempt to qualify (if not already exempt). Interestingly there is no upper age limit for qualifying, so in recent years the tournament has had its youngest-ever qualifiers, namely 11-year-old Lucy Li in 2014, and 12-year-old Lexi Thompson in 2007. There have been a record-breaking number of applicants for this year’s tournament. The USGA has accepted a record total of 2,107 entries, including 13 champions and all top 25 players in the world. The U.S. Women’s Open has only ever had two British winners. The last time it was won by a Brit was way back in 1997 when English professional Alison Nicholas took the title. Dame Laura Davies won it 10 years earlier in 1987.
The Amundi Evian Championship
This relatively new women’s Major is named after the tournament’s host course, the Evian Resort in Evian-Les-Bains, France. It’s organised and run by the Ladies European Tour and takes place from July 27-30. See our “Why Does The Women’s Game Have Five Majors?” for the explanation of its addition to the major rota.
The Evian Resort course is arguably the most dramatic of the major venues. The average elevation of the course is approximately 480 metres (1,575 ft) above sea level with spectacular sweeping views overlooking the nearby Lake Geneva to the north. There are 120 places for the world’s best players to take part in this year’s championship. It has never been won by a British competitor before. Last year’s champion was Canadian Brooke Henderson who narrowly took the title by one shot and in doing so picked up the $1 million winner’s cheque.
AIG Women's Open
Organised and run by The R&A and traditionally played on one of the best British courses. In the early days is was harder to attract the most prestigious host venues so Woburn Golf Club became the home of the event for seven straight years - 1990 to 1996, as well as in 1984 and 1999. However, as its prestige increased, more of the links courses that are in the rotation for The Open Championship, such as Turnberry (2002) and Royal Lytham & St Annes (1998, 2003, 2006) hosted the tournament, in addition to Royal Birkdale (2000, 2005, 2010). In 2007, the tournament took place at the Old Course at St Andrews for the first time.
Unlike its male counterpart, the AIG Women's Open has not adopted a links-only policy, which is why this year the caveat goes to Walton Heath Golf Club, a classic heathland course in Surrey, which will host the 47th edition of the tournament from 10-13 August. South Africa's Ashleigh Buhai will be the defending champion after claiming her maiden Major title in exciting style at Muirfield last year, edging out In Gee Chun on the fourth hole of a sudden-death play-off completed in fading light.
