Information about Women's Major Golf Championships
Women's golf has evolved a set of major championships which parallels that in men's golf, but the women's system is younger and has been less stable than the men's. Many professional stroke play events for women are played over three rounds (54 holes), but the majors are played over four rounds (72 holes), which is the standard length of regular men's tournaments. This is the same distinction as for senior men's tournaments.
Another unique distinction of the LPGA majors is that no tour event is held in the week after any of the four events—unlike the PGA Tour or European Tour in mainstream (under-50) men's golf, or the Champions Tour in senior men's golf, all of which conduct events in the week following the four mainstream majors and the five senior majors.
In another unique feature, the winners of the four women's majors receive automatic entry to the LPGA's season championship, the LPGA Playoffs at The ADT. The Champions Tour has no season-ending championship. The PGA Tour's season-ending FedEx Cup playoffs are a series of four events; while major winners are technically not guaranteed entry into even the first playoff event, the FedEx Cup point allocations for major winners are sufficiently high that the winner of one major is essentially assured of making the top 144 in points and qualifying for the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Six women have completed a "Career grand slam" by winning four different majors. There are variations in the set of four tournaments involved as the players played in different eras. The six are: Pat Bradley; Juli Inkster; Annika Sörenstam; Louise Suggs; Karrie Webb; and Mickey Wright.
The Ladies European Tour does not sanction any of the LPGA majors which are played in the United States, and only has two events which it designates as majors on its schedule, namely the Women's British Open and the Evian Masters, which is played in France. However, the Ladies European Tour tacitly acknowledges the dominance of the LPGA Tour by not scheduling any of its events to conflict with any of the LPGA majors played in the U.S. Also, while the LPGA Tour does not recognize the Evian Masters as a major, it co-sanctions the tournament as a regular tour event. Since it is played the week before the Women's British Open, and its winner earns an automatic spot in the season-ending LPGA Playoffs at The ADT, virtually all top LPGA players play the Evian Masters.
The LPGA of Japan Tour, which is the second richest women's golf tour, has its own set of three majors: the Japan Open, the JLPGA Championship and the JLPGA Tour Championship. However, these events attract little notice outside Japan.
LPGA majors
Current position
The LPGA's list of majors has changed several times over the years, with the last change in 2001, after the du Maurier Classic, held in Canada, lost its primary sponsorship after that country passed severe restrictions on tobacco advertising. The tournament, now known as the Canadian Women's Open, is still a regular event on the LPGA tour, but with a lower profile (although its winner receives an automatic berth in the LPGA season championship). The LPGA replaced the du Maurier Classic on its list of majors with the Women's British Open. The LPGA currently recognizes four majors. In the order in which they are played each year these are: As in men's golf, three of the majors are played in the United States and one is played in the United Kingdom. The U.S. and British Opens match their male equivalents, and the LPGA Championship is analogous to the PGA Championship, so by default the Kraft Nabisco Championship is the closest equivalent of The Masters. Unlike the men's equivalents, with the sole exception of the U.S. Women's Open, the women's majors have title sponsors.Another unique distinction of the LPGA majors is that no tour event is held in the week after any of the four events—unlike the PGA Tour or European Tour in mainstream (under-50) men's golf, or the Champions Tour in senior men's golf, all of which conduct events in the week following the four mainstream majors and the five senior majors.
In another unique feature, the winners of the four women's majors receive automatic entry to the LPGA's season championship, the LPGA Playoffs at The ADT. The Champions Tour has no season-ending championship. The PGA Tour's season-ending FedEx Cup playoffs are a series of four events; while major winners are technically not guaranteed entry into even the first playoff event, the FedEx Cup point allocations for major winners are sufficiently high that the winner of one major is essentially assured of making the top 144 in points and qualifying for the FedEx Cup playoffs.
History
Seven different events are classified as having been LPGA majors at some time. The number in each season has fluctuated between two and four. The first tournament which is now included in the LPGA's official list of major victories is the 1930 Western Open, although this is a retrospective designation as the LPGA was not founded until 1950.- Western Open: 1930-1967
- Titleholders Championship: 1937-42; 1946-66; 1972
- U.S. Women's Open: 1950-date
- LPGA Championship: 1955-date
- du Maurier Classic: 1979-2000
- Kraft Nabisco Championship: 1983-date
- Women's British Open: 2001-date
LPGA major winners
The first table shows the four current majors in the order in which they are played each year. The two tables for the earlier periods do not necessarily show the tournaments in the order in which they were played.| Year | Kraft Nabisco Championship | LPGA Championship | U.S. Women's Open | Women's British Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | ){kind=small} Morgan Pressel | ){kind=small} Suzann Pettersen | Cristie Kerr | Lorena Ochoa |
| 2006 | ){kind=small} Karrie Webb | Se Ri Pak | ){kind=small} Annika Sörenstam | Sherri Steinhauer |
| 2005 | Annika Sörenstam | Annika Sörenstam | Birdie Kim | Jeong Jang |
| 2004 | Grace Park | Annika Sörenstam | Meg Mallon | ){kind=small} Karen Stupples |
| 2003 | ){kind=small} Patricia Meunier-Lebouc | Annika Sörenstam | Hilary Lunke | Annika Sörenstam |
| 2002 | Annika Sörenstam | Se Ri Pak | Juli Inkster | Karrie Webb |
| 2001 | Annika Sörenstam | Karrie Webb | Karrie Webb | Se Ri Pak |
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
The "Grand Slam"
No woman has completed a four-major Grand Slam, but Babe Zaharias won all three majors contested in 1950 and Sandra Haynie won both majors in 1974.Six women have completed a "Career grand slam" by winning four different majors. There are variations in the set of four tournaments involved as the players played in different eras. The six are: Pat Bradley; Juli Inkster; Annika Sörenstam; Louise Suggs; Karrie Webb; and Mickey Wright.
Other regular tours
In men's (non-senior) golf, the four majors are agreed globally. All the principal tours acknowledge the status of the majors via their sponsorship of the Official World Golf Rankings, and the prize money is official on the three richest regular tours (the PGA, European, and Japanese tours). This is not the case in women's golf, but the significance of this is limited, as the LPGA Tour is much more dominant in women's golf than the PGA Tour is in men's golf. For example, the BBC has been known to use the LPGA definition of women's majors without qualifying it. Also, the Ladies' Golf Union, the governing body for women's golf in the UK and Republic of Ireland and the organiser of the Women's British Open, states on its official site that the Women's British Open is "the only Women’s Major to be played outside the U.S."[1]The Ladies European Tour does not sanction any of the LPGA majors which are played in the United States, and only has two events which it designates as majors on its schedule, namely the Women's British Open and the Evian Masters, which is played in France. However, the Ladies European Tour tacitly acknowledges the dominance of the LPGA Tour by not scheduling any of its events to conflict with any of the LPGA majors played in the U.S. Also, while the LPGA Tour does not recognize the Evian Masters as a major, it co-sanctions the tournament as a regular tour event. Since it is played the week before the Women's British Open, and its winner earns an automatic spot in the season-ending LPGA Playoffs at The ADT, virtually all top LPGA players play the Evian Masters.
The LPGA of Japan Tour, which is the second richest women's golf tour, has its own set of three majors: the Japan Open, the JLPGA Championship and the JLPGA Tour Championship. However, these events attract little notice outside Japan.
Futures Tour
Since 2006, the Futures Tour, the LPGA's developmental tour, has designated the Michelob Ultra Futures Charity Golf Classic, an event which has been held since 1985, as a major championship. It was the Tour's first $100,000 purse. The idea of having a "major" on a developmental tour is a new one, driven by marketing, and it is unlikely to have much impact on the conventional definition of a women's major.Women's senior golf
Professional women's senior golf is in its infancy, and does not yet have a roster of majors. The Legends Tour, originally the Women's Senior Golf Tour, played its first season in 2001.Notes and references
1. ^ Women's British Open breaks new ground at St Andrews. Ladies' Golf Union. Retrieved on 2007-04-01.
See also
- Golfers with most LPGA major championship wins
- Chronological list of LPGA major golf champions
- Men's major golf championships
- Senior major golf championships
LPGA major golf championships
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Golf is a sport in which individual players or teams of players strike a ball into a hole using several types of clubs. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not use a fixed, standardised playing field or area; defined in the Rules of Golf as
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Stroke play is a scoring system for golf (compare to match play). Another term for stroke play is medal play. Stroke play is the scoring system for the vast majority of professional golf tournaments.
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LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, with headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour
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The Canadian Women's Open is a professional women's golf tournament conducted by the Royal Canadian Golf Association. It is a tournament on both the LPGA Tour and the CN Canadian Women's Tour.
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Tobacco advertising is the promotion of tobacco use (typically cigarette smoking) by the tobacco industry through a variety of media. The tobacco industry also commonly uses sponsorship, particularly of sporting events.
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The Canadian Women's Open is a professional women's golf tournament conducted by the Royal Canadian Golf Association. It is a tournament on both the LPGA Tour and the CN Canadian Women's Tour.
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Kraft Nabisco Championship
Tournament information
Location United States
Established 1972
Course(s) Mission Hills Country Club
Par 72
Tour LPGA Tour
Month Played March-April
ADT Playoff Category
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Tournament information
Location United States
Established 1972
Course(s) Mission Hills Country Club
Par 72
Tour LPGA Tour
Month Played March-April
ADT Playoff Category
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The LPGA Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the McDonald's LPGA Championship presented by Coca-Cola, is the second-longest running tournament in the history of the Ladies Professional Golf Association surpassed only by the U.S. Women's Open.
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U.S. Women's Open Golf Championship is one of the LPGA's major championships along with the LPGA Championship, the Women's British Open, and the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
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Women's British Open
Tournament information
Location United Kingdom
Established 1976
Course(s) varies
Par varies
Tour LPGA Tour
LET
Month Played August
ADT Playoff Category Winner
Defunct
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Tournament information
Location United Kingdom
Established 1976
Course(s) varies
Par varies
Tour LPGA Tour
LET
Month Played August
ADT Playoff Category Winner
Defunct
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PGA Championship
Tournament information
Location United States
Established 1916
Course(s) Oakland Hills Country Club in 2008
Par 70 in 2007
Yardage 7,131 in 2007
Tour(s) PGA Tour, European Tour
Format
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Tournament information
Location United States
Established 1916
Course(s) Oakland Hills Country Club in 2008
Par 70 in 2007
Yardage 7,131 in 2007
Tour(s) PGA Tour, European Tour
Format
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The Masters
Tournament information
Location Augusta, Georgia, USA
Established 1934
Course(s) Augusta National Golf Club
Par 72
Yardage 7,445
Tour(s) PGA Tour
PGA European Tour
Japan Golf Tour
Format
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Tournament information
Location Augusta, Georgia, USA
Established 1934
Course(s) Augusta National Golf Club
Par 72
Yardage 7,445
Tour(s) PGA Tour
PGA European Tour
Japan Golf Tour
Format
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The PGA Tour is an organization that operates the USA's main professional golf tours. It is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA. Its name is officially rendered in all caps as “PGA TOUR".
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The PGA European Tour is an organisation which operates the three leading men's professional golf tours in Europe: the elite European Tour, the European Seniors Tour and the developmental Challenge Tour.
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The Champions Tour, a golf tour run by the PGA Tour, hosts a series of events annually in the United States and the United Kingdom for golfers 50 years of age and older. Many of the PGA Tour's most successful golfers have gone on to play on the Champions Tour.
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Not a Champions Tour event Jim Thorpe Stewart Ginn
2001 Tom Watson (1/5) Bruce Fleisher Doug Tewell (2/2) Allen Doyle (2/4)
2000 Doug Tewell (1/2) Hale Irwin (6/7) Tom Kite Ray Floyd (4/4)
1999 Allen Doyle (1/4) Dave Eichelberger Graham Marsh (2/2) Hale Irwin (5/7)
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2001 Tom Watson (1/5) Bruce Fleisher Doug Tewell (2/2) Allen Doyle (2/4)
2000 Doug Tewell (1/2) Hale Irwin (6/7) Tom Kite Ray Floyd (4/4)
1999 Allen Doyle (1/4) Dave Eichelberger Graham Marsh (2/2) Hale Irwin (5/7)
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The LPGA Playoffs at The ADT, also known as the ADT Championship, is the season-ending golf tournament on the United States-based LPGA Tour.
The tournament was played for the first time in November 2006, the winner of the event, Julieta Granada, received $1 million,
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The tournament was played for the first time in November 2006, the winner of the event, Julieta Granada, received $1 million,
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FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour. It is the first time that men's professional golf will have playoffs. Announced in November 2005, it was first awarded in 2007 after a NASCAR-like points race. Tiger Woods is the current champion.
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The Barclays
Tournament information
Location Harrison, New York
Established 1967
Course(s) Westchester Country Club
Par 71
Yardage 6,839
Tour(s) PGA Tour
Format Stroke play
Purse $7,000,000
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Tournament information
Location Harrison, New York
Established 1967
Course(s) Westchester Country Club
Par 71
Yardage 6,839
Tour(s) PGA Tour
Format Stroke play
Purse $7,000,000
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The women's Western Open was a professional golf tournament which was first played in 1930. The LPGA was established in 1950, and it recognized the Western Open as one of its major championships until 1967. All of the events back to 1930 have been designated as majors by the LPGA.
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There have been two professional golf tournaments for women named the Titleholders Championship. The first was of the original women's majors. The current tournament is a standard event on the LPGA Tour.
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The Canadian Women's Open is a professional women's golf tournament conducted by the Royal Canadian Golf Association. It is a tournament on both the LPGA Tour and the CN Canadian Women's Tour.
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Morgan Pressel (born May 23 1988) is an American professional golfer currently playing on the LPGA Tour.
She is the youngest-ever winner of an LPGA major tournament, and has reached number 4 in the Women's World Golf Rankings.
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She is the youngest-ever winner of an LPGA major tournament, and has reached number 4 in the Women's World Golf Rankings.
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Suzann Pettersen, born in Oslo on April 7 1981 is a Norwegian professional golfer who plays mainly on the U.S. based LPGA Tour and is also a member of the Ladies European Tour.
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Amateur career
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Cristie Kerr (born October 12, 1977 in Miami, Florida) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour.
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Amateur career
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Lorena Ochoa (born in Guadalajara, Jalisco on 15 November 1981) is a Mexican golfer who plays on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and is currently the number one ranked woman golfer in the world.
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Karrie Anne Webb (born 21 December 1974) is Australia's most successful female golfer, and one of the top players in the history of global women's golf. She currently plays mainly on the U.S.
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Se Ri Pak (born September 28 1977 in Daejeon) is a South Korean professional golfer, playing on the LPGA Tour. She will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in November 2007.
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Career overview
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Annika Sörenstam (born October 9 1970 near Stockholm, Sweden) is a professional golfer whose achievements rank her as one of the most successful female golfers in golf history.
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