Famous Women Golfers Who’ve Made the Sport Better
In honor of Anna Davis's incredible victory at the Augusta Women's Amateur, we decided to take a look back at famous women golfers whose tireless activism and love for the game helped pave the way for the 16 year old's victory. From the founding women of the LPGA through the first female members of Augusta National Golf Club, these are the famous women golfers who have made our sport better and more inclusive for everyone.
Famous Golfers of the LPGA
Patty Berg
One of the founding members of the LPGA, Berg was an all around athlete. At 13, she was the quarterback on a local football team alongside future College Football Hall of Fame coach, Bud Wilkinson. Turning to golf in 1931, Berg claimed a Minnesota State amateur title by 1934. Spending the winter training as a speed skater, she would go on to win 29 amateur tournaments before turning pro in 1940 – and having her career nearly ended by a car accident a mere year later. In spite of her injuries, Berg joined the US Marines, serving as a reservist until 1945.
Returning to golf in 1943, Berg would eventually win 15 majors, setting a record that still stands to this day.
Louise Suggs
Anna Davis isn't the first 16 year old to have won an amateur tournament on Georgia soil, as Louise Suggs climbed to the top of the leaderboard of the Georgia State Amateur in 1940. She would win again in 1942, and continue to dominate the amateur circuit before turning pro in 1948.
Suggs finished her professional career with an astounding 61 tournament victories, including 11 majors. She is the first women golfer to win a Grand Slam, with a victory at the 1957 LPGA Championship (of which she was 1/13 a founder).
Babe Didrikson Zaharias
The “other” Babe shows her skills in 1953 at a Country Club in Chicago. Image courtesy of Repsol via Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Among famous women golfers, Mildred Didrikson Zaharias (nicknamed Babe) stands out as one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. Not only did she successfully compete in baseball and basketball, she won two gold medals in Track and Field at the 1932 Olympic games.
A latecomer to golf, Zaharias rose to prominence as a famous woman golfer, becoming America's first female golf celebrity and dominating the sport in the 1940's and 50's. She ended her career with an impressive 10 major wins and countless accolades. Despite enduring derision for her "masculin" habits, she is remembered as one of history's all time greatest golfers and deserves a place on the Mt. Rushmore of female athletes.
Winningest Female Golfers
Annika Sörenstam
Probably the most famous woman golfer, Annika Sörenstam is the winningest golfer on this list with 94 professional wins, 72 LPGA victories and 10 majors. She is tied with Mickey Wright for winning a record 11 tour events in one season (2002), and became the 6th woman in history to complete a Grand Slam by winning the 2003 Women's British Open.
In 2003, Sörenstam was invited to play the Bank of America Colonial, making her the first woman to play in a PGA event since Babe Zaharias in 1945. Sörenstam was a dominant force in golf throughout the 1990's and 2000's, and is one of the greatest golfers alive.
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Annika Sörenstam putts at the 2008 LPGA Championship. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, originally taken by Keith Allison, CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Mickey Wright
Ben Hogan once said of Wright, “She had the finest swing I ever saw." It's hard to describe how dominant Mickey Wright was during her professional career. While Annika Sörenstam has become synonymous with "famous women golfers," had Wright continued playing, she might have surpassed even the GOAT herself.
Winning 90 tournaments as a professional (82 of which were LPGA events, including 13 majors), Wright's astounding feat becomes even more astronomical when you consider that she retired at 34. Her 13 majors were won between 1958 and 1966, and she continues to hold the title of being the only woman in LPGA Tour history to hold all four major titles at once.
Kathy Witworth
Winning a total of six major championships, Kathy Witworth was crowned LPGA "Player of the Year" seven times. Over a career defined by breaking records, she snatched another after winning the Vare Trophy (awarded to the LPGA golfer with the lowest scoring average) an incredible seven times between 1965 and 1972.
She currently holds the record for most LPGA Tour wins with a stunning 88, and was the first woman golfer to earn over $1 million in tour winnings. Witworth was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1975, and was the Associated Press's 'Female Athlete of the Year' in both 1965 and ‘67. Witworth was undoubtedly one of the most famous women golfers of her age, and in 1988 during their Centennial of Golf in America celebration, Golf Magazine named her 'Golfer of the Decade' for her success between 1968 to 1977.
Famous Women Golfers of the Modern Era
Karrie Webb
With 41 LPGA wins, Karrie Webb has the most wins of any active player on the tour. Having won an impressive seven majors, Webb was also the first woman to earn $1 million in a single season on the LPGA Tour. After winning the 2001 U.S. Women's Open, as well as that year's LPGA Championship, she became the youngest woman to complete a Grand Slam. To cap off her impressive resume, Webb is the only woman to ever achieve a "Super Grand Slam" after winning the 2002 British Women's Open.
Webb qualified for entry to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000 at the young age of 26, and was officially inducted 5 years later in 2005 to become the youngest living person to enter the hall of fame.
Julie Inkster
Julie Inkster's longevity in the game is something we could all hope to achieve (and for anyone who aspires to play as long as possible, might we suggest these golf stretching exercises). Having won a respectable 31 LPGA events, it's her seven Majors (and how she won them) that really make Inkster a famous woman golfer. With three major wins in the 1980's, two in the 1990's, and two in the 2000's, Inkster is the only woman to have won at least two Majors per decade for three decades in a row.
Inbee Park
Park has been ranked number one an impressive 4 times in her career, from April 2013 to June 2014, October 2014 to February 2015, June 2015 to October 2015, and from April to July 2018. She has won seven majors, including three in a row during the 2013 season, becoming one of only four LPGA Tour players to win three majors in a calendar year.
In 2008, Park became the youngest player to win the U.S. Women's Open, and in 2015, tied Annika Sörenstam as the only player to win the Women's PGA Championship three years in a row. She has the unique distinction of being a Grand Slam winner, and an Olympic gold medalist in the women's individual tournament.
Famous Women Golf: The Influencers
Dr. Condoleeza Rice
Perhaps not the influencer you were expecting, Dr.Rice has undoubtedly made an impact on golf's future. While she is known more for being the Secretary of State under George W. Bush rather than amongst famous women golfers, Rice's personal life would lead her to breaking a nearly 75-year gender barrier.
In 2012, Rice was one of two women (alongside Darla Moore) to be admitted as members to the historic Augusta National Golf Club. Paving the way for young players like Anna Davis to compete on that very course, Dr. Rice might have been the first, but she won't be the last.
Abby Liebenthal
For adults who weren’t born into golfing families, the sport can be intimidating to approach. This is especially true for women, but that has been changing. Thanks in part to the pandemic-driven golf surge of the COVID-19 era, women represent the fastest growing segment of golfers. But it’s also the result of active efforts from women like Abby Liebenthal, founder of Fore The Ladies, a non-profit focused on introducing more women to golf through low-stress clinics and fun events. In a recent Golf Digest feature on golf influencers, Abby describes how her female friends want to pick up the game, but often don’t know where to start. So she organized a clinic focusing on the basics and 70 women showed up. Fast forward to 2022, and Fore the Ladies is running clinics all over the country. Find one near you and bring a friend who wants to learn!
Paige Spiranac
Before becoming a full time influencer, Paige Spiranac was a touring professional. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, original photo by Keith Allison, CC-BY-CA-2.0.
As with all things, golf is moving onto the internet. Golf influencers help shape the public persona of the game, and people like Paige Spiranac are at the forefront of that trend. Spiranac's golf career began at a young age after a kneecap injury pushed her from gymnastics towards golf. As a victim of bullying, Spiranac enjoyed the isolation afforded by the inherently solo nature of the sport.
After a commendable college career, Spiranac unsuccessfully tried for her LPGA card in 2015. Leaning into her already established social media following, she began to take on golf as an influencer rather than a professional. With a monthly column in Golf Magazine, a podcast, a successful YouTube coaching channel, and millions of followers on Instagram, Spiranac's influence on the game is undeniable.
Using her platform to champion women's access to golf, and to tackle cyberbullying in all its forms, Spiranac proves that one's influence can extend far beyond social media.
These women have all advanced the game of golf and our sport is better for it. If you want to help introduce the game to the next generation of famous female golfers, consider what you can do to make the game more approachable and inclusive for everyone!