The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female professional golfers from around the world.

Organization and history

Other "LPGAs" exist in other countries, each with a geographical designation in its name, but the U.S. organization is the first, largest, and best known. The LPGA is also an organization for female club and teaching professionals. This is different from the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

, which runs the main professional

tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

in the U.S. and, since 1968, has been independent of the club and teaching professionals' organization, the PGA of America. The LPGA also administers an annual qualifying school similar to that conducted by the PGA Tour. Depending on a golfer's finish in the final qualifying tournament, she may receive full or partial playing privileges on the LPGA Tour. In addition to the main LPGA Tour, the LPGA also owns and operates the Epson Tour, formerly the Futures Tour, the official developmental tour of the LPGA. Top finishers at the end of each season on that tour receive playing privileges on the main LPGA Tour for the following year. The LPGA is the oldest continuing women's professional sports organization in the United States. It succeeded the WPGA (Women's Professional Golf Association), which was founded in 1944 but stopped its limited tour after the 1948 season and officially ceased operations in December 1949. The WPGA was founded by Ellen Griffin, Betty Hicks, and

Hope Seignious Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

. The LPGA was founded in 1950 at Rolling Hills Country Club in Wichita, Kansas. Its thirteen founders were: Alice Bauer, Patty Berg, Bettye Danoff,

Helen Dettweiler Elizabeth Helen Dettweiler (December 5, 1914 – November 13, 1990) was an American professional golfer. She was one of the co-founders of the Ladies Professional Golf Association. She won the Women's Western Open in 1939. Biography Dettweile ...

Marlene Hagge Marlene Hagge (née Bauer; born February 16, 1934) is an American former professional golfer. She was one of the thirteen founders of the LPGA in 1950. She won one major championship and 26 LPGA Tour career events. She is a member of the Wor ...

Helen Hicks Helen L. Hicks Harb (February 11, 1911 – December 16, 1974) was an American professional golfer and one of 13 founders of the LPGA in 1950. Biography Hicks was born in Cedarhurst, New York. She began playing golf at the age of 15, after bein ...

Opal Hill Opal S. Trout Hill (June 2, 1892 – June 23, 1981) was an American professional golfer. She won the Women's Western Open in 1935 and 1936. Opal Trout was born in Newport, Nebraska but was raised in Kansas City, Missouri. She married Oscar S ...

Betty Jameson Elizabeth May Jameson (May 9, 1919 – February 7, 2009) was an American professional golfer. She was one of the thirteen founders of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) in 1950. She won three major championships and a total of thi ...

Sally Sessions Sally Sessions (February 22, 1923 – December 23, 1966) was an American golfer. Sessions tied for second place in the 1947 U.S. Women's Open as an amateur, and was one of the 13 founders of the LPGA Tour in 1950. Early life and education Sessi ...

Marilynn Smith Marilynn Louise Smith (April 13, 1929 – April 9, 2019) was an American professional golfer. She was one of the thirteen founders of the LPGA in 1950. She won two major championships and 21 LPGA Tour events in all. She is a member of the Wor ...

Shirley Spork Shirley G. Spork (May 14, 1927 – April 12, 2022) was an American professional golfer and one of the founders of the LPGA Tour. Spork finished second at the 1962 LPGA Championship. She worked as a teaching professional for many years and wa ...

Louise Suggs Mae Louise Suggs (September 7, 1923 – August 7, 2015) was an American professional golfer, one of the founders of the LPGA Tour and thus modern ladies' golf. Amateur career Born in Atlanta, Suggs had a very successful amateur career, beginni ...

, and

Babe Zaharias Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (; Didrikson; June 26, 1911 – September 27, 1956) was an American athlete who excelled in golf, basketball, baseball and track and field. She won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Summer Ol ...

. Patty Berg was its first president. The first LPGA tournament was the 1950

Tampa Women's Open The Tampa Women's Open was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1947 to 1960. It was played at the Palma Ceia Golf & Country Club in Tampa, Florida. The 1950 event was the first official event on the LPGA Tour. The events played before the LPGA ...

, held at Palma Ceia Golf and Country Club in Tampa, Florida. Ironically, the winner was amateur

Polly Riley Polly Ann Riley (August 27, 1926 – March 13, 2002) was an American amateur golfer. Riley won over 100 tournaments in her career. Although she remained an amateur throughout her career, she won the first LPGA Tour event, the 1950 Tampa Open ...

, who beat the stellar field of professional founders. In 1956, the LPGA hosted its first tournament outside the United States at the Havana Open in Havana, Cuba. In 1996,

Muffin Spencer-Devlin Muffin Spencer-Devlin (born October 25, 1953) is an American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour. She was born in Piqua, Ohio and joined the LPGA in 1979. She is openly gay and, in 1996, became the first LPGA player to come out as ga ...

became the first LPGA player to come out as gay. In 2001,

Jane Blalock Barbara Jane Blalock (born September 19, 1945) is an American business executive and retired professional golfer. After winning several New England golf tournaments in her youth, Blalock joined the LPGA Tour as a professional in 1969, being nam ...

's JBC Marketing established the Women's Senior Golf Tour, now called the

Legends Tour The Legends of the LPGA, formerly known as the Women's Senior Golf Tour (2000–2005) and the Legends Tour (2006–2021), is a professional golf tour for women aged 45 and older. It is based in the United States and is the official senior tour of t ...

, for women professionals aged 45 and older. This is affiliated with the LPGA, but is not owned by the LPGA. Since 2006, the LPGA has played a season-ending championship tournament. Michael Whan became the eighth commissioner of the LPGA in October

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

, succeeding the ousted Carolyn Bivens. Whan is a former marketing executive in the sporting goods industry. After a lawsuit filed by golfer

Lana Lawless Lana Lawless (born in 1953) is a professional golfer. Lawless is a transgender woman and underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2005 before playing golf professionally. She became a professional title-holding golfer and received recognition for ...

, the rules were changed in 2010 to allow transgender competitors. In 2013,

trans woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and s ...

Bobbi Lancaster Bobbi Lancaster (born June 23, 1950) is a family physician, champion golfer, author, human rights advocate and motivational speaker. She is also a transgender woman, and underwent undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 2010. She attempted to qu ...

faced local scorn for attempting playing in Arizona's

Cactus Tour The Cactus Tour is an unofficial developmental golf tour, or mini-tour, for women golfers which operates in the American Southwest. It bills itself as "The Tour for Women Golf Professionals in the Western United States!". ''Golfweek'' termed i ...

and attempting to qualify in the

LPGA Qualifying Tournament In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

. In 2018, the LPGA acquired an amateur golf association, the Executive Women's Golf Association (EWGA), and expanded its emphasis to include amateur golfers in the U.S. and North America. Initially called the LPGA Women Who Play, the amateur organization was rebranded as the LPGA Amateur Golf Association. The LPGA Amateur Golf Association has member-operated chapters throughout North America and the Caribbean.

Prize money and tournaments

In 2010, total official prize money on the LPGA Tour was $41.4 million, a decrease of over $6 million from

. In 2010 there were 24 official tournaments, down from 28 in 2009 and 34 in 2008. Despite the loss in total tournaments, the number of tournaments hosted outside of the United States in 2010 stayed the same, as all four lost tournaments had been hosted in the United States. By 2016, the number of tournaments had risen to 33 with a record-high total prize money in excess of $63 million. In 2019, a new record was set with total prize money amounting to $70.5 million (a rise of over $5 million in one year).

International presence

In its first four decades, the LPGA Tour was dominated by American players.

Sandra Post Sandra Post, (born June 4, 1948) is a retired professional golfer, the first Canadian to play on the LPGA Tour. In 1968 at age 20 in her rookie professional year, she won a women's major – the LPGA Championship, and was the youngest playe ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

became the first player living outside the United States to gain an LPGA tour card in

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...

. The non-U.S. contingent is now very large. The last time an American player topped the money list was in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

( Stacy Lewis), the last time an American led the tour in tournaments won was in 2020 (

Danielle Kang Danielle Grace Kang (born October 20, 1992) is an American professional golfer currently playing on the LPGA Tour. As an amateur, she won the U.S. Women's Amateur twice, in 2010 and 2011. She won the 2017 KPMG Women's PGA Championship, an LPGA ...

), and from 2000 through 2009, non-Americans won 31 of 40 major championships. Particularly, one of the notable trends seen in the early 21st century in the LPGA is the rise and dominance of Korean golfers. Se Ri Pak's early success in the LPGA sparked the boom in Korean women golfers on the LPGA Tour. In 2009, there were 122 non-Americans from 27 countries on the tour, including 47 from South Korea, 14 from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

, 10 from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, eight from the United Kingdom (four from England, three from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and one from

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

), seven from Canada, five from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

, and four from

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

LPGA Tour tournaments

2009 LPGA Championship - Kristy McPherson (4)

As a United States-based tour, most of the LPGA Tour's events are held in the United States. In 1956, the LPGA hosted its first tournament outside the United States at the Havana Open in Havana, Cuba. In 2020, fourteen tournaments are held outside of the United States, seven events in Asia, four in Europe, two events in Australia, and one in Canada. Five of the tournaments held outside North America are co-sanctioned with other professional tours. The Ladies European Tour co-sanctions the Women's British Open, The Evian Championship in France, and the Women's Australian Open (also co-sanctioned with the

ALPG Tour The WPGA Tour of Australasia, formerly known as the ALPG Tour, is a professional golf tour for women which is based in Australia. WPGA stands for Women's Professional Golfers' Association. The tour was founded as the Ladies Professional Golf Assoc ...

). The other two co-sanctioned events—the BMW Ladies Championship (

LPGA of Korea Tour The LPGA of Korea Tour is a South Korean professional golf tour for women. LPGA stands for Ladies Professional Golf Association. LPGA of Korea runs this tour, not the American LPGA. It is one of the world's five leading women's golf tours. Based o ...

) and

Toto Japan Classic The Toto Japan Classic is an annual women's professional golf tournament in Japan, jointly sanctioned by the two richest women's professional tours: the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and the LPGA of Japan Tour. It was an unofficial money event on the LPGA ...

( LPGA of Japan Tour)—are held during the tour's autumn swing to Asia.

LPGA majors

The LPGA's annual major championships are: *

Chevron Championship The Chevron Championship is a professional women's golf tournament. An event on the LPGA Tour, it is one of the tour's five major championships, and has traditionally been the first of the season since its elevation to major status in 1983. Fou ...

* U.S. Women's Open * Women's PGA Championship * Women's British Open * The Evian Championship

LPGA Playoffs

Since 2006, the LPGA has played a season-ending championship tournament. Through the 2008 season, it was known as the LPGA Playoffs at The ADT; in

and 2010, it was known as the LPGA Tour Championship; and in 2011, the event became the CME Group Titleholders, held in November. From 2006 through 2008 the LPGA schedule was divided into two halves, with 15 players from each half qualifying for the Championship based on their performance. Two wild-card selections were also included for a final field of 21 players. The winner of the LPGA Tour Championship, which features three days of "playoffs" plus the final championship round, earns $1 million. In 2009, the Tour Championship field was increased to 120 players, with entry open to all Tour members in the top 120 on the money list as of three weeks prior to the start of the tournament. The total purse was $1.5 million with $225,000 going to the winner. The CME Group Titleholders, which resurrects the name of a former LPGA major championship (the Titleholders Championship), was first played in 2011. From 2011 to 2013, its field was made up of three qualifiers from each official tour event during the season, specifically the top three finishers not previously qualified. Beginning in 2014, the field will be determined by a season-long points race. The winner of the points race will receive a $1 million bonus.

2022 LPGA Tour

Historical tour schedules and results

*Official tournaments are tournaments in which earnings and scores are credited to the players' official LPGA record.

Hall of Fame

The LPGA established the Hall of Fame of Women's Golf in 1951, with four charter members: Patty Berg,

, and

. After being inactive for several years, the

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

moved in 1967 to its first physical premises, in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Geor ...

, and was renamed the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame. In 1998 it merged into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

LPGA Tour awards

The LPGA Tour presents several annual awards. Three are awarded in competitive contests, based on scoring over the course of the year. *The Player of the Year is awarded based on a formula in which points are awarded for top-10 finishes and are doubled at the LPGA's five major championships, and the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. The points system is: 30 points for first; 12 points for second; nine points for third; seven points for fourth; six points for fifth; five points for sixth; four points for seventh; three points for eighth; two points for ninth and one point for 10th. *The Vare Trophy, named for

Glenna Collett-Vare Glenna Collett Vare (June 20, 1903 – February 3, 1989) was an American Hall of Fame golfing champion whom the Hall calls the greatest female golfer of her day, and who dominated American women's golf in the 1920s. Biography Born in New Haven, ...

, is given to the player with the lowest scoring average for the season. *The Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year Award is awarded to the first-year player on the LPGA Tour who scores the highest in a points competition in which points are awarded based on a player's finish in an event. The points system is: 150 points for first; 80 points for second; 75 points for third; 70 points for fourth; and 65 points for fifth. After fifth place, points are awarded in decrements of three, beginning at sixth place with 62 points. Points are doubled in the major events and at the season-ending Tour Championship. Rookies who make the cut in an event and finish below 41st each receive five points. The award is named after

, one of the founders of the LPGA. American golfer

Nancy Lopez Nancy Marie Lopez (born January 6, 1957) is an American former professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1977 and won 48 LPGA Tour events, including three major championships. Amateur career Lopez won the New Mexico Women's ...

, in 1978, is the only player to win all three awards in the same season. Lopez was also the Tour's top money earner that season.

Leading money winners by year

1 The five players with three titles in 1988 were Juli Inkster, Rosie Jones, Betsy King,

, and Ayako Okamoto.

Leading career money winners

The table below shows the top-10 career money leaders on the LPGA Tour (from the start of their rookie seasons) as of November 20, 2022. Active players on the Tour are shown in bold.

Total prize money awarded in past years

References

External links

*
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{{Golf Golf in the United States Sports professional associations based in the United States Professional associations for women Women's golf Golf governing bodies + Sports organizations established in 1950 Women's sports organizations in the United States 1950 establishments in the United States