Juli Inkster (nee Simpson; born June 24, 1960) is an American professional golfer who plays on the

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

. With a professional career spanning 29 years to date, Inkster's 31 wins rank her second in wins among all active players on the LPGA Tour; she has over $14 million in career earnings. She also has more wins in Solheim Cup matches than any other American, and is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Inkster is the only golfer in LPGA Tour history to win two majors in a decade for three consecutive decades by winning three in the 1980s, two in the 1990s, and two in the 2000s.

Amateur career

Born and raised in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

, Simpson graduated from Harbor High School in 1978 and played college golf at nearby San Jose State, where she was an

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

in 1979, 1981, and 1982. She was also All Nor-Cal 1979–1981 and SJSU Athlete of the Year in 1981, and is a member of the San Jose State Sports Hall of Fame. From 1980 to 1982, Inkster won three consecutive U.S. Women's Amateurs, her first victory coming three weeks after her marriage to Brian Inkster. She became the first woman since 1934 to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles. She was a member of the winning U.S. Curtis Cup team in 1982. She was also a member of the winning U.S. team at the Espirito Santo Trophy in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

and 1982. She won the 1981 California Women's Amateur Championship, was California's 1981 Amateur of the Year, and 1982 Bay Area Athlete of the Year. She won the Broderick Award, (now the Honda Sports Award) as the nation's best female collegiate golfer in 1982.

Professional career

She turned professional and enjoyed success in her rookie year of

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

with a victory at the Safeco Classic. She won two major championships in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, her first full LPGA season, and was LPGA Rookie of the Year. She has won 31 tournaments on the

, including seven majors and the career Grand Slam for ladies' golf. she is fifth on the LPGA career money list. Inkster won a tournament in 16 out of 24 seasons from 1983 to 2006, but has never finished at the top of the money list; her best finishes were second in 1999, and third in both 1986 and 2002. Inkster played on the United States Solheim Cup team in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

; she has won a total of 18.5 points, making her the winningest American Solheim Cup player as of 2011. She teamed with

Pat Hurst Pat Hurst (born May 23, 1969) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. Hurst's mother is originally from Japan and her father is an American of German heritage. She was born in San Leandro, California, and raised in the ...

, represented the United States at the 2007

Women's World Cup of Golf The Women's World Cup of Golf was a professional golf tournament contested by teams of two female golfers representing their respective countries. The tournament was played in several incarnations, first in 1992 as the Sunrise Cup World Team Ch ...

. She was voted Women's Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year in 1999 and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000. She was recognized during the LPGA’s 50th Anniversary in 2000 as one of the LPGA’s top-50 players and teachers. Inkster was a player and assistant captain on the 2011 Solheim Cup team. She was the oldest player and the first playing assistant captain in Solheim Cup history. In late 2011 at age 51, Inkster suffered the first major injury of her career, necessitating surgery in January 2012 to repair nerve and tendon damage in her right elbow. The surgery kept her out of the 2012 season until late June.

Solheim Cup captaincy

Inkster was the captain for the United States team in the

2015 Solheim Cup The 2015 Solheim Cup was the 14th edition of the Solheim Cup matches, held 18–20 September at the St. Leon course of Golf Club St. Leon-Rot, St. Leon-Rot, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The Solheim Cup is a biennial team competition between the ...

. The United States started the final day down 10–6, but mounted a historic comeback to capture the victory by a final score of 14.5–13.5. Inkster captained the United States team again in the 2017 Solheim Cup set at the Des Moines Golf and Country Club in West Des Moines, Iowa, which the team won 16.5-11.5. On January 31, 2018, it was announced that Inkster would captain the United States team for a third consecutive match in 2019 at Gleneagles. Europe won the match against United States 14.5–13.5.

Senior career

Inkster has won four tournaments in the Legends Tour and finished second in the 2018 U.S. Senior Women's Open.

Broadcast career

In 2014, Inkster began a career as a golf commentator for the Golf Channel, gaining experience as both interviewer and analyst. In 2015, she joined

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

to serve as commentator for that network's coverage of USGA events.

Professional wins (45)

LPGA Tour wins (31)

LPGA Tour playoff record (6–4)

Ladies European Tour wins (2)

Compaq Open *

Evian Masters (co-sanctioned with LPGA Tour)

Other wins (7)

*1986 JCPenney Classic (with Tom Purtzer) *1990 Spalding Invitational *1996 Diners Club Matches (with Dottie Pepper) *1997 Diners Club Matches (with Dottie Pepper), Gillette Tour Challenge (with Rosie Jones) *1999 Diners Club Matches (with Dottie Pepper) *2000 Hyundai Team Matches (with Dottie Pepper)

Legends Tour wins (6)

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Legends Championship *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Walgreens Charity Classic, Walgreens Charity Championship *

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Walgreens Charity Classic *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Suquamish Clearwater Legends Cup *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Land O'Lakes Legends Classic

Major championships

Wins (7)

¹ Defeated Bradley on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff
² Defeated Croce on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff

Results timeline

''Results not in chronological order before 2019.'' ^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an LPGA major in 2001.
^^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013. CUT = missed the half-way cut.
DQ = disqualified
NT = no tournament
T = tied

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 16 (twice) *Longest streak of top-10s – 4 (twice)

LPGA Tour career summary

* official as of 2022 season * Includes match play and other events without a cut.

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur * Curtis Cup: 1982 (winners) * Espirito Santo Trophy:

(winners),

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

(winners) Professional * Solheim Cup:

(winners),

(non-playing captain, winners), 2017 Solheim Cup (non-playing captain, winners), 2019 Solheim Cup (non-playing captain) *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

: 2007, 2008 * Handa Cup: 2014 (winners), 2015 (winners)

Solheim Cup record

Awards

*1982: Broderick Award for Golf *1984: LPGA Rookie of the Year *1989: GWAA Female Player of the Year *1999: Women's Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year *2000: ESPY Awards Best Female Golfer *2004: LPGA William and Mousie Powell Award *2009: ASAPSports/Jim Murray Award *2009: LPGA Patty Berg Award *2022:

Bob Jones Award The Bob Jones Award is the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. It is named in honor of Bobby Jones (golfer), Bobby Jones. Winners *1955 Francis Ouimet *1956 William C. C ...

Notes and references

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Inkster, Juli American female golfers San Jose State Spartans women's golfers LPGA Tour golfers Winners of ladies' major amateur golf championships Winners of LPGA major golf championships Solheim Cup competitors for the United States World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Golfers from California Sportspeople from Los Altos, California Sportspeople from Santa Cruz, California American golf commentators American women sports commentators 1960 births Living people 20th-century American sportswomen