Elizabeth “Betty” Hicks, 90, 1941 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, a dedicated pioneer of two women’s professional golf circuits, journalist and flight instructor, died Feb. 20 in Aptos, Calif., of Alzheimer’s disease.
One of golf’s earliest feminists, Hicks co-founded one women’s professional golf tour and worked hard to keep another one alive. She wrote pointed articles for national publications, and feuded with Babe Zaharias. Her love of teaching extended from golf to flight instruction, which she pursued well into her eighties.
Born in Long Beach, Calif., on Nov. 16, 1920, Hicks began studies at Long Beach City College at 16 and that same year began playing golf in a school golf class.
In 1938, Hicks won her first tournament, the Long Beach City Championship. She reached the semifinals of the 1939 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Pebble Beach, losing to Betty Jameson, the eventual champion. In 1940, she won two of the five tournaments in which she played on the Florida winter women’s amateur circuit.
The year 1941 was one of the most eventful of her life: She won the Doherty and the California Women’s Amateur, married and became Elizabeth Hicks Newell, won the U.S. Women’s Amateur and was named the Associated Press Woman Athlete of the Year.
Prior to the 1941 Women’s Amateur at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., Hicks visited Helen Hicks (no relation) and three-time Women’s Amateur champion Virginia Van Wie. When Betty complained of woes with her golf swing, Hicks and Van Wie took her to Women’s National G.C., where she met and worked with Ernest Jones, the famed golf instructor. Jones put a record of the Blue Danube waltz on the phonograph, told Hicks to swing the clubhead, and to forget everything else. It was a propitious pairing and Hicks forever after subscribed to Jones’s swing theories.
In the semifinals of the 1941 Women’s Amateur, Hicks was one hole down to Estelle Lawson Page going to the 18th. She faced a 15-foot putt for a par to win the hole and stay alive. “I was thinking, ‘This is MY tournament, so it’s got to be MY match, so it must be MY putt,’” Hicks recalled in 1992. She made the putt and won the match on the 19th hole. In the final she met Helen Sigel from Philadelphia, “but I swung to the Blue Danube Waltz all the way through it,” she remembered.
She defeated Sigel, 5 and 3, and was presented with the trophy on The Country Club’s clubhouse porch, since women were not allowed to enter the clubhouse.
Hicks assessed herself as a streaky putter with a great sand game who enjoyed practicing. She admittedly had a terrible temper on the golf course when she was young.
Following the trophy presentation at the Women’s Amateur, Hicks immediately announced that she would entertain professional offers, which was unusual in that day. “I was being pushed by my then-husband on the issue because neither one of us made much money, needless to say,” Hicks said. “I think I would have preferred to remain amateur because the war had already begun and there wasn’t going to be much competitive opportunity... That would have been my preference, to remain amateur and see what developed after the war.”
Betty Hicks Tournament Wins
Southern California Women's Amateur (1939)
Palm Springs Invitational (1939)
Western Women's Stroke Play (1939)
Palm Springs Invitational (1940)
Southern California Women's Amateur (1940)
South Atlantic Championship (1940)
Palm Beach Invitational (1940)
Western Women's Stroke Play (1940)
U.S. Women's Amateur (1941)
California Women's Amateur (1941)
Miami-Biltmore Invitational (1941)
Chicago Victory Open (1943)
All-American Open (1943)
Chicago Victory Open (1944)
Portland Open Open (1943)
Hicks got some offers, but they were not the lucrative sponsorship offers of today because there was no women’s professional tour. Her first job was as an assistant pro at Recreational Park Golf Course in Long Beach, where she gave lessons and repaired clubs for $83 a month. An equipment contract with J.A. Dubow Company, which also made the famed bomber jackets for airmen during the war, provided some royalty income.
During the war, Hicks joined the U.S. Coast Guard as a public relations officer and played in a few tournaments.
At the time, George S. May sponsored tournaments for pros and amateurs at Tam O’Shanter G.C. in Chicago, but there was a great disparity in prize money. “Byron Nelson won the All-American Open in 1943 and got $14,000,” Hicks said. ”I won the women’s division and received $500.
“We decided we’d form our Women’s Professional Golf Association to try to deal with sponsors on a more equitable basis,” she said. “At that point, the disparity was so great that I think we didn’t really recognize it… Many people had the attitude that we shouldn’t be out on tour in the first place.”
So in 1944, Hicks took a step that would influence the future of women’s golf: With Hope Seignious and Ellen Griffin, she founded the Women’s Professional Golf Association, the first professional tour for women, and was its first president.
“A very important part of our objective was to promote golf in schools and colleges,” Hicks said.
There were few WPGA tournaments for pros to play in but the school division got off the ground promptly because it needed little financial backing. The WPGA dissolved after only three years because of financial difficulties.
By 1949, when Babe and George Zaharias, Patty Berg and sports promoter Fred Corcoran formed the Ladies Professional Golf Association, the WPGA had given the new organization a foothold with the Women’s Open and Tampa Women’s Open.
“I think some of these people just don’t want to recognize there was a WPGA, which I resent a little bit because we were the pioneers,” Hicks said.
Hicks became part of the LPGA retinue that drove some 35,000 miles per year, staying in motels, where Hicks sometimes cooked meatballs in the bottom of an electric coffee pot.
"We couldn’t skip one tournament,” Hicks said. “If one or two people dropped out of a 30-player field, it could be disaster. The competition was still there, and Babe could be extremely difficult at times. There wasn’t a great deal of love lost among the top players, no matter what the TV documentaries claim. It was competitive, and yet at times, the camaraderie was quite excellent.”
In 1954, after Corcoran resigned as LPGA tournament director, Zaharias held the post for two months, then Hicks became tournament director for $200 a month, “which just about paid for my electric typewriter and postage,” she said.
“(Betty) was a lifesaver, until we could get somebody else,” said Mary Lena Faulk in 1992. “When the big three sporting goods people dropped out as sponsors, they dropped us just like that.”
Beginning in 1939, Hicks had written sports stories for the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Now she taped player interviews to give to radio stations and took all of the tour’s photographs. She wrote magazine articles about the players for Sports Illustrated and The Saturday Evening Post. One series of player profiles she wrote for ThePost caused a furor.
Zaharias ranted about “that terrible article” Hicks wrote and temporarily resigned from the tour, saying she would start her own tour if Hicks didn’t resign as publicity director. The resulting contretemps prompted large galleries to turn out for the Tampa Open. Hicks said she thought she knew where the “feud” started. In 1940, Zaharias had said to Hicks, “Why don’t you and me start a feud, and then we can go on an exhibition tour, and make us both a bunch of money,” Hicks recalled.
The feud, however, had triggered new interest in the professional personalities and “Babe knew how to milk the publicity cow,” Hicks said.
“Betty wrote some controversial things about the tour,” said Louise Suggs in a 1992 interview. “Were they accurate? They weren’t far from it. They really weren’t.”
With fellow player Carol Bowman driving from town to town, Hicks pounded out stories on her portable typewriter, which rested on her lap.
Hicks, with all of her extra-curricular duties, never became a big winner on the professional circuits, although she captured a few tournaments. She played in her last LPGA tournament in 1965. After retiring from the tournament trail, she became a flight instructor and an FAA Written Test Examiner, having logged 6,000 hours in total pilot time. She coordinated the aviation department of Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, Calif., and coached the college’s women’s golf team.
She was a productive journalist, writing more than 300 magazine articles that appeared in some of the nation’s top publications, from Sports Illustrated to Atlantic Monthly. With Ellen Griffin, Hicks wrote, “Golf Manual for Teachers,” which became a bible of sorts for golf instructors in the 1940s and ‘50s.
Hicks (born November 16, 1920) was an American professional golfer, golf coach and teacher, aviatrix, and author. She also competed under her married name, Betty Hicks Newell.
Hicks was born in Long Beach, California. As an amateur golfer, she won the 1941 U.S. Women's Amateur and was Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year. She turned professional later that year.
Hicks competed on the LPGA Tour, finishing second several times in the 1950s but never winning. She finished second in the U.S. Women's Open in 1948 and 1954 and third in 1957. She won the All American Open, which would later become a LPGA Tour event, in 1944.
Hicks also taught golf and coached several women's college teams.
In 1959, with Marilynn Smith serving as president, the LPGA membership voted to establish the Teaching membership. Shirley Spork, Barbara Rotvig, Betty Hicks and Marilynn Smith were the division's founding members and served on the first Teaching Committee, playing pivotal roles in creating guidelines and strategies for the LPGA Teaching membership's future growth.
As an author, Hicks co-authored the book "Golf Manual for Teachers" with Ellen Griffin in 1949. In 1996, she co-authored "Patty Sheehan on Golf" with Patty Sheehan. In 2006, she wrote "My Life: From Fairway to Airway" which chronicles her life in golf and her second career as a pilot.
Hicks was a member of the LPGA Teaching and Club Professional Hall of Fame, the Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame, San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, the Women's Sports Foundation International Hall of Fame, the California Golf Writers Hall of Fame, and the International Forest of Friendship Aviation Hall of Fame. In 1999, she won the Ellen Griffin Rolex award for her efforts in helping the LPGA grow and in teaching the game of golf to women.
The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female professional 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 golfers from around the world.
Contents
1 Organization and history
2 Prize money and tournaments
3 International presence
4 LPGA Tour tournaments
4.1 LPGA Playoffs
5 2020 LPGA Tour
6 Historical tour schedules and results
7 Hall of Fame
8 LPGA Tour awards
9 Leading money winners by year
10 Leading career money winners
11 Total prize money awarded in past years
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
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, which runs the main professional tours 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 Symetra 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.
In 1996 Muffin Spencer-Devlin became the first LPGA player to come out as gay.[4]
In its 70th season in 2019, the LPGA is the oldest continuing women's professional sports organization in the United States.[5][6] It was founded in 1950 by a group of 13 golfers: Alice Bauer, Patty Berg, Bettye Danoff, Helen Dettweiler, Marlene Bauer Hagge, Helen Hicks, Opal Hill, Betty Jameson, Sally Sessions, Marilynn Smith, Shirley Spork, Louise Suggs, and Babe Zaharias.[3] The LPGA 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.[7]
In 2001, Jane Blalock's JBC Marketing established the Women's Senior Golf Tour, now called the Legends Tour, for women professionals aged 45 and older. This is affiliated with the LPGA, but is not owned by the LPGA.
Michael Whan became the eighth commissioner of the LPGA in October 2009, succeeding the ousted Carolyn Bivens.[6][8] Whan is a former marketing executive in the sporting goods industry.[9]
After a lawsuit filed by golfer Lana Lawless, the rules were changed in 2010 to allow transgender competitors.[10][11][12] In 2013, trans woman Bobbi Lancaster faced local scorn for attempting playing in Arizona's Cactus Tour and attempting to qualify in the LPGA Qualifying Tournament.[13]
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 2009. 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).[14]
International presence
In its first four decades, the LPGA Tour was dominated by American players. Sandra Post of Canada became the first player living outside the United States to gain an LPGA tour card in 1968. The non-U.S. contingent is now very large. The last time an American player topped the money list was in 1993, the last time an American led the tour in tournaments won was in 1996, 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.[15] Se Ri Pak's early success in the LPGA sparked the boom in Korean women golfers on the LPGA Tour.[16] In 2009, there were 122 non-Americans from 27 countries on the tour, including 47 from South Korea, 14 from Sweden, 10 from Australia, eight from the United Kingdom (four from England, three from Scotland and one from Wales), seven from Canada, five from Taiwan, and four from Japan.[17]
Of the 33 events in 2006, a total of 11 were won by Koreans and only seven were won by Americans. (See 2006 LPGA Tour for more details on the 2006 season.) In 2007, Americans saw a relative resurgence, winning 12 events. For the first time since 2000, two Americans won majors (See 2007 LPGA Tour for more details on the 2007 season.) In 2008, Americans grew in dominance, winning 9 of 34 events, tied with Koreans, but no majors, one of which was won by a Mexican player, one by Taiwanese player, and the other two by teenage Korean players (See 2008 LPGA Tour for more details on the 2008 season.) In 2009, Americans won 5 of 28 official events, including one major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship while Koreans won 11 events (See 2009 LPGA Tour for more details on the 2009 season.)
LPGA Tour tournaments
Kristy McPherson during her practice round before the 2009 LPGA Championship
at Bulle Rock Golf Course in Maryland.
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 other two co-sanctioned events—the BMW Ladies Championship (LPGA of Korea Tour) and Toto Japan Classic (LPGA of Japan Tour)—are held during the tour's autumn swing to Asia.
The LPGA's annual major championships are:
ANA Inspiration
U.S. Women's Open
Women's PGA Championship
Ricoh 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 2009 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 $1 million bonus.[18]
2020 LPGA Tour
See also: 2020 LPGA Tour
Historical tour schedules and results
Year Number of
official tournaments Countries hosting
tournaments Tournaments in
United States Tournaments in
other countries Total prize
money ($)
2019 32 12 20 12 70,200,000
2018 33 13 19 14 66,950,000
2017 34 15 17 17 67,650,000
2016 33 14 18 15 63,000,000
2015 31 14 17 14 59,100,000
2014 32 14 17 15 57,550,000
2013 28 14 14 14 48,900,000
2012 27 12 15 12 47,000,000
2011 23 11 13 10 41,500,000
2010 24 10 14 10 41,400,000
2009 28 9 18 10 47,600,000
2008 34 8 24 10 60,300,000
2007 31 8 23 8 54,285,000
2006 33 8 25 8 50,275,000
2005 32 7 25 7 45,100,000
2004 32 6 27 5 42,875,000
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, Betty Jameson, Louise Suggs, and Babe Zaharias. After being inactive for several years, the Hall of Fame moved in 1967 to its first physical premises, in Augusta, Georgia, 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 Rolex 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 four major championships and at the season-ending 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, is given to the player with the lowest scoring average for the season.
The Louise Suggs Rolex 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 Louise Suggs, one of the founders of the LPGA.
American golfer Nancy Lopez, 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.
Year Player of the Year Vare Trophy Rookie of the Year
2019 South Korea Ko Jin-young South Korea Ko Jin-young South Korea Lee Jeong-eun
2018 Thailand Ariya Jutanugarn[19] Thailand Ariya Jutanugarn South Korea Ko Jin-young[20]
2017 South Korea Sung Hyun Park
South Korea So Yeon Ryu United States Lexi Thompson South Korea Sung Hyun Park[21]
2016 Thailand Ariya Jutanugarn South Korea In Gee Chun South Korea In Gee Chun
2015 New Zealand Lydia Ko South Korea Inbee Park South Korea Sei Young Kim
2014 United States Stacy Lewis United States Stacy Lewis New Zealand Lydia Ko[22]
2013 South Korea Inbee Park United States Stacy Lewis Thailand Moriya Jutanugarn
2012 United States Stacy Lewis South Korea Inbee Park South Korea So Yeon Ryu
2011 Taiwan Yani Tseng Taiwan Yani Tseng South Korea Hee Kyung Seo
2010 Taiwan Yani Tseng South Korea Na Yeon Choi Spain Azahara Muñoz
2009 Mexico Lorena Ochoa Mexico Lorena Ochoa South Korea Jiyai Shin
2008 Mexico Lorena Ochoa Mexico Lorena Ochoa Taiwan Yani Tseng
2007 Mexico Lorena Ochoa Mexico Lorena Ochoa Brazil Angela Park
2006 Mexico Lorena Ochoa Mexico Lorena Ochoa South Korea Seon Hwa Lee
2005 Sweden Annika Sörenstam Sweden Annika Sörenstam United States Paula Creamer
2004 Sweden Annika Sörenstam South Korea Grace Park South Korea Shi Hyun Ahn
2003 Sweden Annika Sörenstam South Korea Se Ri Pak Mexico Lorena Ochoa
2002 Sweden Annika Sörenstam Sweden Annika Sörenstam United States Beth Bauer
2001 Sweden Annika Sörenstam Sweden Annika Sörenstam South Korea Hee-Won Han
2000 Australia Karrie Webb Australia Karrie Webb United States Dorothy Delasin
1999 Australia Karrie Webb Australia Karrie Webb South Korea Mi Hyun Kim
1998 Sweden Annika Sörenstam Sweden Annika Sörenstam South Korea Se Ri Pak
1997 Sweden Annika Sörenstam Australia Karrie Webb England Lisa Hackney
1996 England Laura Davies Sweden Annika Sörenstam Australia Karrie Webb
1995 Sweden Annika Sörenstam Sweden Annika Sörenstam United States Pat Hurst
1994 United States Beth Daniel United States Beth Daniel Sweden Annika Sörenstam
1993 United States Betsy King United States Betsy King England Suzanne Strudwick
1992 United States Dottie Mochrie United States Dottie Mochrie Sweden Helen Alfredsson
1991 United States Pat Bradley United States Pat Bradley United States Brandie Burton
1990 United States Beth Daniel United States Beth Daniel Japan Hiromi Kobayashi
1989 United States Betsy King United States Beth Daniel Scotland Pamela Wright
1988 United States Nancy Lopez United States Colleen Walker Sweden Liselotte Neumann
1987 Japan Ayako Okamoto United States Betsy King United States Tammie Green
1986 United States Pat Bradley United States Pat Bradley United States Jody Rosenthal
1985 United States Nancy Lopez United States Nancy Lopez United States Penny Hammel
1984 United States Betsy King United States Patty Sheehan United States Juli Inkster
1983 United States Patty Sheehan United States JoAnne Carner United States Stephanie Farwig
1982 United States JoAnne Carner United States JoAnne Carner United States Patti Rizzo
1981 United States JoAnne Carner United States JoAnne Carner United States Patty Sheehan
1980 United States Beth Daniel United States Amy Alcott United States Myra Blackwelder
1979 United States Nancy Lopez United States Nancy Lopez United States Beth Daniel
1978 United States Nancy Lopez United States Nancy Lopez United States Nancy Lopez
1977 United States Judy Rankin United States Judy Rankin United States Debbie Massey
1976 United States Judy Rankin United States Judy Rankin United States Bonnie Lauer
1975 United States Sandra Palmer United States JoAnne Carner United States Amy Alcott
1974 United States JoAnne Carner United States JoAnne Carner Australia Jan Stephenson
1973 United States Kathy Whitworth United States Judy Rankin United States Laura Baugh
1972 United States Kathy Whitworth United States Kathy Whitworth Canada Jocelyne Bourassa
1971 United States Kathy Whitworth United States Kathy Whitworth South Africa Sally Little
1970 United States Sandra Haynie United States Kathy Whitworth United States JoAnne Carner
1969 United States Kathy Whitworth United States Kathy Whitworth United States Jane Blalock
1968 United States Kathy Whitworth United States Carol Mann Canada Sandra Post
1967 United States Kathy Whitworth United States Kathy Whitworth United States Sharron Moran
1966 United States Kathy Whitworth United States Kathy Whitworth United States Jan Ferraris
1965 – United States Kathy Whitworth Australia Margie Masters
1964 – United States Mickey Wright United States Susie Maxwell
1963 – United States Mickey Wright United States Clifford Ann Creed
1962 – United States Mickey Wright United States Mary Mills
1961 – United States Mickey Wright –
1960 – United States Mickey Wright –
1959 – United States Betsy Rawls –
1958 – United States Beverly Hanson –
1957 – United States Louise Suggs –
1956 – United States Patty Berg –
1955 – United States Patty Berg –
1954 – United States Babe Zaharias –
1953 – United States Patty Berg –
Leading money winners by year
Year Player Country Earnings ($) Most wins
2019 Ko Jin-young South Korea 2,773,894 4 – Ko Jin-young
2018 Ariya Jutanugarn Thailand 2,743,949 3 – Ariya Jutanugarn, Sung Hyun Park
2017 Sung Hyun Park South Korea 2,335,883 3 – Shanshan Feng, In-Kyung Kim
2016 Ariya Jutanugarn Thailand 2,550,928 5 – Ariya Jutanugarn
2015 Lydia Ko New Zealand 2,800,802 5 – Lydia Ko, Inbee Park
2014 Stacy Lewis United States 2,539,039 3 – Lydia Ko, Stacy Lewis, Inbee Park
2013 Inbee Park South Korea 2,456,619 6 – Inbee Park
2012 Inbee Park South Korea 2,287,080 4 – Stacy Lewis
2011 Yani Tseng Taiwan 2,921,713 7 – Yani Tseng
2010 Na Yeon Choi South Korea 1,871,166 5 – Ai Miyazato
2009 Jiyai Shin South Korea 1,807,334 3 – Jiyai Shin, Lorena Ochoa
2008 Lorena Ochoa Mexico 2,754,660 7 – Lorena Ochoa
2007 Lorena Ochoa Mexico 4,364,994 8 – Lorena Ochoa
2006 Lorena Ochoa Mexico 2,592,872 6 – Lorena Ochoa
2005 Annika Sörenstam Sweden 2,588,240 10 – Annika Sörenstam
2004 Annika Sörenstam Sweden 2,544,707 8 – Annika Sörenstam
2003 Annika Sörenstam Sweden 2,029,506 6 – Annika Sörenstam
2002 Annika Sörenstam Sweden 2,863,904 11 – Annika Sörenstam
2001 Annika Sörenstam Sweden 2,105,868 8 – Annika Sörenstam
2000 Karrie Webb Australia 1,876,853 7 – Karrie Webb
1999 Karrie Webb Australia 1,591,959 6 – Karrie Webb
1998 Annika Sörenstam Sweden 1,092,748 4 – Annika Sörenstam, Se Ri Pak
1997 Annika Sörenstam Sweden 1,236,789 6 – Annika Sörenstam
1996 Karrie Webb Australia 1,002,000 4 – Laura Davies, Dottie Pepper, Karrie Webb
1995 Annika Sörenstam Sweden 666,533 3 – Annika Sörenstam
1994 Laura Davies England 687,201 4 – Beth Daniel
1993 Betsy King United States 595,992 3 – Brandie Burton
1992 Dottie Mochrie United States 693,335 4 – Dottie Mochrie
1991 Pat Bradley United States 763,118 4 – Pat Bradley, Meg Mallon
1990 Beth Daniel United States 863,578 7 – Beth Daniel
1989 Betsy King United States 654,132 6 – Betsy King
1988 Sherri Turner United States 350,851 3 – 5 players (see 1)
1987 Ayako Okamoto Japan 466,034 5 – Jane Geddes
1986 Pat Bradley United States 492,021 5 – Pat Bradley
1985 Nancy Lopez United States 416,472 5 – Nancy Lopez
1984 Betsy King United States 266,771 4 – Patty Sheehan, Amy Alcott
1983 JoAnne Carner United States 291,404 4 – Pat Bradley, Patty Sheehan
1982 JoAnne Carner United States 310,400 5 – JoAnne Carner, Beth Daniel
1981 Beth Daniel United States 206,998 5 – Donna Caponi
1980 Beth Daniel United States 231,000 5 – Donna Caponi, JoAnne Carner
1979 Nancy Lopez United States 197,489 8 – Nancy Lopez
1978 Nancy Lopez United States 189,814 9 – Nancy Lopez
1977 Judy Rankin United States 122,890 5 – Judy Rankin, Debbie Austin
1976 Judy Rankin United States 150,734 6 – Judy Rankin
1975 Sandra Palmer United States 76,374 4 – Carol Mann, Sandra Haynie
1974 JoAnne Carner United States 87,094 6 – JoAnne Carner, Sandra Haynie
1973 Kathy Whitworth United States 82,864 7 – Kathy Whitworth
1972 Kathy Whitworth United States 65,063 5 – Kathy Whitworth, Jane Blalock
1971 Kathy Whitworth United States 41,181 5 – Kathy Whitworth
1970 Kathy Whitworth United States 30,235 4 – Shirley Englehorn
1969 Carol Mann United States 49,152 8 – Carol Mann
1968 Kathy Whitworth United States 48,379 10 – Carol Mann, Kathy Whitworth
1967 Kathy Whitworth United States 32,937 8 – Kathy Whitworth
1966 Kathy Whitworth United States 33,517 9 – Kathy Whitworth
1965 Kathy Whitworth United States 28,658 8 – Kathy Whitworth
1964 Mickey Wright United States 29,800 11 – Mickey Wright
1963 Mickey Wright United States 31,269 13 – Mickey Wright
1962 Mickey Wright United States 21,641 10 – Mickey Wright
1961 Mickey Wright United States 22,236 10 – Mickey Wright
1960 Louise Suggs United States 16,892 6 – Mickey Wright
1959 Betsy Rawls United States 26,774 10 – Betsy Rawls
1958 Beverly Hanson United States 12,639 5 – Mickey Wright
1957 Patty Berg United States 16,272 5 – Betsy Rawls, Patty Berg
1956 Marlene Hagge United States 20,235 8 – Marlene Hagge
1955 Patty Berg United States 16,492 6 – Patty Berg
1954 Patty Berg United States 16,011 5 – Louise Suggs, Babe Zaharias
1953 Louise Suggs United States 19,816 8 – Louise Suggs
1952 Betsy Rawls United States 14,505 8 – Betsy Rawls
1951 Babe Zaharias United States 15,087 9 – Babe Zaharias
1950 Babe Zaharias United States 14,800 8 – Babe Zaharias
1 The five players with three titles in 1988 were Juli Inkster, Rosie Jones, Betsy King, Nancy Lopez, 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 the 2019 season.[23]
Rank Player Country Played Earnings ($) Career
events
1 Annika Sörenstam Sweden 1994–2008 22,573,192 303
2 Karrie Webb Australia 1996–2019 20,270,249 488
3 Cristie Kerr United States 1997–2019 19,764,991 545
4 Inbee Park South Korea 2007–2019 15,356,126 261
5 Lorena Ochoa Mexico 2003–2010 14,863,331 175
6 Suzann Pettersen Norway 2003–2019 14,837,579 316
7 Juli Inkster United States 1983–2019 14,029,723 709
8 Stacy Lewis United States 2009–2019 12,910,753 267
9 Se Ri Pak South Korea 1998–2016 12,583,713 365
10 Paula Creamer United States 2005–2019 12,131,822 333
Total prize money awarded in past years
Season Total
purse ($)
2010 41,400,000
2000 38,500,000
1990 17,100,000
1980 5,150,000
1970 435,040
1960 186,700
1950 50,000