Women’s golf is entering an exciting new era.
Today’s players are powerful, visible and unapologetically themselves. Women are filling tournament fields, creating golf communities, launching brands and changing what it looks like to belong on a course.
But this new wave did not appear overnight.
Long before women’s golf received major television coverage, meaningful sponsorships or equal recognition, courageous women were competing, organizing tournaments, challenging discrimination and building opportunities that did not yet exist.
Their names deserve to be remembered—not only because they won, but because they made it possible for the next woman to play.
Margaret Abbott: An Olympic First
In 1900, Margaret Abbott entered a women’s golf competition while studying art in Paris. She won without realizing that the event was part of the Olympic Games.
Her victory made her the first American woman to become an Olympic champion, although she reportedly never knew she had earned that place in history. More than a century later, her story reminds us just how quietly some of women’s greatest sporting achievements were once recognized. Olympics
Glenna Collett Vare: America’s First Female Golf Star
During the 1920s and 1930s, Glenna Collett Vare became one of the earliest true stars of American women’s golf.
Known for her athletic swing and competitive spirit, she won the U.S. Women’s Amateur a record six times between 1922 and 1935. She helped prove that women’s golf could attract serious competition, admiration and national attention.
Today, the LPGA’s Vare Trophy—awarded for the season’s lowest scoring average—carries her name and legacy forward. USGA
Babe Didrikson Zaharias: Refusing to Stay in One Lane
Babe Didrikson Zaharias did not quietly ask for a seat at the table. She showed up and competed.
Already an Olympic track-and-field champion, Zaharias became one of golf’s most recognizable personalities. She was the first—and remains the only—woman to make the cut in a regular PGA Tour event. She also won 10 major championships recognized by the LPGA.
Babe brought power, personality and attention to women’s golf at a time when female athletes were expected to make themselves smaller. She refused.
Most importantly, she helped build something that would outlast her own career.
The 13 Women Who Built the LPGA
In 1950, 13 women founded the Ladies Professional Golf Association:
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.
They were not stepping into an established professional tour. They were creating one.
They promoted events, drove from tournament to tournament, taught clinics, attracted spectators and worked to convince sponsors that women’s professional golf deserved an audience. Their determination created what became one of the longest-running women’s professional sports organizations in the world. LPGA
Every woman who earns a living playing professional golf today stands on the foundation those 13 women built.
Ann Gregory: Breaking Golf’s Color Barrier
Ann Gregory’s impact cannot be measured by trophies alone.
In 1956, she became the first Black woman to compete in a USGA championship, participating in both the U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Women’s Amateur. She stepped onto courses during an era of segregation and open discrimination, often entering spaces where she had not previously been welcomed.
Gregory ultimately competed in 27 USGA championships. She did more than prove that she belonged—she helped open the game to women who had been deliberately excluded from it. USGA
Renee Powell: Turning Opportunity Into Access
Renee Powell became the second Black woman to compete on the LPGA Tour, joining in 1967 and playing in more than 250 events.
Her influence continued far beyond competition. Powell became the first Black woman to earn PGA of America membership and devoted her career to teaching and introducing more people to golf.
Her legacy reminds us that being the first or second through a door is only part of the work. Holding that door open for someone else is how a sport truly changes. PGA of America
Mickey Wright and Kathy Whitworth: Establishing Greatness
Mickey Wright and Kathy Whitworth helped establish a standard of excellence that women’s golf is still chasing.
Wright recorded 82 LPGA Tour victories and became known for one of the finest swings in the game. Whitworth won 88 times—the most official tournament victories by any professional golfer, man or woman.
Their records made one thing undeniable: women’s golf was not a novelty or a sideshow. It was elite competition featuring some of the greatest athletes in the history of the sport. LPGA
Nancy Lopez: A Star People Could See Themselves In
Nancy Lopez arrived on the LPGA Tour in 1978 and immediately changed its trajectory.
She won nine tournaments during her rookie season, including five consecutive events. But her influence stretched beyond her scorecards. Lopez brought charisma, warmth and relatability to professional golf. Fans connected with her, sponsors noticed her and young girls could see a new kind of future in the sport.
She helped women’s golf become something people did not simply respect—they wanted to watch it.
Annika Sörenstam: Redefining What Was Possible
Annika Sörenstam brought women’s golf into a new era of athleticism, preparation and global recognition.
The Swedish champion earned 72 LPGA Tour victories, including 10 major championships. In 2001, she became the first woman to record a 59 in an LPGA event. Two years later, she competed in a PGA Tour event—the first woman to do so since Babe Zaharias.
Annika did not merely dominate her generation. She expanded its understanding of what a female golfer could accomplish. LPGA
Se Ri Pak: Inspiring an Entire Generation
When Se Ri Pak won the 1998 U.S. Women’s Open, her victory reached far beyond one championship.
Her fearless play inspired countless young girls in South Korea to take up golf. Many became known as the “Se Ri Kids,” and some eventually followed her onto the LPGA Tour.
Pak helped transform women’s golf into a truly international sport. Her legacy can be seen in every global leaderboard filled with talented players who grew up believing they belonged there because they had watched her do it first. LPGA
The Next Wave Carries Their Legacy
Today, women’s golf is filled with new energy.
Players like Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko, Lilia Vu, Rose Zhang and Charley Hull are bringing athleticism, personality and style to a growing international audience. Away from the professional tours, women are creating leagues, planning golf trips, starting businesses and entering the game on their own terms.
That deserves to be celebrated.
But as we welcome this new wave, we should remember the women who created the current beneath it.
Some played without prize money. Some competed while being denied access to clubhouses. Some organized their own tournaments because no professional structure existed for them. Some became household names, while others changed the game without receiving the recognition they deserved.
They did not all have the same story, background or opportunity. But each moved women’s golf forward.
The best way to honor them is not simply to remember their names. It is to keep opening the game—to different women, different personalities, different backgrounds and different ways of playing.
Because every woman should be able to step onto a golf course knowing she belongs there.
That is the history we inherited.
What we do with it becomes the next chapter.
Play your way—and remember the women who made it possible.
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