Women's major golf championships
Women's golf has evolved a set of major championships which parallels that in men's golf, but the women's system is younger and has been less stable than the men's. Many professional stroke play events for women are played over three rounds (54 holes), but the majors are played over four rounds (72 holes), which is the standard length of regular men's tournaments. This is the same distinction as for senior men's tournaments.
LPGA majors
Current position
The LPGA's list of majors has changed several times over the years, with the last change in 2001, after the du Maurier Classic, held in Canada, lost its primary sponsorship after that country passed severe restrictions on tobacco advertising. The tournament, now known as the Canadian Women's Open, is still a regular event on the LPGA tour, but with a lower profile (although its winner receives an automatic berth in the LPGA season championship). The LPGA replaced the du Maurier Classic on its list of majors with the Women's British Open. The LPGA currently recognizes four majors. In the order in which they are played each year these are:
As in men's golf, three of the majors are played in the United States and one is played in the United Kingdom. The U.S. and British Opens match their male equivalents, and the LPGA Championship is analogous to the PGA Championship, so by default the Kraft Nabisco Championship is the closest equivalent of The Masters. Unlike the men's equivalents, with the sole exception of the U.S. Women's Open, the women's majors have title sponsors.
Another unique distinction of the LPGA majors is that no tour event is held in the week after any of the four events—unlike the PGA Tour or European Tour in mainstream (under-50) men's golf, or the Champions Tour in senior men's golf, all of which conduct events in the week following the four mainstream majors and the five senior majors.
In another unique feature, the winners of the four women's majors receive automatic entry to the LPGA's season championship, the LPGA Playoffs at The ADT. The Champions Tour has no season-ending championship. The PGA Tour's season-ending FedEx Cup playoffs are a series of four events; while major winners are technically not guaranteed entry into even the first playoff event, the FedEx Cup point allocations for major winners are sufficiently high that the winner of one major is essentially assured of making the top 144 in points and qualifying for the FedEx Cup playoffs.
History
Seven different events are classified as having been LPGA majors at some time. The number in each season has fluctuated between two and four. The first tournament which is now included in the LPGA's official list of major victories is the 1930 Western Open, although this is a retrospective designation as the LPGA was not founded until 1950.
- Western Open: 1930-1967
- Titleholders Championship: 1937-42; 1946-66; 1972
- U.S. Women's Open: 1950-date
- LPGA Championship: 1955-date
- du Maurier Classic: 1979-2000
- Kraft Nabisco Championship: 1983-date
- Women's British Open: 2001-date
LPGA major winners
The first table shows the four current majors in the order in which they are played each year. The two tables for the earlier periods do not necessarily show the tournaments in the order in which they were played.
| Year | Kraft Nabisco Championship | LPGA Championship | U.S. Women's Open | Women's British Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | ||||
| 2006 | ||||
| 2005 | ||||
| 2004 | ||||
| 2003 | ||||
| 2002 | ||||
| 2001 |
| Year | Women's Western Open | LPGA Championship | U.S. Women's Open | Titleholders Championship |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Ceased | |||
| 1971 | Ceased | No tournament | ||
| 1970 | Ceased | No tournament | ||
| 1969 | Ceased | No tournament | ||
| 1968 | Ceased | No tournament | ||
| 1967 | No tournament | |||
| 1966 | ||||
| 1965 | ||||
| 1964 | ||||
| 1963 | ||||
| 1962 | ||||
| 1961 | ||||
| 1960 | ||||
| 1959 | ||||
| 1958 | ||||
| 1957 | ||||
| 1956 | ||||
| 1955 | ||||
| 1954 | Not yet founded | |||
| 1953 | Not yet founded | |||
| 1952 | Not yet founded | |||
| 1951 | Not yet founded | |||
| 1950 | Not yet founded | |||
| 1949 | Not yet founded | |||
| 1948 | Not yet founded | |||
| 1947 | Not yet founded | |||
| 1946 | Not yet founded | |||
| 1945 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | No tournament (World War II) | |
| 1944 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | No tournament (World War II) | |
| 1943 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | No tournament (World War II) | |
| 1942 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | ||
| 1941 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | ||
| 1940 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | ||
| 1939 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | ||
| 1938 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | ||
| 1937 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | ||
| 1936 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | |
| 1935 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | |
| 1934 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | |
| 1933 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | |
| 1932 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | |
| 1931 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | |
| 1930 | Not yet founded | Not yet founded | Not yet founded |
The "Grand Slam"
No woman has completed a four-major Grand Slam, but Babe Zaharias won all three majors contested in 1950 and Sandra Haynie won both majors in 1974.
Six women have completed a "Career grand slam" by winning four different majors. There are variations in the set of four tournaments involved as the players played in different eras. The six are: Pat Bradley; Juli Inkster; Annika Sörenstam;