women's majors

Women's golf has evolved a set of major tournaments which parallels that in men's golf, but the women's system is younger and has been less stable that the men's. Most professional strokeplay 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, was discontinued after that country passed severe restrictions on tobacco advertising. The LPGA replaced the du Maurier Classic on its list of majors with the Women's British Open. The LPGA currently recognizes four majors:

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.

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

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 Srenstam; Louise Suggs; Karrie Webb; and Mickey Wright.

Ladies European Tour

In men's golf, the four majors are all co-sanctioned by the U.S. based PGA Tour and the PGA European Tour, but this is not the case in women's golf. The Ladies European Tour does not sanction any of the LPGA majors which are played in the United States, and only has two events which it designates as majors on its schedule, namely the Women's British Open and the Evian Masters, which is played in France. Thus, unlike men's golf, women's golf does not have a single globally agreed set of majors.

Women's senior golf

Professional women's senior golf is in it's infancy, and does not yet have a roster of majors. The Women's Senior Golf Tour played its first season in 2001.