Angela Stanford gets special exemption for 2024 Chevron Championship

Angela Stanford never wanted to be given anything. And, for a long time, she had no reason to ask. Stanford has been playing her way into majors longer than some players on the LPGA have been alive. In fact, she hasn’t missed a major since the 2002 McDonald’s LPGA Championship.

That’s 97 consecutive major starts, the longest record in the game. In fact, Jack Nicklaus is the only player to ever reach 100 consecutive major starts.

Now, Stanford won’t have to worry about reaching No. 98 as the Chevron Championship, scheduled for April 18-21, has announced that she’ll receive an exemption into the first LPGA major of the year. While Stanford continues to grind on her game, she knew it was time to ask for help and was grateful for the call.

“I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t take the pressure off a little bit,” she said, “which is nice.”

The goal of reaching 100 consecutive majors put Stanford on a mission over the offseason. She got rattled in her first start of the year at the LPGA Drive On as competitive rust kicked in. Last season, Stanford worked quite a bit for the Golf Channel as an on-course reporter, as she dabbled in what might be her next chapter.

But she couldn’t shake the importance of this streak, and rededicating herself to the record has given her a sense of peace that no matter what happens, she’ll be OK when it’s time to stop competing on the LPGA.

Angela Stanford poses with the trophy after winning the Volunteers of America Classic at the Old American Golf Club on December 6, 2020, in The Colony, Texas. (Photo: Chuck Burton/Getty Images)

There are typically more teenagers in a women’s major championship field than there are players over 40. At age 46, Stanford, a seven-time winner on the LPGA, has offered an important perspective to both younger players and media alike on what’s at the heart of LPGA tradition.

Stanford is well aware that while there are five majors now, there were plenty of years on the LPGA that were so lean that only two major championship trophies were up for grabs.

“If you watch any golf at all,” said Stanford, “if you follow golf history, it’s obvious that the majors are the tournaments that players judge their careers by.

“I think to be able to play in a major, you have to be playing pretty good, and then to be able to do it year after year after year … I think the thing I am most proud of is I sustained that level.”

Stanford won the tour’s newest major, the Amundi…