Whereas in the men’s game there are four well-established Majors played annually, in the women’s game the history of Majors is both more recent and more complicated. The first men’s Major was held in 1860; the first women’s Major only in 1930.
The number of women’s Majors held each year has varied from one to five, and currently stands at five. Which events are considered a Major in the women’s game has also fluctuated over time. In all, eight tournaments have held Major status but, just to add to the confusion, some annual events have been considered a Major at certain points on their history, but not at others.
The first women’s Major was retrospectively declared to have been held in 1930, and was the Women’s Western Open. This event ran until 1967 and all the winners of it have been declared Major champions by the LPGA, which itself was only founded in 1950.
The Titleholders Championship is the second oldest Women’s Major, but also no longer exists. It was founded in 1937 and was last played in 1972, and all its winners have been deemed Major winners by the LPGA.
The US Women’s Open, which debuted in 1946, and the LPGA Championship, which started in 1955 and is now known as the Women’s PGA Championship, are the next two oldest Majors.
The du Maurier Classic was classified as a women’s Major from 1979 to 2000, but now, under its new name of the Canadian Women’s Open, it is not. It was replaced as a Major by the Women’s British Open, now known as The Women’s Open, which had debuted in 1976 but only its editions since 2001 have been considered to be Majors by the LPGA.
In 2013 the Evian Championship, founded in 1994 as the Evian Masters, was granted Major status by the LPGA. This means the current five Women’s Majors are it, the US Open, Women’s Open, Women’s PGA Championship and the Chevron Championship (which has had different sponsorship names in its history so at various points has been called the Nabisco Dinah Shore, Nabisco Championship, Kraft Nabisco Championship and ANA Inspiration).
Can you name the top 10 of Women’s Majors by number of titles? Just to make it harder for you, as 10th place is shared by four golfers, there are 13 golfers to name in toto.
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