With Lydia Ko now only one point away from the LPGA Hall of Fame, here’s a look at the 34 players who have already earned their place.
The LPGA Hall of Fame was established in 1967, but players already in the Hall of Fame of Women’s Golf (est. 1950) were automatically included. The inaugural class included Patty Berg, Betty Jameson, Louise Suggs and Babe Zaharias (all 1951), Betsy Rawls (1960) and Mickey Wright (1964).
While the LPGA Hall of Fame criteria has changed over the years, current players must have won or been awarded at least one of the following: LPGA major, Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average or Rolex Player of the Year.
They must also amass 27 points with:
- one point for each LPGA official tournament win
- two points for each LPGA major tournament win
- one point for each Vare Trophy or Rolex Player of the Year honor earned
- an Olympic gold medal is also worth one point as of last year
Inbee Park was the most recent player to earn 27 points. She was inducted in 2016.
Here’s the complete list of LPGA Hall of Fame members:
Part of the inaugural class in 1951, Berg won 60 LPGA titles over the course of her career, including 15 majors. She topped the money list three times and won the Vare Trophy three times.
Jameson, one of the LPGA’s 13 founders, won 13 times on the LPGA, including three majors. She became the first female professional break the 300 scoring mark in a 72-hole tournament at the 1947 U.S. Women’s Open.
Suggs won 61 times on the LPGA, ranking fourth all time on the LPGA list, behind Kathy Whitworth (88), Mickey Wright (82) and Annika Sorenstam (69). Eleven of those titles were majors. Suggs also won the 1957 Vare Trophy.
While Zaharias’ LPGA career was cut tragically short, she still won 41 times, including 10 majors. The Babe won the 1954 Vare Trophy. Colon cancer took her life at age 45.
While not an LPGA founder, Rawls still had a tremendous impact on the game. She won 55 times, including eight majors, four of which were U.S. Women’s Open titles.
Wright won 82 times on the LPGA, including 13 majors. Only Berg won more majors. She retired from playing golf full time at age 34.
Whitworth’s 88 titles leads the way for all of golf. She won the LPGA Player of the Year title seven times and the Vare Trophy seven times. Whitworth became the first LPGA player to earn $1 million in 1981.
A 42-time winner on the LPGA, Haynie was inducted into the Hall in 1972. She won four majors and was Player of the Year in 1970.
Mann’s first LPGA title was a major in 1964. She won 38 times on tour, including two majors, as well as the Vare Trophy in 1968.
Carner didn’t turn professional until the age of 30, winning once on tour as an amateur. She amassed 43 LPGA titles, two of which were majors. Carner won the Vare Trophy five times and was LPGA POY three times.
Inducted in 1987, Lopez won 48 times on the LPGA, including nine times as a rookie. A three-time major winner, Lopez was LPGA Player of the Year four times and won the Vare Trophy on three occasions.
Bradley won 31 events from 1976 to 1995. A six-time major winner, Bradley won three of those majors in 1986. She won both the Vare Trophy and POY in 1986 and 1991.
Inducted in 1993, Sheehan also won six majors among her 35 LPGA titles. She won Rookie of the Year (1981), LPGA Player of the Year (1983) and Vare Trophy (1984).
Shore remains the only non-player to be inducted into the Hall. The popular entertainer was a great )champion of the women’s tour. She was inducted in 1994.
It took King several years to win on tour, but once she did the titles came in a landslide. King won 20 times in a five-year stretch. In total, she amassed 34 LPGA titles, including six majors. She was a three-time LPGA POY and two-time Vare Trophy winner.
The woman responsible for the biggest tradition in women’s golf — the jump into Poppie’s Pond — won 29 times on the LPGA, including five majors. She’s a three-time winner of what’s now known as the Chevron Championship.
Daniel won 33 times on the LPGA, including one major. She won both the POY and Vare Trophy titles three times and was inducted in 1999 alongside Alcott and Juli Inkster.
A seven-time major winner and mother of two, Inkster won 31 titles on the LPGA. She won four different major titles, completing the career Grand Slam before the British Open and Evian were majors.
While Rankin never won a major, she did collect 26 career titles in a career that was curtailed by back injury. The trailblazing television broadcaster won the Vare Trophy three times and POY twice.
Caponi won 24 times, including four majors. Her first title came at the 1969 U.S. Women’s Open. She’d go on to enjoy a second career in television.
A 26-time winner on the LPGA, Bauer Hagge was one of the LPGA’s 13 founders. She turned pro in 1950 at age 16 and won her first and only major, what’s now the Women’s PGA, in 1956.
A 72-time winner on the LPGA, Sorenstam’s 10 major championships include three U.S. Women’s Open titles. An eight-time POY, Sorenstam won the Vare Trophy six times and had two seasons in which she won 10 and 11 times. She was inducted in 2003.
Webb reached the 27-point threshold at age 25 with her victory at the 2000 U.S. Women’s Open but had to wait until age 30 to reach the now defunct 10-year requirement. Webb won 41 times on the LPGA, including seven majors.
Pak’s victory at the 1998 U.S. Women’s Open stirred an avalanche of talent in South Korea and across Asia. She won 25 times on the LPGA, including five majors and retired from the tour in 2016.
Park became the second South Korean to enter the LPGA Hall of Fame. A seven-time major winner, Park has 21 titles on the LPGA. She won the first three majors of 2013, culminating in POY honors. Park also won the Vare Trophy in 2012 and 2015. She is currently on maternity leave and is not expected to play in 2024.
Ochoa amassed the 27 points in short order, but retired before she reached the 10-year mark on tour. She had to wait until the LPGA changed the Hall of Fame rules to take her place. Ochoa won 27 times on the LPGA, including two majors. She won both the LPGA Player of the Year and Vare Trophy on four occasions. The Mexican star played only seven full seasons on tour.
In 2022, the LPGA inducted the eight founders who weren’t previously in the Hall in an honorary category: Alice Bauer, Bettye Danoff, Helen Detweiler, Helen Hicks, Opal Hill, Sally Sessions, Marilynn Smith and Shirley Spork.
Leave a Reply