A List of Most Successful Female Golfers of All Times

Although ladies have been playing golf for a very long time, modern women’s golf dates only to the later half of the 20th century. The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour was founded only in 1950, while its European counterpart – the Ladies European Tour (LET) was founded nearly three decades later. The following list of the most successful female golf players of all times therefore mainly consists of women who played golf professionally in the second half of the 20th century:

Annika Sorenstam (Sweden). Although she played golf professionally only from 1992 to 2008, Sorenstam had an impressive career. With over 93 tournaments won, of which 72 were LPGA Tour wins and 17 LET wins, she is widely considered as the most successful female golf player in history. She also won 10 majors which include all three LPGA Tour-recognised majors and the Women’s British Open.
Kathy Whitworth (United States). Active between 1958 and 2005, Whitworth holds the record in LPGA Tour wins. In total, she has 98 wins of which 88 are LPGA Tour wins. In addition for most LPGA Tour wins, Whitworth also went into history for becoming the first female golf player to reach $1 million career earnings.
Mickey Wright (United States). Just like Sorenstam, Wright had a relatively short career as a professional golfer. She played between 1954 to 1969 when she retired but during those 15 years, she achieved as many as 90 wins of which 82 were LPGA Tour tournaments. Wright has also won all majors that existed at the time.
Patty Berg (United States). One of the founders of the LPGA dominated ladies’ golf from the 1940s to the 1960s. She has “only” 63 professional wins but she has most major golf championship wins in history - as many as 15.
Babe Zaharias (United States). She played golf professionally from 1947 to 1956 when serious illness forced her to retire. Nevertheless, within less than a decade, she created 48 professional wins and won 10 major golf championships.
Laura Davies (England). Widely regarded as the best English female golfer of modern era turned professional in 1985 and is a member of both the LPGA Tour and the LET. To date, she has 84 professional wins (20 in LPGA Tour and 45 in the LET) and needs to win only one more major or two LPGA Tour events to be included in the World Golf of Fame. In addition to being the first golfer from Europe to be ranked unofficial world’s number one, in 1994 Davies also became the first (both male and female) golfer to win on five different golf tours within the same calendar year.
Joyce Wethered (England). The renowned golfer is by many considered the greatest female golfer from Britain despite the fact that she never turned professional. She was English Ladies’ champion for five consecutive years in the early 1920s and won four British Ladies Amateurs until 1930 when she retired from competitive golf.