LPGA Celebrates 75 Years Of Growing The Game

The 13 Founders would be proud to see their dream realized today.

Thirteen was certainly a lucky number in 1950, when a group of talented female golfers joined forces to form the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), the oldest women’s professional sports league. While the first recorded women’s golf tournament was actually held in 1811 in Scotland, it wasn’t until 1950 that the LPGA held its first official tournament, the Tampa Open, won by Polly Riley.

LPGA growth has been explosive in the 75 years since. In 1950, ladies competed in just 15 events, with a total prize fund of $40,250. In 2025, the season includes 32 official events and a record prize fund of $131 million, which represents a 90% increase of more than $62 million since 2021.

The Tour has become truly global, with tournaments in 12 different countries, 14 U.S. states, and LPGA members representing 33 nationalities.

Honor the Past

The annual LPGA Founders Cup honors the history of the LPGA and the trailblazing Founders. It is a tournament where girls’ golf and the game’s future are on full display, sharing the stage with the LPGA past and present. Surviving Founders were always a welcome sight at the 18^th green, greeting competitors as they finished their rounds.

Whether it was Shirley Spork playfully blowing bubbles, or Marilynn Smith (“Miss Personality”) zooming around in a golf cart chatting with anybody and everybody, it was always special to see these historic pioneers up close and in person.

Unfortunately, none of the Founders lived to celebrate the entire group’s induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2024. The last remaining Founder, Marlene Hagge-Vossler, passed away in 2023, leaving a sad void at the Founders Cup.

As the LPGA celebrates its Diamond anniversary in 2025, golfers at the recent Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands shared their feelings about the women who started it all.

Minji Lee, who won the 2022 Cognizant Founders Cup, has fond memories of her interactions with the Founders.

“They have done so much for us and the Tour and to be where we are now, it wouldn’t have started without them. So we’re just all very grateful. And before, when a few of them were able to come to the tournament, they would be sitting just right where the 18th green was. It was always lovely to see their faces, you know, give them a hug at the end of the round and just say hello.”

The LPGA players all feel a sense of responsibility to continue the Founders’ legacy and grow the game.

Said 15-time Tour winner Nelly Korda, “We always talk about the importance of the 13 Founders while we’re here. They took our Tour this far, and hopefully we can continue doing that for them, taking it further and further. My favorite thing about playing out here and getting to do what I do for a living is growing the game and inspiring the next generation.

Korda, currently No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World ranking, added, “Seeing them come out and support us and to say how proud they are of us was always really nice to hear.”

Semi-retired LPGA player Brittany Lincicome echoed those sentiments.

“I obviously can’t thank them enough for having the vision to want to create a women’s tour,” said the two-time Major winner. “I’m praying they’re watching down on us and that we’re representing them the way they’d want to be represented, just wanting to grow the game and make it better.”

According to the LPGA, the 75th anniversary “will be not just a celebration of golf but a tribute to the determination, resilience, and vision of the women who paved the way for the sport’s growth and success.”

The season-long celebration features a number of creative initiatives. A robust new website LPGA 75 showcases the decade-by-decade history of the LPGA, including detailed bios of the Founders, notable milestones, the impact of the LPGA Foundation and its LPGA*USGA Girls Golf program, and the LPGA vision for the future.

A fun, interactive LPGA 75^th Anniversary Mobile Experience will include a “hat bar” where fans can custom design caps with anniversary themed patches. Additional commemorative apparel will be available throughout the season.

Inspire the Future

Women’s golf continues its upward trajectory.

The National Golf Foundation reports there were approximately 7.9 million female on-course golfers in 2024, representing 28% of all U.S. golfers.

Initiatives like LPGA*USGA Girls Golf encourage that growth by introducing the game to girls ages 6-17. The program has grown to include over 550 sites around the world serving 100,000 participants annually. The NGF reports that girls now make up 34% of all junior golfers, compared to just 15% in 2000.

And while diversity in golf has increased, to date there has been a not-so-grand total of eight Black LPGA Tour members. Former LPGA member LaRee Sugg became just the third Black golfer with full Tour membership in 1995. The UCLA grad, who was inducted into the Black Golfer Hall of Fame in 2023, insists that golfers need financial assistance beyond junior golf and college.

In order to attract more diversity on Tour, she stressed that golf needs to invest in strategic ways to give opportunities to diverse golfers in specific ways.

One of her suggestions – an LPGA subsidy program similar to the Earnings Assistance Program established by the PGA – has been implemented to a degree. Twenty-four events this season will offer travel stipends, free accommodations and/or guaranteed minimum payouts.

Engage the Present

It’s been an exciting 75^th anniversary season for the LPGA thus far and continues with the second edition of the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass, March 27-30. Defending champion Nelly Korda heads a stellar list of players who will compete for the $2.5 million purse at Whirlwind Golf Club in Chandler, AZ, just outside Phoenix.