10 Best Female Golfers of All Time, Ranked
Today, women's golf is as exciting as ever, and these 10 female golfers helped pave the path to success.
10 Best Female Golfers of All Time, Ranked
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While it's a common misconception that the word "golf" is an acronym for "gentlemen only, ladies forbidden," it's certainly not surprising that many people believed it. After all, golf has a long history of excluding women from the sport, with several golf clubs and courses in the late 19th century even banning membership of female golfers.
Luckily, the times have changed, and the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) makes it that much easier for female golfers to compete for prize money. And let's not forget the very talented seven women who even qualified to compete in the PGA, alongside their male counterparts.
Today, women's golf is as exciting as ever, and these 10 female golfers helped pave the path to its success.
10. Betsy King
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Country: United States
Career: 1977-2005
Pro wins: 39
Major championships: 6
Bottom line: Betsy King was seven years into her LPGA career before she had her first professional win. But once she started winning, she was nearly impossible to stop. From 1984 to 1992, she won a whopping 28 times.
She's a female golfer who brings hope to all the other late bloomers out there.
9. Karrie Webb
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Country: Australia
Career: 1994-present
Pro wins: 56
Major championships: 7
Bottom line: With 41 wins on the LPGA Tour, Karrie Webb has more than any other active female golfer at the moment.
As one of Australia's greatest female golfers of all time, she hit her prime in the late 1990s, winning six of 16 majors from 1999 to 2002. During that time, she also finished in the top five of three other major tournaments and only twice finished outside the top 15. It was essentially Annika Sorenstam and her going toe-to-toe on the LPGA throughout the early 2000s.
Even though she's slowed down lately, Webb is still a factor in major championships.
8. Amy Alcott
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Country: United States
Career: 1975-2008
Pro wins: 34
Major championships: 5
Bottom line: Amy Alcott dominated the LPGA throughout the 1980s, winning at least four tour events in three separate years (1979, 1980, 1984). She's also one of few women to have won a major in three different decades.
Perhaps her most impressive win was at the 1980 U.S. Women’s Open when she won by nine strokes.
7. Se Ri Pak
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Country: South Korea
Career: 1996-2016
Pro wins: 39
Major Championships: 5
Bottom line: Se Ri Pak was one of the first Korean golfers to truly succeed in the United States. She was on fire from the start, with four wins in her rookie season — two of which were major championships.
Pak's putting skills gave her a competitive edge, and she went undefeated in six playoff matchups during her career.
6. Kathy Whitworth
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Country: United States
Career: 1958-2005
Pro wins: 98
Major championships: 6
Bottom line: Kathy Whitworth is the female golfer with the most LPGA wins at 88. Not surprisingly, she also became the first woman to reach $1 million in LPGA earnings.
What's more, she’s won more times globally than Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus.
5. Betsy Rawls
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Country: United States
Career: 1951-1975
Pro wins: 58
Major championships: 8
Bottom line: Betsy Rawls won a tournament for 19 years straight — from her LPGA Tour debut in 1951 until 1970.
She also served as president of the LPGA in the 1960s and was one of the first golfers inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame. Of course, she was also inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
4. Babe Zaharias
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Country: United States
Career: 1947-1956
Pro wins: 48
Major championships: 10
Bottom line: Babe Zaharias was the first woman to ever qualify to compete in a PGA Tour event — and she did it three times, playing in the Los Angeles Open, Phoenix Open and Tuscon Open. She also tried to qualify for the U.S. Open, but the USGA denied her entry.
Her athletic ability extended beyond the golf course, too, having pitched in a few spring training games in the 1930s. She still holds the world record for the longest baseball throw by a woman at 296 feet.
3. Louise Suggs
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Country: United States
Career: 1948-1962
Pro wins: 61
Major championships: 11
Bottom line: In addition to winning 11 major championships, Louise Suggs cemented her name in the golf world as one of the LPGA founders (alongside Babe Zaharias, Patty Berg and Marilynn Smith).
During her time, she was known as the best female golfer in the world and even beat out some of the men like Same Snead and Ben Hogan in exhibition competitions.
2. Annika Sorenstam
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Country: Sweden
Career: 1992-2008
Pro wins: 97
Major championships: 10
Bottom line: Annika Sorenstam became the third woman to compete in a PGA Tour event at Colonial in 2003, and she soon became popular enough that those in the golf world referred to her by her first name — just like "Arnie," "Ernie" or "Tiger."
She retired in 2008 to raise a family but came back from retirement at the age of 50 to win the 2021 U.S. Senior Women's Open.
1. Patty Berg
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Country: United States
Career: 1940-1979
Pro wins: 63
Major championships: 15
Bottom line: Get this: Patty Berg was such a good athlete that she actually played quarterback at an early age for her local football team in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
She started golfing at 13 years old and quickly won 29 amateur titles. Each year on the LPGA Tour from 1946 to 1958, she won multiple times and had 77, top 25 major finishes in 93 appearances. Her impact on women’s golf is believed to have made the game popular for girls across the globe.
For more of golf's best players, check out "Greatest Golfers of All Time."