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Golf history

AIG Women’s Open: the story of a major

The Women's Open has two beginnings worth keeping in mind.

The story behind the championship

The Women's Open has two beginnings worth keeping in mind. Its championship history starts at Fulford in 1976; its place among the LPGA's major championships begins in 2001. Those dates describe different things. The first recognises a competition that brought amateurs and professionals together, while the second marks a change in its standing within the international professional game. Neither should erase the other. A visitor following its history will find inland courses as well as seaside links, established champions alongside surprising winners, and a tournament that has gradually claimed some of golf's most familiar stages.

The complete champions list belongs alongside this account. It provides the year-by-year record rather than asking a handful of famous finishes to stand for the whole championship. Use the current event guide for travel and ticket arrangements: historical admission rules, course layouts and tournament names are not reliable instructions for a future visit.

Fulford and the amateur connection

The first championship developed from the Ladies Amateur Stroke Play Championship, with professionals admitted to the field. Jenny Lee Smith, still an amateur, won at Fulford in York in 1976. Her success makes the starting point especially revealing: this was a new open championship, rather than a competition whose first winner already belonged to a mature international professional tour. The event's present name should not be projected backwards as though its funding, field and place in golf were already settled.

Lee Smith's official championship profile identifies her as the inaugural winner and places the introduction of the leading-amateur award three years later. That separation matters. Winning the tournament outright as an amateur and receiving an award for the best amateur within a professional championship are different achievements. A champions table should make amateur status clear without demoting the winner to a footnote. Official champion profile.

A difficult early life

A prestigious name did not guarantee a secure tournament. The early championship moved between venues, and the 1983 edition was not held. The organiser's roll records the missing championship; Sky Sports' anniversary history attributes its cancellation to a lack of funding. That gap belongs in any complete list. Silently moving from 1982 to 1984 would make the competition appear uninterrupted and conceal the uncertainty surrounding its early survival.

The return at Woburn in 1984 was therefore more than another change of course. It restored a championship whose continuation had been in doubt. Golf Digest's historical account connects that return with Hitachi sponsorship. The lesson is practical as well as historical: the familiar modern championship emerged through organisers, hosts and financial support, rather than through sporting prestige alone. Independent historical account; anniversary background.

Woburn and a broader map

Woburn is central to the championship's identity. Its Duke's Course appears repeatedly in the earlier winners' record, while the Marquess Course belongs to later editions. They should not be treated as interchangeable labels for one layout. A visit to the estate can help explain that distinction, but a ticket to a championship on one course tells a spectator little about the walking route or viewing positions on another.

The wider historical map also resists a simple links-only description. Sunningdale and Walton Heath sit alongside St Andrews, Royal Birkdale and Royal Lytham & St Annes in the championship's story. That mixture is part of what makes the Women's Open useful to a golf traveller: it offers different landscapes and different kinds of test. The course histories and venue guides explain those places in more detail; the champions list establishes which course hosted each particular edition. Official championship records.

Becoming an LPGA major in 2001

The LPGA identifies 1994 as the year the event joined its official schedule and 2001 as the year it became a major championship. Those milestones are related, but they are not the same. An LPGA tournament can be an important international competition without being one of the tour's designated majors. Describing all earlier victories as major titles would change the historical meaning of a player's record.

Se Ri Pak won the first edition recognised as a major across the women's game, at Sunningdale in 2001. Her closing 66 carried her to a two-stroke victory over Mi Hyun Kim. For the championship, this was a transition in status; for Pak, it added another major to a career that had already made a substantial impact. It also gave the new major era an international opening rather than a narrowly British one. LPGA event overview; Pak's official profile.

Repeat champions across two eras

Karrie Webb and Sherri Steinhauer connect the years before and after major recognition. Each won the championship three times, but only one of each player's three victories came after the 2001 change. Their records therefore demonstrate why an all-time championship tally and a major-championship tally need separate labels. Counting accurately does not diminish an earlier title; it prevents two distinct measures from being confused.

Webb's first victory came at Woburn in 1995, when she was a 20-year-old Ladies European Tour rookie. She won by six strokes on the Duke's Course. Her later titles at Sunningdale and Turnberry extend that record across different settings. Steinhauer's three wins likewise span the championship's evolving status. Following these careers through the venue guides gives a more useful itinerary than assuming a successful player belonged to only one style of golf course. Webb's official profile; Steinhauer's official profile.

Sunningdale's extraordinary opening in 2004

Karen Stupples' final round at Sunningdale offers a compact demonstration of how quickly a major can change. She began one stroke behind, then opened eagle–albatross: five under par after two holes. Her closing 64 helped produce a five-stroke victory and a total of 269. Those numbers are remarkable enough without inventing conversation, atmosphere or thoughts inside the player's head.

The opening did not make the rest of the round irrelevant. The organiser's account records that Rachel Teske later caught Stupples before the eventual champion finished more strongly. Remembering that sequence preserves the competitive story: a spectacular start created an opportunity, but it still had to become a completed victory. For someone visiting Sunningdale, the first two holes have a specific place in championship history rather than merely a general association with a famous winner. Official Stupples profile.

St Andrews and Lorena Ochoa

The championship first reached the Old Course at St Andrews in 2007. Lorena Ochoa arrived as world number one but still seeking her first major. Her opening 67 established control, and she eventually won by four strokes. The organiser describes a wire-to-wire victory, making this a different kind of famous finish from a late escape or a sudden-death rescue.

The location gives the achievement an additional layer for visitors. St Andrews carries centuries of golf history, yet this particular championship relationship was new. Women's Open history should not borrow the men's Open's dates or pretend that the two events have always shared a rota. Ochoa's victory marks a distinct first appearance on a familiar stage. Read the Old Course's broader history separately, then use the event record to understand the women's championship that took place there. Official Ochoa profile.

Catriona Matthew and a return to Lytham

Catriona Matthew's 2009 victory at Royal Lytham & St Annes brought together several strands of her career. She became the first Scottish woman to win a major, just 11 weeks after the birth of her daughter Sophie. The same venue had hosted her Women's Amateur Championship victory in 1993, when she competed as Catriona Lambert.

That earlier surname is important when reading old results. A record headed Lambert and a later profile headed Matthew do not identify different golfers. Historical tables often retain the names used at the time, and an explanatory note is more helpful than silently rewriting the archive. Matthew's later Solheim Cup captaincy gives her story another route through the History section, but the Lytham connection remains especially useful for travellers: one course links her amateur and professional achievements. Official Matthew profile.

Mo Martin's final-hole eagle

At Royal Birkdale in 2014, Mo Martin turned the final hole into the decisive scene. Her long three-wood approach struck the flagstick and finished close enough for an eagle putt. She converted it and eventually won by a stroke. It was her first LPGA Tour victory, achieved in a major championship.

There was a wait before the outcome became certain. The organiser's profile records that Martin finished roughly an hour before her victory was confirmed. For spectators, that is a reminder that the best golf of the day and the presentation of the trophy may happen at different times. A player can establish the target and leave others to try to match it. The drama is in the completed score as much as in the final group, a useful point to remember when choosing whom to follow. Official Martin profile.

Royal Troon and Sophia Popov

Sophia Popov's 2020 success at Royal Troon belongs among the championship's most striking surprises. Ranked 304th in the world, she had earned her place through her finish at the preceding Marathon Championship. She won by two strokes and became the first German woman to win a major.

Her victory is particularly important when accounting for the pandemic season. The Women's Open was played in 2020: it must not acquire a cancellation row simply because other championships were lost that year. Complete histories depend on checking the individual event rather than applying a general story about golf's disruption. Popov's result is a championship achievement in its own right, while its circumstances also anchor a very unusual season. The venue guide explains Royal Troon today; the archive establishes what happened during that particular week. Official Popov profile.

Muirfield's first Women's Open

Ashleigh Buhai won at Muirfield in 2022 after a four-hole play-off against In Gee Chun. A five-shot overnight lead had not guaranteed a straightforward finish: difficulty at the 14th in the final round brought the outcome back into doubt. Buhai recovered, reached extra holes and secured her first major.

The victory linked her to Alison Sheard, the 1979 champion, as the second South African winner of this event. It also gave the championship another memorable first appearance at a celebrated links. A historical account needs both scales: the large institutional significance of a new host and the smaller, exact sequence through which a player won. Neither needs an imagined quotation or a dramatic detail unsupported by the record. For a visitor, the course and championship pages can be read together without turning either into a substitute for the other. Official Buhai profile.

The championship through 2026

Shiho Kuwaki won the 50th edition at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2026, beating Esther Henseleit in a play-off. Henseleit's birdie on the final regulation hole forced extra golf; Kuwaki then secured her first major. Both the LPGA and independent reporting confirm the outcome. The anniversary counts editions, while the 1976 starting date explains the championship's age: the missed 1983 tournament means those measures are not identical.

The organiser now lists Royal St George's for the 2027 championship. That is the next chapter, rather than a reason to rewrite the established record. The R&A's merger with the Ladies' Golf Union in 2017 and the AIG title partnership from 2019 help explain the modern organisation surrounding the event. The current hub carries the practical planning information. Official 2026 report; independent result; R&A event page.

Connect the story with a visit

Start with the Women's Open event hub, then read the guide to the host course and its nearby accommodation bases. If you are following older championships, check the named layout as well as the club: Woburn is the clearest example of why that matters. A history-led trip can combine a tournament day with a visit to another course, but playing access, opening arrangements and competition closures need their own current checks. Book a base that works for the present event's transport arrangements, rather than choosing a hotel solely because it appears close to a historic championship venue.

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