Titleholders Championship

The Titleholders Championship was a women's golf tournament played from in 1937 to 1966 and again in 1972. It was later designated a major championship by the LPGA Tour.

History

The Titleholders Championship was founded in 1937. Like the Masters Tournament for men, which began a few years earlier, it was played in Augusta, Georgia, but at Augusta Country Club, not at the adjacent Augusta National Golf Club. The winners of various amateur and professional events were invited to take part, although most of the competitors were amateurs. There were very few women professionals at the time and most earned their living as club or teaching professionals.

The Titleholders itself did not offer prize money until 1948, when a prize fund of $600 was introduced, with half of the money going to the professional placing highest in the event. The tournament was discontinued after November 1966, but was revived for one year in 1972, when it was played in May at the Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina. All of these stagings are now recognized as major championships by the LPGA, even though the organization was not founded until 1950.

Winners

Year	Winner	Country	Score	Runner(s)-up	Winners' share ($)	Purse ($)	Ref
1972	Sandra Palmer		283	Template:Flagicon Judy Rankin, Template:Flagicon Mickey Wright	3,000	20,000
1967–1971: No tournament
1966	Kathy Whitworth		291	Template:Flagicon Judy Kimball-Simon, Template:Flagicon Mary Mills	1,500	10,000
1965	Kathy Whitworth		287	Template:Flagicon Peggy Wilson	1,500	10,000
1964	Marilynn Smith		289	Template:Flagicon Mickey Wright	1,300	7,500
1963	Marilynn Smith		292PO	Template:Flagicon Mickey Wright	1,235	7,500
1962	Mickey Wright		295PO	Template:Flagicon Ruth Jessen	1,330	7,500
1961	Mickey Wright		299	Template:Flagicon Patty Berg, Template:Flagicon Louise Suggs	1,200	7,000
1960	Fay Crocker		303	Template:Flagicon Kathy Cornelius	1,140	6,000
1959	Louise Suggs	Template:Flagcountry	297	Template:Flagicon Betsy Rawls	1,000	5,000
1958	Beverly Hanson	Template:Flagcountry	299	Template:Flagicon Betty Dodd	1,000	5,275
1957	Patty Berg	Template:Flagcountry	296	Template:Flagicon Anne Quast (a)	1,000	5,000
1956	Louise Suggs	Template:Flagcountry	302	Template:Flagicon Patty Berg	1,000	5,000
1955	Patty Berg	Template:Flagcountry	291	Template:Flagicon Mary Lena Faulk	1,000	5,000
1954	Louise Suggs	Template:Flagcountry	293	Template:Flagicon Patty Berg	1,000	3,000
1953	Patty Berg	Template:Flagcountry	294	Template:Flagicon Betsy Rawls	1,000	2,200
1952	Babe Zaharias	Template:Flagcountry	299	Template:Flagicon Betsy Rawls	1,000	2,100
1951	Pat O'Sullivan (a)	Template:Flagcountry	301	Template:Flagicon Beverly Hanson		1,500
1950	Babe Zaharias	Template:Flagcountry	298	Template:Flagicon Claire Doran (a)	700	1,500
1949	Peggy Kirk (a)	Template:Flagcountry	299	Template:Flagicon Patty Berg, Template:Flagicon Dorothy Kirby (a)
1948	Patty Berg	Template:Flagcountry	308	Template:Flagicon Peggy Kirk (a), Template:Flagicon Babe Zaharias
1947	Babe Zaharias (a)	Template:Flagcountry	304	Template:Flagicon Dorothy Kirby (a)	300
1946	Louise Suggs (a)	Template:Flagcountry	314	Template:Flagicon Eileen Stulb (a)
1943–45		No tournament
1942	Dorothy Kirby (a)	Template:Flagcountry	239^	Template:Flagicon Eileen Stulb (a)
1941	Dorothy Kirby (a)	Template:Flagcountry	224^	Template:Flagicon Helen Sigel
1940	Helen Hicks (a)	Template:Flagcountry	336	Template:Flagicon Helen Dettweiler
1939	Patty Berg (a)	Template:Flagcountry	319	Template:Flagicon Dorothy Kirby (a)
1938	Patty Berg (a)	Template:Flagcountry	311	Template:Flagicon Jane Cothran (a)
1937	Patty Berg (a)	Template:Flagcountry	240^	Template:Flagicon Dorothy Kirby (a)

(a) - denotes amateur
^PO - won in playoff
^ - 54 holes

Multiple winners

This table lists the golfers who have won more than one Titleholders Championship.

Deceased golfer †

Grand Slam winners ‡

Deceased Grand Slam winners ∞

Country	Golfer	Total	Years
	Patty Berg †	7	1937, 1938, 1939, 1948, 1953, 1955, 1957
	Louise Suggs ∞	4	1946, 1954, 1956, 1959
	Babe Zaharias †	3	1947, 1950, 1952
	Dorothy Kirby †	2	1941, 1942
	Mickey Wright ‡	2	1961, 1962
	Marilynn Smith †	2	1963, 1964
	Kathy Whitworth †	2	1965, 1966

Winners by nationality

This table lists the total number of titles won by golfers of each nationality as a major.

Nationality	Number of wins
	27
	1