Sun Lakes Lady Niners: Women’s Golf History

Sheila Barton

March is Women’s History month, so I wanted to share some Women’s Golf History.

Mary, Queen of Scots, ruled Scotland from 1542 to 1567 and is noted by some as the first female to play golf. The first recorded golf tournament for women occurred on Jan. 9, 1811. In 1867 the very first women’s golf club was formed, which was initially formed as The Ladies Club of St Andrews. In 1893 Issette Miller was a leading female golfer, and she invented the very first golf handicapping system.

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) was established in 1950, and was formed by a group of 13 prominent female golfers with financial aid from Wilson Sporting Goods. In 1978 rookie Nancy Lopez had a stellar start to her LPGA career, winning nine tournaments, five of them consecutively, and earning both Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year honors. The annual prize money for the LPGA Tour reached $4.4 million by 1979. In 1992 the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation became the first official charity of a professional golf association after partnering with the LPGA.

Michelle Wie made her debut at the 2000 U.S.G.A. Women’s Amateur event as the youngest player to qualify, at the young age of 10. The Women’s Senior Golf Tour, now known as the Legends Tour, was also established for women professional golfers, age 45 or older in 2001. In 2011, Mariel Galdiano became the youngest golfer to make the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open, at 13 years old. There are approximately 5.8 million women who play golf, according to a 2017 National Golf Foundation report.

We’ve come a long way since then, and here are the results for February League play for the Sun Lakes Lady Niners. On Feb. 2, the game of the day was Low Putts, and the winner in Flight 1 was Mary Martz, in Flight 2 Rose Gallagher, and in Flight 3 Mary Bohren. On Feb. 9 the game was Blind Partner, and the winning team was Lavonne Mensink and Jan Sykes. On Feb. 16 the game was Low Net, and the winner in Flight 1 was Rose Gallagher, Jan Sykes in Flight 2, and Beverly Jur in Flight 3. On Feb. 23 the game was Yellow Ball, and the winning team was Susan Geis, Jackie Aagaard, and Liz Tollefsen.

The Sun Lakes Lady Niners are always looking for new members, and provide a welcoming environment while we all work on our game. If you are thinking about joining or have questions, please contact President Irene Anderson at 612-669-2666. Please consider coming out and hitting a ball and having a ball with them.