Oldest Winners of the Women's PGA Championship
The Women's PGA Championship (which, for much of its history, was named the LPGA Championship) is one of the five majors of women's pro golf. It is the second-oldest, behind only the U.S. Women's Open. It was run by the LPGA through 2014, then the PGA of America took over the tournament and gave it its current name.
(See also: Youngest Women's PGA Championship winners)
These are the oldest golfers to win the Women's PGA Championship:
1. Betsy Rawls, 1969, 41 years, 2 months, 23 days
Betsy Rawls was one of the giants of the LPGA's early history, recording her first wins in 1951, the second year of the tour's existence. By 1969 she was nearing the end of her winning years. Her victory in the 1969 LPGA Championship was the 52nd of her 55 career wins, the last of her eight career major championship wins.And she set the record that still stands as the oldest winner of what we now call the Women's PGA Championship.
Rawls was in the thick of things after opening 71-72, but a 79 in the third round dropped her three strokes off the lead. But in the final round she shot 71, by two strokes the best score of Round 4. Rawls wound up winning by two strokes over runners-up Carol Mann and Susie Maxwell Berning.
2. Juli Inkster, 2000, 40 years, 1 day
Another Hall of Famer and LPGA legend, Juli Inkster won the 2000 LPGA Championship for the 24th of her 31 career victories, and the sixth of her seven career wins in LPGA majors. Her last win in a major happened two years later in the 2002 U.S. Women's Open where she also joined that major's roster of oldest winners.In the third round (which happened to be her 40th birthday), Inkster fired a 65 to tie the lead. In the final round she ballooned to a 75, but found herself still tied. So Inkster and Stefania Croce entered a sudden-death playoff, which Inkster won on the second hole.
3. Christa Johnson, 1997, 39 years, 23 days
The only other golfer older than 38 to win a Women's PGA Championship is Christa Johnson (who played under the name Chris Johnson for much of her LPGA career).Johnson and Leta Lindley matched scores — 69-71 — over the final two rounds and finished tied at 281, one stroke in front of Annika Sorenstam. Johnson won with a par on the second sudden-death playoff hole. It was the eighth of Johnson's nine career LPGA wins and her only major championship title.
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