Most Wins in One Year on the LPGA Tour
The LPGA Tour record for most wins in a single season is 13, and the golfer who won those 13 tournaments in 1963 is Mickey Wright. In the LPGA's history, only a handful of golfers have reached double-digit victories in a single season.
A golfer winning 10 or more tournaments in one year is something that has happened nine times in the history of the LPGA Tour. But Wright accounts for four of those big years. And only one golfer since 1968 has done it (although that golfer did it twice).
These are the golfers with the most wins in a single season in the history of the LPGA Tour:
13 wins, Mickey Wright, 1963
Thirteen victories in a single season is the all-time record on the LPGA Tour. Wright's wins that year included two majors, the Women's Western Open and the LPGA Championship. They also included her own tournament, the Mickey Wright Invitational (played from 1961-69), plus the Babe Zaharias Open.Other big wins during her record-breaking year included the St. Petersburg Women's Open and Dallas Civitan Open (which is probably better remembered under one of its later names, Mary Kay Classic). At one point Wright won tournaments in four consecutive weeks: the Alpine Civitan Open, Muskogee Civitan Open, then the Dallas and Zaharias tournaments. Only one other golfer in LPGA history to that point had won four consecutive tournaments: Wright, one year earlier (see below).
11 wins, Mickey Wright, 1964
One year after setting the record, Wright recorded another 11 victories in 1964. Those included the U.S. Women's Open, making her the second golfer to win that biggest title in women's golf four times. (The first golfer who did it is also on this list.)
11 wins, Annika Sorenstam, 2002
The only golfer beyond 1968 who reached double-digit wins in one LPGA season is Sorenstam. This is the first of two years in which she did it. Sorenstam's one win in a major during the year was at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. She also claimed the Evian Masters, which later became a major but didn't yet have that status in 2002.
10 wins, Betsy Rawls 1959
Rawls was the first golfer to record 10 or more wins in an LPGA Tour season. She also was the first golfer to win the U.S. Women's Open four times — but that was not one of her victories in 1959. She did win two other majors, though, the LPGA Championship and the Women's Western Open.
10 wins, Mickey Wright, 1961 and 1962
Wright's 10 wins in 1961 included three majors, the Titleholders Championship, U.S. Women's Open and LPGA Championship. Her 10 wins in 1962 included the Titleholders again, plus the Women's Western Open. Also in 1962 she was the first to achieve a four-tournament win streak on the LPGA Tour, doing it over four consecutive weeks. The tournaments were the Heart of America Invitational, Albuquerque Swing Parade, Salt Lake City Open and Spokane Open.Did you notice that Wright had double-digit wins in four consecutive LPGA seasons? Ten wins in 1961 and 1962, 13 in 1963, 11 more in 1964 — 44 wins in four years, the most prolific such stretch of any golfer, man or woman, on any tour, ever.
10 wins, Kathy Whitworth, 1968
Wright eventually won 82 LPGA titles total, but Whitworth is the all-time leader in career LPGA wins with 88. Whitworth had "only" one year with double-digit wins, though, and it was 1968. None of them were majors, however. Carol Mann was runner-up to Whitworth in four of her wins, which we mention because ...
10 wins, Carol Mann, 1968
... Mann also won 10 times in the 1968 LPGA season. Mann was also shut out in the majors that year. (Only two were played: Sandra Post won the LPGA Championship, Susie Maxwell Berning claimed the U.S. Women's Open.) Whitworth was the runner-up in five of Mann's victories. Imagine winning 10 tournaments and only finishing second on the money list (to Whitworth) and losing the Player of the Year Award (to Whitworth).
10 wins, Annika Sorenstam, 2005
Sorenstam's second time posting double-digit victories was also the most-recent time it has happened on the LPGA Tour. Sorenstam won two majors in 2005, the Kraft Nabisco Championship and the LPGA Championship. Included in her victories was her fourth in the season-ending ADT Championship. And Sorenstam won the Mizuno Classic in Japan for the fifth consecutive year, the LPGA record for most consecutive years winning the same tournament.Related articles:
