Looking Back: Sea Island Open on LPGA Tour

The Sea Island Open (called the Sea Island Women's Invitational its final two years) was a professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from the mid-1950s into the 1960s. Five times it was won by Mickey Wright. It was played in Georgia.

First played: 1954

Last played: 1963

The Sea Island Open was always played in the first few weeks of the season, and many times it was the LPGA's season-opener. That included the inaugural year of 1954, when Louise Suggs won. Suggs won a second time seven years later, and that 1962 victory was the 60th (out of 61 total) of her LPGA career.

But the big winner in this event was Mickey Wright, who won it five of the nine years it was played. Wright was the champion in 1957, 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1963. The first of those was her second career LPGA win (she eventually won 82 times). The last of those wins was in the tournament's final year, and was by 10 strokes.

Wright still shares the LPGA Tour record for most times winning the same tournament. Her victory in the 1963 Sea Island Women's Invitational made her the first golfer to record five wins in the same LPGA event. And that 1963 victory was one of a record 13 LPGA wins for Wright that year.

The only golfers other than Wright and Suggs to win the Sea Island Open in its nine years were Jackie Pung and Marlene Hagge. Betsy Rawls finished runner-up three times without winning.

Winners of the LPGA Sea Island Open

1954 — Louise Suggs, 231
1955 — Jackie Pung, 151
1956 — Marlene Hagge, 152 (def. Mary Lena Faulk and Joyce Ziske in playoff)
1957 — Mickey Wright, 220
1958 — Mickey Wright, 224
1959 — Not played
1960 — Mickey Wright, 219
1961 — Louise Suggs, 229
1962 — Mickey Wright, 226
1963 — Mickey Wright, 212

Golf courses: The tournament was played at Sea Island Golf Club from 1954 through 1957, and again in 1963. In the other years it took place at Cloister Country Club, also in Sea Island, Georgia.

Sources:
Caspar Star-Tribune. "Sports In Brief," January 22, 1962.
LPGA Tour. Tournament chronology, 1950-59, via Wayback Machine, https://web.archive.org/web/20100102110028/http://www.lpga.com/content/Chronology50-59.pdf.
LPGA Tour. Tournament chronology, 1960-69, via Wayback Machine, https://web.archive.org/web/20100102110037/http://www.lpga.com/content/Chronology60-69.pdf.
Philadelphia Inquirer. "Mickey Wright Wins, Sets Course Record," Associated Press, January 14, 1957.
The Shreveport Journal. "Louise Suggs Wins Sea Island," Associated Press, January 16, 1961.