The Beginning of the LPGA

March is Women’s History Month, so it’s fitting to look at the beginnings of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), the longest-running women’s psorts association in the world. The organization was founded in 1950 by 13 women, including Babe Zaharias (pictured above), Patty Berg, and Louise Suggs. It was a refinement of the WPGA (Women’s Professional Golf Association), founded in 1944. The first season, the LPGA hosted 13 events with total prize money of $50,000.

Today, the LPGA sponsors 33 events with prize money of more than $58 million. How far we’ve come! The LPGA also funds the LPGA Foundation, a teaching and scholarship arm of the LPGA.

^{(photo courtesy of the LPGA)}