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USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Beth Ann Nichols

Is LPGA dominance a thing of the past? Here’s the history of the most wins by players in a single season

True dominance on the LPGA might be a thing of the past. There was a time when Mickey Wright won a staggering 10 times or more over the course of four consecutive seasons.

It’s been a decade since a player has won more than five times in a single season. Yani Tseng was the last player to win seven times in 2011.

Compare that to Annika Sorenstam’s double-digit years or when Lorena Ochoa won six, eight and seven times from 2006 to 2008.

Is anyone capable of matching those efforts in the modern game?

As the tour gets deeper by the decade, here’s a closer look at most wins by year on the LPGA:

13 wins

In this July 1, 1961 file photo, Mickey Wright poses after winning her third Women’s National Open, at the Baltusrol Golf Club at Springfield, N.J. Wright died Feb. 17, 2020, of a heart attack, her attorney told the AP. (AP Photo/File)

No one has more victories in a single season than Mickey Wright, who won 13 times in 1963. Wright competed in 28 of the 32 official events that season.

She recorded 23 top-3 finishes and placed in the top five 24 times. She finished outside the top 10 only once in ’63, a tie for 29th at the Rock City Ladies Open. Wright’s 27 top-10 finishes in 28 starts set a record that stands today. She won $31,269 for her efforts.

11 wins

Mickey Wright sports her fourth U.S. Open Women’s Golf Championship trophy in 1964. She won 13 major championships and 82 pro tour events. Photo by Getty Images

Two players have won 11 times in a single season: Wright in 1964 and Annika Sorenstam in 2002.

Wright’s 1964 season included her fourth U.S. Women’s Open title. Sorenstam’s epic 2002 also included two additional wins on the LET, giving her 13 victories in 25 starts worldwide.

10 wins

Betsy Rawls smiles after charging from behind with a final round to win the $36,000 Ladies Professional Golfers’ Association’s tournament at Kiamesha Lake, New York, July 28, 1969. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm)

Four players have led the tour in a single season with 10 wins, but only one player managed to do so after 1968 – Sorenstam.

Betsy Rawls was the first to do it in 1959, winning two majors in the process. Mickey Wright led the tour with 10 titles on three separate occasions: 1961, 1962, 1968. Actually, Wright wasn’t the only player to reach 10 wins in ’68. Carol Mann did the same. In fact, Kathy Whitworth finished second to Mann five times that season.

Sorenstam’s 2005 season included two major victories and several dominant showings. She won the Chick-fil-A Charity Classic by 10 strokes and the Kraft Nabisco and Samsung World Championship by eight.

9 wins

JC Penney Classic, Nancy Lopez in action during a drive at Bradmoor CC, Largo, FL 12/3/1978 (Photo by Walter Iooss Jr./Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (SetNumber: X22970)

Only two players have led the tour with nine wins in a season and for Nancy Lopez, that came during her rookie year. Lopez’s dynamite 1978 season included five consecutive titles. She was LPGA Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year as well as the Vare Trophy winner for low scoring.

Whitworth reached nine victories in 1966, the year she won her first of seven LPGA Player of the Year titles.

8 wins

Lorena Ochoa of Mexico celebrates saving par on the 18th green during the third round of the Corona Championship April 28, 2007 at Tres Marias Club de Golf in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico.

Seven players have won a season-leading eight times, with Lorena Ochoa’s 2007 season among the most memorable. Ochoa became the first female professional to win on the Old Course at St. Andrews when she won the 2007 Ricoh Women’s British Open by four strokes.

Lopez followed up her incredible rookie season with eight victories in 1979. Whitworth did it twice in ’65 and ’67 as did Sorenstam (2001 and 2004). Others to lead the tour with eight include: Louise Suggs (1953), Marlene Hagge (1956) and Mann (1969).

7 wins

Leading Amateur Danielle Kang of the USA and Yani Tseng of Taiwan (R) pose with their trophies at the end of the final round of the 2011 Ricoh Women’s British Open at Carnoustie Golf Links on July 31, 2011 in Carnoustie, Scotland. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)

Six players have paced the tour with seven wins, dating back to Babe Zaharias in 1951. The most recent player to win seven times was Yani Tseng, who claimed two majors during that streak in 2011. Tseng won 15 LPGA events from June 2008 to March of 2012.

Five additional LPGA Hall of Famers accomplished the feat: Whitworth (1973), Beth Daniel (1990), Karrie Webb (2000) and Ochoa (2008).

6 wins

Inbee Park won the 2013 U.S. Women’ Open at Seabonack Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y.

Inbee Park’s monster 2013 season included victories at the first three majors of the year. Park, who gave birth to her first child last year, is the most recent player to lead the tour with a six-win season.

Babe Zaharias won six times in the LPGA’s first full season in 1950. She did it again in 1952 along with Rawls. Sorenstam also won six times in two different seasons (1997, 2003).

Others include Patty Berg (1955), Wright (1960), JoAnne Carner (1974), Judy Rankin (1976), Betsy King (1989), Webb (1999), Ochoa (2006).

5 wins

Lydia Ko of New Zealand speaks to the media during her press conference after winning the Evian Championship Golf on September 13, 2015 in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

LPGA players have led the tour with five wins on 16 occasions. Kathy Whitworth (1971 and 1972) and Donna Caponi (1980 and 1981) accomplished it in back-to-back seasons.

Only four players have done it since Ai Miyzato in 2010, including Lydia Ko (2015), Inbee Park (2015), Ariya Jutanugarn (2016) and Jin Young Ko (2021).

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