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Golf Monthly

Sport

Mike Hall

LPGA Tour Hall Of Fame - Who’s In It And Criteria Explained

LPGA Tour LPGA Hall of Fame Inbee Park the LPGA Tour Lorena Ochoa the LPGA Hall of Fame Annika Sorenstam Dinah Shore Judy Rankin

Lorena Ochoa of Mexico, Se Ri Pak of Korea, Annika Sorenstam of Sweden and Juli Inkster pose for a photo.

The LPGA Tour Hall of Fame recognizes the achievements of some of the most successful players in the history of the women’s game.

It began in 1967 and originated from the Hall of Fame of Women’s Golf, established in 1950. When the LPGA introduced its own Hall of Fame, six entrants were inducted into the new entity - Patty Berg, Betty Jameson, Louise Suggs, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Betsy Rawls and Mickey Wright.

But how does a player get in it? The requirements have changed over the decades, and there are several nowadays.

The first step is to be a member of the LPGA Tour from 1998 or onwards. Those players then need to accumulate 27 points for eligibility - far from a straightforward proposition.

One point is awarded for each win a player has on the LPGA Tour, an Olympic gold medal, and those who win the Vare Trophy or are named Rolex Player of the Year. Winning an LPGA Major yields two points. Eligible players must also have won at least one LPGA Major, the Vare Trophy or Rolex Player of the Year.

There used to be a Veterans Category, which saw three players - Donna Caponi, Marlene Bauer Hagge and Judy Rankin - inducted by the former Veterans Committee, with the trio taking their places after the new criteria was introduced in 1999. They had previously been denied entry because the criteria during their playing days was 35 points, but they each met the revised 27-point threshold.

Thanks to the Honorary Category, singer and actress Dinah Shore was also inducted in 1994. She had been a prominent supporter of women’s golf and helped found the Colgate Dinah Shore Golf Tournament in 1972, which has now become one of the five Majors, the Chevron Championship.

An Honorary Category ensured Dinah Shore's entry (Image credit: Getty Images)

The Honorary Category was also responsible for the 2022 inductions of eight LPGA founders who weren't already in the Hall of Fame, including Shirley Spork.

The same year, a stipulation that players needed to be members of the LPGA Tour for a minimum of 10 years was also lifted, allowing Mexican superstar Lorena Ochoa's induction. She had amassed 37 points over eight years before retiring in 2010.

That clutch of 2022 inductions ended a six-year wait for a new entrant after seven-time Major winner Inbee Park in 2016. Before Park, you need to go back a further nine years, to 2007, to find the previous inductee, five-time Major winner Se Ri Pak.

Inbee Park is one of 34 players in the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame (Image credit: Getty Images)

While the number of inductees into the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame currently stands at 34, one player is tantalizingly close to making it 35. New Zealander Lydia Ko's win at the 2024 season opener, the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, left her on 26 points, just one away from the threshold.

Lydia Ko is one point away from a place in the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame (Image credit: Getty Images)

It had looked a near certainty that she would make it in her next appearance when she led Nelly Korda at the LPGA Drive On Championship until the American's eagle-birdie finish forced a playoff. Korda went on to win and the wait for Ko continues.

Even though Ko has admitted that her 2024 Olympics appearance will likely be the last, there is no suggestion she is thinking of retiring from professional golf just yet, meaning the likelihood is that, sooner or later, she will be inducted.

While we await that day, here is the complete list of those already in the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame, along with the year each was inducted.