British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship
The British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship is a golf tournament founded in 1893 by the Ladies' Golf Union of Great Britain . The first tournament, which, like all subsequent ones, went over 18 holes, was played on June 13, 1893 at the Royal Lytham & St.Annes GC and won by Lady Margaret Scott . Until female professional players established themselves in 1976, this golf tournament was considered the most important for women in Great Britain and, together with the United States Women's Amateur Golf Championship, is the most important in the amateur field.
Simone de la Chaume from France was the first non-British woman to win this tournament in 1924. The first female winner from the USA was Babe Zaharias in 1946. Charlotte Dod , who won the tournament in 1904, is one of the most famous winners . Lottie Dod is still the youngest winner of the tennis tournament of Wimbledon and is considered together with Babe Zaharias as the most versatile female athlete of all time.
To date, eleven players have won both the United States Women's Amateur Golf Championship and the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship. These are:
- Kelli Kuehne (1996 US - 1996 British)
- Anne Quast (1958, 1961, 1963 US - 1980 British)
- Carol Semple Thompson (1973 US - 1974 British)
- Catherine Lacoste (1969 US - 1969 British)
- Barbara McIntire (1959, 1964 US - 1960 British)
- Marlene Stewart Streit (1953 British - 1956 US)
- Louise Suggs (1947 US - 1948 British)
- Pamela Barton (1936 US - 1936, 1939 British)
- Babe Zaharias (1946 US - 1947 British)
- Gladys Ravenscroft (1912 British - 1913 US)
- Dorothy Campbell (1909, 1910, 1924 US - 1909, 1911 British)