20 Of The Best Female Golfers Of All Time

The women's game continues to go from strength to strength, with increased exposure and prize purses meaning the gap to the men's game is closing. History is littered with iconic figures who have played a vital part in this movement but who are the greatest players of all time?

Featuring some familiar faces and legends of the game from a bygone era, we take a look at 20 of the best female golfers of all time...

Kathy Whitworth

Born: 1939
Tour wins: 98
Majors: 6

Kathy Whitworth won an incredible 88 times on the LPGA Tour, with her most dominant years coming in the 1960s and '70s. She won six Major titles too and was the first American captain for the inaugural Solheim Cup in 1990.

Mickey Wright

Born: 1935
Tour wins: 90
Majors: 13

It is believed that Ben Hogan once said that Mickey Wright's swing was the best he had ever seen. Her winning record seems to suggest it worked too as she won 90 times as a professional and 13 of those were Majors.

Annika Sorenstam

Born: 1970
Tour wins: 93
Majors: 10

The first European female player to dominate women's golf, Sorenstam won 72 times on the LPGA Tour, 10 of which were Majors. She also had 18 international wins too. Sorenstam shot to prominence in 2003 when she became the first player since Babe Zaharias to play in a men's PGA Tour event and she is also the only female player to shoot 59.

Patty Berg

Born: 1918
Tour wins: 63
Majors: 15

One of the founding members of the LPGA Tour, Berg is widely thought to be the player who helped revolutionise women's golf. She also has the most Major victories ever with 15.

Louise Suggs

Born: 1923
Tour wins: 61
Majors: 11

Suggs was another player who helped found the Ladies PGA Tour and was a modicum of consistency during the 1950s in particular. For example, only once did she finish outside of the top three in the season-ending money list during the decade.

Betsy Rawls

Born: 1928
Tour wins: 58
Majors: 8

Betsy Rawls was another player who dominated during the 1950s, with six of her eight Major wins coming during that decade. Her 1952 and 1959 seasons are particularly noteworthy too, as she won eight and ten times respectively.

Nancy Lopez

Born: 1957
Tour wins: 52
Majors: 3

Considered one of the greats of women's golf, Lopez was widely recognised as the best player in the world during the late 1970s into the 1980s.

JoAnne Carner

Born: 1939
Tour wins: 49
Majors: 2

A two-time winner of the US Women's Open, Carner collected 49 wins as a professional. This could have been so much higher though as she came second 10 times just in Majors.

Sandra Haynie

Born: 1943
Tour wins: 44
Majors: 4

Another great golfer to be born in Texas, Haynie ranks ninth all time for total LPGA Tour wins with 44.

Babe Zaharias

Born: 1911
Tour wins: 48
Majors: 10

An iconic athlete of the 20th century, Babe Zaharias turned to golf in 1935 and quickly found success, winning 10 Majors.

Karrie Webb

Born: 1974
Tour wins: 57
Majors: 7

Arguably Australia's greatest ever golfer, Karrie Webb won all over the world in relentless fashion, including seven Major titles.

Patty Sheehan

Born: 1956
Tour wins: 42
Majors: 6

Despite showing early promise skiing as a youngster, Sheehan turned to golf and won her first LPGA title a year after turning pro in 1980. When her playing career came to an end she boasted a stellar roll of honour, which included six Majors, four of which came in her last seven LPGA Tour wins.

Betsy King

Born: 1955
Tour wins: 39
Majors: 6

In a career that included countless wins and several Major titles, King really hit her peak during the late 1980s

Pat Bradley

Born: 1958
Tour wins: 36
Majors: 6

Bradley's finest season in an illustrious career came in 1986 when she won three of the four Major titles. The only won she didn't win that year was the US Women's Open where she finished in a tie for fifth.

Juli Inkster

Born: 1960
Tour wins: 45
Majors: 7

Inkster's longevity at the top is one of her main characteristics as 23 years separates her first and last wins on the LPGA Tour. She won seven Majors and helped the USA wrestle the Solheim Cup back from Europe in 2015, after they had won two events in a row.

Amy Alcott

Born: 1956
Tour wins: 34
Majors: 5

Alcott turned professional at the age of 18 and worked her way onto the LPGA Tour, where she would go on to have huge success. In total, she picked up five Major titles and 29 tournament wins.

Se Ri Pak

Born: 1977
Tour wins: 39
Majors: 5

Pak helped change the game of golf to what we see today. She was a perennial winner of course, but in 1998 she was the only Korean player on the LPGA Tour, whereas now the country dominates the game. Her win at the 1998 US Women's Open is widely thought to have been the catalyst for the boom in female Korean golf.

Dame Laura Davies

Born: 1963
Tour wins: 87
Majors: 4

An iconic player in the women's game, Davies was a winning machine in her heyday. In fact, from 1985 to 2010, she registered at least one victory on the Ladies European Tour every year. Add to that 20 LPGA Tour titles and four Majors and that is quite the career. And yet there is more, she is also the highest point scorer in Solheim Cup history and has made the most appearances with 12.

Inbee Park

Born: 1988
Tour wins: 31
Majors: 7

Park boasts one of the best-ever records, with 31 wins as a professional and seven Major victories. She also has an Olympic gold medal from the 2016 Games in Brazil.

Lorena Ochoa

Born: 1981
Tour wins: 30
Majors: 2

There are several players with more total victories than Ochoa, but the level of her dominance deserves recognition because all of her 27 LPGA Tour wins came in a five year period from 2004 to 2009. In her entire career, she only missed six cuts too.