Which Female Golfers Have Appeared On The PGA Tour?

There are a couple of things that are perhaps surprising about the history of female golfers on the PGA Tour. 

One is that it is now not too far short of a century since the first player to do so, all the way back in 1935. Another is that, despite that considerable length of time, the number of women to grace the PGA Tour remains in single figures.

The latest to join the exclusive list is LPGA Tour player Lexi Thompson, who received an invite to play in the 2023 Shriners Children’s Open.

But what are the stories behind the appearances of all seven women to appear alongside the men on the PGA Tour, and how did they fare?

Babe Didrikson Zaharias

Zahairas excelled at far more than golf alone. She was also adept at basketball, baseball and track and field, and won gold medals for her efforts in the javelin and 80m hurdles at the 1932 Olympics. However, it was on the golf course where she was destined to be best remembered.

After coming to the game late in 1935 aged 24, Zahairas soon made her mark, receiving a sponsor exemption to the Cascades Open the same year. She missed the cut, but there were more chances on the Tour as her career progressed.

She also played in the 1938 Los Angeles Open, and made the 36-hole cut in the same event seven years later, although not another cut to make the final round. Other appearances came in the 1945 Tuscon Open and Phoenix Open, while her final PGA Tour appearance came in the 1946 Los Angeles Open.

Shirley Spork

Spork, who died in 2022 at the aged of 94, will forever be remembered as one of the founders of the LPGA Tour and, such is her legacy, the 2023 US Solheim Cup Team’s bags even had yellow ducks on their bottoms to mark her love of finding the birds on the golf course when she was facing the pressure of competition.

In other words, Spork's name in the history books would have been assured with or without a PGA Tour appearance. She achieved one anyway. Six years after Zahairas’ final appearance on the PGA Tour, Spork played in the 1952 Northern California-Reno Open, an event that had no cut.

Annika Sorenstam

By the time Sorenstam had accepted a sponsor exemption into the 2003 Bank of America Colonial, the Swede was a fully fledged legend of the women’s game with four of her eventual 10 Major wins secured.

Despite that pedigree, though, her appearance wasn’t well received by everyone, among them Vijay Singh, who said “she doesn’t belong out here” and "I hope she misses the cut."

He got his wish, as Sorenstam failed to make the final two rounds by four shots. Still, a finish of T96 offered justification for her appearance. She was adamant it would be her one and only appearance on the Tour, though, saying: “I’m glad I did it, but this is way over my head. I wasn’t as tough as I thought I was. With everybody here, everybody cheering for me, I was so nervous.”

Despite her mixed feelings about her appearance, it wasn't long until the player after Sorenstam made her PGA Tour bow.

Suzy Whaley

Just two months after Sorenstam’s PGA Tour appearance caused such consternation, Suzy Whaley followed in her footsteps, this time in the Greater Hartford Open (now the Travelers Championship).

However, her appearance was also shrouded in controversy. Whaley earned her place in the tournament by winning the Connecticut Section PGA Championship the year before, but because she played off tees a total of tees 699 yards shorter than the men in regional qualifying, some questioned the validity of her qualification.

Eventually, that was addressed via the "Whaley rule,” which saw that all entrants in qualifying tournaments needed to play off the same tees.

Controversy aside, in the tournament, Whaley missed the cut but hardly disgraced herself following rounds of 75 and 78.

Michelle Wie West

Michelle Wie West may not have been the first female to compete on the PGA Tour, but she remains the youngest, having appeared in the 2004 Sony Open at the age of just 14. She came agonisingly close to making the cut, too, helped by a second round of 68 – the lowest ever by a woman in a PGA Tour event. 

However, even though she missed out by one shot, she still bettered the performances of 47 male players, including four Major winners.

Seven more PGA Tour events followed for Wie West over the next four years, but that maiden appearance remained the closest she got to reaching the final two rounds.

Brittany Lincicome

A decade after Wie West’s final appearance on the PGA Tour, Lincicome became the sixth on the list of female golfers to play on it thanks to a sponsor’s exemption into the 2018 Barbasol Championship.

Lincicome’s first round didn’t go as planned with a 78 leaving her hopes of making the cut all but over. Nevertheless, she rallied well in the second round with an even-par 71 helped by a run of three successive birdies between the sixth and eighth holes.

Afterwards, Lincicome didn’t discount the chance of appearing on the PGA Tour again, saying: “Never say never.” However, a second PGA Tour appearance has proved elusive.

Lexi Thompson

Thompson has spent over half her life in the spotlight after shooting to prominence at the age of just 12 when she qualified for the 2007 US Women’s Open. A glittering career has followed since then, including victory in the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship (now the Chevron Championship).

Perhaps, then, it was inevitable that she would one day add a PGA Tour appearance to her resume. That came with the 2023 Shriners Children’s Open.

Despite her many achievements in the game, though, Thompson admitted beforehand that if she made the cut it would rank “at the top of my accomplishments.” 

Perhaps more tellingly, she was also asked how she saw the challenge of the action to come. She responded: “I don't really see it as a challenge. Coming into a PGA Tour event, being a woman, is a challenge."

Given how few women have managed it, and the controversies along the way, it’s hard to disagree that she has a point.