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1976 LPGA Tour
Golf tour season
Golf tour season
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| year | 1976 |
| tour | LPGA Tour |
| regular_season | – |
| no_of_events | 31 |
| most_wins | 6 USA Judy Rankin |
| honor1 | Money leader |
| honoree1 | USA Judy Rankin |
| honor2 | Player of the Year |
| honoree2 | USA Judy Rankin |
| honor3 | Rookie of the Year |
| honoree3 | USA Bonnie Lauer |
| prevseason | [1975](1975-lpga-tour) |
| nextseason | [1977](1977-lpga-tour) |
The 1976 LPGA Tour was the 27th season since the LPGA Tour officially began in 1950. The season ran from January 30 to November 27. The season consisted of 31 official money events. Judy Rankin won the most tournaments, six. She also led the money list with earnings of $150,734.
The season saw the first official tournaments played outside North America; the Colgate European Open in England, the LPGA/Japan Mizuno Classic in Japan, the Colgate-Hong Kong Open in Hong Kong, and the Colgate Far East Championship in the Philippines. There were four first-time winners in 1976: Pat Bradley, Hisako "Chako" Higuchi, the first winner from Japan, Sally Little, the first winner from Africa, and Jan Stephenson.
The tournament results and award winners are listed below.
Tournament results
The following table shows all the official money events for the 1976 season. "Date" is the ending date of the tournament. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names are the number of wins they had on the tour up to and including that event. Majors are shown in bold.
| Date | Tournament | Location | Winner | Score | Purse ($) | 1st prize ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 1 | Burdine's Invitational | Florida | USA Judy Rankin (14) | 213 (−3) | 40,000 | 5,700 |
| Feb 8 | Sarah Coventry Naples Classic | Florida | AUS Jan Stephenson (1) | 218 (+2) | 60,000 | 8,500 |
| Feb 15 | Orange Blossom Classic | Florida | USA JoAnne Carner (14) | 209 (−7) | 45,000 | 6,400 |
| Feb 22 | Bent Tree Classic | Florida | USA Kathy Whitworth (75) | 209 (−7) | 60,000 | 8,500 |
| Apr 4 | Colgate-Dinah Shore Winner's Circle | California | USA Judy Rankin (15) | 285 (−3) | 185,000 | 32,000 |
| Apr 18 | Karsten-Ping Open | Arizona | USA Judy Rankin (16) | 205 (−11) | 80,000 | 14,000 |
| Apr 25 | Birmingham Classic | Alabama | AUS Jan Stephenson (2) | 203 (−13) | 40,000 | 5,700 |
| May 2 | Lady Tara Classic | Georgia | USA JoAnne Carner (15) | 209 (−10) | 50,000 | 7,000 |
| May 9 | Women's International | South Carolina | ZAF Sally Little (1) | 281 (−7) | 70,000 | 10,000 |
| May 16 | American Defender Classic | North Carolina | USA Sue Roberts (4) | 211 (−5) | 45,000 | 6,400 |
| May 23 | ['76 LPGA Classic](76-lpga-classic) | New Jersey | USA Amy Alcott (2) | 209 (−4) | 76,000 | 14,000 |
| May 30 | **[LPGA Championship](1976-lpga-championship)** | Maryland | USA **Betty Burfeindt (4)** | 287 (−5) | 55,000 | 8,000 |
| Jun 6 | Girl Talk Classic | New York | USA Pat Bradley (1) | 217 (+1) | 76,000 | 14,000 |
| Jun 13 | Peter Jackson Classic | Canada | USA Donna Caponi (8) | 212 (−4) | 60,000 | 12,000 |
| Jun 20 | Hoosier Classic | Indiana | USA JoAnne Carner (16) | 210 (−6) | 50,000 | 7,000 |
| Jun 27 | Babe Zaharias Invitational | Ohio | USA Judy Rankin (17) | 287 (−1) | 100,000 | 15,000 |
| Jul 4 | Bloomington Bicentennial Classic | Indiana | USA Sandra Palmer (12) | 209 (−4) | 50,000 | 7,000 |
| Jul 11 | **[U.S. Women's Open](1976-u-s-women-s-open)** | Pennsylvania | USA **JoAnne Carner (17)** | 292 (+8) | 60,000 | 9,054 |
| Jul 18 | Borden Classic | Ohio | USA Judy Rankin (18) | 205 (−11) | 70,000 | 10,000 |
| Jul 25 | Lady Keystone Open | Pennsylvania | USA Susie Berning (11) | 215 (−1) | 50,000 | 7,000 |
| Aug 7 | Colgate European Open | England | JPN Hisako "Chako" Higuchi (1) | 284 (−12) | 100,000 | 15,000 |
| Aug 15 | Wheeling Classic | West Virginia | USA Jane Blalock (13) | 217 (+1) | 50,000 | 7,000 |
| Aug 22 | Patty Berg Classic | Minnesota | USA Kathy Whitworth (76) | 212 (−7) | 55,000 | 8,000 |
| Aug 29 | National Jewish Hospital Open | Colorado | USA Sandra Palmer (13) | 206 (−10) | 50,000 | 7,000 |
| Sep 5 | Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Classic | Illinois | USA Sandra Palmer (14) | 213 (−3) | 100,000 | 15,000 |
| Sep 12 | Dallas Civitan Open | Texas | USA Jane Blalock (14) | 205 (−11) | 50,000 | 7,000 |
| Sep 19 | Portland Classic | Oregon | USA Donna Caponi (9) | 217 (−2) | 45,000 | 6,400 |
| Sep 26 | The Carlton | California | USA Donna Caponi (10) | 282 (−6) | 205,000 | 35,000 |
| Nov 3 | LPGA/Japan Mizuno Classic | Japan | USA Donna Caponi (11) | 217 (−5) | 100,000 | 15,000 |
| Nov 20 | Colgate-Hong Kong Open | Hong Kong | USA Judy Rankin (19) | 216 (E) | 50,000 | 10,000 |
| Nov 27 | Colgate Far East Championship | Philippines | USA Amy Alcott (3) | 211 (−5) | 100,000 | 15,000 |
LPGA Tour vs. The Masters Tournament
In January 1976 the LPGA Tour announced the formation of a new tournament. It was to be titled the Ladies Masters and sponsors said they would pattern the event similar to the Masters Tournament. A little over a month later the LPGA announced the tournament's name was being changed to the Women's International. This happened after Masters Tournament officials contacted the tournament's sponsor and threatened to go to court unless the word Masters wasn't removed from the tournament title.
The Women's International proved to be a short lived event. Its final edition was played in 1985.
Awards
| Award | Winner | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Money winner | Judy Rankin | |
| Scoring leader (Vare Trophy) | Judy Rankin (2) | |
| Player of the Year | Judy Rankin | |
| Rookie of the Year | Bonnie Lauer |
References
References
- "LPGA Tournament Chronology 1970-1979". LPGA.
- [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6JxIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=doQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3533,2448149&dq=ladies+masters+moss+creek&hl=en Ladies Masters added to LPGA slate in May]
- [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TJdbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hVENAAAAIBAJ&pg=5427,4228410&dq=ladies+masters+moss+creek&hl=en Ladies' Masters changes name]
- [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uY9FAAAAIBAJ&sjid=N88MAAAAIBAJ&pg=5611,3669900&dq=ladies+masters+lpga&hl=en LPGA is denied Masters name]
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
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