WWGA mulls return of Women's Western Open

Writing from Golf, Illinois

Thursday, September 15, 2022

There are plans afoot to bring a ghost golf championship back to life.

The Women’s Western Golf Association, in conjunction with the Western Golf Association, is trying to bring back the Women’s Western Open, the first major championship in women’s professional golf.

The surprise announcement came at the WWGA’s annual meeting, and from Judy Rankin, who was being honored as the organization’s 2022 Woman of Distinction.

“I hope one of these days soon, and I’ve heard a lot about it, that the Women’s Western Open will be reinvented,” Rankin said. “I think that would be great.”

WWGA and WGA officials weren’t available for comment, but it is understood that recent work by both groups, part of their alliance to boost the visibility of the Women’s Western Amateur and Junior championships, led to investigating potential sponsors for a WWGA-bannered pro tournament.

First played in 1930, the Women’s Western Open was the first golf tournament open to female professionals. The first major championship on the LPGA circuit – which itself began in 1950 – the Women’s Western Open was shelved after the 1967 playing, a victim of rising costs.

The WWO had no purse the first few years, but there were also no female professionals. That changed by the mid-1930s, and by 1941, when Patty Berg claimed the first of her record eight titles, she won the entire purse – $100.

When the WWO was shelved after the 1967 playing, the WWGA said it was concentrating on amateur golf, which was true, but the second half of the story was the $10,000 purse became too much for the all-volunteer group to raise.

Even today, Women’s Western Open winners, of which Kathy Whitworth was the last, at Pekin Country Club in 1967, are listed as major champions by the LPGA.

Rankin played in four Women’s Western Opens in the 1960s, her best finish a tie for fourth in 1964, as Judy Torluemke.

“It was played at some great golf courses in my time,” Rankin recalled, mentioning Beverly on Chicago’s South Side by name.

– Tim Cronin