in
2008. The first Women's British Open was played in 1976 when the
Ladies' British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship was extended to include professionals. The Amateur Stroke Play Championship had been organised by the
Ladies' Golf Union since 1969. In early 1976 two professionals,
Vivien Saunders and
Gwen Brandom, and the LGU, agreed that the event would be opened up to professionals, with Saunders and Brandom providing £200 in prize money for the professionals. Eventually total prize money was £500, with five professionals competing in the event. An amateur,
Jenny Lee Smith, won the event with Saunders the leading professional, tying for fourth place. From 1979 the event was separated from the
Stroke Play Championship, which returned to being an amateur-only event. Prize money of £10,000, and a first prize of £3,000, attracted a larger number of professionals. At first, it was difficult for the organisers to get the most prestigious courses to agree to host the event, with the exception of
Royal Birkdale, which hosted it twice during its early days — in 1982 and 1986. After nearly folding in 1983, the tournament was held at the best of the "second-tier" courses, including
Woburn Golf and Country Club for seven straight years, 1990 through 1996, as well as in 1984 and 1999. As its prestige continued to increase, more of the
links courses that are in the rotation for The Open Championship, such as
Turnberry (
2002) and
Royal Lytham & St Annes (1998,
2003,
2006) hosted the tournament, in addition to Royal Birkdale (2000,
2005,
2010). In
2007, the tournament took place at the
Old Course at St Andrews for the first time. Since 2010, four additional Open Championship venues became first-time hosts for the women's event:
Carnoustie (
2011),
Royal Liverpool (2012),
Royal Troon (
2020, year where only women had The Open), and
Muirfield (
2022). The tournament has yet to be played at two Open Championship courses:
Royal St. George's in southeastern England, and
Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. Currently, Turnberry is unable to be on the Open rota because of political ramifications of its owner, the current
President of the United States,
Donald Trump (who has hosted LIV Golf tournaments on his courses; the owner of that tour, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, organises the Ladies European Tour's
Aramco Team Series tournaments). Unlike its male counterpart, the Women's Open has not adopted a links-only policy. This greatly increases the number of potential venues, especially the number close to the major population centres of England. Following the 2017 merger of the Ladies Golf Union with The R&A, both the men's and women's Opens are operated by The R&A. Through 1993, the tournament was an official stop only on the
Ladies European Tour, with the exception of the 1984 edition, which was co-sanctioned by the
LPGA Tour. Starting in
1994, it became a permanent LPGA Tour event, which increased both the quality of the field and the event's prestige. It has been an official LPGA major since
2001, when it replaced the
Canadian Women's Open, which lost its title sponsor because of tobacco sponsorship regulations. In 2005, the starting field size was increased to 150, but only the low 65 (plus ties) survive the cut after the second round. In both 2007 and 2008 the prize fund was
£1.05 million. Starting in
2009, the prize fund changed from being fixed in
pounds to
U.S. dollars. Tied for most victories in the Women's British Open with three each are
Karrie Webb of
Australia and
Sherri Steinhauer of the
United States. Both won the tournament twice before it became an LPGA major and once after.
Yani Tseng of
Taiwan and
Jiyai Shin of
South Korea are the only multiple winners of the championship as a major. The other multiple winner is
Debbie Massey of the U.S., with consecutive wins (1980 and 1981) well before it was an LPGA co-sanctioned event. ==Winners==