British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship
The British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship was founded in 1893 by the Ladies' Golf Union of Great Britain. Until the dawn of the professional era in 1976, it was the most important golf tournament for women in Great Britain and would eventually begin to draw golfers from continental Europe. Along with the United States Women's Amateur Golf Championship, it is considered the highest honor in women's amateur golf.
A match play tournament with 18 holes per match, the first tournament was played at the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes in Lancashire, England and was won by Lady Margaret Scott (who also won the following two years). In 1927, Simone de la Chaume of France, who had won the 1924 British Girls Amateur Golf Championship, became the first foreign golfer to win the Ladies championship. The first competitor from the United States to win the title was Babe Zaharias in 1947.
The "Pam Barton Memorial Salver" is awarded to the winner to be held for one year, as the actual Championship Cup is held by the Ladies' Golf Union. The runner-up receives The Diana Fishwick Cup.
Winners
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Multiple winners
Eighteen players have won more than one British Ladies Amateur Championship, through 2015:
- 4 wins: Cecil Leitch, Joyce Wethered
- 3 wins: Lady Margaret Scott, May Hezlet, Enid Wilson, Jessie Valentine, Brigitte Varangot
- 2 wins: Rhona Adair, Dorothy Campbell, Helen Holm, Pam Barton, Frances Stephens, Marley Spearman, Elizabeth Chadwick, Mickey Walker, Julie Wade Hall, Rebecca Hudson, Louise Stahle
Eleven players have won both the British Ladies and U.S. Women's Amateur Championships, through 2014:
- Dorothy Campbell:^ 1909, 1911 British; 1909, 1910, 1924 U.S.
- Gladys Ravenscroft: 1912 British; 1913 U.S.
- Pam Barton:^ 1936, 1939 British; 1936 U.S.
- Babe Zaharias: 1947 British; 1946 U.S.
- Louise Suggs: 1948 British; 1947 U.S.
- Marlene Stewart Streit: 1953 British; 1956 U.S.
- Barbara McIntire: 1960 British; 1959, 1964 U.S.
- Catherine Lacoste:^ 1969 British; 1969 U.S.
- Carol Semple Thompson: 1974 British; 1973 U.S.
- Anne Quast: 1980 British; 1958, 1961, 1963 U.S.
- Kelli Kuehne:^ 1996 British; 1996 U.S.
^ Won both in same year.