By: Max Bechtoldt
With the big game kicking off today, lets take a look at two cities that have produced LPGA Hall of Famers, San Francisco and Kansas City.
Starting with LPGA legend Amy Alcott, who was born in Kansas City, Mo. in 1958. Though Alcott spent parts of her childhood in Southern California, and currently resides there, she is the greatest golfer men or women from KC. Alcott won five majors in her career including three at Mission Hills. At the course she found the most success, she started one of the great traditions in golf, jumping into Poppie’s Pond. Alcott won 29 events on the LPGA Tour and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.
For San Francisco, there is certainly more quantity, but that doesn’t come at the price of quality loss. Obviously, the Bay Area is home to two of the great NCAA women’s golf programs, Stanford and San Jose State. I won’t be including players whose only connection is college. I also won’t include players who make their residence in San Francisco like Lydia Ko and Michelle Wie West.
The greatest player from the San Francisco Bay Area on the LPGA Tour is without a doubt Juli Inkster. While she originally hails from Santa Cruz, its enough in the area of Levi Stadium to count. Inkster won seven majors in her career, along with 24 other LPGA tournaments. She also is a Solheim Cup icon, winning five cups and going 15-12-7. Inkster perhaps became most known late in her career as a Solheim Cup captain, leading three teams and going 2-1.
Currently, Danielle Kang (pictured) is the most prominent San Francisco native on the LPGA Tour. Though she lives in Las Vegas now and spent much of her childhood in the Los Angeles area, she was born in San Francisco in 1992. Kang has six career LPGA Tour victories, including the 2017 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Kang has played in four Solheim Cups and represented the USA at the Tokyo Olympics.
Other notable names are Yealimi Noh from San Francisco and Mina Harigae from Monterey, who both made the 2021 United States Solheim Cup team. Christina Kim, from San Jose, won three career LPGA events, played on three Solheim Cup teams and accumulated a 6-2-2 record. Finally, Kay Cockerill, who is mostly known for her on-course reporting on the LPGA Tour for Golf Channel was born, raised and still lives in the Bay Area.
