Golden Lights Championship
The Golden Lights Championship was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1975 to 1981.[1][2] It was played at the All-American Sports City Country club in Pine Plains, New York in 1975, at the Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle, New York from 1976 to 1980 and at the The Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1981.
Competing in the first Golden Lights Championship were pros such as JoAnne Carner, Pat Bradley, Sandra Post, Betty Burfeindt and Amy Alcott. However, undoubtedly the tournament favorite was Nancy Lopez, a 20 year old rookie on the LPGA tour, who had won four events, including two events in a row, coming into the 1978 Golden Lights event. Her subsequent victory at the tournament at Wykagyl was the third of five events that she won in a row, and a total of nine events won that year. The New York Times reported that she had set a women's record of 31-34=65 on Wykagyl's 6,410 yard course, with a total score of 277, 11 under par.[3]
Lopez also triumphed in the event the following season. Coming into the second Golden Lights event, Lopez had already won four events. Her win at Wykagyl was the fifth of in a total of eight in 1979 as well as her third victory in a row.[3]
Beth Daniel, one of the great power hitters, won the 1980 Golden Lights Championship in only her second year on the tour.
Winners
- Golden Lights Championship
- 1981 Cathy Reynolds
- 1980 Beth Daniel
- 1979 Nancy Lopez
- 1978 Nancy Lopez
- Talk Tournament '77
- 1977 JoAnne Carner
- Girl Talk Classic
- 1976 Pat Bradley
- 1975 JoAnne Carner
References
- ^ LPGA Tournament Chronology 1970-1979
- ^ LPGA Tournament Chronology 1980-1989
- ^ a b The Wykagyl Country Club Centennial - 1898 to 1998; Author=Desmond Tollhurst; Published=1998; pages=117-119