The Youngest Major Champions in Women's Golf

When Yuka Saso sank her birdie putt on the third playoff hole to win the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open, she tied Inbee Park as the youngest-ever champion in the tournament’s 76-year history. Believe it or not, both players won at 19 years, 11 months and 17 days old.

Just weeks after Phil Mickelson became the oldest player to win a major, taking the 2021 PGA Championship at 50 years old, Saso became the seventh teenager to win a women’s major.

Lydia Ko is the youngest player to ever win any of the five LPGA majors, winning the 2015 Evian Championship at 18 years, 4 months and 20 days old. She is one of three 18-year-olds to win an LPGA major, joining Brooke Henderson, who was 18 years, 9 months, 2 days old when she won the 2016 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, and Morgan Pressel, who was 18 years, 10 months and 9 days old when she won the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship (now the Chevron Championship).

Lexi Thompson, who held a 5-stroke lead heading to the ninth hole in the final round of the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open, won the Kraft Nabisco Championship, now the Chevron Championship, at 19 years, 1 month and 27 days old. After her disappointing 2021 U.S. Open finish, Thompson is still in pursuit of her second major championship.

Of the five major championships in women’s golf, only the AIG Women’s Open doesn’t have a teenage champion in its history. Ji-yai Shin, the tournament’s youngest winner, was 20 years, 3 months and six days old when she won in 2008.