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Juli Inkster
Inkster in August 2009
Personal information
Full name Juli Simpson Inkster
Born (1960-06-24) June 24, 1960 (age 64)
Santa Cruz, California, U.S.
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Nationality  United States
Residence Los Altos, California, U.S.
Spouse Brian Inkster (m. 1980)
Children Hayley, Cori
Career
College San Jose State University
Turned professional 1983
Current tour(s) LPGA Tour (joined 1983)
Legends Tour
Professional wins 45
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour 31
Ladies European Tour 2
Other 13
Best results in LPGA Major Championships
(Wins: 7)
Kraft Nabisco C'ship Won: 1984, 1989
LPGA Championship Won: 1999, 2000
U.S. Women's Open Won: 1999, 2002
du Maurier Classic Won: 1984
Women's British Open T4: 2006
The Evian Championship T26: 2017
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame 2000
Broderick Award for Golf 1982
LPGA Rookie of the Year 1984
GWAA Female
Player of the Year		 1999
ESPY Awards
Best Female Golfer		 2000
LPGA William and
Mousie Powell Award		 2004, 2015
GWAA ASAP/Murray 2009
LPGA Patty Berg Award 2009
Bob Jones Award 2022

Juli Inkster (nee Simpson; born June 24, 1960) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. With a professional career spanning 29 years to date, Inkster's 31 wins rank her second in wins among all active players on the LPGA Tour; she has over $14 million in career earnings. She also has more wins in Solheim Cup matches than any other American, and is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Inkster is the only golfer in LPGA Tour history to win two majors in a decade for three consecutive decades by winning three in the 1980s, two in the 1990s, and two in the 2000s.

Amateur career

Born and raised in Santa Cruz, California, Simpson graduated from Harbor High School in 1978 and played college golf at nearby San Jose State, where she was an All-American in 1979, 1981, and 1982. She was also All Nor-Cal 1979–1981 and SJSU Athlete of the Year in 1981, and is a member of the San Jose State Sports Hall of Fame. From 1980 to 1982, Inkster won three consecutive U.S. Women's Amateurs, her first victory coming three weeks after her marriage to Brian Inkster. She became the first woman since 1934 to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles.

She was a member of the winning U.S. Curtis Cup team in 1982. She was also a member of the winning U.S. team at the Espirito Santo Trophy in 1980 and 1982.

She won the 1981 California State Amateur Championship, was California’s 1981 Amateur of the Year, and 1982 Bay Area Athlete of the Year. She won the Broderick Award, (now the Honda Sports Award) as the nation's best female collegiate golfer in 1982.

Professional career

She turned professional and enjoyed success in her rookie year of 1983 with a victory at the Safeco Classic. She won two major championships in 1984, her first full LPGA season, and was LPGA Rookie of the Year. She has won 31 tournaments on the LPGA Tour, including seven majors and the career Grand Slam for ladies' golf. As of 2012 she is fifth on the LPGA career money list. Inkster won a tournament in 16 out of 24 seasons from 1983 to 2006, but has never finished at the top of the money list; her best finishes were second in 1999, and third in both 1986 and 2002.

Inkster played on the United States Solheim Cup team in 1992, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011; she has won a total of 18.5 points, making her the winningest American Solheim Cup player as of 2011. She teamed with Pat Hurst, represented the United States at the 2007 Women's World Cup of Golf. She was voted Women's Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year in 1999 and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000. She was recognized during the LPGA’s 50th Anniversary in 2000 as one of the LPGA’s top-50 players and teachers.

Inkster was a player and assistant captain on the 2011 Solheim Cup team. She was the oldest player and the first playing assistant captain in Solheim Cup history.

In late 2011 at age 51, Inkster suffered the first major injury of her career, necessitating surgery in January 2012 to repair nerve and tendon damage in her right elbow. The surgery kept her out of the 2012 season until late June.

Solheim Cup captaincy

Inkster was the captain for the United States team in the 2015 Solheim Cup. The United States started the final day down 10–6, but mounted a historic comeback to capture the victory by a final score of 14.5–13.5. Inkster captained the United States team again in the 2017 Solheim Cup set at the Des Moines Golf and Country Club in West Des Moines, Iowa, which the team won 16.5-11.5. On January 31, 2018, it was announced that Inkster would captain the United States team for a third consecutive match in 2019 at Gleneagles. Europe won the match against United States 14.5–13.5.

Senior career

Inkster has won four tournaments in the Legends Tour and finished second in the 2018 U.S. Senior Women's Open.

Broadcast career

In 2014, Inkster began a career as a golf commentator for the Golf Channel, gaining experience as both interviewer and analyst. In 2015, she joined Fox Sports to serve as commentator for that network's coverage of USGA events.

Professional wins (45)

LPGA Tour wins (31)

Legend
LPGA Tour major championships (7)
Other LPGA Tour (24)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up Ref
1 Sep 18, 1983 Safeco Classic −6 (69-71-72-71=283) 1 stroke United States Kathy Whitworth
2 Apr 1, 1984 Nabisco Dinah Shore −8 (70-73-69-68=280) Playoff United States Pat Bradley
3 Jul 29, 1984 du Maurier Classic −9 (69-68-74-67=279) 1 stroke Japan Ayako Okamoto
4 Jun 30, 1985 Lady Keystone Open −7 (69-72-68=209) 2 strokes United States Betsy King
5 Mar 9, 1986 Women's Kemper Open −12 (72-64-70-70=276) 1 stroke United States Amy Alcott
6 Jun 8, 1986 McDonald's Championship −7 (68-67-69-77=281) 3 strokes United States Mary Beth Zimmerman
7 Jun 15, 1986 Lady Keystone Open (2) −6 (70-7-70=210) Playoff United States Debbie Massey
United States Cindy Hill
8 Aug 24, 1986 Atlantic City LPGA Classic −4 (67-71-71=209) 3 strokes United States Patti Rizzo
9 May 8, 1988 Crestar Classic −7 (70-70-69=209) Playoff United States Nancy Lopez
United States Rosie Jones
United States Betsy King
10 Aug 21, 1988 Atlantic City Classic (2) −7 (72-69-65=206) Playoff United States Beth Daniel
11 Sep 15, 1988 Safeco Classic (2) −10 (76-70-65-67=278) 3 strokes South Korea Ok-Hee Ku
12 Apr 2, 1989 Nabisco Dinah Shore (2) −9 (66-69-73-71=279) 5 strokes United States JoAnne Carner
United States Tammie Green
13 May 7, 1989 Crestar Classic (2) −6 (69-72-69=210) 5 strokes United States Beth Daniel
Sweden Liselotte Neumann
14 Jul 28, 1991 LPGA Bay State Classic −13 (70-72-66-67=275) 1 stroke United States Caroline Keggi
15 Jul 19, 1992 JAL Big Apple Classic −11 (66-64-69-74=273) 2 strokes United States Nancy Lopez
16 Oct 19, 1997 Samsung World Championship of Women's Golf −8 (67-74-72-67=280) Playoff United States Kelly Robbins
Sweden Helen Alfredsson
17 Oct 25, 1998 Samsung World Championship of Women's Golf (2) −13 (70-73-66-66=275) 3 strokes Sweden Annika Sörenstam
18 Mar 15, 1999 Welch's/Circle K Championship −15 (68-71-69-65=273) 1 stroke United States Dottie Pepper
19 Apr 4, 1999 Longs Drugs Challenge −8 (69-67-73-70=279) 4 strokes United States Sherri Steinhauer
20 Jun 6, 1999 U.S. Women's Open −16 (65-69-67-71=272) 5 strokes United States Sherri Turner
21 Jun 20, 1999 McDonald's LPGA Championship −16 (68-66-69-65=268) 4 strokes Sweden Liselotte Neumann
22 Sep 26, 1999 Safeway LPGA Golf Championship −9 (67-70-70=207) 6 strokes United States Tina Barrett
South Korea Grace Park
23 Apr 16, 2000 Longs Drugs Challenge (2) −13 (70-67-66-72=275) 5 strokes United States Brandie Burton
24 Jun 25, 2000 LPGA Championship (2) −3 (72-69-65-75=281) Playoff Italy Stefania Croce
25 Oct 15, 2000 Samsung World Championship −14 (69-67-69-69=274) 4 strokes Sweden Annika Sörenstam
26 May 13, 2001 Electrolux USA Championship −14 (73-67-69-65=274) 1 stroke Scotland Catriona Matthew
27 May 5, 2002 Chick-fil-A Charity Championship −12 (66-66=132) 2 strokes United States Kelly Robbins
28 Jul 7, 2002 U.S. Women's Open (2) −4 (67-72-71-66=276) 2 strokes Sweden Annika Sörenstam
29 May 25, 2003 LPGA Corning Classic −24 (66-68-67-62=264) 4 strokes Canada Lorie Kane
30 Jul 26, 2003 Evian Masters −21 (66-72-64-65=267) 6 strokes South Korea Hee-Won Han
31 Mar 19, 2006 Safeway International −15 (68-68-70-67=273) 2 strokes South Korea Sarah Lee

LPGA Tour playoff record (6–4)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1984 Nabisco Dinah Shore United States Pat Bradley Won with par on first extra hole
2 1986 Lady Keystone Open United States Cindy Hill
United States Debbie Massey		 Won with par on first extra hole
3 1988 Crestar Classic United States Rosie Jones
United States Betsy King
United States Nancy Lopez		 Won with eagle on first extra hole
4 1988 Atlantic City Classic United States Beth Daniel Won with par on first extra hole
5 1992 Nabisco Dinah Shore United States Dottie Mochrie Lost to par on first extra hole
6 1992 U.S. Women's Open United States Patty Sheehan Lost 18-hole playoff (Sheehan:72, Inkster:74)
7 1997 Samsung World Championship of Women's Golf Sweden Helen Alfredsson
United States Kelly Robbins		 Won with birdie on first extra hole
8 2000 LPGA Championship Italy Stefania Croce Won with par on second extra hole
9 2007 SemGroup Championship South Korea Mi-Hyun Kim Lost to par on first extra hole
10 2008 SemGroup Championship United States Paula Creamer Lost to birdie on second extra hole

Ladies European Tour wins (2)

  • 2000 Compaq Open
  • 2003 Evian Masters (co-sanctioned with LPGA Tour)

Other wins (7)

  • 1986 JCPenney Classic (with Tom Purtzer)
  • 1990 Spalding Invitational
  • 1996 Diners Club Matches (with Dottie Pepper)
  • 1997 Diners Club Matches (with Dottie Pepper), Gillette Tour Challenge (with Rosie Jones)
  • 1999 Diners Club Matches (with Dottie Pepper)
  • 2000 Hyundai Team Matches (with Dottie Pepper)

Legends Tour wins (6)

  • 2015 Legends Championship
  • 2016 Walgreens Charity Classic, Walgreens Charity Championship
  • 2017 Walgreens Charity Classic
  • 2019 Suquamish Clearwater Legends Cup
  • 2021 Land O'Lakes Legends Classic

Major championships

Wins (7)

No. Year Championship Winning score Margin
of victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 1984 Nabisco Dinah Shore −8 (70-73-69-68=280) Playoff 1 United States Pat Bradley
2 1984 du Maurier Classic −9 (69-68-75-67=279) 1 stroke Japan Ayako Okamoto
3 1989 Nabisco Dinah Shore −9 (66-69-73-71=279) 5 strokes United States JoAnne Carner, United States Tammie Green
4 1999 McDonald's LPGA Championship −16 (68-66-69-65=268) 4 strokes Sweden Liselotte Neumann
5 1999 U.S. Women's Open −16 (65-69-67-71=272) 5 strokes United States Sherri Turner
6 2000 McDonald's LPGA Championship −3 (72-69-65-75=281) Playoff 2 Italy Stefania Croce
7 2002 U.S. Women's Open −4 (67-72-71-66=276) 2 strokes Sweden Annika Sörenstam

1 Defeated Bradley on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff
2 Defeated Croce on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order before 2019.

Tournament 1978 1979 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
ANA Inspiration 1 T19 T5 T17 T12 1
Women's PGA Championship T7 T25 T3 T9 T61 T65
U.S. Women's Open T23 CUT CUT T29 T21 T27 CUT T69 T40 T8
du Maurier Classic 1 T43 T22 T39 T16
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
ANA Inspiration T11 T30 2 T40 T16 T19 T16 T24 6
Women's PGA Championship CUT 9 9 T65 T14 T47 T5 T53 T16 1
U.S. Women's Open CUT CUT 2 T39 T18 T37 T34 T14 CUT 1
du Maurier Classic CUT T36 3 T52 CUT 3 T12 T5 T14 3
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
ANA Inspiration T17 T15 T19 T11 T28 7 5 DQ T58 CUT
Women's PGA Championship 1 T15 T4 T37 T6 T13 T34 T21 T44
U.S. Women's Open T23 T12 1 8 T58 T38 6 CUT CUT T26
Women's British Open ^ T5 CUT CUT T41 T25 T15 T4 T33 T14 CUT
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
ANA Inspiration CUT T15 CUT T64 T64 T36 T63 CUT CUT
U.S. Women's Open CUT CUT CUT CUT T15
Women's PGA Championship T62 T34 CUT T30 T53 T50 CUT
The Evian Championship ^^ T37 T50 T38 CUT T26 NT
Women's British Open T21 CUT T23 CUT CUT CUT

^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an LPGA major in 2001.
^^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013.      Win      Top 10      Did not play CUT = missed the half-way cut.
DQ = disqualified
NT = no tournament
T = tied

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
ANA Inspiration 2 0 0 4 7 20 34 28
U.S. Women's Open 2 1 0 3 6 13 35 23
Women's PGA Championship 2 0 1 5 10 16 32 29
The Evian Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 4
Women's British Open 0 0 0 2 2 7 16 9
du Maurier Classic 1 0 3 5 5 9 15 13
Totals 7 1 4 19 30 65 137 106
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 16 (twice)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 4 (twice)

LPGA Tour career summary

Year Tournaments
played		 Cuts
made*		 Wins 2nds 3rds Top tens Best
finish		 Earnings
($)		 Money
list rank		 Scoring
average		 Scoring
rank
1978 1 1 0 0 0 0 T23 n/a 74.75
1979 1 0 0 0 0 0 MC 81.50
1980 2 2 0 0 0 0 11 73.80
1981 1 1 0 0 0 0 T52 78.00
1982 4 4 0 0 0 0 T14 74.56
1983 8 8 1 1 0 2 1 52,220 30 72.92
1984 23 23 2 1 0 10 1 186,501 6 73.07
1985 27 22 1 1 0 7 1 99,651 19 73.13
1986 23 23 4 1 2 9 1 285,293 3 72.15
1987 24 24 0 0 0 12 T4 140,739 14 72.27
1988 26 25 3 0 1 12 1 235,344 10 71.78
1989 21 16 2 0 1 4 1 180,848 14 72.98
1990 18 13 0 0 0 3 5 54,251 73 73.32
1991 26 21 1 0 1 6 1 213,096 17 72.28
1992 23 22 1 2 1 10 1 392,063 7 71.43
1993 21 15 0 1 0 2 2 116,583 47 72.50 52
1994 16 13 0 1 0 3 2 113,829 49 72.00 23
1995 20 16 0 1 2 5 2 195,739 33 72.46 36
1996 22 20 0 0 0 7 4 259,660 21 71.64 11
1997 24 24 1 1 3 10 1 557,988 6 70.64 4
1998 25 23 1 3 0 12 1 656,012 6 70.78 6
1999 24 23 5 0 3 18 1 1,337,253 2 70.04 2
2000 19 18 3 3 2 13 1 980,330 4 70.73 4
2001 20 18 1 0 0 5 1 445,087 22 71.34 14
2002 20 18 2 2 0 10 1 1,154,349 3 70.82 6
2003 21 18 2 1 1 9 1 1,028,205 5 70.55 6
2004 21 21 0 1 1 7 T2 654,967 13 70.87 12
2005 19 19 0 1 1 6 2 579,240 24 71.33 7
2006 21 21 1 2 0 12 1 1,326,442 7 70.48 5
2007 20 18 0 1 2 6 2 736,521 18 72.09 22
2008 18 16 0 1 1 3 2 441,484 38 71.78 25
2009 20 18 0 0 0 1 T10 259,339 51 72.08 39
2010 21 19 0 1 0 3 2 402,974 29 71.93 30
2011 20 14 0 0 0 4 T4 298,123 36 72.38 35
2012 6 3 0 0 0 0 T23 48,815 100 73.31 n/a
2013 21 13 0 0 0 0 T13 150,628 69 72.53 69
2014 14 10 0 0 0 0 T15 125,505 82 72.83 109
2015 13 9 0 0 0 1 T7 133,489 80 72.07 60
2016 13 9 0 0 0 0 T19 104,433 97 71.63 51
2017 10 7 0 0 0 0 T24 69,693 120 71.74 73
2018 11 1 0 0 0 0 T69 3,050 176 73.33 149
2019 6 0 0 0 0 0 MC 0 n/a 74.17 n/a
2020 3 1 0 0 0 0 T70 3,274 172 72.71 n/a
2021 4 1 0 0 0 0 T66 5,084 178 72.80 n/a
2022 1 0 0 0 0 0 MC 0 n/a 78.00 n/a
  • official as of 2022 season

* Includes match play and other events without a cut.

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

  • Curtis Cup: 1982 (winners)
  • Espirito Santo Trophy: 1980 (winners), 1982 (winners)

Professional

  • Solheim Cup: 1992, 1998 (winners), 2000, 2002 (winners), 2003, 2005 (winners), 2007 (winners), 2009 (winners), 2011, 2015 Solheim Cup (non-playing captain, winners), 2017 Solheim Cup (non-playing captain, winners), 2019 Solheim Cup (non-playing captain)
  • World Cup: 2007, 2008
  • Handa Cup: 2014 (winners), 2015 (winners)

Solheim Cup record

Year Total
matches		 Total
W-L-H		 Singles
W-L-H		 Foursomes
W-L-H		 Fourballs
W-L-H		 Points
won		 Points
%
Career 34 15–12–7 6–1–2 6–6–3 3–5–2 18.5 54.4
1992 3 1–1–1 1–0–0 def. A. Nicholas 3&2 0–0–1 halved w/ P. Sheehan 0–1–0 lost w/ P. Sheehan 1 up 1.5 50.0
1998 4 3–1–0 0–1–0 lost to H. Alfredsson 2&1 2–0–0 won w/ D. Pepper 3&1,
won w/ D. Pepper 1 up		 1–0–0 won w/ M. Mallon 2&1 3.0 75.0
2000 4 1–2–1 1–0–0 def. A. Sörenstam 5&4 0–1–1 lost w/ D. Pepper 4&3,
halved w/ S. Steinhauer		 0–1–0 lost w/ S. Steinhauer 3&2 1.5 37.5
2002 4 2–2–0 1–0–0 def. R. Carriedo 4&3 1–1–0 lost w/ L. Diaz 2 up,
won w/ M. Mallon 2&1		 0–1–0 lost w/ K. Kuehne 3&2 2.0 50.0
2003 4 3–1–0 1–0–0 def. C. Koch 5&4 0–1–0 lost w/ W. Ward 5&3 2–0–0 won w/ B. Daniel 1 up,
won w/ B. Daniel 5&4		 3.0 75.0
2005 4 2–1–1 1–0–0 def. S. Gustafson 2&1 1–0–0 won w/ P. Creamer 3&2 0–1–1 lost w/ P. Creamer 4&3,
halved w/ B. Daniel		 2.5 62.5
2007 4 2–0–2 1–0–0 def. I. Tinning 4&3 1–0–1 won w/ P. Creamer 2&1,
halved w/ P. Creamer		 0–0–1 halved w/ S. Prammanasudh 3.0 75.0
2009 4 1–2–1 0–0–1 halved w/ G. Nocera 1–1–0 won w/ P. Creamer 2&1,
lost w/ P. Creamer 4&3		 0–1–0 lost w/ A. Stanford 1 up 1.5 37.5
2011 3 0–2–1 0–0–1 halved w/ L. Davies 0–2–0 lost w/ B. Lang 1 dn,
lost w/ B. Lang 3&2		 0–0–0 0.5 16.7

Awards

  • 1982: Broderick Award for Golf
  • 1984: LPGA Rookie of the Year
  • 1989: GWAA Female Player of the Year
  • 1999: Women's Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year
  • 2000: ESPY Awards Best Female Golfer
  • 2004: LPGA William and Mousie Powell Award
  • 2009: ASAPSports/Jim Murray Award
  • 2009: LPGA Patty Berg Award
  • 2022: Bob Jones Award

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Juli Inkster para niños

  • List of female golfers
  • List of golfers with most LPGA Tour wins
  • List of golfers with most LPGA major championship wins
  • Women's Career Grand Slam winners
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