Inside the Ladies Professional Golf Association as it celebrates 75 years and growth in sport

The Ladies Professional Golf Association is marking 75 years in 2025. Golf has seen growth over the past five years, especially among women who now make up 28% of all U.S. golfers. Amanda Balionis looks at the future of women in the sport.

Each weekday morning, “CBS Mornings” co-hosts Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil and Nate Burleson bring you the latest breaking news, smart conversation and in-depth feature reporting. “CBS Mornings” airs weekdays at 7 a.m. on CBS and stream it at 8 a.m. ET on the CBS News app.

Subscribe to “CBS Mornings” on YouTube: https://youtube.com/CBSMornings
Watch CBS News 24/7: https://cbsnews.com/live/
Download the CBS News app: https://cbsnews.com/mobile/
Follow “CBS Mornings” on Instagram: https://instagram.com/cbsmornings/
Like “CBS Mornings” on Facebook: https://facebook.com/CBSMornings
Follow “CBS Mornings” on X: https://twitter.com/CBSMornings
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://cbsnews.com/newsletters/
Try Paramount+ free: https://paramountplus.com/?ftag=PPM-05-10aeh8h

For video licensing inquiries, contact: licensing@veritone.com

some of golf’s finest players are in Michigan today for the Meer LPGA Classic 2025 marks 75 years of the Ladies Professional Golf Association the sport has seen historic growth in the last 5 years especially among women who now make up 28% of all US golfers amanda Balion of CBS Sports looks at the past and the future of women in the sport at this golf course in Washington DC that’s great putt the putts are short but the dreams are big i dream of playing golf professionally you follow through for many of these girls this youth golf program was their first exposure to the game giving them the skills and confidence to play so like when I first started I didn’t know anything about golf but now I got the hang of it and I know pretty much everything for 10-year-old strummer Garner golf is more than just a game i like how many lessons you can get from it and how many people you can meet and all the scholarships you can get dreams of pursuing the game for women were first made possible by 13 pioneers who joined forces in 1950 to form the LPGA i think it was their love of the game and tremendous courage to want to say we can try to make a living at this in its first year the players competed in 15 events with a total purse of around $40,000 75 years later a single season has 32 events with record prize money of 131 million more than double what it was just four years ago amy Alcott joined the LPGA tour right out of high school in 1975 doesn’t feel like a long time ago but I know it is retired since 2008 Alcott now mentors the next generation of golfers and is an advocate for equal pay for female athletes hopefully the load will lighten to some extent that’s the beauty is passing it on to the next generation and having them understand that they have a role in what’s going to happen down the line that idea is not lost on the best golfers of today’s generation our slogan is act like a founder so making sure that everyone continues to act like a founder is going to be really really important nelly Corda is the number one ranked golfer in the world when you think about the evolution of you know the women’s game specifically what are the big things that stand out to you the respect that we get from people to see how much the women’s game has grown from inside the ropes seeing the kids that come out now and tell us that we inspire them to pick up the game and to see all the parents and all the dads that bring out their little girls and even boys according to the National Golf Foundation women and girls are one of the driving forces in golf’s increasing popularity since the co pandemic girls now represent 34% of all junior golfers up from just 15% in 2000 lydia Co has had a club in her hand since she was 5 years old and became the youngest LPGA winner in history at just 15 i’m just excited because women’s sports in general is growing so much and it’s just really great to be part of that momentum if I can make an inspiration or give a dream to another kid that’s it’s a it’s much more than what I signed up for in a good way for CBS Mornings I’m Amanda Balionis you can watch the Meyer LPGA Classic this Sunday starting at 2 PM Eastern right here on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus