- Ask Steven
The fabulous five
Why are there five majors in women's golf? asked Colin Barton
I suppose there's no rule to say that you can only have four major tournaments - it's just coincidence that tennis and golf have evolved that way.
There had been four women's majors each year since 1983 - until last year, when the Evian Masters (won by Suzann Pettersen) was upgraded to major status.
The list of women's majors has changed over the years, but was standardised in 1983 to include the Kraft-Nabisco Championship (often known by the name of its founder, the entertainer Dinah Shore), the LPGA Championship, the US Women's Open, and the du Maurier Classic, which was always held in Canada.
In 2001, the British Women's Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as a major.
The Australian Karrie Webb, who lifted the du Maurier Classic in 1999 and the British Open in 2002 as well as the other three regular tournaments over the years, is the only woman to have won five different majors.
