Looking Back: LPGA Golden Lights Championship

The Golden Lights Championship was a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from the mid-1970s into the early 1980s. Some of the LPGA's biggest names won here, and one of the victories in Nancy Lopez's five-tournament win streak in 1978 happened here.

First played: 1975

Last played: 1981

The tournament was originally called the Girl Talk Classic, after the "Girl Talk" women's apparel brand. Actress Dina Merrill served as honorary chair of the inaugural tournament. After using that name its first two years, it was called the Talk Tournament '77 in 1977. From 1978 through its last year, it was called the Golden Lights Championship. "Golden Lights" was the name of a cigarette made by the Lorillard tobacco company.

The Girl Talk Classic debuted at the All-American Sports City Country Club in Pine Plains, New York, then moved the next year to Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle, New York. In its last year the Golden Lights Championship was played at The Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Winners of the LPGA Golden Lights Championship

1975 — JoAnne Carner, 213
1976 — Pat Bradley, 217 (def. Judy Rankin, Bonnie Lauer and Sandra Post in playoff)
1977 — JoAnne Carner, 284
1978 — Nancy Lopez, 277
1979 — Nancy Lopez, 280
1980 — Beth Daniel, 287
1981 — Cathy Reynolds, 285

Carner, who won 43 LPGA titles overall, won two of the first three years and was also runner-up in 1978. Those were Carner's 12th and 18th career victories.

She was second to Lopez in 1978, the first of back-to-back titles for Lopez. Those were the fifth and 14th career wins, respectively, for Lopez, who ended her career with 48 LPGA victories.

Lopez was a rookie on the tour in 1978, and she was an explosion on the women's golf scene. After winning once each in February and March, this rookie went on a 5-tournament win streak, setting an LPGA record for longest win streak that still stands. Her win in the Golden Lights Championship was the third victory in that streak. It came a week after Lopez had beaten Carner in a playoff at the LPGA Coca-Cola Classic. Lopez ended the 1978 season with nine wins.

Going for three consecutive wins in this tournament in 1980, Lopez finished second by two strokes to Beth Daniel.

Confusingly, in 1978 there was also a second tournament called the Golden Lights Championship on the LPGA Tour. The other Golden Lights was played in California and was won by Jane Blalock. They were differentiated at the time by referring to them as "Golden Lights New York" and "Golden Lights California," although the official name of each was "Golden Lights Championship." But they were two separate, distinct tournaments, and Blalock's 1978 victory in the California tournament is not part of the history of the tournament written about on this page.

Sources:
The (Hanover, Pa.) Evening Sun. "Kent Golden Lights Introduction Due," February, 26, 1976.
LPGA Tour. Tournament Chronology, 1970-79 (via Internet Archive), https://web.archive.org/web/20100102105959/http://www.lpga.com/content/Chronology70-79.pdf.
LPGA Tour. Tournament Chronology, 1980-89 (via Internet Archive), https://web.archive.org/web/20110629095854/http://www.lpga.com/content/Chronology80-89.pdf.
The (New Rochelle, N.Y.) Standard-Star. "Top money winners head to Pine Plains," May 29, 1975.