Angela Stanford digs deep to reach 100 consecutive major starts

Angela Stanford spent most of 2023 trying to find answers. As her work with Golf Channel ramped up, the now part-time LPGA player would often find a place to practice after the broadcast. On one such occasion, she was at a golf course in Midland, Michigan, hitting yellow-striped golf balls that were mostly out of dirt, mixed with a few clumps of grass.

It was there that Stanford realized – she wasn’t done.

“I think it just hit me that everything that happened up to that point, I let it shake my confidence,” she said.

And so, Stanford put her TV gig to the side and rededicated herself to a goal she set a few years back to become the first LPGA player to reach 100 consecutive major championship appearances. Stanford, 46, owns the current longest streak at 97. It started at the 2002 McDonald’s LPGA Championship and extends through last year’s AIG Women’s British Open. During that stretch of 97 majors, Stanford made 66 cuts and posted 14 top-10 finishes.

Cristie Kerr’s major streak ended at 92 (with 76 made cuts). The next best in LPGA history is Betsy King with 73 (67 made cuts).

“That’s a lot of perseverance,” said LPGA Hall and World Golf Hall of Famer Judy Rankin, “and a lot of good golf for a very long time.”

Angela Stanford a vice captain of The United States team walks with Rose Zhang during final practice prior to the Solheim Cup at Finca Cortesin Golf Club on September 21, 2023 in Casares, Spain. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)

The only male player dating back to 1950 who has played in 100 consecutive majors is Jack Nicklaus, who owns the record for men’s golf with 146 consecutive major starts (1962 Masters Tournament through 1998 U.S. Open). Only 16 players even played in 100-plus majors total in that span.

The longest active majors streak in men’s golf belongs to Adam Scott at 89. The Aussie’s streak began at the 2001 British Open Championship.

The LPGA major schedule has been extremely lean at times, with long stretches in the 60s and 70s with only two majors. In 2013, the LPGA added a fifth major, the Amundi Evian Championship, which Stanford won in 2019 at age 40.

Stanford’s first LPGA title came in 2003 at the ShopRite LPGA Classic, and her most recent came in 2020 at the Volunteers of America Classic, not far from her Texas home.

A seven-time winner on the LPGA, Stanford’s rededicated offseason included two-a-days as much as possible. She loved every minute of the grind. Her quest to reach 100, however, will be a taller order than previous years given that her priority status dipped to No. 95 after she made only nine starts in 2023.

As Stanford’s mother Nan fell increasingly ill with cancer, she found it difficult to focus long enough to practice. Nan died on March 9, 2022, at home in Saginaw at age 66 and, three weeks later, Stanford teed it up at Mission Hills Country Club one last time.

For the better part of two years, Stanford wasn’t herself.

“You’re just in this state of fog,” she said, “where you can’t think, and you can’t focus long enough on anything, and you have no energy to do anything.”

Stanford pulled out of the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore, one of her favorite events on tour, in 2022 to be with her mom.

She recently wrote a letter to the event asking for a sponsor exemption because she’d like a chance to say thank you and goodbye to an event she’s loved for a long time. A winner there in 2012, Stanford never dreamed she’d go so far away from home to play a game she loved.

Writing to ask for sponsor exemptions pains Stanford, who never wanted to be given anything.

“Now I’m at a point where I may need some help,” she said, “and it’s a very vulnerable place to be in.”

Angela Stanford of the United States celebrates winning the Evian Championship with the trophy during Day Four of The Evian Championship 2018 at Evian Resort Golf Club on September 16, 2018 in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

The first LPGA major of the season is the Chevron Championship April 18-21 in Stanford’s native Texas. There are a number of ways she can play her way into that field. Winning, of course, takes care of everything.

Currently 450th in the Rolex Rankings, Stanford would need to skyrocket into the top 40 by March 18, which is asking a lot. She could earn a sponsor exemption, and she’s prepared to write that letter. The most likely route is to rank high enough in the 2024 Race to the CME Globe standings following the LPGA Match Play at Shadow Creek to be part of the final field fill.

Should Stanford make it to Chevron, her 99th start would come at the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club. She plans to ask the USGA for a one-time exemption, should she need it. Other ways include the top 75 of the Rolex Rankings, top 10 of the current CME points list or sign up for a qualifier.

The 100th would be at the KPMG Women’s PGA June 20-23 at Sahalee Country Club in Washington.

Angela Stanford of the United States plays her shot from the 11th tee during the second round of The Chevron Championship at The Club at Carlton Woods on April 21, 2023 in The Woodlands, Texas. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Stanford kicks off her Road to 100 at this week’s Drive On Championship in Bradenton, Florida. It’s her 24th season on the LPGA, and she’s the only player in the field of 120 who is over the age of 40.

If Stanford gets to 100, Rankin believes she’ll be the only player to ever do it.

“I think it’s both money,” said Rankin in terms of higher purses, “and it’s also, in part, the difficulty of being that good for that long.”

In college at TCU, Stanford won the team’s most consistent award all four years. That consistency, she believes, is what’s led to her longevity in the game. She’s going to show up each and every day until she can’t.

“Some people call that stubborn,” said Stanford, “I just think that’s who I am. It’s my makeup. I think getting to 100 would matter just as much as winning another major or winning another tournament.”

Stanford recently ran into her old college coach, Angie Ravaioli-Larkin, in the Shady Oaks locker room in Fort Worth. Ravaioli-Larkin asked how it was going. Stanford said that in the middle of a putting drill that day, a thought hit her like a truck: Oh my gosh, what if this doesn’t work?

It won’t be for a lack of effort.

“I think the thing I can be most proud of is that I worked hard at it,” said Stanford. “I have had some of my happiest days the last three weeks of my life.”