Leta Lindley


Leta Lindley is an American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour between 1995 and 2012, and currently plays on the Legends of the LPGA circuit. She was runner-up at the 1997 LPGA Championship and won the 2008 LPGA Corning Classic. She has won three Legends of the LPGA tournaments, including her first career major, the 2024 U.S. Senior Women's Open.

Early life and amateur career

Lindley's first golf job was painting stripes on range balls as an 11-year-old. She played collegiate golf at the University of Arizona, where she briefly roomed with Annika Sörenstam. She was a four-time All-American, three-time Academic All-American, and finished third at the 1993 NCAA Championship. She was a Honda Sports Award finalist twice, and lost out to Vicki Goetze in 1992 and Charlotta Sörenstam in 1993. In addition, she was the medalist at the 1994 U.S. Women's Amateur. Lindley turned professional in the summer of 1994 after graduating with a degree in communications.

Professional career

Lindley had a long and successful career on tour, and earned non-exempt status for the 1995 LPGA Tour season by finishing tied 52nd at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament. In her rookie season, she tied for third at the State Farm Rail Classic and tied for fifth at the 1995 U.S. Women's Open.
In 1997, she recorded her career-best major finish with at the McDonald's LPGA Championship, where she lost a playoff to Christa Johnson on the second hole. She recorded her first LPGA career hole-in-one during the second round of the Edina Realty LPGA Classic.
In 1999, she was runner-up at the City of Hope Myrtle Beach Classic. She crossed the $1 million mark in career earnings in 2000 and the $2 million mark in 2005. After almost 15 years on tour, she won the 2008 Corning Classic in her 295th LPGA Tour start. She crossed the $3 million mark in career earnings and retired from full-time competition at the end of the 2012 season, ranking among the top 60 all-time LPGA money winners, despite having only one win.
After recording runner-up finishes in 2022 and 2023, she won the U.S. Senior Women's Open in 2024.

Personal life

Lindley's husband, Matt Plagmann, caddies for her; her son Cole, and daughter Reese traveled with the couple.

Amateur wins

LPGA Tour wins (1)

LPGA Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
11997McDonald's LPGA Championship

Legends of the LPGA wins (3)

Results in LPGA majors

Tournament200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012
Chevron ChampionshipT48T927T35T30WDCUTT2978
Women's PGA ChampionshipT17T25CUTT25T30T65T45
U.S. Women's OpenT43CUTT22T19T50T53CUTT21
Women's British Open ^CUTCUTT38

^ 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.
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
T = tied