1951 US Women's Open Contestant Badge
(Earliest Known)

Offered here is what is believed to be the earliest known contestant badge from the U.S. Women's Open. This badge is listed (and a photo is shown) in Gilchrist's Guide to Golf Collectibles as the earliest existing U.S. Women's Open contestant badge. For the first 7 years of the U.S. Women's Open (1946-1952), the tournament was not yet hosted by the USGA. Likely for that same reason, tickets and contestant badges from those first seven Opens are virtually nonexistent. According to Gilchrist's Guide to Golf Collectibles, there aren't even any regular patron tickets or badges known to exist from the 1951 U.S. Women's Open, which is quite remarkable.