WPGA Women's Amateur a shining example of game's growth
By Josh Rowntree, Director of Communications • July 31, 2025
Katie Miller Gee has been involved in golf for nearly the entirety of her life. But the trends she is witnessing now are undoubtedly unprecedented.
“Since around 2021, there’s been a noticeable jump in women’s amateur golf across the country,” said Miller Gee, who claimed this week’s Inaugural WPGA Mid-Amateur Championship just days after winning the same event at the Pennsylvania state level.
“I couldn’t be more excited about the direction women’s golf is heading.”
A decorated player at Hempfield High School in the early 2000’s, Miller Gee went on to play at the University of North Carolina, where she earned All-ACC honors twice.
But upon leaving school, she experienced the tough reality for many female golfers as they enter their mid-20s and 30s — an outlet to compete.
“The level of talent in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am is outstanding,” said Miller Gee, who serves as vice president of the Women’s Golf Association of Western Pennsylvania (WGAWP) and who was instrumental in the development of the WPGA’s Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship. “That’s so important because, for a long time, golf lost that age group.
“Women who graduate college, get jobs, or start families, it’s not easy to find your way back into the game once life gets busy. Mid-Am events give us a chance to re-enter competitive golf, surrounded by others who are in the same stage of life.”
The Inaugural WPGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, available for players ages 25 and older, brought out six players for the competition in Miller Gee, Olivia Zambruno, Lindsay Sera, Kourtney Mortimer, Tiffany Reed and Nancy Haynes.
Despite the Mid-Amateur Championship’s modestly sized initial field, the entire championship event — which combined the Mid-Amateur with the Women’s Amateur, Senior Amateur and Super-Senior Amateur Championships — brought out and exceptionally large field, with 64 players taking on Fox Chapel Golf Club Monday.
That number was more than triple the size of the field for the same competition in 2024.
“It’s amazing to see,” said Hee Soo Kim, who claimed the 9th WPGA Super-Senior Championship. “I played at Allegheny (Country Club) a little over three years ago, and there were fewer than 20 players total. This year, I couldn’t believe how many people signed up. It’s incredible to see how much the game is growing.”
According to USGA data, in 2024, over 25 percent of all active golfers in the United States were female, a sharp increase from where that number sat just a couple of years prior. Junior girls make up over 33 percent of all junior competitors in the country, as well, representing a significant rise in competitive participation.
Overall, female involvement in the game has increased by 2.3 million people since 2019, according to the National Golf Foundation. Beginner golfers are currently around 39 percent female, as well.
The creation of competitive and recreational events is vital for the uptick in participation and interest from women and junior girls.
“I think it’s incredibly important,” said Emily Holzopfel, who claimed the 18th WPGA Women’s Amateur title. “I really wish I had started playing golf much earlier. The earlier we can get girls involved in the game, the more it’s going to grow. Hopefully events like this encourage people to tell their friends and help spread the word.”
The WPGA provides numerous women’s competitions each year and has added three events for female golfers since the start of 2024, with the Mid-Amateur, Women’s Triple Play and Women’s Inter-Club Finals giving more women the chance to compete. West Penn Golf also has female competitions in the Parent & Child Tournament, WPGA Girls Match Play Invitational, WPGA Junior Championship (available to both junior boys and girls) and the WPGA Net Championships.
“As we welcome the game’s tremendous growth amongst women and junior girls, it’s vital that the WPGA and its member clubs work to provide opportunities for this expanding demographic,” said Terry Teasdale, executive director of the WPGA.
“The WPGA and USGA continue to develop and foster support and activities for both competitive and recreational players of varying skill and interest levels with membership benefits like the USGA GHIN® app, WPGA Play Days and much more.”
Representation remains an important factor in growing the game for women, and people like Miller Gee, as well as WPGA Board of Directors president Carol Onufro and vice president Mary Beth Morrissey — who have all served in either board or committee roles with both the WPGA and the WGAWP — are hoping that their guidance results in stronger platforms for that growth.
“As a leadership group, we’ve put a lot into these events, not just in terms of competition, but also in making them fun and welcoming,” said Miller Gee following her rounds Monday. “You could really feel that today. The event was run beautifully, and the social media outreach has helped attract more college players.
“The field is strong. And it’s especially exciting to see a Mid-Am division, something for moms and working women who still want to compete. It’s meaningful.”
For any media inquiries, please contact WPGA Director of Communications Josh Rowntree.
About the WPGA
Founded in 1899, the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association is the steward of amateur golf in the region. Started by five Member Clubs, the association now has nearly 200 Member Clubs and nearly 37,000 members. The WPGA conducts 14 individual competitions and 10 team events, and administers the WPGA Scholarship Fund and Western Pennsylvania Golf Hall of Fame.