It's been more than a quarter of a century and unsurprisingly Jane Geddes' memory is a little hazy when she tries to recall every detail from the 1991 LPGA Tour. However, she has a strong sense of deja vu as she reflects on one unusual statistic highlighting the elite women's circuit this season.
Heading into this week's Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, there has been a record-equaling run of 15 events with 15 different winners to start the 2017 LPGA Tour.
The last time that happened? Back in 1991 when Geddes won the season-opening Jamaica Classic before becoming the first multiple champion that year with a one-shot victory over Amy Alcott and Cindy Schreyer at the Atlantic City Classic.
"I wish I had a great story to tell about it (ending that 15-event run without a repeat winner) but I honestly do not," Geddes, an 11-time champion on the LPGA Tour, laughed as she spoke to LPGA.com via telephone. "I remember that happening but I don't have a great story around it.
"But I certainly do remember beating Amy in Atlantic City, she was leading and I beat her down the stretch there. It was an interesting time in my career too. It's funny when you are playing really well because you get in the 'playing well fog', which is a really good fog for a player but it's also exhausting.
"The main thing I remember about my Atlantic City tournament win was being absolutely exhausted after I won it!"
Geddes, a major winner at the 1986 U.S. Women's Open and also at the 1987 Women's PGA Championship, has several explanations for that extraordinary run of 15 events in 1991 which has finally been matched this year.
"It certainly underlines the depth of talent on the LPGA Tour," said the American. "Sometimes it's the depth, sometimes it's the golf courses, golf course set-up. If it was so easy to figure out who was going to win tournaments, we'd all have it figured out right, and we just don't know.
"You can look at a course and you can think who might win and who might not win. I think it (a run of different winners) goes to a lot of different things. It goes to depth, and it also goes to scheduling.
"There is a bigger (tournament) schedule this year on the LPGA Tour - each year there are more and more tournaments so you have it all spread out a little bit more. Players are taking time off so more people have opportunities to win, and that plays into it as well."
PACKED TOURNAMENT SCHEDULES
Interestingly enough, there were 34 events on the 1991 LPGA Tour schedule - exactly the same number as this year.
"Back then, we had pretty big schedules, but when I left the LPGA Tour, I think we had just 27 or 28 and nobody missed a tournament,” said Geddes. “There is a thought that it's so great to have just a couple of people that win and there are great rivalries that come with that, but when you have different people winning every week, it creates a different kind of interest and so much more to talk about with the tour."
An impressive list of 15 tournament winners so far this year includes nine players with at least one major title to their name - Brittany Lincicome, Inbee Park, Anna Nordqvist, So Yeon Ryu, Cristie Kerr, Lexi Thompson, Shanshan Feng, Ariya Jutanugarn and Brooke Henderson.
A notable absentee is former world number one Lydia Ko who, at the tender age of 20, has already triumphed 14 times on the LPGA Tour but has been out of the winner's circle since the Marathon Classic 11 months ago.
"She got into a little bit of that trap of making changes - her coach, her caddie," said Geddes, referring to Ko's decision to start this year with new equipment (PXG), a new coach (Gary Gilchrist) and a new caddie (Gary Matthews).
"History has it that those are challenging times for players who make changes, and it doesn't always work out. I hope Lydia gets it straightened out, and I'm sure she will. She is such a good young player."
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