1976 Ladies' British Open: Jenny Lee Smith wins at Fulford Golf Club

Jenny Lee Smith (an amateur) won the 1976 Ladies' British Open at Fulford Golf Club, York, North Yorkshire, England with 299, by 2 strokes over Mary McKenna.

Updated October 23, 2026

Every year is on the AIG Women's Open winners list.

Dates: 1 September 1976 to 3 September 1976
Course: Fulford Golf Club, York, North Yorkshire, England
Edition: 1st edition
Counted as a major: no (the event became a major later, or was one only in other years)
Format: stroke play, 4 rounds
Purse: £500
Champion: Jenny Lee Smith · age 27 · England · amateur · born Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Champion's title: 1st title at this event
Winning score: 299 · won by 2 strokes
Runner-up: Mary McKenna (301)
Low amateur: Jenny Lee Smith (299)

Winner and runner-up

Pos.	Player	Total
1	Jenny Lee Smith	299
2	Mary McKenna	301

What happened at the 1976 Ladies' British Open

With no on-course leaderboards, amateur Jenny Lee Smith believed she needed a birdie four on the par-five 18th to win; she made the four and in fact won by two.

Lee Smith had been on antibiotics for a bad chest infection the week before and went into the last round two or three shots behind before cutting through the field on the final day.

How this was built

Every value is shown as recorded in GNN's AIG Women's Open data. A value no source confirmed is left out; nothing is estimated. Where sources disagree, the organizer's own record is used.

Data: womens-golf-majors_dataset_2026-10-20.json (GNN's women's majors research set, "master" row for this year, research dated October 20, 2026).

1976 Ladies' British Open: Jenny Lee Smith wins at Fulford Golf Club

Winner and runner-up

What happened at the 1976 Ladies' British Open

How this was built

Sources