Which golfer won the women’s golf tournament at the 1900 Summer Olympics?

Margaret Abbott won the women’s golf tournament at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris.

The competition was a nine-hole event held at the Compiègne golf course, north of Paris. Abbott finished first with a score of 47 strokes, winning ahead of fellow American Pauline Whittier. Her victory made her the first American woman to win an Olympic event.

Abbott did not know that the golf tournament was part of the Olympic Games. The 1900 competition formed part of the Paris Exposition, and participants were often told they were entering an international golf tournament rather than an Olympic event. For decades, her achievement received little attention.

Abbott’s son, Philip, later researched her result and helped establish its Olympic significance. Her achievement is sometimes confused with later women’s golf champions, but golf did not return to the Olympic program until the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. The 1900 tournament also included a men’s competition and a mixed-gender team event.