A group of women wearing the #HoodieForGolf is not an uncommon sight at a LPGA Tour event. But this group of five women are not just fans or players or supporters. They’re a group of trailblazers.

For the first time in U.S. television history, GOLF Channel will present coverage of a tournament with an all-female announcing team. Cara Banks will lead the coverage’s play-by-play call at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer, with Judy Rankin and Paige Mackenzie providing expert analysis in the booth and Karen Stupples and Kay Cockerill walking inside the ropes with the players.

“I feel like we have a nice little bond that will never be broken now because we have this, and this is a shared experience,” said Stupples. “I think this is a tremendous opportunity for all of us.”

Led by long-time LPGA Tour producer Beth Hutter, the five announcers represent countless years of knowledge and hard work, both inside the ropes and inside the booth. Rankin is one of the true trailblazers for any woman working in the sports broadcast industry, having joined ABC Sports in 1984 upon her retirement from active play. “She's really made it possible for all of us to be doing what we're doing today,” Cockerill said of her colleague.

“I cannot tell you all the great things that have come about for me because ABC Sports gave me a chance. I worked with an awful lot of really wonderful men who pushed me along, helped me along, all those things. Made me comfortable when I wasn't comfortable at all,” said Rankin, a 26-time Tour winner. “When I look back, and I'm looking back more, and forward is probably not a long story now in my career, I honestly am really pleased to see that women who can do the job and are very capable of doing the job, whether it be women's golf, men's golf, any kind of golf, are well accepted now, and even searched for.”

The concept of female voices in sports coverage is not a new one. Phyllis George broke that glass ceiling in 1974 when she joined CBS Sports. In 1981, long-time golf historian Rhonda Glenn was the first woman to anchor ESPN’s SportsCenter, while Beth Mowins became the first woman in 30 years to call a National Football League game in 2017 and remains the only female NFL play-by-play announcer. All-female broadcast teams recently made headlines in the MLB and the NFL, and Dottie Pepper is a regular part of the CBS Sports men’s golf coverage.

Women’s voices aren’t going away. And the world of sports is the better for them.

“We've seen Jessica Mendoza in baseball, Hannah [Storm] and Andrea Kremer did football via Amazon. A woman who's from the Bay Area just got called to do the Philadelphia 76ers, Kate Scott, and she'd been working her way up through the ranks doing Pac-12. Before that, she was on KMBR sports radio,” said Cockerill, who came to New Jersey fresh off covering the Ryder Cup alongside Banks and Mackenzie. “There's a female voice edging her way into the men's world of sports. It's a novelty at first, I guess, but as more and more women do it, hopefully it'll be more the norm.”

Ultimately, it was Rankin, the first to lead the charge, who succinctly summed up the point of this celebration. “I think women will be a fixture in golf, not just women's golf but in golf, from now on.”

Announcers Blazing Trails in the Booth

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