Known as “Minnesota’s first women’s champion,” Eleanor Lightner, of St. Paul’s Town & Country Club, won the first state championship organized by the Women’s Minnesota Golf Association in 1915 in a match that went 19 holes against Marion Lanpher at Town & Country. Lightner would successfully defend the title the following year at Minikahda, defeating Mrs. W.A. McLeod, 3 and 1. There were no championships in 1917-1918 due to World War I, but Lightner would win her third and final state title at Town & Country in 1920, defeating Elizabeth Dean, 6 and 5. She won the inaugural Resorters tournament at Alexandria Golf Club in 1922, defeating Mrs. E.R. Morrison, of Kansas City, Missouri, and she won a second Resorters title in 1925, defeating Mrs. Esther (Tallman) Freeman, of Willmar, Minnesota, 4 and 3. Lightner married and moved to Virginia, passing away in 1977.
